Chief minister is a term used retroactively by historians to describe servants of the

English monarch The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

who presided over the government of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and after 1707,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, before 1721. Chief ministers were usually one of the

great officers of state Government in medieval monarchies generally comprised the king's companions, later becoming the Royal Household, from which the officers of state arose, initially having household and government duties. Later some of these officers became ...

, but it was not unusual for there to be no chief minister. Under the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

and Angevin kings, the justiciar was often chief minister. When kings left England to oversee other parts of the

Angevin Empire The Angevin Empire (; french: Empire Plantagenêt) describes the possessions of the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and W ...

, the justiciar functioned as his

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

. In the 13th century, after the loss of the Angevin territories in France, the justiciar's power declined as monarchs resided permanently in England. For the next three centuries, the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

was most often chief minister. The chancellor served as Keeper of the Great Seal, presided over the Privy Council and

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, and led the

High Court of Chancery High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

. After the English Reformation, the chancellor's power shifted to the

Lord High Treasurer The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in ...

. After 1721, the office of

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

became the head of British governments. This list of chief ministers is organised by royal dynasty. For a list of particular governments of the Kingdom of England, see

List of English ministries This is a list of the ministries, in the sense of successive governments, of the Kingdom of England before its Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707. __NOTOC__ Ministries of Charles II and James II: 1660–1688 *Clarendon ministry ...

Anglo-Saxons

Normans

Plantagenets

* 1274–1292:

Robert Burnell Robert Burnell (sometimes spelled Robert Burnel;Harding ''England in the Thirteenth Century'' p. 159 c. 1239 – 25 October 1292) was an English bishop who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1274 to 1292. A native of Shropshire, h ...

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

* 1330–1340:

John de Stratford John de Stratford ( – 1348) was Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Winchester, Treasurer and Chancellor of England. Early life Stratford was born into the landed Stratford family of Stratford-on-Avon around 1275. His father was Robert d ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury * 1367–1371:

William of Wykeham William of Wykeham (; 1320 or 1324 – 27 September 1404) was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He founded New College, Oxford, and New College School in 1379, and founded Winchester College in 1382. He was also the clerk of wor ...

, Bishop of Winchester * 1389–1391: William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester

House of Lancaster

* 1413–1417:

Henry Beaufort Cardinal Henry Beaufort (c. 1375 – 11 April 1447), Bishop of Winchester, was an English prelate and statesman who held the offices of Bishop of Lincoln (1398) then Bishop of Winchester (1404) and was from 1426 a Cardinal of the Church of Ro ...

, Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester * 1422–1435: John, Duke of Bedford, Regent, died 14 September 1435 * 1422–1437:

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester (3 October 139023 February 1447) was an English prince, soldier, and literary patron. He was (as he styled himself) "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of E ...

, Regent, died 23 February 1447 * 1424–1427: Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester * 1432–1447: Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester * 1447–1450:

William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, (16 October 1396 – 2 May 1450), nicknamed Jackanapes, was an English magnate, statesman, and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He became a favourite of the weak king Henry VI of England ...

* 3 April 1454 – February 1455: Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York * 19 November 1455 – 25 February 1456: Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, Protector (Regent) for King Henry VI * 1470–1471:

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

; known as Warwick the Kingmaker; killed at the

Battle of Barnet The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On Sunday 14 April ...

House of York

* 1461–1467:

; known as Warwick the Kingmaker * 1475–1483:

Thomas Rotherham Thomas Rotherham (24 August 1423 – 29 May 1500), also known as Thomas (Scot) de Rotherham, was an English cleric and statesman. He served as bishop of several dioceses, most notably as Archbishop of York and, on two occasions as Lord C ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

* 30 April – 26 June 1483: Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, was Lord Protector of the Realm during the nominal reign of 12-year-old

King Edward V Edward V (2 November 1470 – mid-1483)R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, ''A New Dictionary of British History'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963, p. 286. was ''de jure'' King of England and Lord of Ireland fro ...

(one of the "

Princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the apparent murder in England in the 1480s of the deposed King Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. These two brothers were the only sons of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville sur ...

"), before claiming the throne for himself as King Richard III

House of Tudor

House of Stuart

Stuart Restoration

In 1660, the leadership of

the Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

recalled Charles II and the chief minister became responsible to some extent to Parliament as leader of a ministry, although much of the time King Charles was in effect his own chief minister. The Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 furthered this process and by the time of Queen Anne in 1702, monarchs had little choice as to who their ministers would be.

Charles II and James II

William III and Mary II

From 1693 and during the sole reign of William III, the government was increasingly dominated by the

Whig Junto The Whig Junto is the name given to a group of leading Whigs who were seen to direct the management of the Whig Party and often the government, during the reigns of William III and Anne. The Whig Junto proper consisted of John Somers, later ...

Anne

The Kingdoms of England and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.

Hanoverian Succession

In the immediate aftermath of the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the monarchy was unable to function as the new King was in his domains in Hanover and did not know of his accession. As a stopgap, Parliament elected

Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, (23 July 1666 – 28 April 1732) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1710. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and acted briefly as one of the regents befo ...

Regent, or "acting king" until the new monarch arrived to take his crown. Later,

George 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 Presid ...

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

reigned as regent for six months from July 1716 to January 1717 when the King went to Hanover. In the early part of the reign of

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgor ...

, who could not speak English, the cabinet began meeting without the monarch present. Following the succession of

and the resignation of the Duke of Shrewsbury in 1714, the office of Lord High Treasurer went into permanent commission, its function undertaken by a commission of Lords of the Treasury, chaired by the First Lord of the Treasury, rather than by an individual Lord High Treasurer. From 1714 to 1717 the ministry was led by

Viscount Townshend Marquess Townshend is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the Townshend family of Raynham Hall in Norfolk. The title was created in 1787 for George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend. History The Townshend family descends from Ro ...

, who was nominally

Northern Secretary The Secretary of State for the Northern Department was a position in the Cabinet of the government of Great Britain up to 1782, when the Northern Department became the Foreign Office. History Before the Act of Union, 1707, the Secretary of S ...

; the

Earl of Halifax Earl of Halifax is a title that has been created four times in British history—once in the Peerage of England, twice in the Peerage of Great Britain, and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The name of the peerage refers to Halifax, We ...

, the

Earl of Carlisle Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. History The first creation came in 1322, when Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay, was made Earl of Carlisle. He had already been summoned to Parliamen ...

and Sir Robert Walpole successively served alongside Townshend as nominal First Lord of the Treasury. From 1717 to 1721 Lords Stanhope (First Lord 1717–18) and Sunderland (First Lord 1718–21) led the administration jointly, with Stanhope managing foreign affairs and Sunderland managing home affairs. Stanhope died in February 1721 and Sunderland resigned in April 1721; Townshend and Walpole returned to office. Thus the First Lord of the Treasury came to be the most powerful minister and the prototype of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and its dominions.

George I

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, state=collapsed Political history of the United Kingdom Government of England English ministries Political history of England 17th century in England 1668 establishments in England 1670s disestablishments in England Ministries of Charles II of England