Secretary of State for War

See also: Secretary at War

Edward Cardwell, later Viscount Cardwell, Secretary of State for War from 1868 to 1874; architect of the Cardwell Reforms

The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first held by Henry Dundas (appointed in 1794). In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The position was re-instated in 1854. In 1946, with the creation of a cabinet level Minister of Defence separate from the Prime Minister, it ceased to be a cabinet position, and the office was abolished (along with that of First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for Air) on 1 April 1964, when the cabinet position was replaced by the Secretary of State for Defence – in charge of a new united Ministry of Defence.

The Secretary of State headed the War Office and was assisted by a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War, a Parliamentary Private Secretary who was also a Member of Parliament, and a Military Secretary, who was a general.

Secretaries of State for War, 1794–1801

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Tory Party/meta/color" |	Henry Dundas (also President of the Board of Control)		11 July 1794	17 March 1801	Tory	style="background-color: Template:Tory Party/meta/color" |	William Pitt the Younger

For 1801–1854 see Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.

Secretaries of State for War, 1854–1964

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Peelite/meta/color" |	The Duke of Newcastle		12 June 1854	30 January 1855	Peelite	style="background-color: Template:Peelite/meta/color" |	Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" |	The Lord Panmure		8 February 1855	21 February 1858	Whig	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Earl of Derby
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Jonathan Peel		26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sidney Herbert		18 June 1859	22 July 1861	Liberal	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Viscount Palmerston
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bt		23 July 1861	13 April 1863	Liberal
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Earl de Grey and Ripon		28 April 1863	16 February 1866	Liberal
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |						Earl Russell
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Marquess of Hartington		16 February 1866	26 June 1866	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Jonathan Peel		6 July 1866	8 March 1867	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	14th Earl of Derby
height=15 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir John Pakington, Bt		8 March 1867	1 December 1868	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |						style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Benjamin Disraeli
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Edward Cardwell		9 December 1868	17 February 1874	Liberal	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	William Ewart Gladstone
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Gathorne Hardy		21 February 1874	2 April 1878	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Benjamin Disraeli
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Frederick Stanley		2 April 1878	21 April 1880	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Hugh Childers		28 April 1880	16 December 1882	Liberal	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	William Ewart Gladstone
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Marquess of Hartington		16 December 1882	9 June 1885	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	W. H. Smith		24 June 1885	21 January 1886	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Marquess of Salisbury
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Cranbrook		21 January 1886	6 February 1886	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Henry Campbell-Bannerman		6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	William Ewart Gladstone
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	W. H. Smith		3 August 1886	14 January 1887	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Marquess of Salisbury
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Edward Stanhope		14 January 1887	11 August 1892	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Henry Campbell-Bannerman		18 August 1892	21 June 1895	Liberal	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	William Ewart Gladstone
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |						Earl of Rosebery
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Unionist Party/meta/color" |	The Marquess of Lansdowne		4 July 1895	12 November 1900	Liberal Unionist	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	St John Brodrick		12 November 1900	6 October 1903	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |						Arthur Balfour (Unionist Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Unionist Party/meta/color" |	H. O. Arnold-Forster		6 October 1903	4 December 1905	Liberal Unionist
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Richard Haldane (Viscount Haldane from 1911)		10 December 1905	12 June 1912	Liberal	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |						H. H. Asquith
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	J. E. B. Seely		12 June 1912	30 March 1914	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	H. H. Asquith (while Prime Minister)		30 March 1914	5 August 1914	Liberal
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" |	The Earl Kitchener		5 August 1914	5 June 1916	none
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |						H. H. Asquith (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Lloyd George		6 July 1916	5 December 1916	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Earl of Derby		10 December 1916	18 April 1918	Conservative	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Lloyd George (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Milner		18 April 1918	10 January 1919	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill		10 January 1919	13 February 1921	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Bt		13 February 1921	19 October 1922	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Earl of Derby		24 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Bonar Law
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |						Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stephen Walsh		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ramsay MacDonald
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Bt		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Thomas Shaw		7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ramsay MacDonald
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Marquess of Crewe		25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Liberal	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:National Labour Organisation/meta/color" |	Ramsay MacDonald (1st National Min.)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Hailsham		5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Conservative	Ramsay MacDonald (2nd National Min.)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Halifax		7 June 1935	22 November 1935	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Duff Cooper		22 November 1935	28 May 1937	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Leslie Hore-Belisha		28 May 1937	5 January 1940	National Liberal	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Neville Chamberlain (4th National Min.; War Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Oliver Stanley	File:Oliver Stanley 1941.jpg	5 January 1940	11 May 1940	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Anthony Eden		11 May 1940	22 December 1940	Conservative	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Margesson		22 December 1940	22 February 1942	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:National Government (United Kingdom)/meta/color" |	Sir P. J. Grigg		22 February 1942	26 July 1945	National
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Jack Lawson		3 August 1945	4 October 1946	Labour	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Clement Attlee
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Frederick Bellenger		4 October 1946	7 October 1947	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Emanuel Shinwell		7 October 1947	28 February 1950	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Strachey		28 February 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Antony Head		31 October 1951	18 October 1956	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Winston Churchill
height=15 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |						rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Anthony Eden
height=15 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Hare		18 October 1956	6 January 1958	Conservative
height=15 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |						rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Macmillan
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Christopher Soames		6 January 1958	27 July 1960	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Profumo		27 July 1960	5 June 1963	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Joseph Godber		27 June 1963	21 October 1963	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	James Ramsden		21 October 1963	1 April 1964	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Alec Douglas-Home

See also

• Secretary at War