Chief Secretary for Ireland

The Chief Secretary was the most important position for determining British policy in Ireland after the Lord Lieutenant, and was frequently a cabinet level position in the 19th and early twentieth centuries.

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
• Sir 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