William Steuart (25 May 1686 – 13 September 1768) of Seatter, Orkney was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

from 1713 to 1741. An agent of the 2nd Duke of Argyll, he pursued Argyll's interests in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and without, and held a succession of public offices.

Early life

Steuart was the only son of Thomas Steuart, commissary and stewart clerk of Orkney, Scotland and his second wife Isobel Young, daughter of Andrew Young of Castle Yards, Orkney. He was educated at

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Aberdonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...

in 1701, becoming an advocate in 1707. He was an agent of the Duke of Argyll and his brother, Lord Ilay and under their patronage he obtained a place as principal clerk of the Scottish Exchequer worth £500 p.a. in 1705. After the Union, the post was abolished by the Act establishing the Scottish exchequer court and he was compensated with a joint post as King's remembrancer of the Scottish Exchequer in 1708 which he held for the rest of his life.

Career

Steuart stood as Court candidate for

Tain Burghs Tain Burghs was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832, sometimes known as Northern Burghs. It was represented by one Member of P ...

at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

but was unsuccessful. At the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election was held on 22 August 1713 to 12 November 1713, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain. It produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 R ...

he was returned as Member of Parliament for Inverness Burghs. Argyll and Ilay had split with Robert Harley and Steuart's return was a hostile act towards ministerial interests, and a reprisal against the Jacobite former member. Steuart followed the Hanoverian line of his patrons and voted against the expulsion of Richard Steele on 18 March. He voted in favour of extending the schism bill to cover Catholic education on 12 May, and was a teller against a Scottish Tory initiative for the investigation of episcopal revenues in Scotland on 3 July. He was appointed secretary to the Prince of Wales for Scotland in 1714. At the

1715 British general election The 1715 British general election was held on 22 January 1715 to 9 March 1715, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain. It returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliam ...

Steuart was returned unopposed as MP for Inverness Burghs, but was unsuccessful standing for Orkney and Shetland. He voted with the Government from 1715, except on the motion against Argyll's rival, Lord Cadogan, on 4 June 1717. He was a director of the

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

from 1716 to 1719. At the

1722 British general election The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Tha ...

he was returned as MP for

Ayr Burghs Ayr Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliamen ...

. In about 1724 Argyll and Ilay quarrelled, and never spoke to each another for many years after. During this time, Steuart acted as a channel of communication between the two brothers. He lost his post to the Prince of Wales when George became King in 1727. At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

, he was returned unopposed as MP for Ayr Burghs and for Elgin Burghs, but chose to sit for Ayr Burghs. He was appointed paymaster of pensions in 1731 and was returned again for Ayr Burghs in the consequential by-election. At the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scot ...

he was returned unopposed for Elgin Burghs alone. By 1739 he was appointed overseer of the King's swans and was in possession of offices worth £1,400. When Argyll went into opposition in 1739, Steuart continued in support of Ilay. He retired from Parliament at the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

Later life and legacy

Steuart married Frances Cheyne, the daughter of Dr. George Cheyne of Bath, in 1741, but had no children. He died on 13 September 1768.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steuart, William 1686 births 1768 deaths People from Orkney Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish lawyers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741