Editing Henry Pelham (section)

===Government===
Through strong family influence, and the recommendation of [[Robert Walpole]], he was chosen in 1721 as [[Lord of the Treasury]]. At the [[1722 British general election|1722 general election]] he was returned as MP for Sussex county.<ref name=HOP/>

In 1724 he entered the ministry as [[Secretary at War]], but this office he exchanged in 1730 for the more lucrative one of [[Paymaster of the Forces]]. He made himself conspicuous by his support of Walpole on the question of the [[Robert Walpole#Support|excise]]. He, Newcastle, and the Prime Minister would often meet at [[Houghton Hall]] in Norfolk, where they would draw up much of the country's policy. These meetings became known as the [[Norfolk Congress]]. With Walpole, he served as a founding governor of the popular charity the [[Foundling Hospital]] when it opened its doors in 1739. Like his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, Pelham was an active [[freemason]] of the [[Premier Grand Lodge of England]], active alongside [[John Theophilus Desaguliers]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skirret.com/papers/freemasonry_and_social_england.html|title=Freemasonry and Social England in the Eighteenth Century|last1=Gilbert W. Daynes |date=1 December 2019|work=The Skirret|access-date=1 December 2019}}</ref>

In 1742 a union of parties resulted in the formation of an administration in which Pelham became Prime Minister the following year, succeeding the [[Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington|Earl of Wilmington]] after his death.