The Under-Secretary for Ireland (Permanent Under-Secretary to the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

) was the permanent head (or most senior civil servant) of the British administration in Ireland prior to the establishment of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

in 1922. The Under-Secretary's residence was at Ashtown Lodge in Phoenix Park, also known as the Under Secretary's Lodge. Among the best-known holders of the office was Thomas Henry Burke, who was assassinated along with the

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century un ...

, Lord Frederick Cavendish, in the so-called

Phoenix Park Killings The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland and Burke was the Permanent ...

on Saturday, 6 May 1882. In April 1887 Colonel

Edward Robert King-Harman Edward Robert King-Harman (3 April 1838 – 10 June 1888) was an Irish landlord and politician. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom between 1877 and 1888 as an Irish nationalist, and later Unionist, Member of Parliament. Early ...

was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, but he died on 10 June 1888 and no further appointments were made.

Under-Secretaries for Ireland

* Thomas Waite 1747–1774 * Sackville Hamilton 1780–1795 * Lodge Morres 1795 * Sackville Hamilton 1795–1796 * Edward Cooke 1796-1801 * Alexander Marsden 1801-1806 * James Traill 1806-1808 * Sir Charles Saxton 1808-1812 * William Gregory 1812-1831 * Sir William Gossett 1831-1835 *

Thomas Drummond Captain Thomas Drummond (10 October 1797 – 15 April 1840), from Edinburgh was a Scottish army officer, civil engineer and senior public official. He used the Drummond light which was employed in the trigonometrical survey of Great Britain and ...

1835–1840 * Norman Hilton Macdonald 1840–1841 * Edward Lucas 1841–1845 * Richard Pennefather 1845–1846 *Sir

Thomas Nicholas Redington Sir Thomas Nicholas Redington KCB (2 October 1815 – 11 October 1862) was an Irish administrator, politician and civil servant. Redington, only son of Christopher Talbot Redington (1780–1825), a captain in the army, by Frances, only daugh ...

1846–1852 *

John Arthur Wynne John Arthur Wynne PC (20 April 1801 – 19 June 1865) was an Irish landowner and politician. He was the eldest surviving son of Owen Wynne (1755–1841) of Hazelwood House, Sligo, Ireland and educated at Winchester School (1816-1819) and Chr ...

1852–1853 *Sir

Thomas Aiskew Larcom Major-General Sir Thomas Aiskew Larcom, Bart, PC FRS (22 April 1801 – 15 June 1879) was a leading official in the early Irish Ordnance Survey. He later became a poor law commissioner, census commissioner and finally executive head of the B ...

1853–1868 *Sir

Edward Robert Wetherall Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

1868–1869 * Thomas Henry Burke 1869–1882 *Sir

Robert George Crookshank Hamilton Sir Robert George Crookshank Hamilton KCB, (30 August 1836 – 22 April 1895) was the sixth Governor, and the Commander-in-Chief of the then British colony of Tasmania from 11 March 1887, until 30 November 1892, during which time he oversaw t ...

1882–1886 *Sir

Redvers Henry Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forc ...

1886–1887 *Sir

Joseph West Ridgeway Sir Joseph West Ridgeway, (16 May 1844 – 16 April 1930) was a British civil servant and colonial governor. He was known as "Sir West Ridgeway". He was involved in the sodomy and child molestation charges against Hector Archibald MacDonald, com ...

1887–1893 *Sir

David Harrel Sir David Harrel (25 March 1841 – 12 May 1939) was an Ireland, Irish police officer and civil servant. Harrel was born in Mount Pleasant, County Down, the son of a land agent. He was educated at the Royal Naval School, Gosport, but was too o ...

1893–1902 *Sir

Antony MacDonnell Lord MacDonnell Antony Patrick MacDonnell, 1st Baron MacDonnell, (7 March 1844 – 9 June 1925), known as Sir Antony MacDonnell between 1893 and 1908, was an Irish civil servant, much involved in the administration of India. He was Permanent Un ...

1902–1908 *Sir

James Brown Dougherty Sir James Brown Dougherty, (13 November 1844 – 3 January 1934) was an Irish clergyman, academic, civil servant and politician. Dougherty was born in Garvagh, County Londonderry, Ireland, to Archibald Dougherty, Esq., M.R.C.S., a surgeon, and ...

1908–1914 *Sir

Matthew Nathan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan (3 January 1862 – 18 April 1939) was a British soldier and colonial administrator, who variously served as the Governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Quee ...

1914–1916 *Sir

Robert Chalmers Robert Chalmers, 1st Baron Chalmers, (18 August 1858 – 17 November 1938) was a British civil servant, and a Pali and Buddhist scholar. In later life, he served as the Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Background and education Chalmers was ...

1916 *Sir William Byrne 1916–1918 *

James Macmahon James Macmahon PC (Ire) (20 April 1865 – 1 May 1954) was an Irish civil servant and businessman.Obituary, ''The Times'', 3 May 1954 Macmahon was born in Belfast and raised as a Roman Catholic. He was educated at St Patrick's College, Arm ...

1918–1922 (jointly with Sir John Anderson from 1920) *Sir

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

1920–1922 (jointly with James Macmahon)

Assistant Under-Secretaries for Ireland

From 1852 to 1876 the Assistant Under-Secretary was called Chief Clerk. After the retirement of

Marmion Savage Marmion Wilme Savage (1803–1872), also known as Marmion Wilard Savage, was an Irish novelist and journalist. Life He was son of the Rev. Henry Savage. He matriculated as a pensioner on 6 October 1817 at Trinity College, Dublin, obtaining a scho ...

as Clerk of 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 ...

in 1853, the Chief Clerk/Assistant Under-Secretary was

ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

Clerk of the Privy Council of Ireland.

Sources

* Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, ''British Historical Facts 1830–1900'' (Macmillan, 1975) p. 149. * *

Citations

History of Ireland (1801–1923) Political office-holders in pre-partition Ireland {{UK-hist-stub