Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

British War Medal 1914-20 (Rev. H. S. Pelham.) very fine £80-£100

Herbert Sidney Pelham was born at Bradmore Road, Oxford in June 1881. He was the third son of classical scholar Henry Francis Pelham and Laura Priscilla Buxton, daughter of Sir Edward Buxton, 2nd Baronet. Pelham’s grandfather was Bishop of Norwich Hon. John Thomas Pelham, third son of the 3rd Earl of Chichester. His elder brother was the civil servant Sir Edward Pelham, K.C.B.

Pelham was educated at Harrow School and University College, Oxford, and his first posts after ordination were at inner-city Missions. After which he was Chaplain to Henry Wakefield, Bishop of Birmingham, Head of the Harrow Mission, and Vicar of Barking - a post he held until 1926 when he was elevated to the Episcopate. Pelham was Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness from 1926 until his death in 1944. He was also the author of the book The Training of a Working Boy, served with the Y.M.C.A. during the Great War, and is buried in Aldingham Churchyard, Cumbria.