Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in the United Kingdom; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. The Home Office has also previously dealt with social issues, including social exclusion, equality and race relations, but the responsibility for these areas is now held by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Unlike many other governments, the British government has separate departments for the issues dealt with by the Home Office and for legal, judicial and civil rights issues; these have been dealt with by the Lord Chancellor's Department. The office of Lord Chancellor has frequently been attacked because his role (which spans all three branches of government) is frequently seen as obsolete and unsuited to a modern democratic form of government. There have been repeated calls for the scrapping of the office and its replacement with a Justice Department headed by an elected Cabinet member, or the merger of the department with the Home Office. In June 2003 the government announced, as part of a cabinet reshuffle, that it intended to abolish the Lord Chancellor and replace his department with a Department of Constitutional Affairs headed by a Secretary of State. Because the Home Office was initially the primary government department with responsibility for domestic affairs, all subsequent domestic departments have effectively been created by taking responsibilities from the Home Office, leaving in addition to law and order a variety of miscellaneous tasks that have no yet been allocated to a government minister. Consquently the Home Secretary can find themselves dealing with as matters as diverse as wild birds in Scotland, which towns in England and Wales are entitled to call themselves cities or taking part in formal ceremonies such as the annointment of bishops in the Church of England. However it is the law and order function of the department that predominates overwhelmingly. Home Secretaries since 1782 William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne: 27 March - 10 July 1782 Thomas Townshend: 10 July 1782 - 2 April 1783 Frederick North, Lord North: 2 April - 19 December 1783 George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 3rd Earl Temple: 19 December - 23 December 1783 Thomas Townshend, 1st Lord Sydney: 23 December 1783 - 5 June 1789 William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Lord Grenville: 5 June 1789 - 8 June 1791 Henry Dundas: 8 June 1791 - 11 July 1794 William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland: 11 July 1794 - 30 July 1801 Thomas Pelham, 1st Lord Pelham: 30 July 1801 - 17 August 1803 Charles Philip Yorke: 17 August 1803 - 12 May 1804 Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Hawkesbury: 12 May 1804 - 5 February 1806 George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer: 5 February 1806 - 25 March 1807 Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool: 25 March 1807 - 1 November 1809 Richard Ryder: 1 November 1809 - 8 June 1812 Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth: 11 June 1812 - 17 January 1822 Sir Robert Peel: 17 January 1822 - 10 April 1827 William Sturges-Bourne: 30 April - 16 July 1827 Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne: 16 July 1827 - 22 January 1828 Sir Robert Peel: 26 January 1828 - 22 November 1830 William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne: 22 November 1830 - 16 July 1834 John Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough: 19 July - 15 November 1834 Henry Goulburn: 15 December 1834 - 18 April 1835 Lord John Russell: 18 April 1835 - 30 August 1839 Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby: 30 August 1839 - 30 August 1841 Sir James Graham: 6 September 1841 - 30 June 1846 Sir George Grey: 6 July 1846 - 23 February 1852 Spencer Horatio Walpole: 27 February - 19 December 1852 Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston: 28 December 1852- 6 February 1855 Sir George Grey: 8 February 1855 - 26 February 1858 Spencer Horatio Walpole: 26 February 1858 - 3 March 1859 Thomas Sutton Southern Escourt: 3 March - 18 June 1859 Sir George Cornewall Lewis: 18 June 1859 - 25 July 1861 Sir George Grey: 25 July 1861 - 28 June 1866 Spencer Horatio Walpole 6 July 1866 - 17 May 1867 Gathorne Hardy: 17 May 1867 - 3 December 1868 Henry Austin Bruce: 9 December 1868 - 9 August 1873 Robert Lowe: 9 August 1873 - 20 February 1874 Sir Richard Assheton Cross: 21 February 1874 - 23 April 1880 Sir William Vernon Harcourt: 28 April 1880 - 23 June 1885 Sir Richard Assheton Cross: 24 June 1885 - 1 February 1886 Hugh Childers: 6 February - 25 July 1886 Henry Matthews: 3 August 1886 - 15 August 1892 Herbert Henry Asquith: 18 August 1892 - 25 June 1895 Sir Matthew White Ridley: 29 June 1895 - 12 November 1900 Charles Thomson Ritchie: 12 November 1900 - 12 July 1902 Aretas Akers-Douglas: 12 July 1902 - 5 December 1905 Herbert John Gladstone: 11 December 1905 - 19 February 1910 Winston Churchill: 19 February 1910 - 24 October 1911 Reginald McKenna: 24 October 1911 - 27 May 1915 Sir John Allsebrook Simon: 27 May 1915 - 12 January 1916 Herbert Samuel: 12 January - 7 December 1916 George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave: 11 December 1916 - 14 January 1919 Edward Shortt: 14 January 1919 - 23 October 1922 William Clive Bridgeman: 25 October 1922 - 22 January 1924 Arthur Henderson: 23 January - 4 November 1924 Sir William Joynson-Hicks: 7 November 1924 - 5 June 1929 John Robert Clynes: 8 June 1929 - 26 August 1931 Sir Herbert Samuel: 26 August 1931 - 1 October 1932 Sir John Gilmour: 1 October 1932 - 7 June 1935 Sir John Allsebrooke Simon: 7 June 1935 - 28 May 1937 Sir Samuel Hoare: 28 May 1937 - 3 September 1939 Sir John Anderson: 4 September 1939 - 4 October 1940 Herbert Stanley Morrison: 4 October 1940 - 28 May 1945 Sir Donald Bradley Somervell: 28 May - 26 July 1945 James Chuter Ede 3 August 1945 - 26 October 1951 Sir David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe: 27 October 1951 - 19 October 1954 Gwilym Lloyd George: 19 October 1954 - 14 January 1957 Richard Austen Butler: 14 January 1957 - 13 July 1962 Henry Brooke: 13 July 1962 - 16 October 1964 Sir Frank Soskice: 18 October 1964 - 23 December 1965 Roy Jenkins: 23 December 1965 - 30 November 1967 James Callaghan: 30 November 1967 - 19 June 1970 Reginald Maudling: 20 June 1970 - 18 July 1972 Robert Carr: 18 July 1972 - 4 March 1974 Roy Jenkins: 5 March 1974 - 10 September 1976 Merlyn Rees: 10 September 1976 - 4 May 1979 William Whitelaw: 5 May 1979 - 11 June 1983 Leon Brittan: 11 June 1983 - 2 September 1985 Douglas Hurd: 2 September 1985 - 1989 David Waddington: 1989-1990 Kenneth Baker: 1990-1992 Kenneth Clarke: 1992-1993 Michael Howard: 1993-1997 Jack Straw: 1997-2001 David Blunkett: 2001- This article is from Wikipedia. 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