The Chief Secretary was the most important position for determining British policy in Ireland after the Lord Lieutenant, and was frequently a cabinet level position in the 19th and early twentieth centuries.
 in Dublin Castle |
Chief Secretaries for Ireland, 1660-1922
- Matthew Lock 1660
- Sir Thomas Page 1662-1669
- Sir Henry Ford 1669-1670
- Sir Ellis Leighton 1670-1672
- Sir Henry Ford 1672-1673
- Sir William Harbord 1673-1676
- Sir Cyril Wyche 1676-1682
- Sir William Ellis 1682-1685
- Sir Paul Rycaut 1686-1687
- Thomas Sheridan 1687-1688
- Patrick Tyrrell 1688-1689
- John Davis 1690-1692
- Sir Cyril Wyche 1692-1693
- Sir Richard Aldworth 1695-1696
- William Palmer 1696-1697
- Matthew Prior 1697-1699
- Humphrey May 1699-1701
- Francis Gwyn 1701-1703
- Edward Southwell 1703-1707
- George Dodington 1707-1708
- Joseph Addison 1708-1710
- Edward Southwell 1710-1713
- Sir John Stanley 1713-1714
- Joseph Addison 1714-1715
- Martin Bladen and Charles Delafaye 1715-1717
- Edward Webster 1717-1720
- Horatio Walpole 1720-1721
- Edward Hopkins 1721-1724
- Thomas Clutterbuck 1724-1730
- Walter Cary 1730-1737
- Sir Edward Walpole 1737-1739
- Thomas Townshend 1739
- Henry Bilson Legge 1739-1741
- William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon 1741-1745
- Richard Lidell 1745-1746
- Sewallis Shirley 1746
- Edward Weston 1746-1750
- Lord George Sackville 1750-1755
- Henry Seymour Conway 1755-1757
- Richard Rigby 1757-1761
- William Gerard Hamilton 1761-1764
- Charles Moore, 6th Earl of Drogheda 1764-1765
- Francis Seymour Conway, Viscount Conway 1765-1766
- Augustus John Hervey 1766-1767
- Theophilus Jones 1767
- Lord Frederick Campbell 1767-1768
- Sir George Macartney 1769-1772
- Sir John Blaquiere 1772-1776
- Sir Richard Heron 1776-1780
- William Eden 1780-1782
- Richard FitzPatrick 1782
- William Wyndham Grenville 1782-1783
- William Windham 1783
- Thomas Pelham 1783-1784
- Thomas Orde 1784-1787
- Alleyne FitzHerbert 1787-1789
- Robert Hobart 1789-1793
- Sylvester Douglas 1793-1794
- George Damer, Viscount Milton 1794-1795
- Thomas Pelham 1795-1798
- Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh 1798-1801
- Charles Abbot 1801-1802
- William Wickham 1802-1804
- Sir Evan Nepean 1804-1805
- Nicholas Vansittart 1805
- Charles Long 1805-1806
- William Elliot 1806-1807
- Sir Arthur Wellesley 1807-1809
- Robert Dundas 1809
- William Wellesley-Pole 1809-1812
- Robert Peel 1812-1818
- Charles Grant 1818-1821
- Henry Goulburn 1821-1827
- William Lamb 1827-1828
- Sir Francis Leveson Gower 1828-1830
- Sir Henry Hardinge 1830
- Edward Geoffrey Smith-Stanley 1830-1833
- Sir John Cam Hobhouse 1833
- Edward John Littleton 1833-1834
- Sir Henry Hardinge 1834-1835
- George Howard, Viscount Morpeth 1835-1841
- Edward Granville Eliot, Lord Eliot 1841-1845
- Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle 1845-1846
- Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln 1846
- Henry Labouchere 1846-1847
- Sir William Meredyth Somerville 1847-1852
- Richard Southwell Bourke, Lord Naas 1852
- Sir John Young 1853-1855
- Edward Horsman 1855-1857
- Henry Arthur Herbert 1857-1858
- Richard Southwell Bourke, Lord Naas 1858-1859
- Edward Cardwell 1859-1861
- Sir Robert Peel 1861-1865
- Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue 1865-1866
- Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo 1866-1868
- John Wilson-Patten 1868
- Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue 1868-1871
- Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington 1871-1874
- Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1874-1878
- James Lowther 1878-1880
- William Edward Forster 1880-1882
- Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish 1882
- George Otto Trevelyan 1882-1884
- Henry Campbell-Bannerman 1884-1885
- Sir William Hart Dyke 1885-1886
- William Henry Smith 1886
- John Morley 1886
- Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1886-1887
- Arthur James Balfour 1887-1891
- William Lawies Jackson 1891-1892
- John Morley 1892-1895
- Gerald William Balfour 1895-1900
- George Wyndham 1900-1905
- Walter Hume Long 1905
- James Bryce 1905-1907
- Augustine Birrell 1907-1916
- Henry Edward Duke 1916-1918
- Edward Shortt 1918-1919
- James Ian Macpherson 1919-1920
- Sir Hamar Greenwood 1920-1922