The ancient English monarchs always had in attendance a learned ecclesiastic, known at first as their clerk, and afterwards as "Secretary", who conducted the royal correspondence; but it was not until the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558 – 1603 ) that these functionaries gained the title "Secretaries of State". Upon the direction of public affairs passing from the Privy Council to the Cabinet after 1688 the Secretaries of State began to assume those high duties which now render their office one of the most influential of an administration.
Until the time of Henry VIII (reigned 1509 – 1547 ), monarchs generally had only one Secretary of State, but at the end of his reign a second Principal Secretary appeared. Owing to the increase of business consequent upon the Union With Scotland , a Third Secretary gained appointment in 1708 , but, with a vacancy occurring in this office in 1746 , the third Secretaryship disappeared until 1768 , when a newly re-instituted Third Secretary began to take charge of the increasing Colonial administrative work. In 1782 the office was again abolished, and the charge of the colonies transferred to the Home Secretary ; but owing to the war of the First Coalition with France in 1794 a third Secretary re-appeared to superintend the activities of the War Department , and seven years later the colonial business became attached to His Department . In 1854 a fourth Secretary of State gained the exclusive charge of the War Department, and in 1858 a fifth Secretary (for India ) began duties.
- Sir Ralph Sadler (April 1540 – April 23 , 1543 )
- Sir William Paulet ( April 23 , 1543 – April 1548)
- Sir William Petre (January 1544 – March 1557)
- Sir Thomas Smith ( April 17 , 1548 – October 15 , 1549 )
- Nicholas Wotton ( October 15 , 1549 – September 5 , 1550 )
- Sir William Cecil ( September 5 , 1550 – July 1553)
- Sir John Cheke (served as a third Secretary of State June 1553 – July 1553)
- Sir John Bourne (July 1553 – April 1558)
- John Boxall (March 1557 – November 1558)
- Sir William Cecil (November 1558 – July 13 , 1572 )
- Sir Thomas Smith ( July 13 , 1572 – August 12 , 1577 )
- Sir Francis Walsingham (December 1573 – April 1590)
- Thomas Wilson ( November 12 , 1577 – June 16 , 1581 )
- William Davison (September 1586 – February 1587)
- Sir Robert Cecil ( July 5 , 1590 – May 24 , 1612 )
- John Herbert ( May 10 , 1600 – July 9 , 1617 )
- Sir Ralph Winwood ( March 29 , 1614 – October 27 , 1617 )
- Sir Thomas Lake ( January 3 , 1616 – February 16 , 1619 )
- Sir Robert Naunton ( January 8 , 1618 – January 14 , 1623 )
- Sir George Calvert ( February 16 , 1619 – January 1625 )
- Sir Edward Conway ( January 14 , 1623 – December 14 , 1628 )
- Sir Albertus Morton ( February 9 , 1625 – September 6 , 1625 )
- Sir John Coke ( September 9 , 1625 – February 3 , 1640 )
- Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester ( December 14 , 1628 – February 15 , 1632 )
- Sir Francis Windebank ( June 15 , 1632 – December 1640 )
- Sir Henry Vane ( February 3 , 1640 – December 1641 )
- Sir Edward Nicholas ( November 27 , 1641 – 1646 when he left England; he was reappointed by King Charles II September 1654 – October 2 , 1662 )
- Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland ( January 8 , 1642 – September 20 , 1643 )
- George Digby, 2nd Earl Of Bristol ( September 28 , 1643 – 1645 )
The honorific title First Secretary Of State is awarded occasionally, and has been held by the Deputy Prime Minister , John Prescott since 2001 .
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