Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Second Secretary to the Admiralty

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Seat
  
Westminster, London

Formation
  
1702-1964

Term length
  
No fixed term

Second Secretary to the Admiralty

Style
  
The Right Honourable (Formal prefix) Second Secretary to the Admiralty

Member of
  
British Cabinet Board of Admiralty

Appointer
  
The British Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister

The office of Second Secretary to the Admiralty was the senior civil servant at the Admiralty, of Great Britain the department of state responsible for the administration of the Royal Navy. He was head of the Admiralty Secretariat later known as the Department of the Permanent Secretary. Although he was not a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, he was as a member of the Board, and did attend all meetings the post existed from 1702 to 1964.

Contents

History

Assistants to the Secretary of the Admiralty (later called the First Secretary) were initially only intermittently appointed, being sometimes designated "joint secretary" and sometimes "deputy secretary". Appointments became regular from 1756, and the title of the office was established as "Second Secretary" on 13 January 1783. In the 19th century, it increasingly became the case that the First Secretary of the Admiralty was a member of the Government, while the Second Secretary was a civil servant, and the titles of the offices were changed to reflect this in 1869, the First Secretary becoming the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty and the Second Secretary the Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty. When the Admiralty Department was abolished in 1964 and its functions merged within a new Ministry of Defence the post holder became formally known as the Permanent Under Secretary of State for the Navy.

Duties

He was primarily responsible for the interrelationships and office organization of the various departments that serve the Royal Navy. He assumed the role Secretary to the Board, his chief responsibility was to examine thoroughly all questions involving expenditures and to advise the Board as to the possibility of savings where possible.

Office-holders

  • George Clarke, joint secretary, 20 May 1702 to 25 October 1705.
  • Thomas Corbett, deputy secretary, later joint secretary, 25 June 1728 to 13 October 1742.
  • Robert Osborne, deputy secretary from 17 November 1744.
  • John Cleveland, second secretary, 4 August 1746 to 1 May 1750.
  • John Milnes, deputy secretary from 15 June 1756.
  • Philip Stephens, second secretary from 16 October 1759.
  • Charles Fearne, deputy secretary from 28 June 1764.
  • Sir George Jackson, deputy secretary from 11 November 1766.

    • Second Secretary

    Title established as Second Secretary in January 1783.

  • John Ibbotson, deputy and second secretary from 3 June 1782.
  • William Marsden, from 3 March 1795.
  • Benjamin Tucker, from 21 January 1804.
  • John Barrow, from 22 May 1804.
  • Benjamin Tucker, from 10 February 1806.
  • Sir John Barrow (created a baronet in 1835), from 9 April 1807.
  • Captain William Alexander Baillie Hamilton, from 28 April 1845.
  • Thomas Phinn, from 1855
  • William Govett Romaine, from 1857

    • Permanent Secretary

    In 1869 the office was renamed Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty.

  • Vernon Lushington, from 1869 to 1877.

    • The office was abolished in 1877 and the duties merged with those of the Naval Secretary.

    New post established in 1872.

  • Rear-Admiral Robert Hall, from 1872 to 1882.

    • The post was abolished in 1882 when that of Permanent Secretary was re-established.

    Permanent Secretary

  • Robert George Crookshank Hamilton, from May 1882
  • Vice-Admiral Robert Hall, acting during Hamilton's absence in Ireland, 1882
  • Captain George Tryon, from 13 June 1882.
  • Sir Evan Macgregor, from 2 April 1884
  • Sir Inigo Thomas, from 1 April 1907.
  • Sir Graham Greene, 1911–1917
  • Sir Oswyn Murray, 1917–1936
  • Sir Richard Carter, 1936–1940
  • Sir Henry Markham, 1940–1947
  • Sir John Lang, 1947–1961
  • Sir Clifford Jarrett, 1961–1964

    • References

    Second Secretary to the Admiralty Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA