Richard Steele

This article is about the 18th-century author. For others, Cavalry in order to support King Williams wars against
see Richard Steele (disambiguation).
France. He was commissioned in 1697, and rose to the
Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 1 September rank of captain within two years.[2] Steele left the army
in 1705, perhaps due to the death of the 34th Foots commanding ocer, Lord Lucas, which limited his opportunities of promotion.
In 1706 Steele was appointed to a position in the household of Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne,
Queen of Great Britain. He also gained the favour of
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford.

2 In politics
Steele became a Whig Member of Parliament in 1713,
for Stockbridge.[3] He was soon expelled for issuing a
pamphlet in favour of the Hanoverian succession. When
George I of Great Britain came to the throne in the following year, Steele was knighted and given responsibility
for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. He returned
to parliament in 1715, for Boroughbridge.[4]
While at Drury Lane, Steele wrote and directed the
sentimental comedy The Conscious Lovers, which was an
immediate hit. However, he fell out with Addison and
with the administration over the Peerage Bill (1719), and
in 1724 he retired to his wifes homeland of Wales, where
he spent the remainder of his life.[5]
Steele was a member of the Kit-Kat Club. Both Steele
and Addison became closely associated with Childs
[6]
Sir Richard Steele by Godfrey Kneller c.1712, National Portrait Coee-house in St Pauls Churchyard.
Gallery, London (one of the "Kit-Cat Portraits")

1729) was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as

co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator.

3 Later life
Steele remained in Carmarthen after his wife Marys
death, and was buried there, at St Peters Church. During
restoration of the church in 2000, his skull was discovered in a lead casket, having previously been accidentally
disinterred during the 1870s.

Early life

Steele was born in Dublin, Ireland in March 1672 to

Richard Steele, an attorney, and Elinor Symes (ne
Sheyles); his sister Katherine was born the previous year.
Steele was largely raised by his uncle and aunt, Henry
Gascoigne and Lady Katherine Mildmay.[1] A member of
the Protestant gentry, he was educated at Charterhouse
School, where he rst met Addison. After starting at
Christ Church in Oxford, he went on to Merton College,
Oxford, then joined the Life Guards of the Household

4 Works
Steeles rst published work, The Christian Hero (1701),
attempted to point out the dierences between perceived
and actual masculinity. Written while Steele served in
the army, it expressed his idea of a pamphlet of moral
1

REFERENCES

1709, and appeared three times a week: on Tuesdays,

Thursdays, and Saturdays. Steele wrote this periodical
under the pseudonym Isaac Bickersta and gave Bickersta an entire, fully developed personality.
Steele described his motive in writing The Tatler as to
expose the false arts of life, to pull o the disguises of
cunning, vanity, and aectation, and to recommend a
general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our
behavior. Steele founded the magazine, and although
he and Addison collaborated, Steele wrote the majority
of the essays; Steele wrote roughly 188 of the 271 total
and Addison 42, with 36 representing the pairs collaborative works. While Addison contributed to The Tatler,
it is widely regarded as Steeles work.

Sir Richard Steeles House at Llangunnor near Carmarthen, 1797

The Tatler was closed down to avoid the complications

of running a Whig publication that had come under Tory
attack.[7] Addison and Steele then founded The Spectator
in 1711 and also the Guardian in 1713.

instruction. The Christian Hero was ultimately ridiculed

for what some thought was hypocrisy because Steele did
not necessarily follow his own preaching. He was criti- 6 Family
cized for publishing a booklet about morals when he himself enjoyed drinking, occasional dueling, and debauch- In 1705, Steele married a widow, Margaret Stretch, who
ery around town.
died in the following year. At her funeral he met his secSteele wrote a comedy that same year titled The Funeral. ond wife, Mary Scurlock, whom he nicknamed Prue
This play met with wide success and was performed at and married in 1707. In the course of their courtship and
Drury Lane, bringing him to the attention of the King and marriage, he wrote over 400 letters to her. Mary died
the Whig party. Next, Steele wrote The Lying Lover, one in 1718, at a time when she was considering separation.
of the rst sentimental comedies, but a failure on stage. Their daughter, Elizabeth (Steeles only surviving legiti[8]
In 1705, Steele wrote The Tender Husband with contri- mate child), married John Trevor, 3rd Baron Trevor.
butions from Addisons, and later that year wrote the pro- Steele had an illegitimate child, Elizabeth Ousley, whom
logue to The Mistake, by John Vanbrugh, also an impor- he later adopted.
tant member of the Whig Kit-Kat Club with Addison and
Steele.

7 In literature
5

Publications
Steele plays a minor role in the novel The History of Henry
Esmond by William Makepeace Thackeray. It is during
his time with the Life Guards, where he is mostly referred
to as Dick the Scholar and makes mention of his friend
Joe Addison. Thackeray depicts Steele in glowing terms
as a warm, generous, talented mentor who befriends the
title character in his youth and remains loyal to him for
years despite their political dierences.

8 References
[1] Dammers, Richard H. (1982). Richard Steele. Boston:
Twayne Publishers. p. 1. ISBN 9780805768374.
Of the 271 essays published in The Tatler, Joseph Addison (left)
wrote 42, Richard Steele (right) wrote roughly 188, and the rest
were collaborations between the two writers.

The Tatler, Steeles rst journal, rst came out on 12 April

[2] Steele, Sir Richard.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26347. (Subscription or UK public
library membership required.)

[3] Hanham, Andrew A. (2002). Steele, Richard (16721729), of Bloomsbury Square, London, and Llangunnor,
Carm.. In Hayton, David; Cruickshanks, Eveline; Handley, Stuart. The House of Commons 1690-1715. The
History of Parliament Trust.
[4] Lea, R. S. (1970). Steele, Richard (1672-1729), of Llangunnor, Carm.. In Sedgwick, Romney. The House of
Commons 1715-1754. The History of Parliament Trust.
[5] The Life of Sir Richard Steele. Luminarium: Anthology
of English Literature.
[6] Michael North (2008). 'Material Delight and the Joy of
Living': Cultural Consumption in the Age of Enlightenment
in Germany. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 154. ISBN 9780-7546-5842-9. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
[7] Ross Eaman (12 October 2009). The A to Z of Journalism.
Scarecrow Press. pp. 2712. ISBN 978-0-8108-7067-3.
Retrieved 2 June 2013.
[8] Elizabeth (Steele), Lady Trevor.
Gallery, London.

National Portrait

See also
List of abolitionist forerunners

10

External links

Works by Richard Steele at Project Gutenberg

Works by or about Richard Steele at Internet
Archive
Essays by Steele at Quotidiana.org
Dobson, Austin (1886). Richard Steele. New York:
D. Appleton & Co.

11

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