1424 William Peel

Constituency  :  Manchester  South  1900-06 ( Liberal  Unionist ),  Taunton  1909-12  ( Conservative )

William  took  over  at  Manchester  South  when  John  Campbell  became  Duke  of  Argyll.

William  was  the  son  of  the  former  Speaker  Arthur ( now  Viscount ) Peel  and  grandson  of  the  former  Prime  Minister. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Oxford. He  became  a  barrister. In  1897  he  was  the  Daily  Telegraph's  Special  Correspondent  during  the  Greco-Turkish  War. Earlier  in  the  year  William  was  appointed  to  the  Royal  Commission on  the  Port  of  London. He  also  joined  London  County  Council as  part  of  the  Municipal  Reform  grouping. He  became  chairman  of  James  Williamson  and  Company  when  his  father-in-law  died  and  a  director  of  Barclays  and  the  Great  Northern  Railway.

In  1900  William  was  re-elected. In  1906  he  switched   to  Harrow  but  was  narrowly  defeated.

William  was  elected  leader  of  the  Municipal  Reform  Party  in  1908  and  held  the  post  till  1910.

In  1909  William  stood  as  a  Conservative  candidate  in  Taunton  at  a  by-election  and  was  returned.

In  1912   William  inherited  the  viscountcy.

William  became  chairman  of  London  County  Council  in  1914. He  stood  down  two  years  later.

When  war  broke  out,  William  moved  to  France  with  his  regiment,  the  Bedfordshire  Yeomanry  but  returned  due  to  ill  health  in  1915.

In  1918  William  became  Joint  Parliamentary  Secretary  at  the  Department  of  National  Service.  A  year  later  he  became  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  War. In  1921  he  was  promoted  to  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  and  Minister  for  Transport.

In  1922  William  joined  the  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State  for  India  and  held  the  post  after  the  fall  of  Lloyd  George.

William  was  appointed  First  Commissioner  of  Works  in  1924.  He  briefly  returned  to  the  Indian  Office  before  the  1929  election.  He  was  elevated  to  Earl  Peel  in  the  Dissolution  Honours.  He  became  Lord  Privy  Seal  for  two  months  in  1931. He  was  Chairman  of  the  Wheat  Commission  in  1932  and  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor  Law  in  1934. In  1936  he  chaired  the  Peel  Commission  recommending  the  separation  of  Palestine  into  Jewish  and  Arab  states.

He  died  in  1937  after  a  long  illness  aged  70.