Pelham-Holles, Sir Thomas, 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme 1693-1768
English statesman

He was the brother of Henry Pelham and added the name Holles to his own on succeeding to the estates of his uncle John Holles in 1711. George I created him Earl of Clare (1714) and Duke of Newcastle (1715). A Whig and a supporter of Robert Walpole, he became Secretary of State in 1724, and held the office for 30 years. In 1754 he succeeded his brother Henry as premier, but he retired in 1756. In July 1757 he was again premier, and was compelled to take William Pitt, later Earl of Chatham, into his ministry and to give him the lead in the House of Commons and the supreme direction of the war and of foreign affairs. On the accession of George III, the Earl of Bute superseded Pelham (1762). In the Rockingham ministry (1765), he was for a few months Lord Privy Seal.

Bibliography: Reed Browning, The Duke of Newcastle (1975)