Great Britain
Secretary of State for the Southern Department
Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Great Britain Government
The Southern Department
StyleThe Right Honourable
(Formal prefix)
Member ofBritish Cabinet
SeatWestminster, London
AppointerThe British Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister
Term lengthNo fixed term
Formation1660-1782
First holderEdward Nicholas
Final holderWills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough

The Secretary of State for the Southern Department[1] was a position in the cabinet of the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain up to 1782, when the Southern Department became the Home Office.[2][3]

History

Before 1782, the responsibilities of the two British Secretaries of State for the Northern and the Southern departments were divided not based on the principles of modern ministerial divisions, but geographically. The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was responsible for Ireland, the Channel Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, the Old Swiss Confederacy, the states of Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. He was also responsible for the American colonies until 1768, when the charge was given to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Secretary of State for the Northern Department was responsible for relations with the Dutch Republic, Scandinavia, Poland, Russia, and the Holy Roman Empire. Domestic responsibilities in England and Wales were shared between the two Secretaries. After the union with Scotland in 1707, the two secretaries also took responsibility for Scotland when there was no Secretary of State for Scotland in office.[4]

Until 1706, the practice was generally for the senior official to lead the Southern Department, and the junior the Northern Department, with the Northern Secretary being transferred to the Southern Department when a vacancy arose at the latter.[4] During the reigns of George I and George II, however, the Northern Department began to be seen as the more important, since its responsibilities included the monarchs' ancestral home of Hanover.[5] During the reign of George III, the two departments were of approximately equal importance.[6]

In 1782, the two Secretaries of State were reformed as the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.[7]

List of Southern Secretaries

Secretary of State for the Southern Department[8][9]
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death) 		Term of office Monarch
(Reign) 		Ref.
Sir Edward Nicholas
(1593–1669) 		1 June
1660 		20 October
1662 		Charles II

(1660–1685) 		[10]
Henry Bennet
1st Earl of Arlington
(1618–1685) [a] 		20 October
1662 		11 September
1674 		[11]
Henry Coventry
MP for Droitwich
(c. 1618–1686) 		11 September
1674 		26 April
1680 		[12]
Robert Spencer
2nd Earl of Sunderland
(1641–1702) 		26 April
1680 		2 February
1681
Sir Leoline Jenkins
MP for Oxford University
(c. 1625–1685) 		2 February
1681 		14 April
1684 		[13]
Robert Spencer
2nd Earl of Sunderland
(1641–1702) 		14 April
1684 		28 October
1688
James II

(1685–1688)
Charles Middleton
2nd Earl of Middleton
(c. 1650–1719) 		28 October
1688 		2 December
1688 		[14]
Charles Talbot
12th Earl of Shrewsbury
(1660–1718) 		14 February
1689 		2 June
1690 		Mary II

(1689–1694)
&
William III

(1689–1702)
Daniel Finch
2nd Earl of Nottingham
(1647–1730) [b] 		2 June
1690 		November
1693 		[15]
Sir John Trenchard
MP for Poole
(1649–1695)[c] 		November
1693 		27 April
1695 		[16]
Charles Talbot
1st Duke of Shrewsbury
(1660–1718) 		27 April
1695 		12 December
1698
James Vernon
MP for Westminster
(1646–1727) [d] 		12 December
1698 		14 May
1699 		[17]
Edward Villiers
1st Earl of Jersey
(c. 1656–1711) 		14 May
1699 		27 June
1700
James Vernon
MP for Westminster
(1646–1727) [e] 		27 June
1700 		4 January
1702 		[17]
Charles Montagu
4th Earl of Manchester
(c. 1662–1722) 		4 January
1702 		1 May
1702
Anne

(1702–1714)
Daniel Finch
2nd Earl of Nottingham
(1647–1730) 		2 May
1702 		22 April
1704 		[15]
Sir Charles Hedges
MP for West Looe
(1650–1714) [f] 		18 May
1704 		3 December
1706 		[18]
Charles Spencer
3rd Earl of Sunderland
(1675–1722) 		3 December
1706 		13 June
1710 		[19]
William Legge
1st Earl of Dartmouth
(1672–1750) 		15 June
1710 		6 August
1713
Henry St John
1st Viscount Bolingbroke
(1678–1751) 		17 August
1713 		31 August
1714 		[20]
George I

(1714–1727)
James Stanhope
MP for Cockermouth
(1673–1721) [g] 		27 September
1714 		22 June
1716 		[21]
Sir Paul Methuen
MP for Brackley
(c. 1672–1757) [h] 		22 June
1716 		10 April
1717 		[22]
Joseph Addison
MP for Malmesbury
(1672–1719) 		12 April
1717 		14 March
1718 		[23]
James Craggs 'the Younger'
MP for Tregony
(1686–1721) 		16 March
1718 		16 February
1721 		[24]
John Carteret
2nd Baron Carteret
(1690–1763) 		4 March
1721 		31 March
1724
Thomas Pelham-Holles
1st Duke of Newcastle
(1693–1768) [i] 		6 April
1724 		12 February
1748
George II

(1727–1760)
John Russell
4th Duke of Bedford
(1710–1771) 		12 February
1748 		13 June
1751
Robert Darcy
4th Earl of Holdernesse
(1718–1778) 		18 June
1751 		23 March
1754
Sir Thomas Robinson
MP for Christchurch
(1695–1770) 		24 March
1754 		October
1755 		[25]
Henry Fox
MP for Windsor
(1705–1774) 		14 November
1755 		13 November
1756 		[26]
William Pitt 'the Elder'
MP for Okehampton
(1708–1778) 		4 December
1756 		6 April
1757 		[27]
Robert Darcy
4th Earl of Holdernesse
(1718–1778) [j] 		6 April
1757 		27 June
1757
William Pitt 'the Elder'
MP for Bath
(1708–1778) 		27 June
1757 		5 October
1761 		[27]
George III

(1760–1820)
Charles Wyndham
2nd Earl of Egremont
(1710–1763) 		9 October
1761 		21 August
1763 		[28]
George Montagu-Dunk
2nd Earl of Halifax
(1716–1771) 		9 September
1763 		10 July
1765
Henry Seymour Conway
MP for Thetford
(1719–1795) 		12 July
1765 		23 May
1766 		[29]
Charles Lennox
3rd Duke of Richmond
(1735–1806) 		23 May
1766 		29 July
1766
William Petty
2nd Earl of Shelburne
(1737–1805) 		30 July
1766 		20 October
1768 		[30]
Thomas Thynne
3rd Viscount Weymouth
(1734–1796) 		21 October
1768 		12 December
1770
William de Zuylestein
4th Earl of Rochford
(1717–1781) 		19 December
1770 		9 November
1775
Thomas Thynne
3rd Viscount Weymouth
(1734–1796) [k] 		9 November
1775 		November
1779
Wills Hill
1st Earl of Hillsborough
(1718–1793) 		25 November
1779 		27 March
1782 		[31]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Returned as MP for Callington from 1661 to 1665; thereafter raised to the peerage of England as Baron Arlington, and created Earl of Arlington in 1672.
  2. ^ Served as sole Secretary of State from June to December 1690; again from March 1692 to March 1693.
  3. ^ Served as sole Secretary of State from November to March 1694.
  4. ^ Acting Secretary of State for the Southern Department.
  5. ^ Acting Secretary of State for the Southern Department from June to November 1700; official appointment from 5 November 1700.
  6. ^ Returned as MP for Calne from 1702 to 1705; thereafter returned as MP for West Looe from 1705 to 1713.
  7. ^ Returned as MP for Wendover from March 1715 to 1715; thereafter returned as MP for Cockermouth from 1715 to 1717.
  8. ^ Acting Secretary of State for the Southern Department from May to December 1723; official appointment from 12 December 1716.
  9. ^ In February 1746 John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville held office for two days, however as the formalities of his appointment were not completed sources typically do not include him as a Southern Secretary.
  10. ^ Served as sole Secretary of State.
  11. ^ Served as sole Secretary of State from March to October 1799.

Citations

  1. ^ Constantine, Stephen (2009). Community and Identity: The Making of Modern Gibraltar Since 1704. Oxford University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780719080548.
  2. ^ FCO Historians (April 1991). "The FCO: Policy, People and Places (1782-1995)". History Notes (2). Foreign and Commonwealth Office: 1. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ "The National Archives' catalogue: Records assembled by the State Paper Office, including papers of the Secretaries of State up to 1782". The National Archives.
  4. ^ a b Thomson, Mark A. (1932). The Secretaries of State: 1681-1782. London: Frank Cass. pp. 2–3.
  5. ^ Cass (1932), pp. 21-22
  6. ^ Cass (1932), p. 4
  7. ^ Sainty, J. C. (1973). "Introduction". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2 - Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660-1782. University of London. pp. 1–21 – via British History Online. At the Restoration [in 1660] the practice of appointing two Secretaries of State, which was well established before the Civil War, was resumed. Apart from the modifications which were made necessary by the occasional existence of a third secretaryship, the organisation of the secretariat underwent no fundamental change from that time until the reforms of 1782 which resulted in the emergence of the Home and Foreign departments. ... English domestic affairs remained the responsibility of both Secretaries throughout the period. In the field of foreign affairs there was a division into a Northern and a Southern Department, each of which was the responsibility of one Secretary. The distinction between the two departments emerged only gradually. It was not until after 1689 that their names passed into general currency. Nevertheless the division of foreign business itself can, in its broad outlines, be detected in the early years of the reign of Charles II.
  8. ^ Sainty, ed: J.C. (1974). Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2, Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660-1782. University of London. pp. 22–58.
  9. ^ 'Lists of appointments', in Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2, Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660-1782, ed. J C Sainty (London, 1973), pp. 22-58. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol2/pp22-58 [accessed 18 July 2017].
  10. ^ Baron, Sabrina Alcorn; Thrush, Andrew. "NICHOLAS, Edward (1593-1669), of Dover Castle, Kent and King Street, Westminster; later of West Horsley, Surr". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  11. ^ Ferris, John. P. "BENNET, Sir Henry (1618-85)". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  12. ^ Rowlands, Edward. "COVENTRY, Hon. Henry (c.1618-86), of Piccadilly Hall, The Haymarket, Westminster and West Bailey Lodge, Enfield, Mdx". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  13. ^ Henning, Basil Duke. "JENKINS, Sir Leoline (c.1625-85), of Jesus College, Oxford and Hammersmith, Mdx". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  14. ^ Henning, Basil Duke. "MIDDLETON, Charles, 2nd Earl of Middleton [S]. (c.1650-1719)". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  15. ^ a b Ferris, John. P. "FINCH, Daniel (1647-1730), of Kensington, Mdx and Milton Ernest, Beds". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  16. ^ Ferris, John. P. "TRENCHARD, John (1649-95), of the Middle Temple". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  17. ^ a b Ferris, John. P. "VERNON, James (1646-1727), of Frith Street, Westminster". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  18. ^ Handley, Stuart. "HEDGES, Sir Charles (1650-1714), of Richmond, Surr.; Compton Bassett, Wilts.; and St. James's Park, Westminster". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  19. ^ Handley, Stuart. "SPENCER, Charles, Lord Spencer (1675-1722)". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  20. ^ Handley, Stuart. "ST. JOHN, Henry II (1678-1752), of Bucklebury, Berks". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  21. ^ Handley, Stuart. "STANHOPE, James (1673-1721), of London". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  22. ^ Seghwick, Romney R. "METHUEN, Paul (c.1672-1757), of Bishops Cannings, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  23. ^ Lea, R. S. "ADDISON, Joseph (1672-1719), of Bilton, Warws. and Holland House, Kensington". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  24. ^ Segwick, Romney R. "CRAGGS, James (1686-1721)". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  25. ^ Sedgwick, Romney R. "ROBINSON, Thomas (1695-1770), of Newby, Yorks". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  26. ^ Namier, Sir Lewis. "FOX, Henry (1705-74), of Holland House, Kensington". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  27. ^ a b Brooke, John. "PITT, William (1708-78), of Hayes, Kent". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  28. ^ Cruickshanks, Eveline. "WYNDHAM, Charles (1710-63), of Orchard Wyndham, Som". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  29. ^ Brooke, John. "CONWAY, Hon. Henry Seymour (1719-95), of Park Place, Berks". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  30. ^ Namier, Sir Lewis. "PETTY, William, Visct. Fitzmaurice (1737-1805), of Bowood, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  31. ^ Brooke, John. "HILL, Wills, 1st Earl of Hillsborough [I] (1718-93), of North Aston, Oxon". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
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