Sir Samuel Barber Strang Steel of Philiphaugh, 1st Baronet,

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...

(1 August 1882 – 14 August 1961) was a landowner and

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politician in the

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. He was

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 o ...

(MP) for Ashford from 1918 to 1929.

Early life

Samuel Strang Steel was the only son of William Steel, who founded Steel Brothers & Co with his older brother James in Burma and his wife Rosetta Barber (married 25 October 1881). William and Rosetta Steel were divorced in Scotland in 1888.

Education

Samuel Strang Steel was educated at Cargilfield Preparatory School, Edinburgh and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, before going on to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

in 1900 and graduating BA (1903) and MA (1908). He was admitted to

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in 1902 and was called to the bar in 1905, but appears not to have practised as a barrister.

Family life

On 3 August 1910 he married the Hon. Vere Mabel Cornwallis (died 1964), daughter of Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis and his wife Mabel Leigh. They had five children: * Fiennes William Strang Steel, 2nd Baronet. * Jock Wykeham Strang Steel (1914-1991), married Lesley Graham, daughter of Sir John Reginald Graham of Larbert Bt, VC. * James Malcolm Strang Steel, Lieutenant Grenadier Guards,(1919-1943) killed in action WW2. * Grizel Mabel Strang Steel (1921-2000). * Robert Stanley Strang Steel (1934-2011).

Career

In 1910, Samuel Strang Steel stood, unsuccessfully, as the Liberal Unionist candidate for

Peebles and Selkirk Peebles and Selkirk was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1868 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system. Boundaries The ...

in the two general elections that year. Samuel Strang Steel succeeded his father, William Strang Steel, at Philiphaugh in 1911. During the 1st World War he served, as a Major, with the

Lothians and Border Horse The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian ( Ha ...

on the Macedonian front. He was first commissioned into the Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars on 20 March 1901. After the war he was elected at the 1918 general election as the MP for Ashford Kent, holding the seat until the 1929 election, when he lost the seat to the Rev.

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, the Liberal Party candidate. He was Permanent Private Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture (Sir Robert Sanders) (1923–24) and to the

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The financial secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Excheq ...

( Walter Guinness) (1925). He was President of the Scottish Unionist Association (1937–38 and 1942–3). He was created a Baronet for "political and public services in Scotland" on 2 July 1938. Samuel Strang Steel was a Director of the London and North Eastern Railway, which named a LNER Class B1 No 61244 locomotive 'Strang Steel', and of the Bank of Scotland. He served with distinction as a Forestry Commissioner (1932-1949). He built up the Scottish Co-operative Forestry Society Ltd which merged with the Scottish Woodland Owners' Association. During the war he was appointed Deputy Controller of the Home Grown Timber Production Department responsible for its activities in Scotland. He was a County Councillor for Selkirkshire and Convenor (1946). He was Lord Lieutenant of Selkirkshire from 1948 to 1956. He was a member of The Queen's Bodyguard for Scotland, Royal Company of Archers, promoted to Ensign (1953).

Succession

Sir Samuel died on 14 August 1961. He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir (Fiennes) William Strang Steel (1912-1992) as 2nd Baronet. Sir William was educated at

and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served in the

17th/21st Lancers The 17th/21st Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers and the 21st Lancers in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated with the 16th/5th The Quee ...

during WW2. He was a Forestry Commissioner (1958-1967) and a member of Selkirk County Council (convenor 1967). He married, on 7 August 1941, Joan only daughter of Brigadier-General Sir Brodie Henderson KCMG, CB, who died 1992.

References

General references

*
ThePeerage.com
* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Samuel Strang 1882 births 1961 deaths People educated at Cargilfield School People educated at Eton College Steel, Sir Samuel, 1st Baronet Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 Lord-Lieutenants of Selkirkshire