Treasury (British)

The English Treasury seems to have come into existence around 1126, in the reign of Henry I. The treasury emerged out of the royal household[?], and served as the location where the king kept his treasures. The head of the treasury was called the Lord Treasurer. Starting in Tudor times, the Lord Treasurer became one of the chief officers of state, and competed with the Lord Chancellor for the principal place.

Beginning in the 17th Century, the Treasury was frequently entrusted to a commission, rather than to a single individual, and after 1714, it was always in commission. The commissioners were referred to as Lords of the Treasury, and given a number based on seniority. Eventually, the First Lord of the Treasury came to be seen as the natural head of any minister, and from Robert Walpole on, began to be known, unofficially, as the prime minister. Before 1827, the First Lord of the Treasury, when a commoner, also held the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, while if the First Lord was a peer, the 2nd Lord would usually serve as Chancellor. Since 1827, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has always been second Lord of the Treasury.

List of First Lords of the Treasury, 1714-1905 for earlier Lord Treasurers and First Lords, see List of Lord Treasurers. Much of this list overlaps with the list of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, but there are some notable differences.

• Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax: October 13, 1714 - May 19, 1715
• Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle: May 23 - October 10, 1715
• Robert Walpole: October 10, 1715 - April 12, 1717
• James Stanhope[?]: April 12, 1717 - March 21, 1718
• Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland[?]: March 21, 1718 - April 4, 1721
• Robert Walpole: April 4, 1721 - February 11, 1742
• Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington[?]: February 16, 1742 - July 2, 1743
• Henry Pelham: August 27, 1743 - March 6, 1754
• Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle[?]: March 16, 1754 - November 16, 1756
• William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire: November 16, 1756 - June 25, 1757
• Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle[?]: July 2, 1757 - May 26, 1762
• John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute[?]: May 26, 1762 - April 16, 1763
• George Grenville: April 16, 1763 - July 13, 1765
• Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham: July 13, 1765 - July 30, 1766
• Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton[?]: July 30, 1766 - January 28, 1770
• Frederick North, Lord North: January 28, 1770 - March 22, 1782
• Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham: March 27 - July 1, 1782
• William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne[?]: July 4, 1782 - April 2, 1783
• William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland: April 2, 1783 - December 19, 1783
• William Pitt: December 19, 1783 - March 14, 1801
• Henry Addington: March 17, 1801 - May 10, 1804
• William Pitt: May 10, 1804 - January 23, 1806
• William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Lord Grenville: February 11, 1806 - March 31, 1807
• William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland: March 31, 1807 - October 4, 1809
• Spencer Perceval: October 4, 1809 - May 11, 1812
• Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool: June 9, 1812 - April 10, 1827
• George Canning: April 10 - August 8, 1827
• Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich: August 31, 1827 - January 22, 1828
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington: January 22, 1828 - November 22, 1830
• Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey: November 22, 1830 - July 16, 1834
• William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne: July 16 - November 17, 1834
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington: November 17 - December 10, 1834
• Sir Robert Peel: December 10, 1834 - April 18, 1835
• William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne: April 18, 1835 - August 30, 1841
• Sir Robert Peel: August 30, 1841 - June 30, 1846
• Lord John Russell: June 30, 1846 - February 23, 1852
• Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby: February 23 - December 19, 1852
• George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen: December 19, 1852 - February 6, 1855
• Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston: February 6, 1855 - February 20, 1858
• Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby: February 20, 1858 - June 12, 1859
• Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston: June 12, 1859 - October 18, 1865
• John Russell, 1st Earl Russell: October 29, 1865 - June 28, 1866
• Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby: June 28, 1866 - February 27, 1868
• Benjamin Disraeli: February 27 - December 3, 1868
• William Ewart Gladstone: December 3, 1868 - February 20, 1874
• Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1876): February 20, 1874 - April 23, 1880
• William Ewart Gladstone: April 23, 1880 - June 23, 1885
• Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh[?]: June 29, 1885 - February 1, 1886
• William Ewart Gladstone: February 1 - July 25, 1886
• Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury: August 3, 1886 - January 14, 1887
• William Henry Smith: January 14, 1887 - October 6, 1891
• Arthur James Balfour: October 1891 - August 15, 1892
• William Ewart Gladstone: August 15, 1892 - March 5, 1894
• Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery: March 5, 1894 - June 25, 1895
• Arthur James Balfour: June 25, 1895 - December 5, 1905

thereafter the First Lord of the Treasury has always been identical to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

See also List of Commissioners of the Treasury, Secretary to the Treasury[?]

Sources

• E.B. Fryde, D.E. Greenway, S. Porter, and I. Roy, ed. Handbook of British Chronology, 3rd Edition
• Haydn, Joseph Timothy. The Book of Dignities (1894)