Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel, PC (3 August 1829 – 24 October 1912), was a British Liberal politician, who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1895. He was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1884 until 1895, when he was raised to the peerage.
The Viscount Peel | |
|---|---|
 Peel, c. 1890s | |
| Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 26 February 1884 – 8 April 1895 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone Robert Gascoyne-Cecil William Ewart Gladstone Robert Gascoyne-Cecil William Ewart Gladstone Archibald Primrose |
| Preceded by | Sir Henry Brand |
| Succeeded by | Sir William Gully |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs | |
| In office 28 April 1880 – 1 January 1881 | |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | Matthew White Ridley |
| Succeeded by | Leonard Courtney |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 1 August 1873 – 17 February 1874 | |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | George Glyn |
| Succeeded by | William Hart Dyke |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade | |
| In office 14 January 1871 – 1 August 1873 | |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | George Shaw-Lefevre |
| Succeeded by | George Cavendish-Bentinck |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board | |
| In office 10 December 1868 – 14 January 1871 | |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | Michael Hicks Beach |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
Lord Temporal | |
| In office 9 May 1895 – 24 October 1912 | |
| Preceded by | Peerage created |
| Succeeded by | The 2nd Viscount Peel |
| Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington | |
| In office 18 December 1885 – 7 August 1895 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Lyttelton |
| Member of Parliament for Warwick | |
| In office 24 July 1865 – 18 December 1885 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Greaves |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 August 1829 |
| Died | 24 October 1912 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Liberal Unionist |
| Spouse | Adelaide Dugdale (died 1890) |
| Children | 7, including William, George, and Sidney |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Signature |  |
Early life
editPeel was the fifth and youngest son of the Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel by his wife, Julia, the daughter of General Sir John Floyd, 1st Baronet. Peel was named after Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.[1]
Political career
editPeel was elected Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Warwick in the 1865 general election and held the seat until 1885, when it was replaced under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.[2] From 1868 to 1871, he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board and then became Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade. In 1873 to 1874, he was patronage secretary to the Treasury, and in 1880, he became Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs in William Ewart Gladstone's second government.[3] On the retirement of Sir Henry Brand, Peel was elected Speaker of the House of Commons on 26 February 1884.[4]
In the 1885 general election, Peel was elected for Warwick and Leamington. Throughout his career as Speaker, as the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition noted, "he exhibited conspicuous impartiality, combined with a perfect knowledge of the traditions, usages and forms of the House, soundness of judgment, and readiness of decision upon all occasions".[5] Though officially impartial, Peel left the Liberal Party over the issue of Home Rule and became a Liberal Unionist. Peel was also an important ally of Charles Bradlaugh, whose campaigns to have the oath of allegiance changed eventually permitted non-Christians, such as agnostics and atheists, to serve in the House of Commons.
| Mr. Speaker's Retirement Act 1895 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for settling and securing an Annuity upon the Right Honourable Arthur Wellesley Pool in consideration of his eminent Services. |
| Citation | 58 & 59 Vict. c. 10 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 14 May 1895 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 |
Status: Repealed | |
Peel retired for health reasons[3] prior to the 1895 general election and was created Viscount Peel, of Sandy in the County of Bedford, with a pension of £4,000 for life by Mr. Speaker's Retirement Act 1895 (58 & 59 Vict. c. 10).[3] He was presented with the Freedom of the City of London in July of that year.[5] In 1896, he was chairman of a royal commission into the licensing laws. Other members of the commission disagreed with part of his report, and he resigned the chair, which left Sir Algernon West to complete a majority report. However, the report was published in Peel's name and recommended that the number of licensed houses should be greatly reduced. The report was a valuable weapon in the hands of reformers.[3]
Family
editPeel married Adelaide Dugdale (14 November 1839 – 5 December 1890[7]), daughter of William Stratford Dugdale, in 1862. She died in December 1890 and Lord Peel remained a widower until his death in October 1912, aged 83. They had seven children:[7]
- Julia Beatrice Peel (1864–1949) married the Irish Parliamentary Party MP James Rochfort Maguire
- William [Wellesley] Peel (1867–1937) succeeded as 2nd Viscount; created Earl Peel in 1929
- [Arthur] George [Villiers] Peel (1868–1956), politician and author
- Sidney [Cornwallis] Peel (1870–1938), a colonel and, for four years, an MP, created a baronet in 1936
- Agnes [Mary] Peel (1869x71–1959) married the Conservative MP Sydney Goldman.
- Ella [Frances] Peel (1872–1900)
- Maurice Berkeley Peel (1873–1917), Church of England vicar, later a military chaplain, killed in action in the First World War.[8]
References
edit- ^ Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
- ^ Hansard Millbank Systems - Arthur Peel
- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
- ^ HC Deb 26 February 1884 vol 285 cc17-30
- ^ a b One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Peel, Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 39–40.
- ^ "Google Maps". www.google.com/maps. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ "Peel, Maurice Berkeley". Winchester College Great War. Winchester College. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
External links
edit
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Peel
- Inspector Denning & Arthur Peel - Victorian Parliament - UK Parliament Living Heritage
- The Rowers of Vanity Fair - Peel, Arthur Wellesley (Viscount Peel) - "The Speaker"
- Portraits of Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel at the National Portrait Gallery, London
