The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a political office in the Dublin Castle administration. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century until 1921 he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland, roughly equivalent to the role of a Secretary of State, such as the similar role of Secretary of State for Scotland. Usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Chief Secretary was ex officio President of the Local Government Board for Ireland from its creation in 1872.
British rule in Ireland came to an end through most of the island as a result of the Irish War of Independence, which culminated in the establishment of the Irish Free State. In consequence, the office of Chief Secretary was abolished, as well as that of Lord Lieutenant. Executive responsibility within the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland was effectively transferred to the President of the Executive Council (i.e. the prime minister) and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland respectively. Northern Ireland affairs became the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Home Secretary.
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History of the office
The dominant position of the Lord Lieutenant at Dublin Castle had been central to the British administration of the Kingdom of Ireland for much of its history. Poynings' Law in particular meant that the Parliament of Ireland lacked the right of initiative, and the Crown kept control of executive authority in the hands of officials sent from London, rather than ministers responsible to the Irish parliament.
In 1560, Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland ordered the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Sussex, to appoint John Challoner of Dublin as Secretary of State for Ireland "because at this present there is none appointed to be Clerk of our Council there, and considering how more meet it were, that in our realm there were for our honour one to be our Secretary there for the affairs of our Realm". The appointment of a Secretary was intended to both improve Irish administration, and to keep the Lord Lieutenant in line. The role of Secretary of State for Ireland and Chief Secretary of Ireland were originally distinct positions, Thomas Pelham being the first individual appointed to both offices concurrently in 1796.
Over time, the post of Chief Secretary gradually increased in importance, particularly because of his role as manager of legislative business for the Government in the Irish House of Commons, in which he sat as an MP, making the person a sort of ersatz Prime Minister. While the Irish administration was not responsible to the parliament, it nevertheless needed to manage and influence it in order to pursue certain reforms involving the passage of local legislation.
Chief Secretary Viscount Castlereagh played a key role in the enactment of the Act of Union which passed the Irish Parliament on a second attempt in 1800 — through the exercise of patronage and direct bribery. Upon the Union on 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish parliament ceased to exist. However, the existing system of administration in Ireland continued broadly in place, with the offices of Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary retaining their respective roles.
The last Chief Secretary to represent an Irish constituency while in office was Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, MP for County Louth, who served from 1868 to 1871.
The last Chief Secretary was Sir Hamar Greenwood, who left office in October 1922. The Irish Free State, comprising the greater part of Ireland, would become independent on 6 December 1922. In Northern Ireland, a new Government of Northern Ireland was established, led by a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. This government operated from 1921 until 1972, and the position of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created as a position in the cabinet of the United Kingdom in London. Relations with the Northern Ireland government, treated as a sort of internal quasi-Dominion, was put under the purview Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs; the Northern Ireland Department of the Home Office was responsible for Northern Ireland matters not under the purview of the Belfast authorities.
List of chief secretaries for Ireland
This list includes holders of a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the British Cabinet. There were two periods during which this was not the case: first, from 29 June 1895 to 8 August 1902, when the Lord Lieutenant Lord Cadogan sat in the Cabinet while Chief Secretary Gerald Balfour (until 9 November 1900) was not a member, and (from 9 November 1900) while Chief Secretary George Wyndham also sat there; and secondly, from 28 October 1918 to 2 April 1921, when both the Lord Lieutenant Lord French and a succession of Chief Secretaries (Edward Shortt, Ian Macpherson and Sir Hamar Greenwood) sat in the Cabinet.