Born in Sagan in the Prussian Province of Silesia in 1847, Pelldram passed the matriculation examination in 1865, and studied jurisprudence at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin from 1866 to 1869.

[1] He was promoted to Leutnant (the equivalent of Second Lieutenant) in 1869 and on the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, served with his regiment as a part of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division in the Second Army commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia.

[1] In 1876, Pelldram entered the service of the Imperial Foreign Office and a year later was posted to the Consulate-General in Odessa, Russian Empire and not long after as a Vice-Consul at the German Embassy in St. Petersburg under Ambassador Hans Lothar von Schweinitz.

[3] Pelldram was well receivedin the colony, with the Sydney Mail later noting: "In Herr Peldram we have a man of ' marked importance and ability,' and, as the Iron Cross conferred upon him testifies, of much higher qualities than the authority quoted laid down as a sine qua non.

"[1] Pelldram served as acting-Consul for Austria-Hungary in 1893 and 1894 and consequently hosted Archduke Franz Ferdinand on his visit to Sydney in May 1893 on board the SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth.