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Chief Secretary for Ireland
Arms of the Kingdom of Ireland
Style	The Right Honourable as a member of the Privy Council
Residence	Chief Secretary's Lodge (from 1776)
Appointer	The Lord Lieutenant
Term length	At the pleasure of the Lord Lieutenant
Inaugural holder	Edward Waterhouse
Formation	20 January 1566
Final holder	Sir Hamar Greenwood
Abolished	19 October 1922

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland, roughly equivalent to the role of a Secretary of State, such as the similar role of Secretary of State for Scotland. Usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the British Cabinet. The Chief Secretary was ex officio President of the Local Government Board for Ireland from its creation in 1872.

British rule over much of Ireland came to an end as the result of the Irish War of Independence, which culminated in the establishment of the Irish Free State. In consequence the office of Chief Secretary was abolished, as well as that of Lord Lieutenant. Executive responsibility within the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland was effectively transferred to the President of the Executive Council (i.e. the prime minister) and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland respectively.

History of the office

The dominant position of the Lord Lieutenant at Dublin Castle had been central to the British administration of the Kingdom of Ireland for much of its history. Poynings' Law in particular meant that the Parliament of Ireland lacked an independent power of legislation, and the Crown kept control of executive authority in the hands of the Lord Lieutenant and its own appointees, rather than in the hands of ministers responsible to the Irish parliament.

In 1560, Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland ordered the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Sussex, to appoint John Challoner of Dublin as Secretary of State for Ireland "because at this present there is none appointed to be Clerk of our Council there, and considering how more meet it were, that in our realm there were for our honour one to be our Secretary there for the affairs of our Realm". The appointment of a Secretary was intended to both improve Irish administration, and to keep the Lord Lieutenant in line. The role of Secretary of State for Ireland and Chief Secretary of Ireland were originally distinct positions, Thomas Pelham being the first individual appointed to both offices concurrently in 1796.

Over time, the post of Chief Secretary gradually increased in importance, particularly because of his role as manager of legislative business for the Government in the Irish House of Commons, in which he sat as an MP. While the Irish administration was not responsible to the parliament, it nevertheless needed to manage and influence it in order to ensure the passage of legislation.

Chief Secretary Viscount Castlereagh played a key role in the enactment of the Act of Union which passed in the Irish Parliament on its second attempt in 1800 through the exercise of patronage and direct bribery. Upon the Union on 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland was merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish parliament ceased to exist. However, the existing system of administration in Ireland continued broadly in place, with the offices of Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary retaining their respective roles.

The last Chief Secretary to represent an Irish constituency while in office was Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, MP for County Louth, who served from 1868 to 1871.

The last Chief Secretary was Sir Hamar Greenwood, who left office in October 1922. The Irish Free State, comprising the greater part of Ireland, would become independent on 6 December 1922. In Northern Ireland, a new Government of Northern Ireland was established, with a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. This government was suspended in 1972, and the position of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created as a position in the British cabinet.

List of chief secretaries for Ireland

This list includes holders of a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the British Cabinet. Exceptions were the periods from 29 June 1895 to 8 August 1902, when the Lord Lieutenant Lord Cadogan sat in the Cabinet and the Chief Secretaries Gerald Balfour until 9 November 1900 did not sit there and George Wyndham from that date also sat there, and from 28 October 1918 to 2 April 1921, when both the Lord Lieutenant Lord French and the Chief Secretaries Edward Shortt, Ian Macpherson and Sir Hamar Greenwood sat in the Cabinet.

Kingdom of Ireland

1566–1660
Name	Portrait	Term of office		Served under
Edward Waterhouse		20 January 1566	9 October 1567	Sir Henry Sidney
Edward Waterhouse (second time)		28 October 1568		Sir Henry Sidney
Edmund Tremayne		15 July 1569	31 March 1571	Sir Henry Sidney
Philip Williams		post March 1571	17 September 1575	Sir William Fitzwilliam
Edmund Molyneux		18 September 1575		Sir Henry Sidney
Edmund Spenser		7 September 1580	30 August 1582	The Lord Grey de Wilton
Philip Williams		21 June 1584	10 August 1594	Sir John Perrot Sir William FitzWilliam
Richard Cooke		11 August 1594	21 May 1597	Sir William Russell
Philip Williams		22 May 1597	13 October 1597	The Lord Burgh
Henry Wotton		15 April 1599	4 September 1599	The Earl of Essex
Francis Mitchell		28 February 1600	March 1600	The Lord Mountjoy
George Cranmer		March 1600	Died 16 July 1600	The Lord Mountjoy
Fynes Moryson		14 November 1600	31 May 1603	The Lord Mountjoy
John Bingley		1 June 1603	2 February 1605	Sir George Carey
Henry Piers		3 February 1605	10 February 1616	Sir Arthur Chichester
Henry Holcroft		30 August 1616	3 May 1622	Sir Oliver St John
Sir John Veele		8 September 1622	25 October 1629	The Viscount Falkland
George Lane		21 January 1644	April 1646	The Marquess of Ormonde
1660–1701
Name	Portrait	Term of office		Served under
Matthew Locke		1660	1660	The Lord Robartes
Sir Thomas Page		1662	1669	The Duke of Ormonde: The Earl of Ossory
Henry Ford		1669	1670	The Lord Robartes
Sir Ellis Leighton		1670	1672	The Lord Berkeley of Stratton
Sir Henry Ford		1672	1673	The Earl of Essex
William Harbord		1673	1676	The Earl of Essex
Sir Cyril Wyche		1677	1682	The Duke of Ormonde
Sir William Ellis		1682	1685	The Duke of Ormonde
Sir Paul Rycaut		1686	1687	The Earl of Clarendon
Thomas Sheridan		1687	1688	The Earl of Tyrconnell
Bishop Patrick Tyrrell		1688	1689	The Earl of Tyrconnell
John Davis		1690	1692
Sir Cyril Wyche		1692	1693	The Viscount Sydney
Sir Richard Aldworth		1693	1696	The Lord Capell
William Palmer		1696	1697
Matthew Prior		1697	1699
Humphrey May		1699	1701
1701–1750
Name	Portrait	Term of office		Served under
Francis Gwyn		1701	1703	The Earl of Rochester
Edward Southwell		1703	1707	The Duke of Ormonde
George Dodington		1707	1708	The Earl of Pembroke
Joseph Addison		1708	1710	The Earl of Wharton
Edward Southwell		1710	1713	The Duke of Ormonde
Sir John Stanley, Bt		1713	1714	The Duke of Shrewsbury
Joseph Addison		1714	1715	The Earl of Sunderland
Martin Bladen and Charles Delafaye		1715	1717
Edward Webster		1717	1720	The Duke of Bolton
Horatio Walpole		1720	1721	The Duke of Grafton
Edward Hopkins		1721	1724	The Duke of Grafton
Thomas Clutterbuck		1724	1730	The Lord Carteret
Walter Cary (also spelt 'Carey')		1730	1737	The Duke of Dorset
Sir Edward Walpole		1737	1739	The Duke of Devonshire
Thomas Townshend		1739	1739	The Duke of Devonshire
Hon. Henry Bilson Legge		1739	1741	The Duke of Devonshire
Viscount Duncannon		1741	1745	The Duke of Devonshire
Richard Liddell		1745	1746	The Earl of Chesterfield
Sewallis Shirley		1746	1746	The Earl of Chesterfield
Edward Weston		1746	1750	The Earl of Harrington
1750–1801
Name	Portrait	Term of office		Served under
Lord George Sackville		1750	1755	The Duke of Dorset
Hon. Henry Seymour Conway		1755	1757	The Duke of Devonshire
Richard Rigby		1757	1761	The Duke of Bedford
William Gerard Hamilton		1761	1764	The Earl of Halifax; The Earl of Northumberland
The Earl of Drogheda		1764	1765	The Earl of Northumberland
Sir Charles Bunbury		1765	1765	The Viscount Weymouth
Viscount Conway		1765	1766	The Earl of Hertford
Hon. Augustus Hervey		1766	1767	The Earl of Bristol
Theophilus Jones		1767	1767	The Earl of Bristol
Lord Frederick Campbell		1767	1768	The Viscount Townshend
Sir George Macartney		1769	1772	The Viscount Townshend
Sir John Blaquiere		1772	1776	The Earl Harcourt
Sir Richard Heron		1776	1780	The Earl of Buckinghamshire
William Eden		1780	1782	The Earl of Carlisle
Hon. Richard FitzPatrick		1782	1782	The Duke of Portland
William Grenville		1782	1783	The Earl Temple
William Windham		1783	1783	The Earl of Northington
Hon. Thomas Pelham		1783	1784	The Earl of Northington
Thomas Orde		1784	1787	The Duke of Rutland
Alleyne FitzHerbert		1787	1789	The Marquess of Buckingham
Hon. Robert Hobart		1789	1793	The Marquess of Buckingham; The Earl of Westmorland
Sylvester Douglas		1793	1794	The Earl of Westmorland
Viscount Milton		1794	1795	The Earl FitzWilliam
Hon. Thomas Pelham		1795	1798	The Earl Camden
Viscount Castlereagh		1798	1801	The Marquess Cornwallis

United Kingdom

1801–1852
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party
	Charles Abbot MP for Helston		1801	1802	Tory
	William Wickham MP for Cashel		1802	1804	Tory
	Sir Evan Nepean, Bt MP for Bridport		1804	1805	Tory
	Nicholas Vansittart MP for Old Sarum		1805	1805	Tory
	Charles Long MP for Wendover		1805	1806	Tory
	William Elliot MP for Peterborough		1806	1807	Whig
	Sir Arthur Wellesley MP for Tralee (1807) MP for Mitchell (1807) MP for Newport (1807–09)		1807	1809	Tory
	Robert Dundas MP for Midlothian		1809	1809	Tory
	William Wellesley-Pole MP for Queen's County		1809	1812	Tory
	Robert Peel MP for Chippenham (1812–17) MP for Oxford University (1817–29)		1812	1818	Tory
	Charles Grant MP for Inverness-shire		1818	1821	Tory
	Henry Goulburn MP for West Looe (1818–26) MP for Armagh City (1826–31)		29 December 1821	29 April 1827	Tory
	William Lamb MP for Bletchingley		29 April 1827	21 June 1828	Whig
	Lord Francis Leveson-Gower MP for Sutherland		21 June 1828	30 July 1830	Tory
	Sir Henry Hardinge MP for St Germans		30 July 1830	15 November 1830	Tory
	Edward Smith-Stanley MP for Windsor (1831–32) MP for North Lancashire (1832–44)		29 November 1830	29 March 1833	Whig
	Sir John Hobhouse, Bt MP for Westminster		29 March 1833	May 1833	Whig
	Edward Littleton MP for South Staffordshire		May 1833	14 November 1834	Whig
	Sir Henry Hardinge MP for Launceston		16 December 1834	8 April 1835	Conservative
	Viscount Morpeth MP for West Riding of Yorkshire		22 April 1835	30 August 1841	Whig
	Lord Eliot MP for East Cornwall		6 February 1841	1 February 1845	Conservative
	Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt MP for Buckingham		1 February 1845	14 February 1846	Conservative
	The Earl of Lincoln MP for Falkirk Burghs		14 February 1846	June 1846	Conservative
	Henry Labouchere MP for Taunton		6 July 1846	22 July 1847	Whig
	Sir William Somerville, Bt MP for Drogheda		22 July 1847	21 February 1852	Whig
1852–1900
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party
	Lord Naas MP for Coleraine		1 March 1852	17 December 1852	Conservative
	Sir John Young, Bt MP for Cavan		6 January 1853	30 January 1855	Peelite
	Edward Horsman MP for Stroud		1 March 1855	27 May 1857	Whig
	Henry Arthur Herbert MP for Kerry		27 May 1857	21 February 1858	Whig
	Lord Naas MP for Cockermouth		4 March 1858	11 June 1859	Conservative
	Edward Cardwell MP for Oxford		24 June 1859	29 July 1861	Liberal
	Sir Robert Peel, Bt MP for Tamworth		29 July 1861	7 December 1865	Liberal
	Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue MP for County Louth		7 December 1865	26 June 1866	Liberal
	The Earl of Mayo MP for Cockermouth		10 July 1866	29 September 1868	Conservative
	John Wilson-Patten MP for North Lancashire		29 September 1868	1 December 1868	Conservative
	Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue MP for County Louth		16 December 1868	12 January 1871	Liberal
	Marquess of Hartington MP for Radnor		12 January 1871	17 February 1874	Liberal
	Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bt MP for East Gloucestershire		27 February 1874	15 February 1878	Conservative
	James Lowther MP for City of York		15 February 1878	21 April 1880	Conservative
	William Edward Forster MP for Bradford		30 April 1880	6 May 1882	Liberal
	Lord Frederick Cavendish MP for West Riding of Yorkshire North		6 May 1882	6 May 1882	Liberal
	George Trevelyan MP for Hawick Burghs		9 May 1882	23 October 1884	Liberal
	Henry Campbell-Bannerman MP for Stirling Burghs		23 October 1884	9 June 1885	Liberal
	Sir William Hart Dyke, Bt MP for Mid Kent		25 June 1885	23 January 1886	Conservative
	William Henry Smith MP for Strand		23 January 1886	28 January 1886	Conservative
	John Morley MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne		6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal
	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt MP for Bristol West		5 August 1886	7 March 1887	Conservative
	Arthur Balfour MP for Manchester East		7 March 1887	9 November 1891	Conservative
	William Jackson MP for Leeds North		9 November 1891	11 August 1892	Conservative
	John Morley MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne		22 August 1892	21 June 1895	Liberal
	Gerald Balfour MP for Leeds Central		1895	1900	Conservative
1900–1922
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party
	George Wyndham MP for Dover		9 November 1900	12 March 1905	Conservative
	Walter Long MP for Bristol South		12 March 1905	4 December 1905	Conservative
	James Bryce MP for Aberdeen South		10 December 1905	23 January 1907	Liberal
	Augustine Birrell MP for Bristol North		23 January 1907	3 May 1916	Liberal
	Henry Duke MP for Exeter		31 July 1916	5 May 1918	Conservative
	Edward Shortt MP for Newcastle upon Tyne West		5 May 1918	10 January 1919	Liberal
	Ian Macpherson MP for Ross and Cromarty		10 January 1919	2 April 1920	Liberal
	Sir Hamar Greenwood, Bt MP for Sunderland		2 April 1920	19 October 1922	Liberal

See also

• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, similar position in the British cabinet from 1972.

References

1. The National Archives. "Irish administration". Archived 17 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine Last retrieved 12 November 2015.
2. ^ Quinlan, Tom. "The Registered Papers of the Chief Secretary's Office". National Archives of Ireland. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
3. "Local Government Board (Ireland) Act, 1872 sec.2". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
4. Herbert Wood, The Offices of Secretary of State for Ireland and Keeper of the Royal Privy Seal, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature (1928), p. 51
5. Herbert Wood, The Offices of Secretary of State for Ireland and Keeper of the Royal Privy Seal, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature (1928), p. 55
6. Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, British Historical Facts 1830–1900, Macmillan, 1975, pages 45–46
7. British Political Facts 1900–1994, by David Butler and Gareth Butler (Macmillan Press, 7th edition 1994) Page7.
8. ^ Handbook of British Chronology calls him 'Sir Edward Waterhouse', but he was not knighted until 1584
9. Handbook of British Chronology calls him 'Sir Richard Cooke', but he was not knighted until 1603 – see History of Parliament – Member Biographies Archived 4 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine
10. knighted 1 May 1622 – see History of Parliament – Member Biographies Archived 4 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine
11. 'removed from his offices on 20 January 1688' John Miller, ‘Sheridan, Thomas (1646–1712)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 2006, accessed 3 Aug 2014 Archived 25 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine
12. 'Following Sidney's removal as lord lieutenant in 1693 Wyche was appointed one of three lords justices to take over the chief governorship of Ireland.'C. I. McGrath, ‘Wyche, Sir Cyril (c.1632–1707)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 3 Aug 2014 Archived 25 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine
13. ^ Styled "Lord" as a courtesy.
14. In July 1767 he resigned, having quarrelled with his brother over his own continuing attachment to George Grenville. Ruddock Mackay, ‘Hervey, Augustus John, third earl of Bristol (1724–1779)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2010, accessed 3 Aug 2014 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
15. Styled "Lord" as a courtesy until 19 January 1845, when he inherited his father's earldom and thus became disqualified from the House of Commons.
16. Became disqualified as an MP in 1867 when he inherited his father's earldom.

Bibliography

• British Historical Facts 1760–1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson (The Macmillan Press 1980) ISBN 0-333-21512-5 (includes list of Chief Secretaries on page 31)
• British Historical Facts 1830–1900, by Chris Cook and Brendan Keith (The Macmillan Press 1975) ISBN 0-333-13220-3 (includes list of Chief Secretaries on pages 52–53)
• Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900–2000, by David Butler and Gareth Butler (Macmillan Press, Eighth edition 2000) ISBN 0-333-77222-9 paperback (includes list of Chief Secretaries on page 61)

• Early modern history of Ireland
• Political office-holders in pre-partition Ireland
• Irish heads of government
• Chief secretaries (British Empire)
• Lists of political office-holders in Ireland
• History of Ireland (1801–1923)