This is a list of Permanent Under-Secretaries in the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (and its predecessors) since 1790. Not to be confused with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Permanent Under-Secretaries at the Foreign Office, 1790 to present

These are the Permanent Secretaries or senior civil servants at the Foreign Office. *February 1790:

George Aust George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

*October 1795: George Hammond (resigned 1806) *March 1807: George Hammond *October 1809:

William Richard Hamilton William Richard Hamilton, FRS, (9 September 1777 – 11 July 1859) was a British antiquarian, traveller and diplomat. Early life Hamilton was born in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London in 1777. He was the son of Rev. Anthony Hamilton, Archdeacon ...

*July 1817: Joseph Planta *April 1827:

John Backhouse Sir John Backhouse (KOB) (1584 – 9 October 1649) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1625 to 1629. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Backhouse was the son of Samuel Backhouse ...

*1842:

Henry Unwin Addington Henry Unwin Addington (24 March 1790 – 6 March 1870) was a British diplomat and civil servant. Background Born at Blounts Court, he was the second son of John Hiley Addington, brother of Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, and his wife Mar ...

*1854: Edmund Hammond (later Lord Hammond) *1873: Lord Tenterden *1882: Sir Julian Pauncefote (later Lord Pauncefote) *1889: Sir Philip Currie (later Lord Currie) *1894: Sir Thomas Sanderson (later Lord Sanderson) *1906: Sir

Charles Hardinge Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, (20 June 1858 – 2 August 1944) was a British diplomat and statesman who served as Viceroy and Governor-General of India from 1910 to 1916. Background and education Hardinge was the second ...

(later Lord Hardinge of Penshurst) *1910: Sir Arthur Nicolson (later Lord Carnock) *1916: Lord Hardinge of Penshurst *1920: Sir

Eyre Crowe Sir Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe (30 July 1864 – 28 April 1925) was a British diplomat, an expert on Germany in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He is best known for his vehement warning, in 1907, that Germany's expansionism was mo ...

(died in office) *1925: Sir William Tyrrell (later Lord Tyrrell) *1928: Sir Ronald Lindsay *1930: Sir Robert Vansittart (later Lord Vansittart) *1938: Sir Alexander Cadogan *1946: Sir Orme Sargent (jointly with Sir

William Strang William Strang (13 February 1859 – 12 April 1921) was a Scottish painter and printmaker, notable for illustrating the works of Bunyan, Coleridge and Kipling. Early life Strang was born at Dumbarton, the son of Peter Strang, a builder, a ...

, Head of the German Section 1947–1949) *1949: Sir

(jointly with the Heads of the German Section: Sir

Ivone Kirkpatrick Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick, (3 February 1897 – 25 May 1964) was a British diplomat who served as the British High Commissioner in Germany after World War II, and as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the hi ...

1949–1950, Sir D. Gainer 1950–1951) (later Lord Strang) *1953: Sir

*1957: Sir Frederick Hoyer Millar (later Lord Inchyra) *1962: Sir Harold Caccia (later Lord Caccia) *1965: Sir Paul Gore-Booth (also Head of the Diplomatic Service from 1968; later Lord Gore-Booth) *1969: Sir

Denis Greenhill Denis Arthur Greenhill, Baron Greenhill of Harrow (7 November 1913 – 8 November 2000) was the British Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Head of the Diplomatic Service from 1969 to 1973; a respected expert on the US, E ...

(later Lord Greenhill of Harrow) *1973: Sir

Thomas Brimelow Thomas Brimelow, Baron Brimelow (25 October 1915 – 2 August 1995, London, United Kingdom) was a British diplomat. He served as Ambassador to Poland (1966–69), Permanent Under-Secretary at the British Foreign Office (1973-75), and Member ...

(later Lord Brimelow) *1975: Sir

Michael Palliser Sir Arthur Michael Palliser (9 April 1922 – 19 June 2012) was the vice chairman of the Salzburg Seminar's Board of Directors and a senior British diplomat. Life Born in Reigate, Surrey, the son of Admiral Sir Arthur Palliser, he received h ...

*1982: Sir Antony Acland *1986: Sir Patrick Wright (later Lord Wright of Richmond) *1991: Sir

David Gillmore David Howe Gillmore, Baron Gillmore of Thamesfield, GCMG,(16 August 1934 – 20 March 1999) was a British diplomat. He retired in 1994 after a distinguished diplomatic career in which he was a leading light in John Major's extrication of the ...

(later Lord Gillmore of Thamesfield) *1994: Sir John Coles *1997: Sir John Kerr (later Lord Kerr of Kinlochard) *2002: Sir Michael Jay (later Lord Jay of Ewelme) *2006: Sir Peter Ricketts (later Lord Ricketts) *2010: Sir Simon Fraser *2015: Sir Simon McDonald (later Lord McDonald of Salford) *2020: Sir

Philip Barton Sir Philip Robert Barton (born 18 August 1963) is a British diplomat, currently the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He was previously British High Commissioner to India; he was High Commissioner ...

Permanent Under-Secretaries at the Foreign Office, 1790 to present

See also