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Admiralty

(Redirected from First Lord of the Admiralty)
For the international law of the sea, see Admiralty law. For the area of Hong Kong, see Admiralty, Hong Kong
Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope
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Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope

The Admiralty (officially the Admiralty Board) is a division of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence overseeing the affairs of the Royal Navy. The Admiralty Board replaced the Board of Admiralty (officially the Lords Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, etc.) when the functions of that office were incorporated into the Ministry of Defence in 1964.

Contents
1 History
2 Lord High Admirals, 1413-1628
3 Lords High Admiral and First Lords of the Admiralty, 1628-1709
4 First Lords of the Admiralty, 1709-1964
5 Admirals of the Fleet, 1795-1827
6 First Sea Lords, 1828-Present

History

The office of Admiral of England, or Lord Admiral and later Lord High Admiral was created in approximately 1400. In 1546 King Henry VIII established the Council of the Marine later to became the Navy Board to oversee administrative affairs of the naval service. Operational control of the Navy remained the responsibility of the Lord High Admiral, who was one of the nine Great Officers of State.

In 1628, Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission and control of the Royal Navy passed to a committee in the form of the Board of the Admiralty. Control of the Navy was passed a number of times to and from the board and the Lord High Admiral, notoriously vested in the Duke of York towards the end of Charles II's reign, until in 1709 the powers of the Lord High Admiral were finally vested in the Board of Admiralty.

The Board of Admiralty consisted of admirals (known as Sea Lords) and civilian lords, normally politicians. The professional head of the Royal Navy was (and still is) known as the First Sea Lord. The civilian minister and president of the Board was known as the First Lord of the Admiralty.

The seat of power of the Admiralty in Whitehall was clumsily designed and built by Thomas Ripley, a former carpenter and protegé of Sir Robert Walpole, whose distinctly provincial essay in such a prominent site provoked the scorn of Pope:

See under Ripley rise a new White-hall,
While Jones' and Boyles' united labours fall.
— The Dunciad (1743), book III, ii, 327-8

In 1831 the Navy Board was abolished as a separate entity and its duties and responsibilities were given over to the Board of Admiralty.

In 1964 the Admiralty was subsumed into the Ministry of Defence along with the War Office and the Air Ministry. Within the expanded Ministry of Defence are a new Admiralty Board, Army Board and Air Force Board, each headed by the Secretary of State for Defence. (The new Admiralty Board was to have been called the Navy Board but for an amendment in the House of Lords).

The title of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom is now vested in the Sovereign. However, there continues to be appointed a Vice-Admiral and a Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.

Lord High Admirals, 1413-1628

Lords High Admiral and First Lords of the Admiralty, 1628-1709

First Lords of the Admiralty, 1709-1964

Admirals of the Fleet, 1795-1827

First Sea Lords, 1828-Present

  • Sir George Cockburn 1828-1830
  • Sir Thomas Hardy 1830-1834
  • The Hon. George Heneage Dundas 1834
  • Sir Charles Adam 1834
  • Sir George Cockburn 1834-1835
  • Sir Charles Adam 1835-1841
  • Sir George Cockburn 1841-1846
  • Sir William Parker 1846
  • Sir Charles Adam 1846-1847
  • Sir James Dundas 1847-1852
  • The Hon. Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley 1852
  • Hyde Parker 1852-1854
  • The Hon. Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley 1854-1857
  • Sir Richard Dundas 1857-1858
  • William Martin 1858-1859
  • Sir Richard Dundas 1859-1861
  • Sir Frederick Grey 1861-1866
  • Sir Alexander Milne 1866-1868
  • Sir Sydney Dacres 1868-1872
  • Sir Alexander Milne 1872-1876
  • Sir Hastings Yelverston 1876-1877
  • Sir George Wellesley 1877-1879
  • Sir Astley Cooper Key 1879-1885
  • Sir Arthur Hood 1885-1886
  • Lord John Hay 1886
  • Sir Arthur Hood 1886-1889
  • Sir Vesey Hamilton 1889-1891
  • Sir Anthony Hoskins 1891-1893
  • Sir Frederick Richards 1893-1899
  • Lord Walter Kerr 1899-1904
  • Sir John Fisher 1904-1910
  • Sir Arthur Wilson 1910-1911
  • Sir Francis Bridgeman 1911-1912
  • Prince Louis of Battenberg 1912-1914
  • John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher 1914-1915
  • Sir Henry Jackson 1915-1916
  • Sir John Jellicoe 1916-1917
  • Sir Rosslyn Wemyss 1917-1919
  • David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty 1919-1927
  • Sir Charles Madden 1927-1930
  • Sir Frederick Field 1930-1933
  • Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield 1933-1938
  • Sir Roger Backhouse 1938-1939
  • Sir Dudley Pound 1939-1943
  • Andrew Cunningham, 1st Baron Cunningham of Hyndhope 1943-1946
  • Sir John Cunningham 1946-1948
  • Sir Bruce Fraser 1948-1951
  • Sir Rhoderick McGrigor 1951-1955
  • Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma 1955-1959
  • Sir Charles Lambe 1959-1960
  • Sir Caspar John 1960-1963
  • Sir David Luce 1963-1966
  • Sir Varyl Begg 1966-1968
  • Sir Michael Lefanu 1968-1970
  • Sir Peter Hill-Norton 1970-1971
  • Sir Michael Pollock 1971-1974
  • Sir Edward Ashmore 1974-1977
  • Sir Terence Lewin 1977-1979
  • Sir Henry Leach 1979-1982
  • Sir John Fieldhouse 1982-1985
  • Sir William Staveley 1985-1989
  • Sir Julian Oswald 1989-1993
  • Sir Benjamin Bathurst 1993-1995
  • Sir Jock Slater 1995-1998
  • Sir Michael Boyce 1998-2001
  • Sir Nigel Essenhigh 2001-2002
  • Sir Alan West 2002-present
Last updated: 01-19-2005 00:39:54