Under-Secretary for Ireland

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The Under-Secretary for Ireland (Permanent Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland) was the permanent head (or most senior civil servant) of the British administration in Ireland prior to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.

The Under-Secretary's residence was at Ashtown Lodge in Phoenix Park, also known as the Under Secretary's Lodge.

Among the best-known holders of the office was Thomas Henry Burke, who was assassinated along with the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, in the so-called Phoenix Park Killings on Saturday, 6 May 1882.

In April 1887 Colonel Edward Robert King-Harman was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, but he died on 10 June 1888 and no further appointments were made.[1]

Under-Secretaries for Ireland[edit]

Under-Secretary to the Chief Secretary
  • Arthur Podmore by 1690
  • Joshua Dawson 1699
  • Eustace Budgell 1714
  • Charles Maddockes 1718
  • Thomas Tickell 1724
  • 1740 John Potter
  • Thomas Waite 1747
Under-Secretary (Civil Department)
Under-Secretary (Military Department)
Under-Secretary

Assistant Under-Secretaries for Ireland[edit]

From 1852 to 1876 the Assistant Under-Secretary was called Chief Clerk.[4] After the retirement of Marmion Savage as Clerk of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1853,[5] the Chief Clerk/Assistant Under-Secretary was ex-officio Clerk of the Privy Council of Ireland.[6]

Name Dates of service Notes
Robert M. Matheson 1856–1875[7] His son Sir Robert E. Matheson was Registrar-General for Ireland 1900–1909;[8][9] his grandson Robert N. Matheson founded the law firm Matheson.[8]
Henry Robinson (1823–1893) 1876–1879[10] Promoted to vice president of the Local Government Board for Ireland.[10] Father of Sir Henry Robinson, 1st Baronet.[10]
William Kaye (1831–1901) 1878–1895[11] Afterwards private secretary to the Lord Lieutenant[11]
James Brown Dougherty (1844–1934) 1895–1908 Knighted in 1902[12]
Edward O'Farrell (d.1926) September 1908[13]–June 1918[14] Resigned to become one of the three Estates Commissioners in the Irish Land Commission[14]
John James Taylor (1859–1945) June 1918[14]–1920[15] When Taylor resigned, John Anderson on 28 May 1920[16] became "joint under-secretary" with James Macmahon.[15] This marked an escalation of the Black and Tans in the Anglo-Irish War.[15]
Alfred Cope (1877–1954)[17] 28 May 1920[16]–October 1922 Seconded from Whitehall due to the security crisis.[18]

Sources[edit]

  • Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, British Historical Facts 1830–1900 (Macmillan, 1975) p. 149.
  • McColgan, John (1983). British policy and the Irish administration, 1920–22. London ; Boston: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-0-04-941011-4.
  • McDowell, R. B. (1976). The Irish administration, 1801–1914. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-8371-8561-3.
  • Sainty, J. C. (1977). "The Secretariat of the Chief Governors of Ireland, 1690-1800". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature. 77: 1–33. ISSN 0035-8991. JSTOR 25506334.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Haydn's Book of Dignities, third edition (1894) p. 564.
  2. ^ Famous scots Archived 1 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 9 January 2009
  3. ^ "Pennefather, Richard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21866. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ McDowell 1976 pp.75, 77
  5. ^ General Abstract of the Grants to be proposed for Civil Services for 1853, compared with similar Charges for 1851 and 1852; Estimates, &c., Civil Services, for the Year ending 31 March 1854; VI. Superannuation and Retired Allowances, and Gratuities for Charitable and other Purposes. Parliamentary Papers. Vol. HC 1852–3 lviii (261-VI) 483. London: HMSO. 18 March 1853. p. 19. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  6. ^ Reports of Committees of Inquiry into Public Offices and Papers Connected Therewith. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1859. pp. 87–88. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  7. ^ Flanagan, Kieran (1984). "The Chief Secretary's Office, 1853–1914: A Bureaucratic Enigma". Irish Historical Studies. 24 (94): 223. doi:10.1017/S0021121400034659. ISSN 0021-1214. JSTOR 30008300. S2CID 163721661.
  8. ^ a b "Obituary: Mr. R. N. Matheson". The Weekly Irish Times. 21 March 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  9. ^ "New Registrar-General". The Irish Times. 4 February 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 8 June 2021.; "New Registrar-General for Ireland". The Weekly Irish Times. 27 November 1909. p. 12. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  10. ^ a b c Cooke, A. B.; Vincent, J. R. (1972). "Herbert Gladstone, Forster, and Ireland, 1881-2 (II)". Irish Historical Studies. 18 (69): 76 fn.9. doi:10.1017/S0021121400022781. ISSN 0021-1214. JSTOR 30006658. S2CID 163736265.
  11. ^ a b Fottrell, Sir George (2008). Ball, Stephen (ed.). The Political Journal of Sir George Fottrell, 1884-1887. Camden Series. Vol. ser.5 vol.33. Cambridge University Press. p. 190 fn.402. ISBN 978-0-521-51921-2. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  12. ^ Rouse, Paul. "Dougherty, Sir James Brown". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  13. ^ "HC Deb 19 October 1908 vol 194 c715". Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  14. ^ a b c "New Estates Commissioner; New Assistant Under-Secretary". Weekly Irish Times. 15 June 1918. p. 2 col.3. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Buckland, Patrick (1973). Irish Unionism: The Anglo-Irish and the new Ireland, 1885-1922. Gill and Macmillan. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-06-490750-7.
  16. ^ a b "DUBLIN CASTLE". Edinburgh Gazette (13600): 1321. 1 June 1920. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  17. ^ Dempsey, Pauric J.; Hawkins, Richard. "Cope, Sir Alfred William ('Andy')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge University Press. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  18. ^ McColgan 1983 p.162; "New Viceroy Arrives; Official Report". The Irish Times. 3 May 1921. p. 3 col.5. Retrieved 29 January 2021.; "New Honours List; The List in Full". The Irish Times. 11 November 1922. p. 7 col.1. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  19. ^ McColgan 1983 p.viii
  20. ^ "Chronicle of the Year's Events; September 13 & 15". The Annual Register for the year 1920. Vol. 162. London: Longmans, Green. 1921. pp. 15–16 [Part II].
  21. ^ McColgan 1983 p.31
  22. ^ Sturgis, Mark (1999). The Last Days of Dublin Castle: The Mark Sturgis Diaries. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. pp. 5–6, 13, 224. ISBN 978-0-7165-2626-1.


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