STEEL, John (1786-1868), of Derwent Bank, Cockermouth, Cumberland

Remembered as ‘the best judge of port wine in the House’, Steel sat as Liberal MP for his native Cockermouth following a successful legal career.1Gent. Mag. (1869), i. 691. Following in his father’s footsteps, Steel practised as a solicitor in Cockermouth from 1809 to 1852, and was known for his ‘open, courteous, and very accessible’ manners, and his ability to mix ‘freely with all ranks of his native town in their amusements and public assemblies’.2J. Askey, A guide to the interesting places in and around Cockermouth: with an account of its local men and remarkable traditions (1866), 54. As an MP, Steel ‘to the last retained a weakness for the law’, and spent much of his time in London at Lincoln’s Inn. 3R.S. Ferguson, Cumberland and Westmoreland MPs from the Restoration to the Reform Bill of 1867 (1871), 440-1. A gregarious figure, ‘his appearance at the Cumberland dinners in London invariably excited rounds of applause’.4Ibid., 441.

Following an invitation from the borough’s leading Liberals, Steel was returned unopposed for Cockermouth at the August 1854 by-election necessitated by the death of the sitting member.5Standard, 5 Aug. 1854. He voted in the minority against Roebuck’s motion for an inquiry into the condition of the army and the conduct of government departments, 29 Jan. 1855, and thereafter was unwaveringly loyal to Palmerston on all major foreign policy issues, including the vote on Canton, 3 Mar. 1857. He supported the Maynooth grant, 15 Apr. 1856, and voted for the equalisation of the borough and county franchise, 19 Feb. 1857.

At the 1857 general election he offered his ‘firm though independent’ support to Palmerston, and on the China question, he stated that ‘looking on the confusion which prevailed at that crisis, and on the prosperity which now reigns, I consider the present government entitled to our support’.6The Times, 16 Mar. 1857. Re-elected without opposition, he voted for Palmerston’s conspiracy to murder bill, 19 Feb. 1858, and against the short-lived Derby ministry’s reform bill, 31 Mar. 1859. He was also returned unopposed at the general elections of 1859 and 1865.

A frequent attender in his first two Parliaments, Steel’s handful of known contributions to debate all had a legal dimension, though they ultimately made little impact.7In the 1856 session Steel was present for 102 of 198 divisions: J.P. Gassiot, Third letter to J.A. Roebuck: with a full analysis of the divisions of the House of Commons during the last session of Parliament (1857), 4. He opposed a clause in the police (counties and boroughs) bill which demanded that there should be a police constable for every 1,500 inhabitants, arguing that justices of the peace were the best judges of what the police required, 9 May 1856, and in a debate on the joint stock companies bill, he rejected the solicitor general’s proposal for district commissioners for the court of bankruptcy, insisting that such business ‘would be better done by some tribunal in the metropolis’, 26 May 1856. However, both suggestions came to nothing. His amendment to the probates and letters of administration bill, which proposed that in towns with a population over 5,000, the judge should appoint the relevant commissioners, was also withdrawn following advice from the attorney general, 6 July 1857.

A less assiduous attender in the 1860s, Steel remained ‘eminently Palmerstonian’, though he voted for Locke King’s county franchise bill, 13 Mar. 1861, and Baines’ borough franchise bill, 11 May 1864, in opposition to the premier .8Askey, Cockermouth, 54. In 1864 he sat on the select committee on the judgments law amendment bill, when his assiduous questioning reflected his legal expertise.9PP 1864 (396), v. 617. He voted for church rate abolition, 7 Mar. 1866, and the Liberal government’s reform bill, 27 Apr. 1866. During the debates on the Derby ministry’s representation of the people bill, he opposed Gladstone’s amendment to enfranchise compound ratepayers, 12 Apr. 1867, but voted with the Liberal leader against a reduction in the residence qualification from 2 to 1 years, 2 May 1867. He was absent from all the other major divisions on the bill. His health declining, he rarely attended in 1868.

Steel died in harness at his residence at Derwent Bank, Cumberland, on Good Friday 1868.10Leeds Mercury, 13 Apr. 1868. His effects were valued at under £18,000.11England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of wills and administration, 1861-1941, 18 Aug. 1868. Although his parliamentary career never matched his success as a solicitor, he was remembered as ‘popular with all parties in and out of the House’.12Ferguson, Cumberland and Westmoreland MPs, 441. His correspondence with Sir James Graham is located at the British Library.13BL Add Mss. 79714, f. 188; 79715, ff. 21, 54; 79718, ff. 12, 23, 29.