Chief Secretary for Ireland

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a political office in the Dublin Castle administration. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant",The National Archives. "Irish administration". Last retrieved 12 November 2015. from the early 19th century until 1921 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 Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Chief Secretary was ex officio President of the Local Government Board for Ireland from its creation in 1872.

British rule in Ireland came to an end through most of the island as a 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. Northern Ireland affairs became the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Home Secretary.

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 the right of initiative, and the Crown kept control of executive authority in the hands of officials sent from London, rather than 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".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 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.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

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, making the person a sort of ersatz Prime Minister. While the Irish administration was not responsible to the parliament, it nevertheless needed to manage and influence it in order to pursue certain reforms involving the passage of local legislation.

Chief Secretary Viscount Castlereagh played a key role in the enactment of the Act of Union which passed the Irish Parliament on a second attempt in 1800 — through the exercise of patronage and direct bribery. Upon the Union on 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland 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, led by a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. This government operated from 1921 until 1972, and the position of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created as a position in the cabinet of the United Kingdom in London. Relations with the Northern Ireland government, treated as a sort of internal quasi-Dominion, was put under the purview Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs; the Northern Ireland Department of the Home Office was responsible for Northern Ireland matters not under the purview of the Belfast authorities.

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. There were two periods during which this was not the case: first, from 29 June 1895 to 8 August 1902, when the Lord Lieutenant Lord Cadogan sat in the Cabinet while Chief Secretary Gerald Balfour (until 9 November 1900) was not a member, and (from 9 November 1900) while Chief Secretary George Wyndham also sat there;Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, British Historical Facts 1830–1900, Macmillan, 1975, pages 45–46 and secondly, from 28 October 1918 to 2 April 1921, when both the Lord Lieutenant Lord French and a succession of Chief Secretaries (Edward Shortt, Ian Macpherson and Sir Hamar Greenwood) sat in the Cabinet.British Political Facts 1900–1994, by David Butler and Gareth Butler (Macmillan Press, 7th edition 1994) Page7.

Kingdom of Ireland 1566–1660 Name Portrait Term of office Served under Edward WaterhouseHandbook of British Chronology calls him 'Sir Edward Waterhouse', but he was not knighted until 1584 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 PerrotSir William FitzWilliam Richard CookeHandbook of British Chronology calls him 'Sir Richard Cooke', but he was not knighted until 1603 – see History of Parliament – Member Biographies 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 Holcroftknighted 1 May 1622 – see History of Parliament – Member Biographies 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 Ormonde1660–1701 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'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 The Earl of Tyrconnell Bishop Patrick Tyrrell 1688 1689 The Earl of Tyrconnell John Davis 1690 1692 Sir Cyril Wyche 1692 1693'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 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 Sr. 1703 1707 The Duke of Ormonde George Dodington 1707 1708 The Earl of Pembroke Joseph Addison 1708 1710 The Earl of Wharton Edward Southwell Sr. 1710 1713 The Duke of Ormonde Sir John Stanley, Bt 1713 1714 The Duke of Shrewsbury Joseph Addison 1714 1715The 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 Harrington1750–1801 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 1767In 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 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

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