Secretary of State for India

His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of the British Indian Empire, including Aden, Burma and the Persian Gulf Residency. The post was created in 1858 when the East India Company's rule in Bengal ended and India, except for the Princely States, was brought under the direct administration of the government in Whitehall in London, beginning the official colonial period under the British Empire.

Secretary of State for India
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
India Office
Member of	British Cabinet Privy Council
Seat	Westminster, London
Appointer	The British Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Constituting instrument	Government of India Act
Precursor	President of the Board of Control
Formation	2 August 1858
First holder	Lord Stanley
Final holder	William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel
Abolished	14 August 1947
Deputy	Under-Secretary of State for India

The ceremonial seat of the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, and subsequently that of the Secretary of State for India

The 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, Secretary of State for India from 1905 to 1910 and again briefly, as acting Secretary, in 1911

In 1937, the India Office was reorganised which separated Burma and Aden under a new Burma Office, but the same secretary of state headed both departments and a new title was established as His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India and Burma. The India Office and its secretary of state were abolished in August 1947, when the United Kingdom granted independence in the Indian Independence Act, which created two new independent dominions, India and Pakistan. Burma soon achieved independence separately in early 1948.

Secretaries of state for India, 1858–1937

Before the establishment of the British Empire on 2 August 1858, Lord Stanley had served as President of the Board of Control.

Portrait		Name	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
		Lord Stanley MP for King's Lynn	2 August 1858	11 June 1859	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
		Sir Charles Wood MP for Halifax until 1865 MP for Ripon after 1865	18 June 1859	16 February 1866[1]	Liberal		Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
							John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
		George Robinson, 3rd Earl de Grey	16 February 1866	26 June 1866	Liberal
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne MP for Stamford	6 July 1866	8 March 1867	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
		Sir Stafford Northcote MP for North Devonshire	8 March 1867	1 December 1868	Conservative
							Benjamin Disraeli
		George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll	9 December 1868	17 February 1874	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury	21 February 1874	2 April 1878	Conservative		Benjamin Disraeli
		Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook	2 April 1878	21 April 1880	Conservative
		Spencer Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington MP for North East Lancashire	28 April 1880	16 December 1882	[[Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley	16 December 1882	9 June 1885	Liberal
		Lord Randolph Churchill MP for Paddington South	24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Conservative		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
		John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley	6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross	3 August 1886	11 August 1892	Conservative		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
		John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley	18 August 1892	10 March 1894	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		Henry Fowler MP for Wolverhampton East	10 March 1894	21 June 1895	Liberal		Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
		Lord George Hamilton MP for Ealing	4 July 1895	9 October 1903[2]	Conservative		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)
							Arthur Balfour (Unionist Coalition)
		William St John Brodrick MP for Guildford	9 October 1903	4 December 1905	Irish Unionist
		John Morley MP for Montrose Burghs until 1908 Viscount Morley of Blackburn after 1908	10 December 1905	3 November 1910	Liberal		Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
							H. H. Asquith
		Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Earl of Crewe	3 November 1910	7 March 1911	Liberal
		John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn	7 March 1911	25 May 1911	Liberal
		Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe	25 May 1911	25 May 1915	Liberal
		Austen Chamberlain MP for Birmingham West	25 May 1915	17 July 1917[3]	Conservative		H. H. Asquith (Coalition) David Lloyd George (Coalition)
		Edwin Montagu MP for Chesterton until 1918 MP for Cambridgeshire after 1918	17 July 1917	19 March 1922	Liberal
		William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel	19 March 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative		Bonar Law
							Stanley Baldwin
		Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
		F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead	6 November 1924	18 October 1928	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
		William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel	18 October 1928	4 June 1929	Conservative
		William Wedgwood Benn MP for Aberdeen North	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
		Sir Samuel Hoare MP for Chelsea	25 August 1931	7 June 1935	Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald (1st & 2nd National Min.)
		Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland	7 June 1935	28 May 1937	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)

Secretaries of state for India and Burma, 1937–1947

Portrait		Name	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
		Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland	28 May 1937	13 May 1940	Conservative		Neville Chamberlain (4th National Min.; War Coalition)
		Leo Amery MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook	13 May 1940	26 July 1945	Conservative		Winston Churchill (War Coalition; Caretaker Min.)
		Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence	3 August 1945	17 April 1947	Labour		Clement Attlee
		The Right Honourable William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel	17 April 1947	14 August 1947	Labour

Secretaries of state for Burma, 1947–1948

Portrait		Name	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
		The Right Honourable William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel	14 August 1947	4 January 1948	Labour		Clement Attlee

See also

• India Office
• British Raj
• British rule in Burma
• Governor-General of India
• Imperial Civil Service
• Government of India Act

History of English and British government departments with responsibility for foreign affairs and those with responsibility for the colonies, dominions and the Commonwealth

Northern Department 1660–1782 Secretaries — Undersecretaries	Southern Department 1660–1768 Secretaries — Undersecretaries		—
	Southern Department 1768–1782 Secretaries — Undersecretaries 1782: diplomatic responsibilities transferred to new Foreign Office	Colonial Office 1768–1782 Secretaries — Undersecretaries
Foreign Office 1782–1968 Secretaries — Ministers — 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		India Office 1858–1937 Secretaries — Undersecretaries
	Colonial Office 1925–1966 Secretaries — Ministers — Undersecretaries	Dominions Office 1925–1947 Secretaries — Undersecretaries
			India Office and Burma Office 1937–1947 Secretaries — Undersecretaries
		Commonwealth Relations Office 1947–1966 Secretaries — Ministers — Undersecretaries
	Commonwealth Office 1966–1968 Secretaries — Ministers — Undersecretaries
Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1968–2020 Secretaries — Ministers — Undersecretaries
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Since 2020 Secretaries — Ministers — Undersecretaries

Notes

1. Resigned after being injured in a hunting accident.
2. Resigned.
3. Resigned.

Further reading

• St. John, Ian. "Writing to the Defence of Empire: Winston Churchill’s Press Campaign against Constitutional Reform in India, 1929–1935". In: C. Kaul, (ed) Media and the British Empire (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) pp.104-124online

• Williams, Donovan. "The Council of India and the relationship between the home and supreme governments, 1858-1870." English Historical Review 81.318 (1966): 56-73. exzcerpt

External links