The Principal Secretary of State, or Principal Secretary of the Council, was a government office in the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...

. It was abolished in 1801 when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union 1800. The post was created in May 1560 by the

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

, Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex. Sussex created the role to help re-establish English governance in Ireland, as part of the wider Tudor conquest of Ireland. The role was modelled in part on the role of Secretary of State in England, and was intended to be distinct from the clerks of the Irish Privy Council or the Governors Private Secretary. Whilst the nature of the role evolved other time, originally the holder was expected to: * chair the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

* engage in regular full correspondence with the crown Other, less common functions included: * directing clerks of the Privy Council of Ireland * charging treasons and seditious libels * ordering the

Postmaster General of Ireland The Postmasters General of Ireland, held by two people simultaneously, was a new appointment set up as part of the establishment of the Irish Post Office independent from that of Great Britain, by the Act 23, 24 George III in 1784. The post las ...

to open letters * offering advice on matters of state to the chief governor of Ireland ( Lord Deputy, later

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

) In part due to the absence of the Southwells during their time in the role, it became largely ceremonial, with more correspondence being managed directly by the Lord Lieutenant and his Chief Secretary, or alternatively the Lords Justices (who themselves became defunct after 1765). Richard Cooke, for instance, acted as both

Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the title was sometimes given as Ch ...

and Secretary of State at the same time. The last three Secretaries of State also held the more powerful position of Chief Secretary. No Secretary of State was appointed after the 1800 Acts of Union; in 1802 the last appointee resigned to become Speaker of the UK House of Commons.

List of Secretaries

* by 1576:

John Chalenor John Challoner MP (c. 1520–1581) was the first Secretary of State for Ireland, appointed by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1560. He also sat at different times as a member of parliament in both the Parliament of England and the Parliament ...

* 1581: Sir Geoffrey Fenton and another * 1603: Sir Richard Cooke * 1612: Sir

Dudley Norton Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

* 1616: Francis Annesley, 1st Baron Mountnorris * 1634:

Philip Mainwaring Sir Philip Mainwaring (1589 – 2 August 1661) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1625 and 1661. Mainwaring was the seventh son of Randall Mainwaring, of Peover, Cheshire and Margaret Fitton, daughte ...

* 1661: Sir

Paul Davys Sir Paul Davys ( 1600–1672) was an Irish politician and civil servant, who held office as Clerk to the Privy Council of Ireland and later as Secretary of State (Ireland). He had considerable influence in public affairs, and enjoyed the close ...

(granted the office in reversion after Mainwaring) * 1665: George Lane, 1st Viscount Lanesborough (in reversion after Davys) * 1678: Sir John Davys (in reversion after Lane) * 1690: Sir Robert Southwell * 1702: Edward Southwell Sr. * 1730: Edward Southwell Jr. * 1746: Edward Weston * 1755: Thomas Carter * 1763: Philip Tisdall * 1766: John Hely-Hutchinson (in reversion, succeeded 1777) * 1796: Thomas Pelham ** Baron Glentworth (1795–97) and Lord Castlereagh (1797–1801) were Keeper of the Signet or Privy Seal of Ireland during Pelham's term; other Secretaries of State held the office of Keeper simultaneously) * 1801: Charles Abbot (vacated office in 1802 when appointed Speaker of the UK Commons)

References

{{Dublin Castle administration Early Modern Ireland Political office-holders in pre-partition Ireland

List of Secretaries

See also

References