Major Sir David Edward Charles Steel DSO MC TD (29 November 1916 – 9 August 2004) was an English army officer, lawyer, and businessman.

His father was private secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty throughout the First World War, and later general manager of the British Aluminium Company.

[1] Steel was educated at Rugby School, and University College, Oxford, where he received a bachelor's degree in law.

[2] Steel was a tank commander in the Second World War, and was awarded the DSO* and an MC.

[3] At the end of 1974, Steel succeeded Sir Eric Drake as chairman of BP.