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The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of the British Raj (India), Aden, and Burma. The post was created in 1858 when the East India Company's rule in Bengal ended and India except for the Princely States was brought under the direct administration of the government in London, beginning the official colonial period under the British Empire.
In 1937, the India Office was reorganised which separated Burma and Aden under a new Burma Office, but the same Secretary of State headed both Departments and a new title was established as the Secretary of State for India and Burma. The India Office and its Secretary of State were abolished in August 1947, when the United Kingdom granted independence in the Indian Independence Act, which created two new independent dominions, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. Myanmar (Burma) soon achieved independence separately in early 1948.
Secretaries of State for India, 1858–1937
Prior to the establishment of the British Empire on 2 August 1858, Lord Stanley had served as President of the Board of Control.