Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland, 1st Baronet

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Sir Arthur Herbert Drummond Ramsay Steel-Maitland, 1st Baronet (5 July 1876-30 March 1935) was a British Conservative politician.

The second son of Colonel E. H. Steel and Emmeline, daughter of General Henry Drummond, he was educated at Rugby and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a classical Scholar and Eldon Scholar in 1899. He gained first class honours in classics and law, and became a Fellow of All Souls College in 1900. He was Secretary, Junior Treasurer and President of the Oxford Union Society, and rowed against Cambridge in 1899.

In 1901 he married Mary, daughter of Sir James Ramsay-Gibson Maitland, 4th Baronet, of Barnton and Sauchie.

He unsuccessfully contested Rugby in 1906, and was a Special Commissioner to the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1906-1907. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Birmingham East from 1910-1918, for Birmingham Erdington from 1918-1929 and for Tamworth from 1929 until 1935.

He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1915-1917; Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Secretary for Overseas Trade in his capacity as Head of the Department of Overseas Trade (Development and Intelligence) from 1917-1919. He was Minister of Labour from November 1924-June 1929. He was Chairman of the Unionist Party in 1911.

He was created a Baronet in 1917 and appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1924. He was awarded honorary degrees of LLD by Edinburgh University and St Andrews University. He was succeeded to the baronetcy by his son Arthur James Drummond.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir John Benjamin Stone
Member of Parliament for Birmingham East
January 19101918
Succeeded by
constituency abolished
Preceded by
new constituency
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington
19181929
Succeeded by
Charles James Simmons
Preceded by
Sir Edward Iliffe
Member of Parliament for Tamworth
19291935
Succeeded by
Sir John Mellor
Political offices
Preceded by
The Lord Islington
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
1915–1917
Succeeded by
William Hewins
Preceded by
New office
Secretary for Overseas Trade
1917–1919
Succeeded by
Sir Hamar Greenwood
Preceded by
Thomas Shaw
Minister of Labour
1924-29
Succeeded by
Margaret Bondfield
Party political offices
Preceded by
-
Chairman of the Conservative Party
1911-16
Succeeded by
George Younger
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New creation
Baronet
(of Sauchie)
1917–1935
Succeeded by
Arthur Ramsay-Steel-Maitland