The Chief Secretary was the most important position for determining British policy in Ireland after the Lord Lieutenant, and was frequently a cabinet level position in the 19th and early twentieth centuries.

Chief Secretary's office in Dublin Castle

Chief Secretaries for Ireland, 1660-1922

• Matthew Lock 1660
• Sir Thomas Page 1662-1669
• Sir Henry Ford 1669-1670
• Sir Ellis Leighton 1670-1672
• Sir Henry Ford 1672-1673
• Sir William Harbord 1673-1676
• Sir Cyril Wyche 1676-1682
• Sir William Ellis 1682-1685
• Sir Paul Rycaut 1686-1687
• Thomas Sheridan 1687-1688
• Patrick Tyrrell 1688-1689
• John Davis 1690-1692
• Sir Cyril Wyche 1692-1693
• Sir Richard Aldworth 1695-1696
• William Palmer 1696-1697
• Matthew Prior 1697-1699
• Humphrey May 1699-1701
• Francis Gwyn 1701-1703
• Edward Southwell 1703-1707
• George Dodington 1707-1708
• Joseph Addison 1708-1710
• Edward Southwell 1710-1713
• Sir John Stanley 1713-1714
• Joseph Addison 1714-1715
• Martin Bladen and Charles Delafaye 1715-1717
• Edward Webster 1717-1720
• Horatio Walpole 1720-1721
• Edward Hopkins 1721-1724
• Thomas Clutterbuck 1724-1730
• Walter Cary 1730-1737
• Sir Edward Walpole 1737-1739
• Thomas Townshend 1739
• Henry Bilson Legge 1739-1741
• William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon 1741-1745
• Richard Lidell 1745-1746
• Sewallis Shirley 1746
• Edward Weston 1746-1750
• Lord George Sackville 1750-1755
• Henry Seymour Conway 1755-1757
• Richard Rigby 1757-1761
• William Gerard Hamilton 1761-1764
• Charles Moore, 6th Earl of Drogheda 1764-1765
• Francis Seymour Conway, Viscount Conway 1765-1766
• Augustus John Hervey 1766-1767
• Theophilus Jones 1767
• Lord Frederick Campbell 1767-1768
• Sir George Macartney 1769-1772
• Sir John Blaquiere 1772-1776
• Sir Richard Heron 1776-1780
• William Eden 1780-1782
• Richard FitzPatrick 1782
• William Wyndham Grenville 1782-1783
• William Windham 1783
• Thomas Pelham 1783-1784
• Thomas Orde 1784-1787
• Alleyne FitzHerbert 1787-1789
• Robert Hobart 1789-1793
• Sylvester Douglas 1793-1794
• George Damer, Viscount Milton 1794-1795
• Thomas Pelham 1795-1798
• Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh 1798-1801
• Charles Abbot 1801-1802
• William Wickham 1802-1804
• Sir Evan Nepean 1804-1805
• Nicholas Vansittart 1805
• Charles Long 1805-1806
• William Elliot 1806-1807
• Sir Arthur Wellesley 1807-1809
• Robert Dundas 1809
• William Wellesley-Pole 1809-1812
• Robert Peel 1812-1818
• Charles Grant 1818-1821
• Henry Goulburn 1821-1827
• William Lamb 1827-1828
• Sir Francis Leveson Gower 1828-1830
• Sir Henry Hardinge 1830
• Edward Geoffrey Smith-Stanley 1830-1833
• Sir John Cam Hobhouse 1833
• Edward John Littleton 1833-1834
• Sir Henry Hardinge 1834-1835
• George Howard, Viscount Morpeth 1835-1841
• Edward Granville Eliot, Lord Eliot 1841-1845
• Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle 1845-1846
• Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln 1846
• Henry Labouchere 1846-1847
• Sir William Meredyth Somerville 1847-1852
• Richard Southwell Bourke, Lord Naas 1852
• Sir John Young 1853-1855
• Edward Horsman 1855-1857
• Henry Arthur Herbert 1857-1858
• Richard Southwell Bourke, Lord Naas 1858-1859
• Edward Cardwell 1859-1861
• Sir Robert Peel 1861-1865
• Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue 1865-1866
• Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo 1866-1868
• John Wilson-Patten 1868
• Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue 1868-1871
• Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington 1871-1874
• Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1874-1878
• James Lowther 1878-1880
• William Edward Forster 1880-1882
• Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish 1882
• George Otto Trevelyan 1882-1884
• Henry Campbell-Bannerman 1884-1885
• Sir William Hart Dyke 1885-1886
• William Henry Smith 1886
• John Morley 1886
• Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1886-1887
• Arthur James Balfour 1887-1891
• William Lawies Jackson 1891-1892
• John Morley 1892-1895
• Gerald William Balfour 1895-1900
• George Wyndham 1900-1905
• Walter Hume Long 1905
• James Bryce 1905-1907
• Augustine Birrell 1907-1916
• Henry Edward Duke 1916-1918
• Edward Shortt 1918-1919
• James Ian Macpherson 1919-1920
• Sir Hamar Greenwood 1920-1922