livre, after Firmin. In 1726 Pelham emigrated to America with his wife Martha and two sons, Peter and Charles, and settled at Boston, where he established a school, in which were taught writing, reading, dancing, painting, and needlework, and practised both as painter and engraver until the end of his life; he was the earliest artist resident in America, and his portrait of the Rev. Cotton Mather, published in 1727, is believed to have been the first mezzotint plate ever executed there. Pelham's American prints, of which thirteen are catalogued by Chaloner Smith, comprise portraits of the Rev. Charles Brockwell; Thomas Hollis, after Highmore; Benjamin Colman, Joseph Sewall, and Governor W. Shirley, all after Smibert. In 1748 Pelham married, at Boston, as his second wife, Mary Copley, widow of Richard Copley and daughter of John Singleton of Quinville Abbey, co. Clare, and thus became the stepfather and first instructor of John Singleton Copley [q. v.], the painter. Mrs. Copley appears to have kept a tobacco store, which was added to the already varied attractions of the Pelham establishment. He died in December 1751, and was buried on the 14th of that month at Trinity Church, Boston; his widow survived him until 1789. Of his sons by his first wife, Peter Pelham settled in 1749 in Virginia, William Pelham died at Boston in 1761, and Charles Pelham became a schoolmaster at Medford in Massachusetts, purchased land at Newton in the same state, married Mary Tyler, niece of Sir William Pepperell, and left a daughter, married to Thomas Curtis, and mother of Charles Pelham Curtis.
By his second marriage he had a son, Henry Pelham (1749–1806), who painted historical subjects and miniatures, and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1777 and 1778, when he was residing in London with his half-brother, Copley; later he went to Ireland, intending to practise as an engineer, became agent of Lord Lansdowne's estates in Kerry, and was accidentally drowned in the Kenmare river in 1806. He was married to the daughter of William Butler of Castlecrine, co. Clare, but left no surviving issue. A good mezzotint plate by W. Ward of ‘The Finding of Moses,’ from a picture by Henry Pelham, was published in 1787. The first picture sent by Copley to England, ‘ A Boy with a Squirrel,’ was a portrait of Henry Pelham.
[Massachusetts Historical Society's Proceedings, May 1866; Perkins's Life of J. S. Copley; J. Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
PELHAM, THOMAS, fourth Baronet and first Baron Pelham (1650?–1712), eldest son of Sir John Pelham, third baronet, by Lady Lucy, second daughter of Robert Sidney, second earl of Leicester of that name, was born about 1650. He was returned to parliament for East Grinstead, Sussex, on 25 Oct. 1678, and retained the seat until 13 Aug. 1679, when he was returned for Lewes. He continued to represent Lewes until July 1702, when, being doubly returned, he elected to sit for the county of Sussex. Pelham belonged to the whig party, and held office as commissioner of customs from 20 April 1689 to 24 March 1691, and as lord commissioner of the treasury from 18 March 1689–90 to 21 March 1690–1, again from 1 May 1698 to 1 June 1699, and from 29 March 1701 to 8 May 1702. He succeeded his father as fourth baronet in January 1702–3, was sworn in as vice-admiral of the coast of Sussex on 21 May 1705, and by letters patent, dated 16 Dec. 1706, was created Baron Pelham of Laughton, and took his seat in the House of Lords accordingly (30 Dec). He died at his seat, Halland Place, Sussex, on 23 Feb. 1711–12. His remains were interred (8 March) in the chancel of Laughton parish church.
Pelham married twice, viz.: (1) Elizabeth (d. 1681), daughter of Sir William Jones, attorney-general to Charles II; (2) Lady Grace (d. 1700), youngest daughter of Gilbert Holles, third earl of Clare. By his first wife he had issue, two daughters only, viz.: Lucy (d. 1689), and Elizabeth (married in July 1698 to Charles, second Viscount Townshend [q. v.], died 11 May 1711). By his second wife he had issue two sons, viz.: Thomas, who succeeded him [see Pelham-Holles, Thomas, Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Newcastle-under-Lyme], and Henry [see Pelham, Henry, 1695?–1754], and five daughters: (1) Grace (d. 1710), wife of George Naylor of Hurstmonceaux, York herald; (2) Frances (d. 1756), to Christopher Wandesford, viscount Castlecomer; (3) Gertrude, to David Polhill of Otford, Kent; (4) Lucy, to Henry Clinton, earl of Lincoln (afterwards Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne) [q. v.]; and (5) Margaret, to Sir John Shelley of Mitchelgrove, Sussex.
[Lower's Pelham Family; Berry's County Genealogies (Sussex); Misc. Geneal. et Herald. 2nd ser. i. 266, iv. 62; Boyer's Annals of Queen Anne, 1711–12; Collins's Peerage (Brydges), v. 517; Luttrell's Brief Relation of State Affairs; Horsfield's Lewes, i. 340, and Sussex, i. 184; Members of Parliament (official list); Lords' Journals, xviii. 191, xx. 4; Cobbett's Parl. Hist.
