Lady Catherine Pelham (; also spelt as Katherine; 1700 or 1701 – 18 February 1780) was a British noble and the wife of the Prime Minister

Henry Pelham Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who serv ...

. She used her position to broker positions within that administration and the following one.

Life

Pelham was born in 1700 or 1701 and her parents were Catherine (née Russell) and

John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland Order of the Garter, KG (18 September 1676 – 22 February 1721), styled Lord Roos from 1679 to 1703 and Marquess of Granby from 1703 to 1711, was a British Whig politician who sat in the English House of Com ...

. She had a dowry that was either £10,000 or £30,000 and she was from an important aristocratic family. Her maternal uncle was

Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford KG (1 November 1680 – 26 May 1711) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the son of William Russell, Lord Russell, and his wife Lady Rachel Wriothesley. From 1683 until 1694, he was styled L ...

. She married

who was the secretary of war in Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

's government at St James, Westminster, London.''The Register of Marriages in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1723-1754''. 31 October 1726. November 1739 was a bad month when she and Henry had two of their sons die within days of each other of what is now thought to be diphtheria. They had already lost a daughter and within months they lost another. Of their eight children only four daughters survived their childhood. Her skills were in correspondence and in manipulating the attainment and distribution of patronage. She would plan ahead to see which positions were likely to become vacant and she would plan who was to receive the vacancy. Her unmarried daughters took positions and she became the Ranger of Greenwich

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in 1745. One of her achievements was to get

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

to be the candidate for the

Harwich constituency Harwich was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its abolition for the 2010 United Kingdom general e ...

. She had identified a vacancy and she had Prime Minister Newcastle's commitment that Roberts would be assigned the seat. However, in 1761, there was a new King and

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

had his own mind for a candidate,

Charles Townshend Charles Townshend (27 August 1725 – 4 September 1767) was a British politician who held various titles in the Parliament of Great Britain. His establishment of the controversial Townshend Acts is considered one of the key causes of the Amer ...

. It is a measure of Catherine's character that Newcastle could not decide who to please and who to disappoint. His solution was ingenious. There was one vacancy but Harwich returned two candidates. Newcastle persuaded the sitting candidate at Harwich, Thomas Sewell to move to Exeter so that he could then install both Catherine's and the King's candidate in Harwich. She died on 18 February 1780. Of her four daughters, Frances who was born in 1728 and Mary who was born in 1739, died unmarried. Her daughter Catherine (1727–1760) became Catherine Pelham-Clinton, Countess of Clinton, when she married Henry Clinton, 9th Earl of Lincoln in 1744. Henry, by this marriage, would in time become the 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Her fourth daughter Grace (1735–1777) became Grace Watson, Baroness Sondes when she married Hon. Lewis Watson in 1752. In 1760, Lewis was created

Baron Sondes Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelham, Lady Catherine 1700s births 1780 deaths Year of birth uncertain Spouses of prime ministers of Great Britain Daughters of dukes English political hostesses

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...