The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a sinecure office in the British government. Originally the chief officer of the Duchy of Lancaster, the estate is now run by a deputy, leaving the position of Chancellor available as an alternative Minister without Portfolio. Often the position has been given to a junior Cabinet minister with responsibilities in a particular area of policy for which there is no portfolioed department. The most recent incumbent, Alan Milburn, was given the title by Tony Blair so that he could join the Cabinet, but have no demanding government job, in order to devote his time to the Labour Party's campaign for re-election in the 2005 general election.

Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1361-1803

• Sir Henry de Haydock 1361-1373
• Ralph de Ergham 1373-1377
• Thomas de Thelwall 16 April 1377-1378
• Sir John De Yerborough 1378-1382
• Sir Thomas Stanley 10 November 1382-29 November 1382 (pro tem)
• Sir Thomas Scarle 29 November 1382-October 1383
• Sir William Okey October 1383-1400
• John de Wakering 1400-1400
• William Burgoyne 1400-1404
• Sir Thomas Stanley 15 May 1404-30 March 1410
• John Springthorpe 30 March 1410-4 April 1413
• John Wodehouse 4 April 1413-10 June 1424
• William Troutbecke 10 June 1424-16 February 1431
• Walter Sherington 16 February 1431-July 3 1442
• William Tresham 3 July 1442-10 June 1449
• John Say 10 June 1449-10 June 1462
• Sir Richard Fowler 10 June 1462-November 3 1477
• Sir John Say November 3 1477-2 April 1478
• Thomas Thwaites 2 April 1478-7 July 1483
• Thomas Metcalfe 7 July 1483-13 September 1486
• Sir Reginald Bray 13 September 1486-24 June 1504
• Sir John Mordaunt 24 June 1504-3 October 1505
• Sir Richard Empson 3 October 1505-14 May 1509
• Sir Henry Marny 14 May 1509-14 April 1523
• Sir Richard Wingfield 14 April 1523-31 December 1525
• Sir Thomas More 31 December 1525-3 November 1529
• Sir William Fitzwilliam 3 November 1529-10 May 1533
• Sir John Gage 10 May 1533-1 July 1547
• Sir William Paget, 1st Baron Paget (1549) 1 July 1547-7 July 1552
• Sir John Gates 7 July 1552-1553
• Sir Robert Rochester 1553-1557
• Sir Edward Walgrave 22 June 1558-1559
• Sir Ambrose Cave 1559-1568
• Sir Ralph Sadler 16 May 1568-15 June 1587
• Sir Francis Walsingham 15 June 1587-1590
• Sir Thomas Heneage 1590-1595
• in commission 1595-1597
• Sir Robert Cecil 1597-1599
• in commission 1599-1601
• Sir John Fortescue 1601
• in commission 1601
• Sir John Fortescue 1601-1607
• Sir Thomas Parry 1607-1616
• Sir John Dacombe 1616-1618
• in commission 1618
• Sir Humphrey May 1618-1629
• Edward Barrett, 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh 1629-1644
• Francis, Lord Seymour (for the king) 1644-1645
• William, 1st Lord Grey of Warke and William Lenthall (for parliament) 1645-1648
• Sir Gilbert Gerrard 1648-1649
• John Bradshaw 1649-1653
• John Bradshaw and Thomas Fell (commissioners) 1653-1654
• Thomas Fell 1654-1658
• John Bradshaw 1658-1660
• William Lenthall 1660
• Sir Gilbert Gerrard 1660
• Francis Seymour, 1st Lord Seymour of Trowbridge 1660-1664
• Sir Thomas Ingram 1664-1672
• Sir Robert Carr 1672-1682
• Sir Thomas Chicheley 1682-1687
• in commission 1687
• Robert Phelipps 1687-1689
• Robert Bertie, 16th Baron Willoughby of Eresby 1689-1697
• Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford 1697-1702
• Sir John Leveson-Gower, 1st Lord Gower of Stittenham (1703) 1702-1706
• James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby 1706-1710
• William Berkeley, 4th Lord Berkeley of Stratton 1710-1714
• Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Aylesford 1714-1716
• Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarborough 1716-1717
• Nicolas Lechmere, 1st Lord Lechmere 1721-1727
• John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland 1727-1736
• George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley 1736-1743
• Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Lord Edgcumbe of Mount Edgcumbe 1743-1758
• Thomas Hay, Viscount Dupplin, 9th Earl of Kinnoull (1758) 1758-1762
• James Stanley, Lord Strange 1762-1771
• Thomas Villiers, 1st Lord Hyde of Hindon, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1776) 1771-1782
• John Dunning, 1st Baron Ashburton 1782-1783
• Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby 1783
• Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon 1783-1786
• Charles Jenkinson, 1st Lord Hawkesbury, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1796) 1786-1803

1803-1902

• Thomas Pelham, Lord Pelham 1803-1804
• Henry Phipps, 3rd Baron Mulgrave 1804-1805
• Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire 1805
• Dudley Ryder, 2nd Lord Harrowby 1805-1806
• Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby 1806-1807
• Spencer Perceval 1807-1812
• Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire 1812
• Charles Bathurst 1812-1823
• Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley 1823-1828
• George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen 1828
• Charles Arbuthnot 1828-1830
• Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland 1830-1834
• Charles Watkins Williams Wynn 1834-1835
• Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland 1835-1840
• George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon 1840-1841
• Sir George Grey, Bt 1841
• Lord Granville Charles Henry Somerset 1841-1846
• John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell of St Andrews 1846-1850
• George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle 1850-1852
• Robert Adam Christopher 1852
• Edward Strutt 1852-1854
• Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville 1854-1855
• Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby 1855
• Matthew Talbot Baines 1855-1858
• James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose 1858-1859
• Sir George Grey, Bt 1859-1861
• Edward Cardwell 1861-1864
• George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon 1864-1866
• George Joachim Goschen 1866
• William Reginald Courtenay, 21st Earl of Devon 1866-1867
• John Wilson-Patten 1867-1868
• Thomas Edward Taylor 1868
• Frederick Temple Blackwood, 5th Lord Dufferin, 1st Earl of Dufferin (1871) 1868-1872
• Hugh Culling Eardley Childers 1872-1873
• John Bright 1873-1874
• Thomas Edward Taylor 1874-1880
• John Bright 1880-1882
• John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley 1882
• John George Dodson 1882-1884
• George Otto Trevelyan 1884-1885
• Henry Chaplin 1885-1886
• Edward Heneage 1886
• Sir Ughtred James Kay-Shuttleworth 1886
• Gathorne Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook 1886
• Lord John Manners 1886-1892
• James Bryce 1892-1894
• Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth 1894-1895
• Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross 1895
• Sir Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford (1895) 1895-1902

1902 to present

• Sir William Hood Walrond 1902-1905
• Sir Henry Hartley Fowler 1905-1908
• Edmund George Petty FitzMaurice, 1st Baron FitzMaurice 1908-1909
• Herbert Samuel 1909-1910
• Joseph Albert Pease 1910-1911
• Sir Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse 1911-1914
• Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman 1914-1915
• Edwin Samuel Montagu 1915
• Winston Churchill 1915
• Herbert Samuel 1915-1916
• Edwin Samuel Montagu 1916
• Thomas McKinnon Wood 1916
• Sir Frederick Cawley 1916-1918
• William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook 1918
• William Hayes Fisher, 1st Baron Downham 1918-1919
• David Alexander Edward Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford and 10th Earl of Balcarres 1919-1921
• William Robert Wellesley, 2nd Viscount Peel 1921-1922
• Sir William Sutherland 1922
• James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury 1922-1923
• JCC Davidson 1923-1924
• Josiah Wedgwood 1924
• Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood 1924-1927
• Ronald John McNeill, 1st Baron Cushendun 1927-1929
• Sir Oswald Mosley 1929-1930
• Clement Attlee 1930-1931
• Arthur Augustus William Harry, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede 1931
• Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian 1931
• JCC Davidson 1931-1937
• Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton 1937-1939
• William Shepherd Morrison 1939-1940
• George Clement Tryon, 1st Baron Tryon 1940
• Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey 1940-1941
• Alfred Duff Cooper 1941-1943
• Ernest Brown 1943-1945
• Sir James Arthur Salter 1945
• John Burns Hynd 1945-1947
• Francis Aungier Pakenham, 1st Baron Pakenham 1947-1948
• Hugh Dalton 1948-1950
• Lord Alexander 1950-1951
• Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Viscount Swinton 1951-1952
• Frederick James Marquis, 1st Baron Woolton (Viscount 1953) 1952-1955
• George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk 1955-1957
• Charles Hill 1957-1961
• Iain Macleod 1961-1963
• John Hugh Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham 1963-1964
• Douglas Houghton 1964-1966
• George Morgan Thompson 1966-1967
• Frederick Lee 1967-1969
• George Morgan Thompson 1969-1970
• Anthony Barber 1970
• Geoffrey Rippon 1970-1972
• John Davies 1972-1974
• Norman Harold Lever 1974-1979
• Norman Arthur Francis St John-Stevas 1979-1981
• Francis Pym 1981
• Janet Mary Young, Baroness Young 1981-1982
• Cecil Parkinson 1982-1983
• Lord Cockfield 1983-1984
• Alexander Patrick Greysteil Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie 1984-1985
• Norman Beresford Tebbit 1985-1987
• Kenneth Clarke 1987-1988
• Tony Newton 1988-1989
• Kenneth Baker 1989-1990
• Chris Patten 1990-1992
• William Waldegrave 1992-1994
• David Hunt 1994-1995
• Roger Freeman 1995-1997
• David Clark 1997-1998
• Jack Cunningham 1998-1999
• Mo Mowlam 1999-2001
• Lord Macdonald of Tradeston 2001-2003
• Douglas Alexander 2003-2004
• Alan Milburn 2004-