The dominant position of the Lord Lieutenant at
Dublin Castle had been central to the British administration of the
Kingdom of Ireland for much of its history.
Poynings' Law in particular meant that the
Parliament of Ireland lacked the
right of initiative, and the
Crown kept control of executive authority in the hands of officials sent from London, rather than ministers
responsible to the Irish parliament. In 1560, Queen
Elizabeth I of England and Ireland ordered the Lord Lieutenant, the
Earl of Sussex, to appoint
John Challoner of
Dublin as
Secretary of State for Ireland "because at this present there is none appointed to be Clerk of our Council there, and considering how more meet it were, that in our realm there were for our honour one to be our Secretary there for the affairs of our Realm". The appointment of a Secretary was intended to both improve Irish administration, and to keep the Lord Lieutenant in line. The role of Secretary of State for Ireland and Chief Secretary of Ireland were originally distinct positions,
Thomas Pelham being the first individual appointed to both offices concurrently in 1796. Over time, the post of Chief Secretary gradually increased in importance, particularly because of his role as manager of legislative business for the Government in the
Irish House of Commons, in which he sat as an
MP, making the person a sort of ersatz Prime Minister. While the Irish administration was not
responsible to the parliament, it nevertheless needed to manage and influence it in order to pursue certain reforms involving the passage of local legislation. Chief Secretary
Viscount Castlereagh played a key role in the enactment of the
Act of Union which passed the Irish Parliament on a second attempt in 1800 — through the exercise of patronage and direct bribery. Upon the Union on 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland merged into the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish parliament ceased to exist. However, the existing system of administration in Ireland continued broadly in place, with the offices of Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary retaining their respective roles. The last Chief Secretary to represent an Irish constituency while in office was
Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, MP for
County Louth, who served from 1868 to 1871. The last Chief Secretary was Sir
Hamar Greenwood, who left office in October 1922. The
Irish Free State, comprising the greater part of Ireland, would become independent on 6 December 1922. In
Northern Ireland, a new
Government of Northern Ireland was established, led by a
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. This government operated from 1921 until 1972, and the position of
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created as a position in the
cabinet of the United Kingdom in London. Relations with the Northern Ireland government, treated as a sort of internal quasi-
Dominion, was put under the purview
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs; the
Northern Ireland Department of the Home Office was responsible for Northern Ireland matters not under the purview of the Belfast authorities. ==List of chief secretaries for Ireland==