Herbert Pelham was the son of Anthony Pelham of Bucksteep (Warbleton) in Sussex by his wife Margaret Hall. He was born about 1546 and matriculated at Queens college Cambridge in 1562 aged 20 and lived at Hellingly and Crawley in Sussex. He purchased the Manor at Michelham in 1587 and was sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, Burgess of Winchelsea and Reigate. He married in Wherwell Hampshire to Elizabeth West on 12th Feb 1593/4 and they had 3 sons (Thomas, Anthony (who took holy orders) and Jonathan; as well as 2 daughters Anne who became the wife of the Rev. Edward Clarke; and Elizabeth who was born 27 Apr 1604 at Hellingly who became the wife of . In his later life Herbert Pelham suffered considerable debt and had to sell most of his property and moved to Fordington & Compton Vallence to live. He was a close friend to the Rev Edward Pele who signed this register and died intestate at Fordington in 1620. See Wills index for 27 May 1620.

FAMILY AND EDUCATION
b. c.1546, o.s. of Anthony Pelham of Hendall manor in Bucksteep, Warbleton, Suss. by Margaret Hall, wid. of Percy de Buckthorpe of Suss. educ. Queens’, Camb. 1562. m. (1) Katherine (d. by 1612), da. of John Thatcher, of Priesthawes, Westham, Suss., 3s. 1da.; (2) Elizabeth (d. 15 Jan. 1639), da. of Thomas West, 2nd Baron de la Warr, 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 1566.

OFFICES HELD
Sheriff, Surr. and Suss. Apr.-Nov. 1576, 1590-1; j.p. Suss. 1582-7; brodhull rep. 1583; bailiff to Yarmouth 1583; freeman, Winchelsea 22 Jan. 1583, jurat 7 Apr. 1583.2
Biography In the sixteenth century Bucksteep was the seat of a cadet branch of the Sussex Pelhams. When Pelham became head of this branch, he inherited lands in Sussex, Dorset, Kent, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Surrey, Yorkshire and ‘elsewhere within the realm of England’. Through a fortunate second marriage, he gained the manor of Compton Valance in Dorset.

An active member of the Winchelsea corporation, Pelham would naturally have found a borough seat there when he was unsuccessful for the county in 1584. He had already served once as sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, and had been imprisoned by the lord treasurer for refusing to do so a second time. When summoned before the Privy Council for this refusal in April 1582, he gave as excuse his residence within the liberty of the Cinque Ports. He was on the commission of the peace for only three years. A 1587 report on Sussex justices explained that he was dropped because his judgment was unreliable.

Pelham’s purchase, in October 1587, of the site of Michelham priory, was followed by financial troubles, though these may have derived from the failing business of his brother-in-law Anthony Morley, a Sussex ironmaster. In 1590 he borrowed £400 from John Michell of Cuckfield, Sussex, and in 1599 his entire interest in Michelham was made over to his relative, Thomas Pelham of Laughton and two others, as trustees for sale, to provide an annuity of £400 a year and to discharge the debts. On 6 Apr. 1601 the trustees sold Michelham to Lord Buckhurst for £4,700. Pelham also disposed of estates at Whatlington and Peplesham. He died intestate 12 Apr. 1620.