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Chief Secretary for Ireland
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The Chief Secretary was the key office-holder of state in the British administration in Ireland. Towards the end of Crown rule in Ireland, he operated in a manner similar to that of the Prime Minister in the English and later British Parliament. He was in theory the number two in the Lord Lieutenant's administration but from the late 18th century and early 19th century onwards, in parallel with the Prime Ministry in Great Britain, the office frequently eclipsed the nominally superior office, with the Chief Secretary, not the Lord Lieutenant, sitting in the British cabinet.
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The Chief Secretary was the key office-holder of state in the British administration in Ireland. Towards the end of Crown rule in Ireland, he operated in a manner similar to that of the Prime Minister in the English and later British Parliament. He was in theory the number two in the Lord Lieutenant's administration but from the late 18th century and early 19th century onwards, in parallel with the Prime Ministry in Great Britain, the office frequently eclipsed the nominally superior office, with the Chief Secretary, not the Lord Lieutenant, sitting in the British cabinet. With the partition of Ireland in 1921, the Lord Lieutenant was to remain, as was the Chief Secretary. The Lord Lieutenant would represent the Crown in both parliaments while the Chief Secretary would represent the remaining constituencies still sending representatives to Westminster.
However, following the Irish Civil War, the new Irish government abrogated the deal and established the Irish Free State in 1922. With the end of direct Crown rule in 1922, and the establishment of two separate Irish Parliaments, one at Stormont for the Northern Ireland constituencies, and a separate Parliament for the Irish Free State, the constitutional arrangement no longer existed. Thus, along with the Lord Lieutenant, the office of the Chief Secretary was abolished. Its governmental role was instead incorporated into the Department of the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (now the Department of the Taoiseach) and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
The office before 1800
The dominant position of the Lord Lieutenant in the Irish governmental system had been central to the British administration for much of the history of the Kingdom of Ireland. With a separation of branches in Ireland between the legislative Parliament, an executive Royal administration, and a court system appointed by the crown, the monarchy had substantial power in Ireland while the appointment of the Chief Secretary on the advice of the British government gave considerable oversight to Westminster.
However, the post of Chief Secretary however gradually increased in importance given his role as a 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 parliament, both in insuring the passage of some key legislative measures and in the prevention of the enactment of others.
In this interplay between sectarian, royal, parliamentarian, and all Irish interests, the Chief Secretaryship steadily grew in importance while that of the Lord Lieutenant shrank. Feeling sufficiently powerful to submerge direct royal authority in Ireland under Parliamentary control, the British government voted to unite the Irish Parliament with the British Parliament. The Chief Secretaryship was of particular importance in the run-up to the eventual enactment, on the second attempt, of the Act of Union, 1800, when Viscount Castlereagh held the post. The Chief Secretary's exercise of patronage and bribery central to delivering the majority for the Union. Henceforth, the Chief Secretary became firmly under the control of British governmental interests.
Chief Secretaries for Ireland, 1660-1922
- Matthew Lock 1660
- Sir Thomas Page 1662-1669
- Sir Henry Ford 1669-1670
- Sir Ellis Leighton 1670-1672
- Sir Henry Ford 1672-1673
- William Harbord 1673-1676
- Sir Cyril Wyche 1676-1682
- Sir William Ellis 1682-1685
- Sir Paul Rycaut 1686-1687
- Thomas Sheridan 1687-1688
- Patrick Tyrrell 1688-1689
- John Davis 1690-1692
- Sir Cyril Wyche 1692-1693
- Sir Richard Aldworth 1695-1696
- William Palmer 1696-1697
- Matthew Prior 1697-1699
- Humphrey May 1699-1701
- Francis Gwyn 1701-1703
- Edward Southwell 1703-1707
- George Dodington 1707-1708
- Joseph Addison 1708-1710
- Edward Southwell 1710-1713
- Sir John Stanley 1713-1714
- Joseph Addison 1714-1715
- Martin Bladen and Charles Delafaye 1715-1717
- Edward Webster 1717-1720
- Horatio Walpole 1720-1721
- Edward Hopkins 1721-1724
- Thomas Clutterbuck 1724-1730
- Walter Cary 1730-1737
- Sir Edward Walpole 1737-1739
- Thomas Townshend 1739
- Henry Bilson Legge 1739-1741
- William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon 1741-1745
- Richard Lidell 1745-1746
- Sewallis Shirley 1746
- Edward Weston 1746-1750
- Lord George Sackville 1750-1755
- Henry Seymour Conway 1755-1757
- Richard Rigby 1757-1761
- William Gerard Hamilton 1761-1764
- Charles Moore, 6th Earl of Drogheda 1764-1765
- Francis Seymour Conway, Viscount Conway 1765-1766
- Augustus John Hervey 1766-1767
- Theophilus Jones 1767
- Lord Frederick Campbell 1767-1768
- Sir George Macartney 1769-1772
- Sir John Blaquiere 1772-1776
- Sir Richard Heron 1776-1780
- William Eden 1780-1782
- Richard FitzPatrick 1782
- William Wyndham Grenville 1782-1783
- William Windham 1783
- Thomas Pelham 1783-1784
- Thomas Orde 1784-1787
- Alleyne Fitzherbert 1787-1789
- Robert Hobart 1789-1793
- Sylvester Douglas 1793-1794
- George Damer, Viscount Milton 1794-1795
- Thomas Pelham 1795-1798
- Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh 1798-1801
- Charles Abbot 1801-1802
- William Wickham 1802-1804
- Sir Evan Nepean 1804-1805
- Nicholas Vansittart 1805
- Charles Long 1805-1806
- William Elliot 1806-1807
- Sir Arthur Wellesley 1807-1809
- Robert Dundas 1809
- William Wellesley-Pole 1809-1812
- Robert Peel 1812-1818
- Charles Grant 1818-1821
- Henry Goulburn 1821-1827
- William Lamb 1827-1828
- Sir Francis Leveson Gower 1828-1830
- Sir Henry Hardinge 1830
- Edward Geoffrey Smith-Stanley 1830-1833
- Sir John Cam Hobhouse 1833
- Edward John Littleton 1833-1834
- Sir Henry Hardinge 1834-1835
- George Howard, Viscount Morpeth 1835-1841
- Edward Granville Eliot, Lord Eliot 1841-1845
- Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle 1845-1846
- Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln 1846
- Henry Labouchere 1846-1847
- Sir William Meredyth Somerville 1847-1852
- Richard Southwell Bourke, Lord Naas 1852
- Sir John Young 1853-1855
- Edward Horsman 1855-1857
- Henry Arthur Herbert 1857-1858
- Richard Southwell Bourke, Lord Naas 1858-1859
- Edward Cardwell 1859-1861
- Sir Robert Peel 1861-1865
- Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue 1865-1866
- Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo 1866-1868
- John Wilson-Patten 1868
- Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue 1868-1871
- Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington 1871-1874
- Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1874-1878
- James Lowther 1878-1880
- William Edward Forster 1880-1882
- Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish 1882
- George Otto Trevelyan 1882-1884
- Henry Campbell-Bannerman 1884-1885
- Sir William Hart Dyke 1885-1886
- William Henry Smith 1886
- John Morley 1886
- Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1886-1887
- Arthur James Balfour 1887-1891
- William Lawies Jackson 1891-1892
- John Morley 1892-1895
- Gerald William Balfour 1895-1900
- George Wyndham 1900-1905
- Walter Hume Long 1905
- James Bryce 1905-1907
- Augustine Birrell 1907-1916
- Henry Edward Duke 1916-1918
- Edward Shortt 1918-1919
- James Ian Macpherson 1919-1920
- Sir Hamar Greenwood 1920-1922
de:Chief Secretary for Ireland
es:Jefe de Secretaría de Irlanda
pl:Glówny Sekretarz Irlandii
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