Prime Factors - Ranking UK Prime Ministers

3.2 - Henry Pelham (Part 2)

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3.2 - Henry Pelham (Part 2)

Episode Transcript

Parliament: Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!

Abram: Hello and welcome back to Prime Factors. I'm Abram, and I'm here with my dad reviewing all the British Prime Ministers from Robert Walpole to Rishi Sunak. This is episode 3.2, Henry Pelham, Part Two.

Joe: I'm really enjoying this guy. Henry Pelham is a lot of fun.

Abram: Don't forget that you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and at www.primefactorspodcast.com. If you enjoy listening, please subscribe, comment, or review. Tell your friends. We got one review so far, and it was nice.

Joe: It was nice. And actually, this is the most exciting episode I've done so far, so I'm just super, super pumped. Let's get started. Last time we recorded in Pelham, Massachusetts, and this time, Abram, where are we?

Abram: Pelham, New Hampshire.

Joe: That's New England for you. Every state here has the same town names over and over and over again. You want to go to Salem, but do you go to Salem, New Hampshire? Do you go to Salem, Massachusetts? It's just confusing. We didn't realize that we would do so many of these towns when we started Walpole. We did the first one at home, and then we did the second one in Walpole, Mass., and this seems to be our thing now.

Abram: Yeah, I like going to towns.

Joe: I do too. We'll be able to do this for at least a few more episodes, but we're not too far from when the colonies and Britain don't like each other. And then all the Prime Minister towns will be in Canada or Bermuda or somewhere really inconvenient to get to. And even now, the next couple, if we go to, will be like a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Boston. So maybe we'll reach a point that we gotta stop, but we're not gonna stop right now.

Abram: Canada's not that far. Why can't we just go to Canada? I haven't been there in years. It's so close, yet I barely go there. That makes no sense.

Joe: We'll get you back to Canada, I promise. So there are some other towns named Pelham, but they were named for different people, by the way. New York's Pelham was named for a colonist named Thomas Pell. There's a Confederate general named John Pelham, and he gets a couple towns in the South. The two in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the only ones I know of for the Prime Minister.

Abram: Someone listened to us in Wales! Finally! They were the only one no one had last time.

Joe: Wales and England. There are several in England.

Abram: There are several in England.

Joe: We have listeners in a ton of places now, and we're so excited. We just got Alberta this morning. So every time somebody listens to us from a new place, we get really unnecessarily excited. We had the Netherlands too just yesterday or the day before. It's awesome. Thank you for listening. Thank you for telling your friends. We really want to continue doing this for you, and this is awesome. So are you ready, Abram?

Abram: Yes, I am ready.

Joe: Can you start off by telling us what you remember of Henry Pelham from Part One?

Abram: He was born in 1694. He was like good friends with Robert Walpole, and he was part of the Walpole talents and family. And we left off right as he was becoming Prime Minister with the letters, I remember, and replaced it for Compton, I think.

Joe: Yes. Yes. So his uncle was the Duke of Newcastle. His uncle died and made his older brother Duke instead. He fought in the Battle of Preston during the Jacobite Revolt of 1715, and that's going to be kind of important today. Became an MP, he rose through the ranks, he had some conflicts with Pulteney. That's not going to come back, I'm sure. He got selected by King George II to be Prime Minister instead of William Pulteney, much to Lord Carteret's displeasure. So that's where we're going to start today. But before that, picture this.

Abram: I'm glad you brought this back.

Joe: I'm glad I brought this back too.

Part 0: Picture This

Abram: Picture this.

Joe: Our scene unfolds in the western Scottish Highlands, one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's summer and the green rolling hills seem to almost flow into the deep blue waters of Loch Shiel. The air is crisp, filled with the earthy scent of heather and the distant pine forest. A gentle breeze carries the calls of distant birds and the occasional bleat of sheep.

Abram: Baa!

Joe: We find ourselves at Glenfinnan, a tranquil and remote location framed by majestic mountains and the serene expanse of the loch. The sun casts a warm golden hue over the landscape, reflecting off the water and illuminating the lush greenery.

Joe: In the midst of this natural splendor, Charles Edward Stuart, the grandson of James II of England, stands tall and resolute. He's 25 years old, clad in a striking military uniform that contrasts with the rugged Highland terrain. His uniform is immaculate, with bright red fabric, gold buttons, and a tartan sash draped over his shoulder, symbolizing his claim and connection to the Scottish people.

Joe: We watch as time passes and fast forward. The scene around Charles is transforming. First, a small group of men appear on the horizon, their silhouettes growing larger as they approach. They're the representatives of the Scottish clans. The first to arrive are the MacDonalds, their tartans of red and green blending with the landscape. They greet Charles with solemn nods, their expression a mix of hope and determination.

Joe: Next come the Camerons. They make their entrance, their distinctive yellow and green tartans marking their allegiance. They're followed by the Macfies and then the MacDonnells, each clan bringing more men dressed in traditional Highland attire. Kilts, a sporran — it's a pouch worn in front of the kilt — dirks, a Scottish dagger, gleaming at their sides. The sounds of footsteps crunching in the heather, the rustle of fabric and the occasional murmur of conversation fill the air.

Joe: As the day progresses, the hill overlooking Loch Shiel transforms into a bustling military camp. Tents are pitched, fires are lit, the aroma of cooking meat mingles with the scent of the pine trees. The camp is alive with the sound of preparation, the clinking of weapons being sharpened, the low hum of conversation, and the occasional burst of laughter.

Abram: This doesn't seem to sound that good.

Joe: Soon, 1,200 Highland soldiers have gathered, forming a formidable and colorful assembly. They stand in ranks, their eyes fixed on Charles Edward Stuart. The Young Pretender, as he is known, climbs a small rise, his presence commanding their attention. He begins to speak, his voice clear and strong, carrying over the crowd.

Joe: Charles says, "My friends, my loyal clansmen, today marks the beginning of our quest to restore our rightful king. My father, James VIII, to the throne of Scotland and England. We are here not as rebels, but as rightful defenders of our ancient and noble cause, chosen by God to reclaim what is ours."

Joe: As he speaks, the men listen intently, their expressions ranging from solemn determination to fervent hope. The sound of the speech is punctuated by the occasional cheer, a testament to the loyalty and courage of the assembled forces.

Joe: With a final rousing cheer, the standard of Charles Edward Stuart is raised. The banner, emblazoned with the white cross of St. Andrew, flutters in the breeze. The sight is met with a deafening roar of approval from the assembled clans.

Joe: Bagpipes begin to play. The soldiers turn, form into columns, ready to march. The rhythmic thud of marching feet, the skirl of the bagpipes, and the murmur of determination fill the air as they begin their journey together. They move forward. Their goal is clear: to reclaim Scotland and England for the rightful king, the one they believe is chosen by God — James VIII. It's Henry Pelham's time on the British stage. How will he rise to this challenge?

Joe: I don't know. Was that good? Yeah. I told you, this episode has so many exciting things going on.

Part 1: An Unstable Parliament

Joe: So, we're gonna back up a couple years. We're gonna return to August 27th, 1743. Henry Pelham has just become Prime Minister. Lord Carteret has promised to support him, but, you know, he really wants William Pulteney, the Earl of Bath, as Prime Minister instead. The government is split, and even though Carteret has promised to support him, that support is a little bit tricky.

Joe: Pelham started, and he just kept Spencer Compton's cabinet. He didn't make any immediate changes. He and his brother already had some support in that government, but he was worried that if he moved too quickly, he could cause problems.

Joe: So, just a reminder, the people in that government that we know are Hardwicke. He was Lord Chancellor. I mentioned last time that he's one of Newcastle's main allies.

Abram: Yeah, I remember.

Joe: And he's gonna appear more in Thomas Pelham-Holles's episode. The Lord President of the Council was William Stanhope, who is now gonna be called the Earl of Harrington. Everybody gets promoted and gets a different name. It's tough to keep track. Remember Sunderland and Stanhope from Walpole's episode?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: He's a cousin. Lord Carteret was still there. He's Secretary of State for the Northern Department. Under Wilmington, he was pretty much Prime Minister in everything but name. But now he's just lost a battle. He now has to work for Pelham. Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, was Secretary of State for the Southern Department.

Joe: One of the things you might notice is that Newcastle, not Carteret, is supposed to be responsible for France and Spain and Austria, right? Northern Department was for the Scandinavian countries, Scotland. Southern Department was for France and things.

Abram: But thanks for telling me. I had no idea what those meant.

Joe: I would have probably asked you. Oh good. I think I explained it once in Walpole's episode, but that was weeks ago. So the weird thing is Carteret is acting like he's in charge of Newcastle's stuff. And that's okay, but, you know, it's gonna cause some issues. Remember that Carteret is still in Germany with George II.

Abram: Well, at least that's where the letters were.

Joe: And that's where the letters were last time, right? He is basically going and staying with the King for a while, but the King's gonna come back to London before too long.

Joe: Some fractures started immediately between Pelham and Carteret. But Pelham's first responsibility, right, he just wanted to make good with George II.

Abram: Yeah, you should always want to make your king happy. Rule zero is keep the army happy. Rule one is keep the king happy.

Joe: Those are great rules. I love it. So basically the king said, oh, I want more troops. And Pelham said, yes, more troops. I'll give you more troops. That's going to seem a little weird soon because once we get a little bit further, you'll find that Pelham is not the one that usually wants more troops. But at first he's just okay. He wants to make George II happy.

Joe: Now, in secret, Lord Carteret was off negotiating a treaty called the Treaty of Worms.

Abram: Um, that sounds rather gross. Is it to stop worms from digging holes in his garden?

Joe: No, and it's really — it's the Treaty of Worms or something like that. You have to say it with a German accent, and it doesn't sound like it's just, you know, earthworms.

Joe: But the Treaty of Worms, it's actually a treaty with Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Abram: I'm guessing they got that idea because they were probably doing it outside, and maybe it was the summer, and there happened to be some worms nearby, and they could have been thinking of what the name was.

Joe: Well, what I think happened is that there's a city that was named after the worms that live there. And so the treaty is named after the city, which is named after the worms. Anything with worms is good.

Abram: Yes, I agree.

Joe: I have a map. I don't know that Worms is on this map, but just so that you have it, this is Europe at the time of Henry Pelham. So you'll notice that there's some —

Abram: Everything looks ruined in Germany.

Joe: It doesn't look ruined. It's just a very different —

Abram: It just looks crazy.

Joe: It does look crazy. This was a treaty between Austria and Sardinia. So that Sardinia would enter the war in support of Maria Theresa, and that Britain was also going to agree to give her £300,000 a year, which today would be like $50 million, just so she keeps fighting.

Joe: Now, William Pitt was absolutely against this treaty, and he said, quote, "I wish that treaty could be erased from our annals and our records so as to never be mentioned hereafter, for that treaty with its appendix, the convention that followed, is one of the most destructive, unjust, and absurd that was ever concluded. By that treaty we have taken upon ourselves a burden which I think is impossible for us to support. We have engaged in such an act of injustice towards Genoa as must alarm all of Europe and give to the French a most signal advantage. From this, sir, all the princes of Europe will see what regard we have to justice."

Abram: Did they just say all the princes of Europe?

Joe: Princes of Europe, yes.

Abram: Yeah, but if they're princes, aren't they not technically in charge, so it isn't doing anything?

Joe: I think when he says princes of Europe, he really means it's a poetic way to say the kings of Europe. I think he's being rather insulting to the leaders of Europe, calling them princes.

Abram: Yes. Okay, sure, Mr. Insulting.

Joe: Yes. So, but he says, quote, "and therefore they will probably join with France to curtail our power, or at least in preventing its increase." Do you know what that means?

Abram: What?

Joe: He's worried that this treaty is going to make people hate Britain even more and want Britain to have less power. So right now everything is a little bit crazy. Pelham doesn't really have control of the cabinet or the Commons. And then something worse happened.

Abram: What?

Joe: So I didn't know this, but whenever an MP is given a new big job, they have to, by tradition, rerun in their local seats. This is something called a writ of election. It's always happened in the background. It never mattered. But in this specific case, Pelham, who had to do this in 1724 when he became Secretary at War, in 1730 when he became Paymaster of the Forces, but now he basically resigned from Parliament for like three weeks. They had an election, nobody else ran, he won, you know, and he's back. But during those three weeks, William Pitt went on the attack.

Abram: I think we already put a pin in him, but that was Walpole's episode. So, let's put a second pin so we remember.

Joe: Yes. So, he's attacking Carteret, and I think that William Pitt guy seems to be becoming more important every episode.

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: It wasn't just Pitt that was hating Carteret, though. Lord Carteret wasn't even on speaking terms with Thomas Pelham-Holles anymore. If there was a dinner and both were invited, he would not go if Newcastle went, and Newcastle wouldn't go if he went. Those are the two most important members of the government, and they hate each other. That's no way to run, right?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: Horace Walpole, he is the son of Robert Walpole. He's a writer. He likes to write a lot of stuff making fun of the government, but he had something to say about what was going on. He said, quote, "All is distraction. There's no union in the cabinet, no certainty about the House of Commons. Lord Carteret is making no friends. The King is making enemies. Mr. Pelham in vain is courting Pitt, but Pulteney is unresolved. How will it end? No joy but with the Jacobites."

Joe: I think this is time for a dun dun dun, don't you?

Abram: Dun dun dun!

Joe: Yes, as you're going to see in a second, Horace Walpole was exactly right. The Jacobites were very excited for all the dysfunction in Britain. But hold on a second, we'll get to them in a minute.

Joe: So Parliament was a mess. Pelham was scheming with his brother to remove Carteret, and it almost didn't happen because one of the things we're gonna see in Newcastle's episode, Thomas Pelham-Holles's, is he's a little bit flighty, a little bit jealous, he's a little tricky. So even though he's clearly the stronger brother, his relationship now with his younger brother, who is more important than him in the government, is really tough.

Joe: So they started fighting, Thomas and Henry. And what they were fighting over was that Henry's daughter had just had a wedding. So Henry — and you tell me if you think this is okay — Henry basically said, well, my daughter's gotten married to the Earl of Lincoln. I want you to put in your will, because you have so much money, that if you die, they get to have a lot of your money.

Joe: They fought over this, and eventually Hardwicke came and helped them reach a compromise. And it doesn't matter because Newcastle is not going to die for a very long time. But just the idea, I want you to put my grandkids in your will now, that seems a bit — and it almost collapsed the government because the two brothers were fighting.

Abram: And they're like two of the, like, top five people in the government.

Joe: Yes, they're pretty much two of the top three in the government, really. It's Newcastle, Carteret, and Pelham. Those are like the three biggest in the government.

Joe: Now Carteret had a sad thing that happened to him about this time. In October 1744, his mother died. That's very sad.

Abram: It is very sad.

Joe: And so he became the Earl Granville because that title was passed down to him. But Granville is very similar to Grenville. We are going to have a Prime Minister Grenville in a few episodes.

Abram: Pin. Pin, Grenville.

Joe: I'm going to get them confused. So I'm probably just going to keep calling him Carteret instead of calling him Granville, because I'm going to get Granville and Grenville confused. Deal?

Abram: Yeah, deal.

Joe: Okay. Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention. You notice how sometimes they are an Earl of someplace? So Robert Walpole was the Earl of Orford.

Abram: But then sometimes they're just Earl something.

Joe: Like Carteret is Earl Granville. So it turns out there is a reason, and I wanted to tell you the reason. It's that if they're Earl of a place, it is "Earl of." So Orford is a place, so the Earl of Orford. But if the earldom is named after someone's last name, then it's just "Earl" something. So Earl Granville.

Abram: That seems rather — yeah.

Joe: But it doesn't make sense because Granville is the name of a place. I mean, it's in the name, "ville," right?

Abram: Yes.

Joe: The British people, I love you, but your names are confusing.

Abram: And also, with that, yes, we call something Worcester, which makes no sense, but you make it even worse by making a Worcestershire. That makes it even worse! You're the real ones with bad names.

Joe: Okay, Henry Pelham, he assembled a collection of Whigs, Hanoverian Tories, and others, including Bolingbroke, who's still around, into a single group, and they were committed for the removal of Carteret. They argued that Carteret was not doing enough for the war effort. They argued that he spent too much money. They argued that he was supporting Hanoverian interests over British ones, and that his close connection to the king meant that he didn't have the British truly at heart.

Joe: Eventually, they made a threat. Either George II removes Carteret from government, or both Henry and Thomas would quit. Now, George fought and argued against this. Carteret was his favorite cabinet member. Like, he would hang out with him in Germany and speak German with him. George II even tried to get Walpole involved. Walpole is still alive, but Walpole was too sick to come to London at the time to help George II.

Joe: And so in the end, Carteret resigned on November 24th, allowing Pelham's new government to be formed. This isn't the end of that story. George II is upset. He's going to keep certain Whigs from joining the cabinet, William Pitt being one. He really hates William Pitt.

Abram: Well, then William Pitt will probably be lucky that by the time he becomes Prime Minister, George II will be dead.

Joe: I'm pretty sure that's the only way he could become Prime Minister.

Abram: And later on, we're going to tell you who the next king is.

Joe: Yes. So I think the big deal here is they're going to want to get even. They're really angry at Pelham for this. I'm going to stop because — there's going to be so much more to talk about in a minute. But before we talk about the war, it's really important to tell you what Henry just did.

Part 1.1: Broad Bottomed Ministry

Joe: Henry has built something that is called the Broad Bottomed Ministry. So he has brought together a whole bunch of different factions of Whigs and Tories to form a single government. It's been completely disheveled. Carteret was fighting with Pelham, who was fighting with Newcastle. But what Pelham is trying to build is a government that actually works together.

Joe: So he united a couple of factions. There's something called the Chesterfield Whigs. We haven't talked about them before. The Patriot Whigs, that was Pulteney's group. Independent Whigs, Hanoverian Tories, and they've all come together.

Joe: So the Chesterfield Whigs, these are led by Philip Stanhope. Yet another Stanhope. Why do they like Stanhopes?

Abram: I don't know. There aren't even any other Sunderlands.

Joe: He's related somehow to the other Stanhopes. I don't really know. So the Chesterfield Whigs were Stanhope. The Patriot Whigs were Pulteney and pretty much what's left of Carteret's group in the government. The Independent Whigs were, you know, independent, right? And the Hanoverian Tories were essentially the Tories that weren't Jacobites. So they're moderate Tories. They're okay with religious toleration. They like policies to support the rich, and they like to keep Britain out of wars. So, you know, they have a lot in common with what Pelham was doing.

Joe: In this new government, 14 out of 32 of the most important positions, according to a historian John Wilkes, were given to the opposition. Henry Pelham is basically giving Parliament a big hug. Trying to bring everyone under his tent and trying to get a government that can work together. And he's gonna be really successful at it. He is a politician and a diplomat, and unlike Walpole that really only wanted his own people in, Pelham is gonna have a much more broad base of support.

Joe: So two names I want you to keep track of. There's a guy named George Grenville that just got appointed to the Admiralty Board. He's not important yet, but he might be later. Do you want to put a pin in him?

Abram: Yep.

Joe: And someone named William Cavendish just got made the Lord Steward.

Abram: Pin.

Joe: Even though he is probably like 30.

Abram: Maybe. I will tell you, his ages won't get that much higher.

Joe: So Pelham started with a dysfunctional government and he turned it into probably the most functional government that they had had in a while.

Abram: I calculated he finishes at 25.

Joe: Oh, good for him. When was he born?

Abram: 1720. Wow, you keep that in your head. I'm so impressed.

Joe: By that I mean 1720.

Abram: I kind of guessed.

Part 2: War With Everyone

Joe: The next part I have here, the title section of this part, Abram, just so you know, it's called Part 2: War with Everyone. So you have your map of Europe there. And I'm going to give you here a map of the Austrian Netherlands, because that's going to be kind of important.

Abram: Even though that's only in Belgium, basically.

Joe: Yeah, Austrian Netherlands is pretty much what we would call modern Belgium.

Abram: Even though it's the Netherlands for some reason. I know it doesn't make that much sense.

Joe: Now that Pelham is Prime Minister, he's finally dealt with Carteret. He is building a new government. The wars are suddenly going to be very much his problem. So do you remember there was the War of Jenkins' Ear?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: England and Spain are still technically at war at this point. Britain attempted to capture Florida in 1740. Which Florida?

Abram: Florida, Florida.

Joe: They invaded St. Augustine.

Abram: What?

Joe: Yes. So Britain attempted to capture Florida in 1740 while the Spanish invaded Georgia in 1742.

Abram: Which Georgia?

Joe: The Georgia that's next to Florida.

Abram: Oh, complicated borders.

Joe: This war is still going on even though we haven't been talking about it most of the time. It's happening in the New World, pretty far from Europe. It's cooled down a little bit, but it's still a war that Britain is in. It's still taking troops and time and money.

Joe: The War of Austrian Succession was also still going, and it wasn't going well regardless of the Treaty of Worms.

Abram: I don't think the worms helped that much.

Joe: No. So the Duke of Cumberland, that's George II's second son. He was leading much of the fighting in Europe for his father, right? Remember, George II actually fought in this war himself, and now his son is leading the troops. And they had a lot. They had something like 20,000 troops in Europe at the time, on the continent. Every time I say "in Europe," Abram yells at me because why?

Abram: Because the UK is in Europe. Yes.

Joe: Well, the Brexit people might disagree with you, but on the continent. How's that?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: That's 20,000 troops, not even including the Hanoverians and the Hessians. Have you ever heard of the Hessians?

Abram: No.

Joe: So they're going to come up in the American Revolution. So you might have studied them in school. But those are basically German contract soldiers that Britain uses to help fight wars because they don't have enough of their own soldiers to fight.

Abram: Oh.

Joe: So it doesn't sound that good. It was huge. It was expensive. Not only the army was involved, the British Navy was patrolling the coasts, right? Trying to keep the French and the Spanish —

Abram: I don't think this is quite yet. Wasn't the British Navy, like, very strong in, like, the late 1700s and 1800s?

Joe: Well, the British did have one of the most powerful navies of the world. I don't know what their relative power is now versus a little bit later, but yes, the British are a major —

Abram: I heard that under Pitt the Elder it became like very good.

Joe: Well, I look forward to finding out with you when we get to Pitt the Elder.

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: With all of those troops and money tied up, rumors began of a third front. In 1743, pamphlets started appearing in London talking about this guy named Charles St. George and how George II wasn't the rightful king. This was really thinly disguised. I mean, barely disguised. Is it even disguised? Code. Because it's code for Charles —

Abram: Wait, how is this in 1743? He just got there in 1743. Hasn't it been anything yet?

Joe: Who just got there in 1743?

Abram: Pelham.

Joe: Yes. All of this is happening right as he was getting put in charge. So, the point is that there were pamphlets starting to be spread around London about the Jacobite cause. And people were very worried.

Joe: In fact, they found a French fleet off the coast of England in January of 1744, and everyone was worried that the French were about to invade. Pelham ordered a guy named Admiral Norris to ready the British Navy to protect against a landing.

Joe: In February 1744, Pelham learned that Charles Edward Stuart, who had been in Rome talking with the Pope, because, you know, Catholic, traveled to France and was getting ready to cross.

Abram: Oh no.

Joe: So what did they do? Well, they passed discriminatory laws. It was not good. I don't think it's a good idea. But Parliament, the House of Commons, they passed a law. One law said that Catholics had to give up their horses. So if you were a Catholic living in England, if they thought your horse could be used for war, the government could just take your horse. They also suspended habeas corpus, which meant that they could arrest people on suspicion if you were Catholic. They started to recruit soldiers in Scotland that would be loyal to George II just in case of an invasion, and they all waited.

Joe: Now, supposedly, the French would've invaded at this time, but there was a storm and like twelve of the French ships were damaged and France decided to hold off. But even so, France officially declared war on England in March with the stated aim of restoring the Stuarts to the throne.

Abram: Okay, that isn't good.

Joe: I was surprised about this because the British were already fighting France in the War of Austrian Succession, but apparently that's not the same as France directly declaring war because it was a proxy war. Anyway, I —

Abram: Yeah, that doesn't make any sense.

Joe: It doesn't matter. Everything was terrifying. Everyone was very scared that France was going to invade, that there were worries of a Jacobite revolution, and there were only 7,000 troops left between England and Scotland. All the other troops that Britain could spare were already fighting on the continent with Cumberland.

Abram: Dad, you forgot what part of the continent.

Joe: They were in Flanders at the time.

Abram: Which is in Belgium, I think.

Joe: So no attack came that summer. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. They went, "Ah, maybe they're not going to attack." But by the time 1745 arrived, things were getting bad. Pelham wanted to increase to 28,000 troops on the continent, but England had not accomplished much of anything since George II's Battle of Dettingen. The French, they were just beginning to roll over the country.

Joe: So if you can find these on your map very quickly, in 1745, France captured Memin, Ypres, Furnes, and some of those are on that map. Ypres is right there, captured by French. I don't see Memin here. I don't see Furnes, but we'll find them. Point is, France is taking over.

Joe: Then France took Tournai.

Abram: I see that.

Joe: Then they took Ghent.

Abram: I see that.

Joe: And then in May 1745, there was a giant battle. It's called the Battle of Fontenoy. 50,000 French troops and allies versus 50,000 British troops and allies. They fought the Duke of Cumberland, the king's son, and they lost.

Abram: Who lost?

Joe: The British. Lost. The troops were dispersed, and now there was nothing that they could immediately do to stop France from just continuing to roll over the Austrian Netherlands.

Joe: Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, in July, Stanhope, the Earl of Harrington, he was in Hanover and he heard some rumors. He sent a message to London saying that once again, the French are preparing to invade England.

Joe: He didn't know. But what was happening was that Charles Stuart, he was on his way to Scotland right then. He was in two warships, the Elizabeth and the Du Teillay. The British Navy spotted them. There was a ship called the HMS Lion. They managed to spot them and damage the Elizabeth. The Elizabeth was forced to leave, so that had a lot of his troops and a lot of his weapons, but the Du Teillay had Charles on it, and so he was luckily able to slip past the English, and was able to make it up to the coast of Scotland.

Joe: He didn't have as many troops now, he didn't have as many weapons, but that was always the plan. They were gonna build their army in Scotland and not take one there.

Joe: I should mention, by the way, James Stuart at this point, his dad, is 57 and decided that he was too old to fight. So he declared his son the Prince Regent of a country that he wasn't in charge of and told his son to go. Charles is fighting for his dad, not fighting on his own.

Abram: That was good to know.

Joe: He arrives on the west coast of Scotland at that scene that I put in the front, and he began to assemble his army of Jacobite Highlander clans, right? So, these are people in the north of Scotland. They're still very traditional way of life, still very traditional dress, not as integrated into sort of the British culture as maybe the southern part of Scotland would be. So, he is gathering his army in Scotland right now, which we just saw.

Joe: George II put a £30,000 bounty on his head. You know what that means?

Abram: What?

Joe: If anyone kills him, they get £30,000.

Abram: Why?

Joe: Well, you know the Robin Hood stories, right?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: In Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham would always put a bounty on Robin Hood's head, and if anybody killed Robin Hood, they could claim the money. So this is that, but bigger, like a huge amount of money. Kill him and you get a fortune, essentially.

Joe: So Charles Stuart, very cheeky, he put a bounty on the Elector of Hanover's head. So he's saying, you can't put a bounty on me. I put a bounty on you. I don't know that he had that kind of money. Who knows?

Joe: They're up there gathering an army and Cumberland is fighting in Europe and he just had a very bad battle. But Cumberland won't come to help. He's like, no, I'm staying in Europe. I need these troops in Europe. If I leave Europe, France is just — nothing will stop them. The Dutch aren't helping enough. Like, our allies aren't helping enough. So Cumberland refused to come back to Britain because he wasn't really taking seriously this Highlander problem.

Joe: Pelham was able to find 8,000 men. He sent them north to fortify Edinburgh. He started to pull troops out of Ireland. Which wasn't safe at the time 'cause Ireland wasn't really very secure. And honestly, like, the news from Scotland was just ending. You ever heard of something called the fog of war?

Abram: No.

Joe: You know when you play a war game on the computer, like, you can always tell where the enemy's troops and stuff are? In reality, you have no idea. And they were just hearing rumors of what was going on in Scotland. They didn't know where these troops were.

Joe: Oh, by the way, you weren't paying attention. The French just captured Ostend.

Abram: Oh no.

Joe: He can't even breathe because the French keep capturing new places. By September, the Jacobite army was ready. They quickly seized Perth. They moved on to Edinburgh. The city fell. There was still some people at Edinburgh Castle nearby. Oh, and then Edinburgh Castle did fall on September 11th, 1745. Then a town called Prestonpans, and they were making their way.

Joe: Now I have another map for you. So here is a map of Scotland. So the red line is the Jacobite army conquering parts of Scotland and then marching further south. So by the end of September, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Newcastle, he admitted that the Jacobites had pretty much control over all of Scotland. Now, that isn't actually true. There was still a lot of English up there. There was still a lot of holdouts. But, you know, fog of war, they didn't know what exactly was going on.

Joe: I gotta stress again, the French were winning in Europe. The Jacobites are about to march out of Scotland. The French are off the coast of England somewhere. This is a dark hour. Like, if I was English, I would be really worried. In fact, I've read that George II even made a plan to flee London if the Jacobites managed to make it to London because — let them be crowned, whatever. But he didn't want to get killed. I guess he could go back to Hanover if he needed to.

Abram: Yeah, and it would probably make everyone happier.

Joe: Well, I don't think it would make everyone happier.

Abram: But it'd make him happier because he likes Hanover.

Joe: So things were bad. Pelham and Newcastle started negotiating in secret with Prussia. Now there's a guy at the time in charge of Prussia called Frederick II. It was George II's nephew.

Abram: Of course it was.

Joe: 'Cause everyone's related to each other, right?

Abram: Wait, does that bring in the "I hate you, my relatives"?

Joe: "I hate you, my relatives," yes. So, Britain knew that if they could pay off Prussia to either leave the war or switch sides, right, that'll give them some breathing room. So, Austria gave up their claims to Silesia, and they signed a treaty, and Prussia left the war, at least for a little while.

Joe: Now, I should mention that that guy in Prussia, Frederick II, is later gonna be called Frederick the Great.

Abram: Why?

Joe: Because he's probably the best leader that region ever had. I don't know his history, but you know, when you go up against somebody called the Great, it's pretty tough.

Joe: So George II was extremely unhappy about this treaty, so much so that he was completely fed up with the Pelhams. So hold on to that for a minute because there's still so much going on. Because while we weren't paying attention, the Jacobites just captured Carlisle.

Abram: Oh no.

Joe: Carlisle is in England. That wasn't good. So they have now marched out of Scotland and into England. Now, unlike in 1715, the Jacobites did not find a lot of people in England that were willing to help them. So they were not recruiting more troops in England. They were just fighting their way through.

Joe: So with Carlisle now captured, finally Cumberland, the king's son, agreed to return to England to lead the troops there and finally maybe defeat the Jacobites. But in exchange, no one is really leading the troops in the Netherlands.

Joe: France had amassed an invasion force near Dunkirk, which I think is northern Germany. They were getting ready to invade. It looked like France was just gonna cross the Channel any minute now and attack from the south while the Jacobites attacked from the north. Pelham invited, he paid for 6,000 Hessian troops to come to Britain to help defend the homeland.

Joe: But Britain was out of money. They could not pay all of their bills. They could not pay all the stuff on the civil list. They were trying to raise taxes. Pelham added a tax on linen. You know, one of the things that happens is that people start looking for ways to smuggle and not pay taxes when they're worried that money's going to get tight. And so while all this is going on, Pelham can't even pay for soldiers. That isn't good.

Joe: So then something kind of lucky happened. The Scottish Jacobites marched south to Derby. Derby in England, it's about 160 miles from London. It's the same distance as Boston to Albany. So the Jacobites make it to Derby. They started to worry that they were overextended. They didn't have enough troops. They knew that Cumberland was in England now and could attack them. They didn't have good supply lines. They were running out of food. They were really hoping that when they got to Derby, France would attack the south, squeeze England.

Joe: But the French didn't attack.

Abram: Why?

Joe: We don't know.

Abram: That isn't a good move.

Joe: It wasn't a good move. They could have won. The French could have won. The Jacobites could have won. But maybe they weren't communicating well. But they had made it 160 miles from London, and France was expected to help them but didn't. And nobody really knows why. Maybe someone knows why, but none of the books I read knows why.

Abram: And I also sort of don't like the British don't want Catholics. I don't really like that. Like, the Catholics were in line. Why didn't they like them? And it was sort of like the reason why they split — it was just because it was Henry VIII and he's Henry VIII. So I really just don't think that they deserve to have won that. Yeah, I agree.

Joe: I think from a modern perspective, we look at the Jacobite stuff and the Glorious Revolution and say, ooh, they were discriminating against a religious group. That's not good. But at the time, what was it? At the time, I don't know. Life or death, I guess. This is a time when people could get killed for being the wrong religion.

Joe: So I'm very sympathetic to the Jacobite cause, and I wonder what would have happened, but it's very hard to put our modern morals on this situation because you're right. I think we probably would be saying, of course, the Catholics are fine. That's not a problem. But keep in mind also that the country had to be the same religion as the king through a lot of this. And yeah. It's just a very different time.

Abram: When did they finally get rid of that?

Joe: They've already been getting rid of that through the religious settlement starting in Elizabeth I's reign, and gradually more and more. And there's going to be a big law passed in just a couple years here that we'll talk about in a minute.

Joe: The Scottish Jacobites, they made it to Derby. The French didn't come. They're running out of food. They had conquered into England. Look how far into England.

Abram: Yes.

Joe: They'd gone very far, and then they started running away. They decided they couldn't make it to London, and that instead of attacking London, what they were going to do is they were going to go back to Scotland. They're going to fortify Scotland, and maybe Scotland can declare independence, essentially, and they can rule Scotland as the Stuarts, and England will just let them go. We'll see what happens with that in just a minute.

Part 3: Prime Minister Pulteney

Joe: Whew. Okay. Gotta catch my breath. There's so much action in so many places. While all of this was happening, George II was still upset at Pelham. Why? Because Pelham signed that treaty with his nephew Frederick II, which really upset George II. Pelham had kicked out Lord Carteret, who was George II's friend.

Joe: So Frederick, the Prince of Wales, had started to ally himself with William Pitt. So two Fredericks — Frederick, the Prince of Wales, George II's son; Frederick II, George II's nephew, I guess.

Joe: The point is that William Pitt is now being defended by the Prince of Wales, and Pelham really wants to bring William Pitt in as Secretary at War. They need the best leaders for this war that they can possibly —

Abram: Yes.

Joe: So just like last time, Pelham went to George II and said, "George II —" he wouldn't have said that. He would have been much more polite.

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: "If you don't let me make William Pitt in our cabinet, we quit."

Abram: And what did George II do?

Joe: Well, last time that they threatened that, George II fired Lord Carteret. He won. This time, George II said no.

Joe: So on February 10th, 1746, Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, and Henry Pelham both resigned. End of the episode.

Abram: Dad?

Joe: Yes?

Abram: Really?

Joe: No, no, it's not the end of the episode. He resigned. And in fact, he wasn't the only one to resign. Almost everyone in the government resigned.

Abram: Whoa.

Joe: One by one, everybody either resigned or announced that they would resign. But George II was okay with that. He's like, "No problem. All right, I'm gonna name a replacement for that and a replacement for that and a replacement for this." He brought in Carteret, he brought in Pulteney. He made Pulteney the First Lord of the Treasury, which is the Prime Minister job. And so on February 10th, 1746, William Pulteney became Prime Minister.

Joe: This is going to be known to history as the Short-Lived Ministry. Pulteney wasn't able to get enough support in the House of Commons. He could only get 80 votes for stuff. They tried to bring in more of their people, but they simply couldn't fill all of the slots as people were resigning.

Joe: So on February 12th, George II blinked. He gave up. He sent the letter to Pelham saying, you win, effectively. So Pelham resumed being Prime Minister.

Abram: Also, Pulteney, I think we will have an episode on him. We'll do him next. Yeah, I'll do him next before Newcastle. But anyways, that's for next time. Let's continue.

Joe: Yes. So Pulteney was technically Prime Minister for two days from February 10th to February 12th, 1746. Some people consider him Prime Minister. Most people don't. Your playing cards do, but the official list of Prime Ministers on the British website didn't. So you take it for what it is.

Abram: But remember, my playing cards think the Downing Street gates are Prime Minister for some reason.

Joe: Well, your playing cards think that Larry, Larry the cat, was more important than Spencer Compton, which isn't good.

Joe: So Pelham wasn't just going to come back, he had demands. "That out of duty to the King in regard to the public, it is apprehended that His Majesty's late servants cannot return to his service without being honored with that degree of authority, confidence, and credit from His Majesty which the ministers of the Crown have usually enjoyed in this country, which is absolutely necessary for carrying on his service."

Joe: He basically wrote him a letter saying, okay, if I'm coming back, you have to trust me and you have to give me that authority. You can't be undermining me all the time. You can't be working with Carteret. I'll only come back if you say that you'll support me 100%. And George II agreed.

Joe: Pelham had won. And in fact, this is like a major moment in Prime Minister history because it's the first time that a Prime Minister really gets that much authority, that much trust from a king. Like, the king backed down to Pelham, not the other way around.

Part 4: Ending the Jacobite Uprising

Joe: So with Carteret dealt with, we have to return to the war. Good news, it's gonna be over soon, 'cause I'm sure you're tired of talking about it.

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: Cumberland, he chased the Jacobites back through Northern England and into Scotland. So do you see on that map?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: There is a blue line showing their escape. We don't have a website to put this up, but I am going to try to make a website soon so we can put this up.

Joe: So the English troops in Scotland were still fighting with the Jacobites, and honestly, they fell pretty quick. Cumberland was able to very quickly take back Edinburgh. He was able to take back Aberdeen. They fought them up through the Highlands, and they eventually had a major battle at a place called Culloden Moor, which is up here in the far north.

Joe: And on April 16th, 1746, Cumberland's forces fought Charles Stuart's forces in a battle. Charles Stuart tried to do a surprise attack first that failed. It was the day after Cumberland's birthday. So, you know, instead of singing happy birthday to him, they just won a battle. And he won.

Joe: Charles Stuart escaped. He even went in disguise. He disguised himself as a maid named Betty Burke. Over a couple months, he made his way to the island of Benbecula, which is off the west coast of Scotland, and a French ship picked him up and took him to France, where he remained in exile for the rest of his life.

Joe: Now, England won. Cumberland is gonna get a bit of a reputation here for being very vindictive to the Scottish rebels. England's gonna pass laws that'll ban the special Scottish dress. They're gonna try to break Scotland as a separate culture. To his credit, Pelham tried to compromise. He wanted to punish the leaders and not the people, but there was a lot of punishing everybody going on as a result of this.

Joe: One problem was dealt with, but they still had two more wars to go. Let's take a break.

Part 5: Pelham, New Hampshire

Joe: While all this was happening, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean —

Abram: I see. Is this the town segment?

Joe: It is the town segment. Pelham, New Hampshire, was incorporated. The early history of New Hampshire and Massachusetts is very intertwined. Here are some more maps, Abram. This is a map of the colonial claims. And here is a map of the border area between Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Joe: New Hampshire in the beginning was barely a separate place. For about 84 of the first 112 years since New Hampshire was founded, New Hampshire was ruled by Massachusetts, right? They would have the same governor. Massachusetts would basically be stepping in. New Hampshire was founded in 1629, but the border between the two places was not finalized until 1741 by George II. So right about now.

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: Pelham, where we are now, was first settled by a man named Thomas Butler. He was born in Woburn in 1677, and he was Irish. His family was originally from Ireland, but nobody has a record of when his family came or why they left Ireland. But obviously there was a lot of discrimination and other challenges.

Abram: Yeah, I know. The same reason that Scottish people were coming at around that time.

Joe: So in 1721, Butler purchased 500 acres of land in Massachusetts. In the town of Dunstable, right on the border between Dunstable and Dracut. And that's Dunstable, Massachusetts. But that's not Dunstable, Massachusetts anymore. The border between Dunstable and Dracut was, quote, "a pine tree in sight of a beaver brook to the long pond."

Abram: I can't understand.

Joe: Basically, they said the border is — there's a pine tree over there by a beaver brook. And over there is the long pond. So the border runs right between those two things. But you know, which pine tree, which beaver brook, which pond is long? I don't know. The borders were not very well defined.

Joe: Now, Butler, for whatever reason, was not building any house on his new land. He was building a fortress. He built it of pine logs. He built a ditch around it like a moat. He built a wooden fence around it. He built portholes in the fence that he could shoot from, and he was really afraid of attacks by Native Americans. He even made a drawbridge over his moat. He built a castle out of wood in New Hampshire.

Abram: Whoa. New Hampshire actually had a castle?

Joe: Out of wood.

Abram: What? Yes. That's ridiculous.

Joe: He might have had a reason. There was something called the Wabanaki Confederacy. They were attacking the border settlements of New England. There was something called Dummer's War. I learned history here in the US just as you did. I went through a couple more years of it than you have.

Abram: Yeah, I wish this would be able to fall into the silver screen category. It would be really funny if it did. I think we will by having like a "meanwhile" segment. It'd just be someone hammering some wood, building a castle, and he would like have a map, but it would be in New Hampshire. Yes. I think we'll just do a "meanwhile" for that.

Joe: In any event, there was this war. I've never heard of it, even though I should have. Most of the fighting was further north, but he was afraid that the Native Americans were going to attack. And he was — had a family to raise. He's going to end up having ten kids. He was a deacon, so he was probably a religious leader in the area.

Joe: But when the border between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was changed in 1741, his house was no longer in Massachusetts. It was now in New Hampshire. And so he couldn't be part of Dunstable anymore. So they had to say his house and the other stuff around it was now a new town, and they needed a name, and they called that new place Pelham. And so we're actually right on the border. We passed the border between Massachusetts and New Hampshire on the way.

Abram: Yeah, thank you, New Hampshire.

Joe: Yes. Now, why was Pelham named Pelham? Supposedly, according to the New Hampshire government website, the Pelham family was related to Benning Wentworth, who was the governor at the time.

Abram: Is that Wentworth related to the Watson-Wentworths?

Joe: Well, he was governor at the time of the Province of New Hampshire. Now, I can't find out he's related to the Pelhams, and I can't find if he's related to Charles Watson-Wentworth.

Abram: Pin! Put a pin in him.

Joe: He's going to be Prime Minister in 20 years from now. But honestly, all of these families were super interrelated, and I can't always track who's related to who.

Joe: So Pelham, New Hampshire was officially made a town in January 1746. It remained a pretty small town for a long time. At the time of the American Revolution, there were only 700 people there. Thomas Butler didn't live that long. He died at 82 in 1759. And today it's still a relatively small town. I don't remember how many people are here, but it's more people than Pelham, Massachusetts, where we were last time. But we're about a 40-minute drive northwest of Boston. So we're just like on the outer edge of Greater Boston, probably just beyond what most people would consider Greater Boston, but still very, very much commuter distance.

Joe: So that's all I have to say about Pelham. It's beautiful here. I liked it.

Part 6: The End of the War

Joe: So while we were talking about New Hampshire, the French captured Antwerp, they captured Mons, they captured Namur. And guess what? It's not even just the Netherlands anymore. They captured Milan in northern Italy.

Abram: That isn't good.

Joe: So Pelham at this point was out of money. He was demanding that they end the war. Like, we simply can't afford to keep fighting. We've just beaten back these Jacobites, but the French can still invade. We're losing in Europe. We're out of money. King Ferdinand VI of Spain had just come to power, and so he was starting to negotiate the end of the War of Jenkins' Ear. So Pelham wasn't the only one that wanted to end the war.

Joe: Pelham signed a treaty with Russia called the Treaty of Warsaw, and that allowed them to get Russia kind of involved, maybe give them a better negotiating position for a peace treaty.

Joe: While all this was going on, Frederick, the Prince of Wales, still hated Pelham, even though Pelham had brought William Pitt to his side. And that Frederick decided, oh, I'm a Tory now. And he tried to basically get enough support in the House of Commons to take over the majority and kick Pelham out.

Joe: But Pelham had a surprise move. So in the UK system, you can call an election early. So he saw what Frederick was doing, called a snap election in 1747, and won. And so Frederick didn't have enough time to prepare, couldn't get enough Tory support. And so Pelham just like, shoo fly, don't bother me.

Joe: So instead of taking more time, let's just jump to the end. Britain negotiated a treaty in April 1748 called the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Very fancy, I know. It's in France. Everything in France is fancy.

Joe: So weirdly, Maria Theresa of Austria, who this was supposedly all about, wasn't even allowed to attend the peace talks. Why? Because it was never really about her. This was always about Britain and France and Spain and the Holy Roman Empire all trying to battle amongst themselves for power.

Abram: But why did it involve them in the first place? Was it just sort of an excuse to fight?

Joe: Kind of an excuse. I mean, there's complicated webs of alliances. This is going to be a problem through the Napoleonic Wars. It's going to be a problem into World War I. It's a thing.

Joe: So this peace treaty, April 1748. France gives up its newly conquered territories in the Austrian Netherlands. So all that stuff they just rolled over, they don't get to keep it. England gives up Cape Breton. So that's in Nova Scotia. They're basically giving up part of Nova Scotia to France. Austria gives up Silesia and Glatz to Prussia, and they give Parma and Palencia to Spain. Sardinia gets some islands off the coast of Milan, and France agrees to not support the Jacobites and to recognize the Hanoverians as the legitimate kings of England.

Joe: Ultimately, nobody liked this treaty. It ended the war. But it just really kicks the football down the road because France and England are going to have the Seven Years' War in a couple of years. And that's basically a continuation of this. We in the US, by the way, often call that war — do you know what we call it?

Abram: The French and Indian War.

Joe: The French and Indian War. Except everyone in Britain, like Horrible Histories, calls it the Seven Years' War. But we call it the French and Indian War. Right.

Abram: And Abram, because you listen to a lot of British history shows, you get the British viewpoint. It's amazing.

Joe: Yeah. Throughout the war, Britain commanded or controlled 65,000 troops. They had spent £6,950,253, or roughly $2.2 billion in today's money, on troops, contract troops. And that's not even including that they were paying payments to the Dutch and the Scandinavians and the Austrians. To either stay in the war or leave the war.

Joe: As soon as the war was over, Pelham had to immediately find ways to save money. He reorganized, he shrank the army, he shrank the navy. They owed so much money to Austria, but they refused to pay because they couldn't. Britain was broke. But Pelham, over the next couple of years, balanced the budget and lowered tariffs and basically brought things to right.

Part 7: And All The Rest

Joe: So I'll give you some highlights. Prince Frederick once again is going to try to topple the Pelham government, but he died in 1751. And when he died, no one else took up his cause. It also means that Britain never had a King Frederick.

Abram: And guess who the person in line's name is. If you guessed George, you're correct. It's George. The third George in a row will be the successor.

Joe: Correct. But most people think George III was George II's son. But he was actually George II's grandson.

Abram: Yeah, it's cool.

Joe: So huge thing. Pelham signed a law to reorganize the calendar. So New Year's Day up to this point was March 25th.

Abram: Wait, what? Why?

Joe: So they were using the old Julian calendar and they had some very weird stuff that I don't fully understand. But New Year's was March 25th. I think that means that, like, March 24th, 1744 would be followed by March 25th, 1745. I'm not 100% sure about that, but the New Year's Day was considered March 25th. They also switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar that we use today.

Joe: So when you're researching this era, it's often very weird because you'll find dates, they have to mark them. Are they Julian dates or Gregorian dates? Because the different countries in Europe didn't even agree on what day of the month it was.

Joe: In 1748, Pelham appointed somebody called Lord Halifax to the Board of Trade overseeing the American colonies. Now, they even wanted to make this Board of Trade role like a cabinet-level position, but George II didn't. So this was a part of an effort to standardize and bring the American colonial governments in line with British policies, but the Americans are gonna hate it. This is the beginnings.

Abram: I mean, they're not the Americans yet, they're the colonists.

Joe: The colonists are not going to like this, and maybe this is the beginning of some additional stress.

Joe: In 1751, Pelham offered to resign. He was starting to have some health problems, and he basically said, hey, George II, can I resign? I want you to make me the Auditor of the Exchequer. He would get a lot of money, like the salary there is like £8,000 a year, which is equivalent of $1.8 million a year today. So he would basically get a very cushy job for the rest of his life. But George II said no, and he gave the job to one of Pelham's relatives instead.

Joe: In 1752, letters arrived to King George that warned him that Pelham was a secret Jacobite. As far as I can tell, George just laughed and threw the letters away.

Joe: Pelham passed those tax reductions that Walpole had wanted. He basically had a very successful government. We won't need to get into the details, but the last couple of years went pretty well.

Joe: In 1753, he passed a law that allowed Jews to become citizens of Britain for the first time.

Abram: Yay!

Joe: It didn't last long because his brother is going to repeal it, which means he'll get some minus points for that.

Abram: I know.

Joe: Yeah, but it was a good start. He also founded the British Museum. He passed a law that said that children under 21 had to have their parents' permission to get married. And that you had to get married in a church unless you're a Quaker or a Jew. This helped the government track who was married and who wasn't. It was sort of like controlling marriage by the government.

Joe: But in December 1753, Pelham became ill.

Abram: Oh no.

Joe: Doctors being doctors at the time —

Abram: Were any of them first name Doctor?

Joe: No, but they bled him.

Abram: That's not good.

Joe: And he seemed to recover. But he didn't recover long. On March 6th, 1754, Henry Pelham died.

Abram: Two in a row.

Joe: He was 59 years old and had been Prime Minister for 10 years, 6 months, and 7 days, possibly minus two.

Joe: Horace Walpole said of him, quote, "Let it be remembered that he died poor." And that wasn't an insult. I mean, Horace Walpole was probably insulting him in other ways, but he was basically saying, you know, he's not corrupt. He died poor. He didn't take the government's money.

Joe: A guy by the name of Chesterfield wrote, quote, "He wished well to the public and managed the finances with great care and personal purity. Upon the whole, he was an honorable man and a well-wishing minister."

Joe: Later on, a historian named Nicholas Tindal will say, "Great Britain never enjoyed such a state of political tranquility as it did when Mr. Pelham was considered in the capacity of First Minister."

Joe: A later historian, Tobias Smollett, will write, "Mr. Pelham was generally esteemed as a man of honesty and candor, accentuated by a sincere love for his country."

Joe: And that is Henry Pelham. Oh, I love him. I don't know about you, but I had a lot of fun. Have you had fun?

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: Right. All right.

Rating

Joe: Accomplishments. Just a reminder. He fought the Jacobite Revolt of 1715. He fought three wars at the same time. Jenkins' Ear, Austrian Succession, and the Jacobite Revolt of 1745. He exerted authority over George II twice. He standardized the calendar. He granted citizenship to some Jews. I'm going pretty high.

Abram: What are you out of 20?

Joe: So just a reminder, Walpole, you were 17 and I was 15. Spencer Compton, we were both 4. Yeah, I'm going 17 for him.

Abram: I'm going 18, which means 35.

Joe: I gotta say, he really defined a lot of what it meant to be a Prime Minister. I think he did better than Walpole.

Abram: Yeah.

Joe: And he did it without being a cheat.

Abram: Uh-huh.

Joe: Next is — disaccomplishments. So disaccomplishments, we can score him up to negative ten for things that he did that unaccomplished something.

Abram: Um, he didn't really undo anything.

Joe: So I have here in my notes he didn't really win the War of Austrian Succession so much as run out of money and make a peace treaty. Britain lost some of the territorial gains, but so did France. Maria Theresa didn't get everything she wanted. His appointment of Halifax is going to impact the colonies later.

Abram: Yeah, that isn't really his fault.

Joe: I mean, he did pass some anti-Catholic laws during the Jacobite Revolt of 1745.

Abram: Yeah, but once again — and this might not be good now, but sort of at the time, I think it may have made a bit more sense.

Joe: So I'm honestly thinking he didn't disaccomplish much.

Abram: I'm going to say negative two.

Joe: I was going to go negative one.

Abram: Which means that's negative three for that.

Joe: Now, for bad personality, we could each score him up to negative ten. I got nothing.

Abram: And that's also how much did he anger people? Yeah, I think zero.

Joe: I think zero too. As far as I can tell, none of the sources mentioned that he cheated on his wife or was corrupt. He seems to have been anti-corruption most of the time. I mean, I got zero.

Abram: Yeah, me too.

Joe: So now we have — how interesting. This is the silver screen. How interesting is his life story?

Abram: This one's going to get pretty interesting. He has a lot of wars. Which obviously gives him — I'd say for that, he already gets four out of ten, but is this out of 20 each?

Joe: So this is out of 10 each. So you scored Walpole 9 and I scored Walpole 10 and we scored Wilmington 2 each. How interesting would a story about him be?

Abram: I think I'm going — what are you going?

Joe: I mean, I gave Walpole a 10. I'm wondering if I shouldn't have, but Walpole did have that time in the Tower of London, but this guy fought in a battle and then he fought three wars. I mean, I'm sorry, I probably went too high with Walpole. What are you going with? I'm just going to go 10 again.

Abram: Me too. Which means that's 20.

Joe: Now we're doing looks. This is Henry Pelham. He looks a lot like Walpole.

Abram: It looks like he's sitting in a chair with a curtain. He looks very fancy.

Joe: What are you going to go with? Just a reminder. So we rate this 10 each, but then we divide by 2.

Abram: Which means it's the only other one besides the lifespan where you can have decimals in it.

Joe: Yeah, so we gave Walpole 2.5 — well, 5 each, and then we divided by 2. And we gave Wilmington 4 each and then divided by 2.

Joe: So, I mean, I like — he's holding a paper. I'm gonna go the same as Walpole, 5.

Abram: Okay, which means I'm gonna go — I just don't like it a lot. I'm going 4. So 9 divided by 2 is 4.5.

Joe: Yep.

Abram: Which means he's the first one to actually get a decimal for that. And that's out of 10.

Joe: That is out of 10.

Joe: Now, before we move on, we have to look at our card.

Abram: Henry Pelham, Whig, 1694 to 1754, in office 1743 to 1754. "Pelham held a vast web of power with his brother and successor, the Duke of Newcastle, and succeeded in challenging King George II by resigning all of his cabinet for two days over conflict with France and Prussia." Okay, and what's his other score?

Joe: Is that it? Lifespan. So he lived —

Abram: 59. I put that at the top because it's like right before, you know, so 5.9 for that.

Joe: 5.9. And how many years was he Prime Minister?

Abram: Is that 10 or 11? I'm not sure.

Joe: He was in charge for 10 and a half years. Which means he'll get 10.

Abram: Which means he'll get 10. We only do decimal points when it's less than a year, we decided.

Joe: Yeah, because we want to give all of them some points in it.

Joe: Abram, I would like you to add those scores up and tell me how many points did Henry Pelham get?

Abram: 72.4.

Joe: Excellent.

Abram: Which is the highest score, and it's a very high score.

Joe: It is a super, super high score. But we know that that score isn't the last question we have to ask.

Abram: Known or ice cream cone? Known. Oh my goodness, known. Definitely known.

Joe: This is a guy that I knew nothing about. And that's just a shame because everything about what went on here is super exciting to me.

Abram: And he got above 70. He got like 15 more than Walpole.

Joe: It's amazing.

Abram: So with that, congratulations, Henry Pelham, you are known and your highest score.

Joe: And you're the highest score so far. Up next, Pulteney.

Abram: William Pulteney. Probably only going to be one part, but our next like real episode is going to be Pelham-Holles.

Joe: There may be — we're not promising — there may be another bonus episode in the middle because there will be a little bit of delay before Pulteney. And if we have enough time, we will do a little bonus. And if not, then we'll have William Pulteney in a couple of weeks. With that, from beautiful Pelham, New Hampshire, thank you for listening. Please like, subscribe, tell your friends. We're small, but we're growing, and we're really excited. Abram. What? Say goodbye.

Abram: Bye.

Joe: Bye-bye.

Bibliography

Abram: Bibliography.

Joe: Just like last time, I'm working off the same two full-length biographies of Henry Pelham, plus my collection of chapter-length ones. The primary source this week was *A Whig in Power: The Political Career of Henry Pelham* by John W. Wilkes, published in 1964. Because of the focus on the War of Austrian Succession and the Jacobite Revolt of 1745, a lot of additional smaller sources were consulted on those conflicts in order to add some color, including from Scottish heritage websites and other online sources.

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