Secretary of State for the Colonies

The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet official in charge of managing the various British colonies. The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly troublesome North American colonies. The men who held office were:

• Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough 1768 - 1772
• William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth[?] 1772 - 1775
• Lord George Sackville-Germain[?] 1775 - 1782
• Welbore Ellis 1782

In 1782, following the loss of the American colonies, the office was abolished, and its duties given to the Home Secretary. 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 War Office[?] and Colonial Office[?] being split up, and the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies was recreated. Its holders were as follows:

• Sir George Grey[?] 1854 - 1855
• Sidney Herbert[?] 1855
• Lord John Russell 1855
• Sir William Molesworth[?] 1855
• Henry Labouchere[?] 1855 - 1858
• Edward Henry Stanley, Lord Stanley[?] 1858
• Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1858 - 1859
• Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme[?] 1859 - 1864
• Edward Cardwell[?] 1864 - 1866
• Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon[?] 1866 - 1867
• Richard Temple-Grenville, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos[?] 1867 - 1868
• Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville[?] 1868 - 1870
• John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley[?] 1870 - 1874
• Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon[?] 1874 - 1878
• Sir Michael Hicks Beach[?] 1878 - 1880
• John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley[?] 1880 - 1882
• Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby[?] 1882 - 1885
• Frederick Arthur Stanley[?] 1885 - 1886
• Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville[?] 1886
• Edward Stanhope[?] 1886 - 1887
• Sir Henry Thurston Holland[?], 1st Lord Knutsford (1888) 1887 - 1892
• George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon[?] 1892 - 1895
• Joseph Chamberlain 1895 - 1903
• Alfred Lyttelton[?] 1903 - 1905
• Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin[?] 1905 - 1908
• Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Earl of Crewe[?] 1908 - 1910
• Lewis Harcourt[?] 1910 - 1915
• Andrew Bonar Law 1915 - 1916
• Walter Hume Long[?] 1916 - 1919
• Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner[?] 1919 - 1921
• Winston Churchill 1921 - 1922
• Victor Christian William Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire 1922 - 1924
• James Henry Thomas[?] 1924
• Leopold Charles Amery[?] 1924 - 1929
• Sydney James Webb, 1st Lord Passfield[?] 1929 - 1931
• James Henry Thomas[?] 1931
• Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister[?] 1931 - 1935
• Malcolm MacDonald[?] 1935
• James Henry Thomas[?] 1935 - 1936
• William Ormsby Gore[?] 1936 - 1938
• Malcolm MacDonald[?] 1938 - 1940
• George Ambrose Lloyd, Lord Lloyd[?] 1940 - 1941
• Walter Guiness, Lord Moyne[?] 1941 - 1942
• Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne[?] 1942 - 1945
• Oliver Frederick Stanley[?] 1945 - 1946
• Arthur Creech Jones[?] 1946 - 1950
• James Griffiths[?] 1950 - 1951
• Oliver Lyttelton[?] 1951 - 1954
• Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd[?] 1954 - 1959
• Iain Macleod 1959 - 1961
• Reginald Maulding[?] 1961 - 1962
• Duncan Sandys 1962 - 1964
• Anthony Greenwood[?] 1964 - 1965
• Francis Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford 1965 - 1966
• Frederick Lee[?] 1966

In 1966, with most of the colonies gone, the office was merged with that of the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations to create the new office of Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs.

Until 1925, when the office of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs was created, the Colonial Office had responsibility for all British colonies and dominions besides India, which had its own Secretary of State.