PORTRAIT OF HENRY PELHAM (1694-1754), BUST-LENGTH, IN A RED ROBE AND WHITE CRAVAT, IN A FEIGNED OVAL

HENRY PELHAM WAS THE SECOND SON OF SIR THOMAS PELHAM OF LAUGHTON, 1ST BT. (1653-1712), (FOR A NOTE ON WHOM, SEE LOT 121), AND HIS SECOND WIFE, THE FORMER LADY GRACE HOLLES, DAUGHTER OF GILBERT HOLLES, 3RD EARL OF CLARE. HE WAS EDUCATED AT WESTMINSTER SCHOOL AND HART COLLEGE, OXFORD. HE ENTERED PARLIAMENT AS M.P. FOR SEAFORD IN 1717, BECOMING SECRETAREY FOR WAR IN 1754. IN 1726 HE MARRIED LADY KATHERINE MANNERS (C.1700-1780), DAUGHTER OF JOHN MANNERS, 2ND DUKE OF RUTLAND (1676-1721), AND HIS FIRST WIFE, CATHERINE RUSSELL (D.1711). KATHERINE CAME WITH A GENEROUS DOWRY OF £30,000, NO SMALL PORTION FOR THE YOUNG WHIG POLITICIAN. IN 1743, PELHAM WAS APPOINTED CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER AND BECAME ONE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY'S MOST SUCCESSFUL FIRST LORDS OF THE TREASURY. HE SERVED AS PRIME MINISTER FROM 1743 UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1754, WHEN HIS ELDER BROTHER, THOMAS PELHAM, (SEE LOT 123), FOLLOWED IN HIS STEPS AS PRIME MINISTER.