List of chief governors of Ireland

This list of Lords Lieutenant of Ireland (sometimes also called Viceroy) terminates with abolition following the creation of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922. Reasons for difficulty in stating terms of office include that many left the office empty for a period (sometimes to return to the Court of St. James's, sometimes to return to their British estates) before either being replaced or returning.

There is difficulty in getting clear information before 1529; in the earlier years, there were frequent long vacancies, during which a Lord Deputy or Lord Justice would act as chief governor. The Irish Act of Union merged the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The new United Kingdom came into being on 1 January 1801 resulting in the disappearance of the separate Irish Parliament: Though many expected the office of Lord Lieutenant to be abolished, it survived. Periodic debates throughout the nineteenth century erupt over whether it should be replaced by a 'Secretary of State for Ireland'. The office of Chief Secretary for Ireland (in effect number two in Irish government ranking) grows in importance, with the Lord Lieutenant gradually reduced to a largely though not completely ceremonial role.

The office was replaced by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. In Northern Ireland the position was replaced by that of Governor of Northern Ireland.

Kingdom of Ireland

The date of appointment of each, rather than a specified term of office, is stated in brackets.

• Piers Gaveston: 1308
• Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March: 1379 (died in 1381)
• Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March: 1382
• Philip Courtenay I : February 1383
• Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March : 1394 second term
• Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles: 1438
• incomplete
• The Earl of Ossory (Lord Deputy): 4 August 1528
• The Duke of Richmond and Somerset: 22 June 1529
• Sir William Skeffington (Lord Deputy): 30 July 1534
• Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane (Lord Deputy): 23 February 1536
• Lords Justices: 1 April 1540
• Sir Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy): 7 July 1540
• Sir Edward Bellingham (Lord Deputy): 22 April 1548
• Lords Justices: 27 December 1549
• Sir Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy): 4 August 1550
• Sir James Croft (Lord Deputy): 29 April 1551
• Lords Justices: 6 December 1552
• Sir Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy): 1 September 1553
• Viscount FitzWalter (Lord Deputy): 27 April 1556
• Lords Justices: 12 December 1558
• The Earl of Sussex (Lord Deputy): 3 July 1559
• The Earl of Sussex: 6 May 1560
• Sir Henry Sidney (Lord Deputy): 13 October 1565
• Lord Justice: 1 April 1571
• Sir William FitzWilliam (Lord Deputy): 11 December 1571
• Sir Henry Sidney (Lord Deputy): 5 August 1575
• Lord Justice: 27 April 1578
• The Lord Grey de Wilton (Lord Deputy): 15 July 1580
• Lords Justices: 14 July 1582
• Sir John Perrot (Lord Deputy): 7 January 1584
• Sir William FitzWilliam (Lord Deputy): 17 February 1588
• Sir William Russell (Lord Deputy): 16 May 1594
• The Lord Burgh (Lord Deputy): 5 March 1597
• Lords Justices: 29 October 1597
• The Earl of Essex 12 March 1599
• Lords Justices: 24 September 1599

1600s

• The Lord Mountjoy (Lord Deputy): 21 January 1600
• The Lord Mountjoy: 25 April 1603
• Sir Arthur Chichester (Lord Deputy): 15 October 1604
• Sir Oliver St John (Lord Deputy): 2 July 1616
• Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland (Lord Deputy): 18 September 1622
• Lords Justices: 8 August 1629
• The Viscount Wentworth (Lord Deputy): 3 July 1633
• The Earl of Strafford: 13 January 1640
• The Earl of Leicester: 14 June 1641
• The Marquess of Ormonde: 13 November 1643 (appointed by the king)
• Viscount Lisle: 9 April 1646 (appointed by parliament, commission expired 15 April 1647)
• The Marquess of Ormonde: 30 September 1648 (appointed by the King)
• Oliver Cromwell: 22 June 1649
• Henry Ireton (Lord Deputy): 2 July 1650 (d. 20 November 1651)
• Charles Fleetwood (Commander-in-Chief): 9 July 1652
• Henry Cromwell (Lord Deputy): 17 November 1657
• Henry Cromwell: 6 October 1658, resigned 15 June 1659
• Edmund Ludlow (Commander-in-Chief): 4 July 1659
• The Duke of Albemarle: June 1660
• The Duke of Ormonde: 21 February 1662
• The Earl of Ossory (Lord Deputy): 7 February 1668
• The Lord Robartes: 3 May 1669
• The Lord Berkeley of Stratton: 4 February 1670
• The Earl of Essex: 21 May 1672
• The Duke of Ormonde 24 May 1677
• Lords Justices: 24 February 1685
• The Earl of Clarendon: 1 October 1685
• The Earl of Tyrconnell (Lord Deputy): 8 January 1687
• King James II himself in Ireland: 12 March 1689 – 4 July 1690
• King William III himself in Ireland: 14 June 1690
• Lords Justices: 5 September 1690
• The Viscount Sydney: 18 March 1692
• Lords Justices: 13 June 1693
• The Lord Capell (Lord Deputy): 9 May 1695
• Lords Justices: 16 May 1696

1700s

• The Earl of Rochester: 28 December 1700
• The Duke of Ormonde: 19 February 1703
• The Earl of Pembroke: 30 April 1707
• The Earl of Wharton: 4 December 1708
• The Duke of Ormonde: 26 October 1710
• The Duke of Shrewsbury: 22 September 1713
• The Earl of Sunderland: 21 September 1714
• The Viscount Townshend: 13 February 1717
• The Duke of Bolton: 27 April 1717
• The Duke of Grafton: 18 June 1720
• The Lord Carteret: 6 May 1724
• The Duke of Dorset: 23 June 1730
• The Duke of Devonshire: 9 April 1737
• The Earl of Chesterfield: 8 January 1745
• The Earl of Harrington: 15 November 1746
• The Duke of Dorset: 15 December 1750
• The Duke of Devonshire: 2 April 1755
• The Duke of Bedford: 3 January 1757
• The Earl of Halifax: 3 April 1761
• The Earl of Northumberland: 27 April 1763
• The Viscount Weymouth: 5 June 1765
• The Earl of Hertford: 7 August 1765
• The Earl of Bristol: 16 October 1766 (did not assume office)
• The Viscount Townshend: 19 August 1767
• The Earl Harcourt: 29 October 1772
• The Earl of Buckinghamshire: 7 December 1776
• The Earl of Carlisle: 29 November 1780
• The Duke of Portland: 8 April 1782
• The Earl Temple: 15 August 1782
• The Earl of Northington: 3 May 1783
• The Duke of Rutland: 12 February 1784
• The Marquess of Buckingham: 27 October 1787
• The Earl of Westmorland: 24 October 1789
• The Earl FitzWilliam: 13 December 1794
• The Earl Camden: 13 March 1795
• The Marquess Cornwallis: 14 June 1798

United Kingdom

• The Earl of Hardwicke: 27 April 1801
• The Earl of Powis: 21 November 1805 (did not serve)
• The Duke of Bedford: 12 March 1806
• The Duke of Richmond: 11 April 1807
• The Viscount Whitworth: 23 June 1813
• The Earl Talbot: 3 October 1817
• The Marquess Wellesley: 8 December 1821
• The Marquess of Anglesey: 27 February 1828
• The Duke of Northumberland: 22 January 1829
• The Marquess of Anglesey: 4 December 1830
• The Marquess Wellesley: 12 September 1833
• The Earl of Haddington: 1 January 1835
• The Earl of Mulgrave: 29 April 1835
• Viscount Ebrington: 13 March 1839
• The Earl de Grey: 11 September 1841
• The Lord Heytesbury: 17 July 1844
• The Earl of Bessborough: 8 July 1846
• The Earl of Clarendon: 22 May 1847
• The Earl of Eglinton: 1 March 1852
• The Earl of St Germans: 5 January 1853
• The Earl of Carlisle: 7 March 1855
• The Earl of Eglinton: 8 March 1858
• The Earl of Carlisle: 24 June 1859
• The Lord Wodehouse: 1 November 1864
• The Marquess of Abercorn: 13 July 1866
• The Earl Spencer: 18 December 1868
• The Duke of Abercorn: 2 March 1874
• The Duke of Marlborough: 11 December 1876
• The Earl Cowper: 4 May 1880
• The Earl Spencer: 4 May 1882
• The Earl of Carnarvon: 27 June 1885
• The Earl of Aberdeen: 8 February 1886
• The Marquess of Londonderry: 3 August 1886
• The Earl of Zetland: 30 July 1889
• The Lord Houghton: 18 August 1892
• The Earl Cadogan: 29 June 1895
• The Earl of Dudley: 11 August 1902
• The Earl of Aberdeen: 11 December 1905
• The Lord Wimborne: 17 February 1915
• The Viscount French: 9 May 1918
• The Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent: 27 April 1921

Early Lords Lieutenant

• Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March 1317-1318
• to be expanded
• John Darcy, 1st Lord of Knayth, made Viceroy 18 November 1323.
• to be expanded
• Sir Thomas de Rokeby 1349-1356
• to be expanded
• Sir William de Windsor 1369-1376
• to be expanded
• Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March 1379-1381
• to be expanded
• Philip Courtenay 1383–1386
• Sir John Stanley, K.G., King of Mann 1386-1388 (first term)
• to be expanded
• Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March 1395-1398
• to be expanded
• Sir John Stanley 1399-1401 (second term)
• to be expanded
• Henry of Monmouth, Duke of Lancaster 1402
• to be expanded
• Sir John Stanley 1413-1414 (third term)
• John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury 1414-1419
• James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond 1419-1421 (first term)
• to be expanded
• Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March 1423-1425
• to be expanded
• John Sutton, later 1st Lord Dudley 1428-1430
• to be expanded
• Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley 1431-1436
• to be expanded
• James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond 1440-1446 (second term)
• to be expanded
• Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York 1449-1453
• George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence 1462-(?)1478
• Gerald Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare 1477-1494 (Gerald - in succession to his father the 7th earl - was Deputy in 1477, not Lord Lieutenant - see ODNB)
• Sir Edward Poynings, 1494-1496
• Gerald Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare,(again) 1496-1513
• Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare 1513 - 1520
• Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk 1520-1521
• to be expanded