John Thomas Pelham styled The Honourable from birth, was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Anglican clergyman.

Background and education

He was the third son of Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester

Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester

Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester PC, PC , FRS , styled The Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1768 until 1783, The Right Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1783 to 1801, and then known as Lord Pelham until 1805, was a British Whig politician...

 and his wife Lady Mary Henrietta Juliana Osborne, eldest daughter of Francis Godolphin Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds. His older brothers were Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester and Frederick Thomas Pelham

Frederick Thomas Pelham

Rear Admiral Frederick Thomas Pelham CB was an Royal Navy officer who went on to be Second Naval Lord.-Naval career:...

, a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. Pelham was educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

 and went then to Christ Church College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1832 and Master of Arts four years thereafter. In 1857, he received a Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

 by the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

.

Career

Pelham was ordained by Charles James Blomfield

Charles James Blomfield

Charles James Blomfield was a British divine, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.-Early life:Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and educated at the local grammar school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and the Craven...

, at that time Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

, in 1834 and assumed the post as deacon of Eastergate

Eastergate

Eastergate is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is located five miles east of Chichester...

, befriending Henry Edward Manning. In 1837, he was appointed rector at Bergh Apton

Bergh Apton

Bergh Apton is a village and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, 7 miles south-east of Norwich just south of the A146 between Yelverton and Thurton...

 until 1852, when he was transferred as curate to Christ Church, Hampstead

Christ Church, Hampstead

Christ Church Hampstead is a Church of England church in Hampstead, London. It is the original church of Hampstead and the Heath.-History:The present church was erected between 1850 and 1852 to designs by the architect Samuel Daukes in the Early English Gothic style. In 1860 a timber gallery was...

. After three years, he became rector of Marylebone

Marylebone

Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....

 and in 1857 on the resignation of Samuel Hinds

Samuel Hinds (bishop)

Samuel Hinds, DD , was a British clergyman. He was appointed Bishop of Norwich in 1849 and resigned in 1857. Hinds was of the Anglo-Catholic persuasion. He had strong links with the colonisation of New Zealand and the town of Hinds, New Zealand is named after him.-Life:Hinds was born in Barbados...

, he was consecrated the 64th Bishop of Norwich

Bishop of Norwich

The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...

. From 1847, he served as chaplain to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Pelham retired as bishop in 1893 and spent the next year in Thorpe, Norfolk.

Family and death

On 6 November 1845, Pelham married Henrietta Tatton, second daughter of Thomas William Tatton, and had by her four sons and a daughter. His oldest child was the scholar Henry Francis Pelham

Henry Francis Pelham

Henry Francis Pelham was an English scholar and historian. He was the son of John Thomas Pelham , bishop of Norwich, third son of Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester....

. He died in 1894 and already one year later a monument to his reminiscence was positioned in one of the transepts of Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral is a cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Formerly a Catholic church, it has belonged to the Church of England since the English Reformation....

.