Sir William Arthur Steward (20 April 1901 – May 1987) was a British Conservative party politician, who served 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 o ...

for Woolwich West from 1950 to 1959. Steward was educated at Norwich Model School and privately and became a restaurateur and farmer. He served as senior catering officer with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, obtaining the rank of

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

. He was a liveryman of the

Worshipful Company of Distillers The Worshipful Company of Distillers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Distillers' Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1638 as proposed by Thomas Cademan and Theodore de Mayerne, physicians to Queen Henrie ...

and a member of the Council of the Caterers' Association. The

Veeraswamy Veeraswamy is an Indian restaurant in London, located at 99-101 Regent Street. It was opened in 1926 by Edward Palmer, an Anglo-Indian retired British Indian Army officer, the grandson of an English general and an Indian princess. It is the old ...

restaurant in Regent Street, which had originated as the Indian Pavilion restaurant at the 1924-5

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibi ...

Wembley Park Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross. The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broade ...

, was taken over by Steward in 1930. He was married to a singer and artist of the time Greta Gaye. Throughout the 1930s trade was very difficult but the couple used great resourcefulness and came through the challenging times. In the 1940s and 1950s the restaurant became a great success. The first ever curry in a can was introduce under Veeraswarmy Food Products brand in the early 1950s. The restaurant was sold by Sir William in 1967. The food products business under the Veeraswarmy name continued in to be owned by the couple until his death. Steward stood in Southwark Central at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

without success, and was elected at the 1950 general election for Woolwich West. Continuing his interest in catering, he was chairman of 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. T ...

Catering Committee from 1951. He was elected chairman of the London Conservative Union in 1953. He was knighted in 1955.

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* 1901 births 1987 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Royal Air Force officers UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 Members of London County Council Knights Bachelor {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1900s-stub