The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Pelham, Henry
(pl´m) (KEY) , 16961754, British statesman; brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, duke of Newcastle. He entered Parliament in 1717 and served Sir Robert Walpole as secretary for war (172430) and paymaster-general (173043). In 1743 he became head of a Whig ministry that was to last until 1754. His administration concluded the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), ending the War of the Austrian Succession; it also reorganized and reduced the national debt and reformed (1752) the calendar.