Jonathan Peel

The Right Honourable Jonathan Peel
Secretary of State for War
In office 26 February 1858 – 11 June 1859
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Derby
Preceded by	The Lord Panmure
Succeeded by	The Lord Herbert of Lea
In office 6 July 1866 – 8 March 1867
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Derby
Preceded by	The Marquess of Hartington
Succeeded by	Sir John Pakington, Bt
Personal details
Born	12 October 1799 (1799-10-12)
Died	12 October 1799 (1879-02-14) Marble Hall, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Lady Alice Kennedy (d. 1887)

Jonathan Peel, PC (12 October 1799 – 13 February 1879) was a British soldier, Conservative politician and racehorse owner.

Background and education

Peel was the fifth son of Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet, and his first wife Ellen (née Yates), and the younger brother of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet. He was educated at Rugby.

Military career

Peel was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade as a 2nd Lieutenant in June 1815. His later steady rise through the ranks was obtained by purchase. Peel served as a lieutenant in the 71st Highlanders from 1819-21 and in the Grenadier Guards from 1822 to 1825, as a Major in the 69th Foot from 1826 to 1827, as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 53rd Foot in 1827, when he was placed on half-pay. He was promoted to brevet Colonel in 1841, to Major-General in 1854 and to Lieutenant-General in 1859.

Political career

Peel's political career started when he was elected Member of Parliament for Norwich in 1826. He lost this seat in 1830 but returned to Parliament the following year as one of two representatives for Huntingdon, a seat he held until 1868.

He served under his brother as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance from 1841-46 and was Secretary of State for War (with a seat in the cabinet) under the Earl of Derby between 1858 and 1859 and 1866 and 1867. In the latter office he was considered competent and successful and became very popular. However, he resigned in March 1867 in protest against the proposed electoral reforms. He had been admitted to the Privy Council in 1858.

Racing

Apart from his military and political career Peel was also an owner of racehorses, and in 1844 his horse Orlando won the Derby, after another horse, Running Rein, had been disqualified.

Personal life & death

Lady Alice Jane Peel by James Thomson (Thompson), after Mary Green (née Byrne), 1833

Peel married, on 19 March 1824, Lady Alice Jane, youngest daughter of Archibald Kennedy, first Marquis of Ailsa, by whom he had eight children, five sons and three daughters. Their second son, Edmund Yates Peel, became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army. Their fourth son, John Peel, achieved the rank of Lieutenant-General in the Army. Their second daughter Alice married the diplomat Sir Robert Morier. Their youngest daughter, Adelaide Georgiana, married Michael Biddulph, M.P.

Jonathan Peel died in February 1879, aged 79, at his seat, Marble Hall, Twickenham, Middlesex, on 13 February 1879, and was buried in Twickenham new cemetery on 19 February. His widow died in 1887.

See also

• Earl Peel

Sources

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Peel, Sir Robert" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Boase, George Clement (1895). "Peel, Jonathan" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 44. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Eadie, Emma. "Peel, Jonathan (1799–1879)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21760. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Jonathan Peel
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs