Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} (3 August 1829{{snd}}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.

Early life

Peel 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.[https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1886londuoft Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886]

Political career

Peel 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.[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-arthur-peel/index.html Hansard Millbank Systems - Arthur Peel] 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} On the retirement of Sir Henry Brand, Peel was elected Speaker of the House of Commons on 26 February 1884.[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1884/feb/26/election-of-a-speaker#S3V0285P0_18840226_HOC_6 HC Deb 26 February 1884 vol 285 cc17-30]

File:Arthur Wellesley Peel NPG.jpg

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".{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Peel, Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount|volume=21|pages=39–40}} 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.

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Mr. Speaker's Retirement Act 1895

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom

| long_title = An Act for settling and securing an Annuity upon the Right Honourable Arthur Wellesley Peel in consideration of his eminent Services.

| year = 1895

| citation = 58 & 59 Vict. c. 10

| introduced_commons =

| introduced_lords =

| territorial_extent =

| royal_assent = 14 May 1895

| commencement =

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| repeal_date =

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| replaces =

| amendments =

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971

| related_legislation =

| status = repealed

| legislation_history =

| theyworkforyou =

| millbankhansard =

| original_text = https://books.google.com/books?id=3eAuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13

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| collapsed = yes

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Peel retired for health reasons{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} 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 {{visible anchor|Mr. Speaker's Retirement Act 1895}} (58 & 59 Vict. c. 10).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was presented with the Freedom of the City of London in July of that year. 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

A street in Warwick, Peel Road, was named in his honour.{{Cite web|title=Google Maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Peel+Rd,+Warwick/@52.2896053,-1.5908115,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4870cb3ee2081029:0xd298137463ac4e43!8m2!3d52.289602!4d-1.5886228|access-date=2021-12-27|website=www.google.com/maps}}

Family

Peel married Adelaide Dugdale (14 November 1839 – 5 December 1890{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/|title=Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records|website=www.ancestry.com|access-date=2019-10-17}}), 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:

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.{{cite web |title=Peel, Maurice Berkeley |url=https://www.winchestercollegeatwar.com/RollofHonour.aspx?RecID=388&TableName=ta_wwifactfile |website=Winchester College Great War |publisher=Winchester College |access-date=13 April 2020}}

References

External links

{{Hansard-contribs | mr-arthur-peel | the Viscount Peel }}
[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentwork/offices-and-ceremonies/collections/police-in-parliament/inspector-dennings-retirement/ Inspector Denning & Arthur Peel - Victorian Parliament - UK Parliament Living Heritage]
The Rowers of Vanity Fair - Peel, Arthur Wellesley (Viscount Peel) - "The Speaker"
{{NPG name|name=Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for Warwick

|with=George Repton 1865–1868, 1874–1885

|with2=Edward Greaves 1868–1874

|years=1865–1885}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington|years=1885–1895 by-election}}

{{s-ttl|title=Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board|years=1868–1871}}

{{s-ttl|title=Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade|years=1871–1874}}

{{s-ttl|title=Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury|years=1873–1874}}

{{s-ttl|title=Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department|years=1880–1881}}