Secretary to the Admiralty

The office of Secretary to the Admiralty or (from the mid-18th century) First Secretary to the Admiralty was formerly an important position within the Admiralty of the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the government of the Royal Navy.

In 1870, the office of First Secretary was renamed Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, while the office of Second Secretary to the Admiralty was renamed Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty. In 1886, the Parliamentary Secretary was renamed Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty.

From 1930, the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary was also a Civil Lord of the Admiralty. The office became vacant in 1959, and ministerial offices were reorganised when the Admiralty was merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1964, with the creation of a Minister of State and Under-Secretary of State for the Navy.

Office holders

(First) Secretary to the Admiralty

• Robert Blackborne, 1652–1660
• Samuel Pepys, 1673–1679
• Thomas Hayter 1679–1680
• John Brisbane, 1680–1684
• Samuel Pepys, 1684–1689
• Phineas Bowles, 1689–1690
• James Southerne, 1690–1694
• William Bridgeman, 1694–1698 joint with Burchett
• Josiah Burchett, 1694–1742 joint with Bridgeman
• George Clarke, 1702–1705 joint with Bridgeman
• Thomas Corbett, 1741–1751 joint with Bridgeman
• John Clevland, 1751–1763 (First Secretary from 1759)
• Philip Stephens, 1763–1795
• Evan Nepean, 1795–1804
• William Marsden, 1804–1807
• Hon. William Wellesley Pole, 1807–1809
• John Wilson Croker, 1809–1830
• Hon. George Elliot, 1830–1834
• George Robert Dawson, 1834–1835
• Charles Wood, 1835–1839
• Richard More O'Ferrall, 1839–1841
• John Parker, 1841
• Hon. Sidney Herbert, 1841–1845
• Hon. Henry Lowry-Corry, 1845–1846
• Henry George Ward, 1846–1849
• John Parker, 1849–1852
• Augustus Stafford, 1852
• Ralph Bernal Osborne, 1853–1858
• Hon. Henry Lowry-Corry, 1858–1859
• Lord Clarence Paget, 1859–1866
• Hon. Thomas Baring, 1866
• Lord Henry Lennox, 1866–1868
• William Edward Baxter, 1868–1871

Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty

• George Shaw-Lefevre, 1871–1874
• Hon. Algernon Egerton, 1874–1880
• George Shaw-Lefevre, 1880
• George Trevelyan, 1880–1882
• Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 1882–1884
• Thomas Brassey, 1884–1885
• Charles Ritchie, 1885–1886

Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty

• J. T. Hibbert 1886
• Arthur Forwood 1886–1892
• Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth, Bt, 1892–1895
• William Ellison-Macartney 1895–1900
• H. O. Arnold-Forster 1900–1903
• E. G. Pretyman 1903–1905
• Edmund Robertson 1905–1908
• Thomas Macnamara 1908–1920
• Sir James Craig, Bt 1920–1921
• Leo Amery 1921–1922
• Bolton Eyres-Monsell 1922–1923
• Archibald Boyd-Carpenter 1923–1924
• Charles Ammon 1924
• J. C. C. Davidson 1924–1926
• Cuthbert Headlam 1926–1929
• Charles Ammon 1929–1931
• The Earl Stanhope 1931
• Lord Stanley 1931–1935
• Sir Victor Warrender, Bt 1935
• Lord Stanley 1935–1937
• Geoffrey Shakespeare 1937–1940
• Sir Victor Warrender, Bt 1940–1945
• John Dugdale 1945–1950
• James Callaghan 1950–1951
• Allan Noble 1951–1955
• George Ward 1955–1957
• Christopher Soames 1957–1958
• Robert Allan 1958–1959
• Charles Ian Orr-Ewing 1959

office vacant from 16 October 1959