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The ancient English monarchs always had in attendance a learned ecclesiastic, known at first as their clerk, and afterwards as "secretary", who conducted the royal correspondence; but it was not until the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that these functionaries gained the title "Secretaries of State". Upon the direction of public affairs passing from the privy council to the cabinet after 1688 the secretaries of state began to assume those high duties which now render their office one of the most influential of an administration.
Until the time of Henry VIII, monarchs generally had only one secretary of state, but at the end of his reign a second principal secretary appeared. Owing to the increase of business consequent upon the union of Scotland, a third secretary gained appointment in 1708, but a vacancy occurring in this office in 1746 the third secretaryship disappeared until 1768, when a newly re-instituted Third Secretary began to take charge of the increasing colonial administrative work. In 1782 the office was again abolished, and the charge of the colonies transferred to the Home Secretary; but owing to the war of the First Coalition with France in 1794 a third secretary re-appeared to superintend the activities of the war department, and seven years later the colonial business became attached to his department. In 1854 a fourth secretary of state gained the exclusive charge of the war department, and in 1858 a fifth secretary (for India) began duties.
Office Holder |
Year |
Sir Thomas Wriothesley and Sir Ralph Sadler | 1540-1543 |
Sir Thomas Wriothesley and William Paget | 1543-1544 |
Sir William Petre and William Paget | 1544-1547 |
Sir William Petre | 1547-1548 |
Sir William Petre and Sir Thomas Smith | 1548-1549 |
Sir William Petre and Nicholas Wotton | 1549-1550 |
Sir William Petre and Sir William Cecil | 1550-1553 |
Sir William Petre, Sir William Cecil, and Sir John Cheke | 1553 |
Sir William Petre and Sir John Bourn | 1553-1557 |
John Boxall and Sir John Bourn | 1557-1558 |
Sir William Cecil | 1558-1572 |
Sir Thomas Smith | 1572-1573 |
Sir Thomas Smith and Sir Francis Walsingham | 1573-1576 |
Sir Francis Walsingham | 1576-1577 |
Thomas Wilson and Sir Francis Walsingham | 1577-1581 |
Sir Francis Walsingham | 1581-1586 |
William Davison and Sir Francis Walsingham | 1586-1587 |
Sir Francis Walsingham | 1587-1590 |
Sir Robert Cecil | 1590-1600 |
Sir Robert Cecil (1st E. Salisbury from 1605) and John Herbert | 1600-1612 |
Robert Carr, 1st E. Somerset and John Herbert | 1612-1614 |
Sir Ralph Winwood and John Herbert | 1614-1616 |
Sir Ralph Winwood and Sir Thomas Lake | 1616-1617 |
Sir Robert Naunton and Sir Thomas Lake | 1618-1619 |
Sir Robert Naunton and Sir George Calvert | 1619-1623 |
Sir Edward Conway and Sir George Calvert | 1623-1625 |
Edward Conway, 1st Lord Conway and Sir Albertus Morton | 1625 |
Edward Conway, 1st Lord Conway (1st V. Conway from 1627) and Sir John Coke | 1625-1628 |
Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester and Sir John Coke | 1628-1632 |
Sir Francis Windebank and Sir John Coke | 1632-1640 |
Sir Francis Windebank and Sir Harry Vane | 1640-1641 |
Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir Harry Vane | 1641-1642 |
Sir Edward Nicholas and Lucius Carey, 2nd V. Falkland | 1642-1643 |
Sir Edward Nicholas and George Digby, 2nd E. Bristol | 1643-1649 |