Secretary of State for the Colonies

Secretary of State for the Colonies
Inaugural holder	1st: The Earl of Hillsborough 2nd: Sir George Grey
Formation	1st: 27 August 1772 2nd: 12 June 1854
Final holder	1st: Welbore Ellis 2nd: Frederick Lee
Abolished	1st: 8 March 1782 2nd: 1 August 1966
Deputy	Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies Minister of State

Joseph Chamberlain; Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1895–1903

The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies.

The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly troublesome North American colonies, following passage of the Townsend Acts. Previously colonial responsibilities were held jointly by the Lords of Trade and Plantations and the Secretary of State for the Southern Department,^[1] who was responsible for Southern England, Wales, Ireland, the American colonies, and relations with the Catholic and Muslim states of Europe. Joint responsibility continued under the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but led to a diminution of the board's status and it became an adjunct to the new Secretary's Department.^[2]

Following the loss of the American colonies, both the board and the short-lived secretaryship were dismissed by the king on 2 May 1782; both were abolished later by the Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782 (22 Geo. 3, c 82).^[3] Following this, colonial duties given to the Home Secretary, then Lord Sydney. Following the Treaty of Paris 1783, a new board, named the Committee of Council on Trade and Plantations (later known as 'the First Committee') was established under William Pitt the Younger, by an Order in Council in 1784.^[2] In 1794 a new office was created for Henry Dundas — the Secretary of State for War, which now took responsibility for the Colonies, and was renamed the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in 1801. In 1854, military reforms led to the Colonial and Military responsibilities of this secretary of state being split into two separate offices, with Sir George Grey becoming the first Secretary of State for the Colonies under the new arrangement.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century the United Kingdom also gained control over a number of territories with the status of "protectorate". The ministerial responsibility for these territories was initially held by the Foreign Secretary. However, by the early years of the twentieth century the responsibility for each of these territories had been transferred to the Colonial Secretary as well. The League of Nations mandated territories acquired as a result of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) became a further responsibility of the Colonial Office in the aftermath of the First World War.

In 1925 part of the Colonial Office was separated out as the Dominions Office, with its own Secretary of State. The new office was responsible for dealing with the Dominions together with a small number of other territories (most notably Southern Rhodesia).

In the twenty years following the end of the Second World War, much of the British Empire was dismantled as its various territories gained independence. In consequence, the Colonial Office was merged in 1966 with the Commonwealth Relations Office (which until 1947 had been the Dominions Office) to form the Commonwealth Office, while ministerial responsibility was transferred to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs (previously known as the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations). In 1968 the Commonwealth Office was subsumed into the Foreign Office, which was renamed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

The Colonial Secretary never had responsibility for the provinces and princely states of India, which had its own Secretary of State.

From 1768 until 1966 the Secretary of State was supported by an Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (at times an Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies), and latterly by a Minister of State.

Secretaries of State for the Colonies, 1768–1782

Name		Portrait	Term of office
	The Earl of Hillsborough		27 February 1768	27 August 1772
	The Earl of Dartmouth		27 August 1772	10 November 1775
	Lord George Germain		10 November 1775	February 1782
	Welbore Ellis		February 1782	8 March 1782

Responsibility for the Colonies held by:

• Home Secretary 1782–1794
• Secretary of State for War 1794–1801
• Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1801–1854

Secretaries of State for the Colonies, 1854–1903

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Sir George Grey, Bt		12 June 1854	8 February 1855	Whig		Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)
	Sidney Herbert		8 February 1855	23 February 1855	Whig		Viscount Palmerston
	Lord John Russell		23 February 1855	21 July 1855	Whig
	Sir William Molesworth, Bt		21 July 1855	21 November 1855	Radical
	Henry Labouchere		21 November 1855	21 February 1858	Whig
	Lord Stanley (later 15th Earl of Derby)		26 February 1858	5 June 1858	Conservative		14th Earl of Derby
	Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Bt		5 June 1858	11 June 1859	Conservative
	The Duke of Newcastle		18 June 1859	7 April 1864	Liberal		Viscount Palmerston
	Edward Cardwell		7 April 1864	26 June 1866	Liberal
							Earl Russell
	The Earl of Carnarvon		6 July 1866	8 March 1867	Conservative		14th Earl of Derby
	The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos		8 March 1867	1 December 1868	Conservative
							Benjamin Disraeli
	The Earl Granville		9 December 1868	6 July 1870	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	The Earl of Kimberley		6 July 1870	17 February 1874	Liberal
	The Earl of Carnarvon		21 February 1874	4 February 1878	Conservative		Benjamin Disraeli
	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt		4 February 1878	21 April 1880	Conservative
	The Earl of Kimberley		21 April 1880	16 December 1882	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	15th Earl of Derby		16 December 1882	9 June 1885	Liberal
	Frederick Stanley (later 16th Earl of Derby)		24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury
	The Earl Granville		6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	Edward Stanhope		3 August 1886	14 January 1887	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury
	The Lord Knutsford		14 January 1887	11 August 1892	Conservative
	The Marquess of Ripon		18 August 1892	21 June 1895	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
							Earl of Rosebery
	Joseph Chamberlain		29 June 1895	16 September 1903	Liberal Unionist		Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)
							Arthur Balfour (Unionist Coalition)

Secretaries of State for the Colonies, 1903–1966

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Alfred Lyttelton		11 October 1903	4 December 1905	Liberal Unionist		Arthur Balfour (Unionist Coalition)
	The Earl of Elgin		10 December 1905	12 April 1908	Liberal		Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
	The Earl of Crewe		12 April 1908	3 November 1910	Liberal		H. H. Asquith
	Lewis Vernon Harcourt		3 November 1910	25 May 1915	Liberal
	Andrew Bonar Law		25 May 1915	10 December 1916	Conservative		H. H. Asquith (Coalition)
	Walter Long		10 December 1916	10 January 1919	Conservative		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
	The Viscount Milner		10 January 1919	13 February 1921	Liberal
	Winston Churchill		13 February 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal
	The Duke of Devonshire		24 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative		Andrew Bonar Law
							Stanley Baldwin
	James Henry Thomas		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	Leo Amery		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	The Lord Passfield		7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	James Henry Thomas		25 August 1931	5 November 1931	National Labour		Ramsay MacDonald (1st National Min.)
	Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister		5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald (2nd National Min.)
	Malcolm MacDonald		7 June 1935	22 November 1935	National Labour		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)
	James Henry Thomas		22 November 1935	22 May 1936	National Labour
	William Ormsby-Gore		28 May 1936	16 May 1938	Conservative
							Neville Chamberlain (4th National Min.; War Coalition)
	Malcolm MacDonald		16 May 1938	12 May 1940	National Labour
	The Lord Lloyd		12 May 1940	8 February 1941	Conservative		Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
	The Lord Moyne		8 February 1941	22 February 1942	Conservative
	Viscount Cranborne		22 February 1942	22 November 1942	Conservative
	Oliver Stanley		22 November 1942	26 July 1945	Conservative
	George Henry Hall		3 August 1945	4 October 1946	Labour		Clement Attlee
	Arthur Creech Jones		4 October 1946	28 February 1950	Labour
	Jim Griffiths		28 February 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
	Oliver Lyttelton		28 October 1951	28 July 1954	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill
	Alan Lennox-Boyd		28 July 1954	14 October 1959	Conservative
							Sir Anthony Eden
							Harold Macmillan
	Iain Macleod		14 October 1959	9 October 1961	Conservative
	Reginald Maudling		9 October 1961	13 July 1962	Conservative
	Duncan Sandys		13 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative
							Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Anthony Greenwood		18 October 1964	23 December 1965	Labour		Harold Wilson
	The Earl of Longford		23 December 1965	6 April 1966	Labour
	Frederick Lee		6 April 1966	1 August 1966	Labour

Responsibility for the colonies held by:

• Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs 1966–1968
• Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1968–present

Following the British Nationality Act 1981 the term "colony" ceased to be used; Britain's rule over Hong Kong, the last significant colony, ceased in 1997. Britain retains certain overseas territories.

References

History of United Kingdom government departments with responsibility for foreign affairs
Northern Department 1660–1782 Secretaries Undersecretaries		Foreign Office 1782–1968 Secretaries Ministers Undersecretaries							Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1968–present Secretaries Ministers Undersecretaries
Southern Department 1660–1768 Secretaries Undersecretaries	Colonial Office 1768–1782 Secretaries Undersecretaries	Home Office 1782–1794 Secretaries Undersecretaries	War Office 1794–1801 Secretaries Undersecretaries	War and Colonial Office 1801–1854 Secretaries Undersecretaries	Colonial Office 1854–1925 Secretaries Undersecretaries	Colonial Office 1925–1966 Secretaries Ministers Undersecretaries		Commonwealth Office 1966–1968 Secretaries Ministers Undersecretaries
	Southern Department 1768–1782 Secretaries Undersecretaries					Dominions Office 1925–1947 Secretaries Undersecretaries	Commonwealth Relations Office 1947–1966 Secretaries Ministers Undersecretaries
.					India Office 1858–1937 Secretaries Undersecretaries	India Office and Burma Office 1937–1947 Secretaries Undersecretaries

1. American and West Indian colonies before 1782, National Archives
2. Records of the Board of Trade and of successor and related bodies, Department code BT, The National Archives
3. Council of trade and plantations 1696-1782, in Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 3, Officials of the Boards of Trade 1660-1870, p.28-37. University of London, London, 1974.