Family[edit]

William was the nephew of Thomas Steele (died 1643), who was shot for surrendering Beeston Castle in the Civil War.^[4] His brother Laurence Steele (bap. 1616) was Clerk of the Irish House of Commons from 1662 to 1697.^[5]


He married firstly in 1638 Elizabeth Godfrey of Kent, daughter of Richard Godfrey, MP for New Romney and Mary Moyle. He married secondly in 1662 Mary Mellish, widow of Michael Harvey (a brother of the noted scientist William Harvey). He had issue by both marriages. His daughter, Mary Steele (died 1673), married George Boddington (1646–1719), a director of the Bank of England.^[6] His grandson was the writer Richard Steele (1672–1729), the son of the elder Richard Steele, William's only son from his first marriage, and his wife Elinor Symes (née Sheyls). The elder Richard was an attorney who spent much of his life in Ireland: he died in 1676.^[7]