Gabriel Steward (1731–1792) was an East India Company official and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1778 and 1790. Steward was the son of Gabriel Steward and his wife Sarah Wrangham. His family was from Scotland and lived at St. Helena in the early part of the eighteenth century. Later they settled at Weymouth. He served the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

for fifteen years in India in several positions, some of considerable rank. He married Rebecca Tucker, daughter of Richard Tucker of Weymouth before 1766. Steward was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in a by-election in 1778 to replace his wife’s uncle John Tucker. Tucker also controlled three seats at Weymouth and when he died on 9 October 1779, control of the seats passed to Steward. He also succeeded to Tucker’s post of paymaster of the marines, which he kept by placing his parliamentary interest at the Treasury’s disposal and by voting regularly with each successive Administration. He was mayor of Weymouth in 1780 and being returning officer when Parliament was dissolved unexpectedly, he was ineligible to stand in the 1780 general election. Instead he returned Warren Lisle, an elderly relation of his wife, who resigned when Steward’s term of office finished. Steward’s election expenses in the by-election of £500 seem to have been paid by the Treasury. He was returned again at Weymouth in 1784. In 1786 he vacated his seat to accommodate an Administration candidate, George Jackson. Jackson resigned in order to contest Colchester in 1788 and Steward returned himself, staying until the 1790 general election Steward died on 9 January 1792.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steward, Gabriel 1731 births 1792 deaths British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis