President of the Board of Trade

The Board of Trade and Plantations was created in Britain on May 15, 1696 in order to promote British trade and improve "our plantations in America and elsewhere. There were 15 (and later 16) members of the Board - 7 (later 8) Great officers of state, and 8 unofficial members, who did the majority of the work. The senior unofficial member of the board was the President of the Board of Trade. The board was abolished on July 11, 1782, but reestablished on March 5, 1784, and more strongly focused on commercial functions than the previous board of trade. At first the President of the Board of Trade only occasionally sat in the cabinet, but from the early 19th century it was usually a cabinet level position.

Since 1970 President of the Board of Trade has been a secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1970-1974 and 1983-date) or Secretary of State for Trade (1974-83), though Michael Heseltine preferred to be known by the older title during his time in office in the mid-1990s. The office is currently held by Patricia Hewitt[?].

Presidents of the First Board of Trade, 1696-1782

• John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgwater 1696-1699
• Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford 1699-1702
• Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth 1702-1707
• Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford 1707-1711
• Charles Finch, 4th Earl of Winchilsea 1711-1713
• Francis North, 3rd Lord Guildford 1713-1714
• William Berkeley, 4th Lord Berkeley of Stratton 1714-1715
• Henry Howard, 6th Earl of Suffolk 1715-1718
• Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holdernesse 1718-1719
• Thomas Fane, 6th Earl of Westmorland 1719-1735
• Benjamin Mildmay, 1st Earl Fitzwalter 1735-1737
• John Monson, 1st Lord Monson 1737-1748
• George Montague, 2nd Earl of Halifax 1748-1761
• Samuel Sandys, 1st Lord Sandys 1761-1763
• Charles Townshend[?] 1763
• William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne[?] 1763
• Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough 1763-1765
• William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth 1765-1766
• Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough 1766
• Robert Nugent, 1st Viscount Clare (1767) 1766-1768
• Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough 1768-1772 (also Secretary of State for the Colonies)
• William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth 1772-1775 (also Secretary of State for the Colonies)
• Lord George Sackville-Germain 1775-1779 (also Secretary of State for the Colonies)
• Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle 1779-1780
• Thomas Robinson, 2nd Lord Grantham 1780-1782

Presidents of the Board of Trade, 1784-Present

• Thomas Townshend, 1st Lord Sydney 1784-1786 (also Home Secretary)
• Charles Jenkinson, 1st Lord Hawkesbury, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1796) 1786-1804 (also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster)

• James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose 1804-1806 (also Postmaster-General)
• William Eden, 1st Lord Auckland 1806-1807
• Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (also Master of the Mint[?])
• Richard le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty 1812-1818 (also Treasurer of the Navy[?])
• Frederick John Robinson 1818-1823 (also Treasurer of the Navy[?])
• William Huskisson (also Treasurer of the Navy[?]) 1823-1827
• Charles Grant (also Treasurer of the Navy[?]) 1827-1828
• William Vesey Fitzgerald (also Treasurer of the Navy[?]) 1828-1830
• John Charles Herries (also Master of the Mint[?] 1830
• George Eden, 2nd Lord Auckland (also Master of the Mint[?]) 1830-1834
• Charles Edward Poulett Thomson (also Treasurer of the Navy[?]) 1834
• Alexander Baring, 1st Lord Ashburton (1835) (also Master of the Mint[?]) 1834-1835
• Charles Edward Poulett Thomson 1835-1839
• Henry Labouchere[?] (also Master of the Mint[?]) 1839-1841
• Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon 1841-1843
• William Ewart Gladstone 1843-1845
• James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 10th Earl of Dalhousie 1845-1846
• George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon 1846-1847
• Henry Labouchere[?] 1847-1852
• Joseph Warner Henley 1852
• Edward Cardwell 1852-1855
• Edward John Stanley, 2nd Lord Stanley of Alderley 1855-1858
• Joseph Warner Henley 1858-1859
• Richard John Hely Hutchinson, 4th Earl of Donoughmore 1859
• Thomas Milner Gibson 1859-1866
• Sir Stafford Henry Northcote[?] 1866-1867
• Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond 1867-1868
• John Bright 1868-1871
• Chichester Samuel Parkinson-Fortescue 1871-1874
• Sir Charles Bowyer Adderley 1874-1878
• Dudley Francis Stuart Ryder, Viscount Sandon 1878-1880
• Joseph Chamberlain 1880-1885
• Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Gordon 1885
• Edward Stanhope 1885-1886
• Anthony John Mundella 1886
• Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, 1st Lord Stanley of Preston (1886) 1886-1888
• Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1888-1892
• Anthony John Mundella 1892-1894
• James Bryce[?] 1894-1895
• Charles Thomson Ritchie 1895-1900
• Gerald William Balfour 1900-1905
• James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury[?] 1905
• David Lloyd George 1905-1908
• Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 1908-1910
• Sydney Charles Buxton 1910-1914
• John Burns 1914
• Walter Runciman 1914-1916
• Sir Albert Henry Stanley 1916-1919
• Sir Auckland Campbell Geddes 1919-1920
• Sir Robert Stevenson Horne 1920-1921
• Stanley Baldwin 1921-1922
• Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame 1922-1924
• Sidney James Webb 1924
• Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame 1924-1929
• William Graham 1929-1931
• Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister (formerly Lloyd-Greame) 1931
• Walter Runciman, 1st Lord Runciman (1932) 1931-1937
• Oliver Frederick George Stanley 1937-1940
• Sir Andrew Rae Duncan 1940
• Oliver Lyttelton 1940-1941
• Sir Andrew Rae Duncan 1941-1942
• John Jestyn Llewellin 1942
• Hugh John Neale Dalton[?] 1942-1945
• Oliver Lyttelton (also Minister of Production) 1945
• Sir Stafford Cripps[?] 1945-1947
• Harold Wilson 1947-1951
• Sir Hartley William Shawcross 1951
• George Edward Peter Thorneycroft 1951-1957
• Sir David Eccles 1957-1959
• Reginald Maudling 1959-1961
• Frederick James Erroll 1961-1963
• Edward Heath 1963-1964
• Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay 1964-1967
• Anthony Crosland[?] 1967-1969
• Roy Mason 1969-1970
• M.A.C. Noble 1970
• J.E.H. Davies 1970-1972
• Peter Edward Walker 1972-1974
• Peter David Shore 1974-1976
• Edmund Emanuel Dell 1976-1978
• John Smith 1978-1979
• J.W.F. Nott 1979-1982
• William John Biffen 1982
• Francis Arthur Cockfield, Lord Cockfield 1982-1983
• Cecil Edward Parkinson[?] 1983
• Norman Beresford Tebbit 1983-1985
• Leon Brittan[?] 1985-1986
• Paul Channon 1986-1987
• Lord Young of Graffham 1987-1989
• Nicholas Ridley 1989-1990
• Peter Lilley 1990-1992
• Michael Heseltine 1992-1995
• Ian Lang 1995-1997
• Margaret Beckett 1997-1998
• Peter Mandelson 1998
• Stephen Byers 1998-2001
• Patricia Hewitt[?] 2001-