Postmaster General of the United Kingdom

The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom is a defunct Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs. This would subsequently extend to telecommunications and broadcasting.

The office was abolished in 1969 by the Post Office Act 1969. A new public authority governed by a chairman was established under the name of the "Post Office". The position of "Postmaster General" was replaced with "Minister of Posts and Telecommunications"; subsequently such functions generally fall within the remit of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, although the present-day Royal Mail Group is overseen by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

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History

In England, the monarch's letters to his subjects are known to have been carried by relays of couriers as long ago as the 15th century. In 1517, Sir Brian Tuke was appointed by King Henry VIII as "Master of the King's Post". In 1609 it was decreed that letters could only be carried and delivered by persons authorised by the Postmaster General.

In 1657 an Act entitled 'Postage of England, Scotland and Ireland Settled' set up a system for the British Isles and enacted the position of Postmaster General. The Act also reasserted the postal monopoly for letter delivery and for post horses. After the Restoration in 1660, a further Act (12 Car II, c.35) confirmed this and the post of Postmaster-General, the previous Cromwellian Act being void.

1660 saw the establishment of the General Letter Office, which would later become the General Post Office (GPO). A similar position evolved in the Kingdom of Scotland prior to the 1707 Act of Union.

Masters of the King's Post

Years Master of the Kings Post
1517–1545 Brian Tuke
1545–1566 John Mason
1566–1590 Thomas Randolph
1590–1607 John Stanhope
1607–1635 Charles Stanhope
1637–1642 Philip Burlamachi
1642–1653 Edmund Prideaux
1653-1655 John Manley

Former Postmasters General of England and the UK

Years Postmaster-General
1655–1660 John Thurloe
1660-1663 Henry Bishop
1663-1664 Daniel O'Neill
1664-1667 Katherine O'Neill, Countess of Chesterfield
1667-1685 Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
1686-1689 Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester
1689-1691 John Wildman

Two Postmasters General

From 1691 to 1823 there were two Postmasters General, to divide the patronage between the Whigs and Tories.

Year 1st Postmaster-General 1st Party 2nd Postmaster-General 2nd Party
1691 Sir Thomas Frankland Sir Robert Cotton Tory
1708 Sir John Evelyn
1715 James Craggs the Elder Charles Cornwallis, 4th Baron Cornwallis Whig
1720 Galfridus Walpole Edward Carteret
1725 Edward Harrison
1733 Thomas Coke, 1st Baron Lovel
(Earl of Leicester from 1744)
1739 Sir John Eyles, Bt
1745 Everard Fawkener
1759 Robert Hampden, 4th Baron Trevor William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough
1762 John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont
1763 Thomas Villiers, 1st Baron Hyde
1765 Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough
1766 Wills Hill, 2nd Viscount Hillsborough Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer
1768 John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
1771 Henry Carteret
(from 1784 Baron Carteret)
1782 The Viscount Barrington
1782 Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville[1]
1783 Thomas Foley, 2nd Baron Foley [1]
1784 Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville [1]
1786 Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon
1787 Thomas de Grey, 2nd Baron Walsingham
1789 John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland Tory
1790 Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield
1794 George Townshend, 1st Earl of Leicester
1798 William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland
1799 George Leveson-Gower, Baron Gower
1801 Lord Charles Spencer
1804 James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose
1806 John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire
1807 Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester Whig John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich Tory
1814 Richard Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty
1816 James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury

A single Postmaster

In 1823 the idea of a Whig and a Tory sharing the post was abolished.[1]

Years Postmaster General
1823 Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester
continuing in office alone
1826-1827 Lord Frederick Montagu
1827-1830 William Montagu, 5th Duke of Manchester
1830-1834 Charles Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond and Lennox
1834 Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham
1834-1835 William Wellesley-Pole, 1st Baron Maryborough
1835 Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham
1835-1841 Thomas William Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield
1841-1845 William Lowther, Viscount Lowther
1845-1846 Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans
1846-1852 Ulick John de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde
1852 Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke
1853-1855 Charles John Canning, 2nd Viscount Canning
1855-1858 George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll
1858-1859 Charles Edward Abbot, 2nd Baron Colchester
1859-1860 James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin
1860-1866 Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley
1866-1868 James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose
1868-1871 Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington
1871-1873 William Monsell
1873-1874 Lyon Playfair
1874-1880 Lord John Manners
1880-1884 Henry Fawcett
1884-1885 George John Shaw-Lefevre
1885-1886 Lord John Manners
1886 George Grenfell Glyn, 2nd Baron Wolverton
1886-1891 Henry Cecil Raikes
1891-1892 Sir James Fergusson
1892-1895 Arnold Morley
1895-1900 Henry Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk
1900-1902 Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry
1902-1903 Austen Chamberlain
1903-1905 Edward George Villiers Stanley, Lord Stanley
1905-1910 Sidney Buxton
1910-1914 Herbert Samuel
1914-1915 Charles Hobhouse
1915-1916 Herbert Samuel
1916 Joseph Pease
1916-1921 Albert Illingworth
1921-1922 Frederick Kellaway
1922-1923 Neville Chamberlain
1923 Sir William Joynson-Hicks
1923-1924 Sir Laming Worthington-Evans
1924 Vernon Hartshorn
1924-1929 Sir William Mitchell-Thomson
1929-1931 Hastings Lees-Smith
1931 Clement Attlee
1931 Sir William Ormsby-Gore
1931-1935 Sir Kingsley Wood
1935-1940 Geoffrey Tryon
1940-1942 William Morrison
1942-1945 Harry Crookshank
1945-1947 William Francis Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel
1947-1950 Wilfred Paling
1950-1951 Ness Edwards
1951-1955 Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr
1955-1957 Charles Hill
1957-1959 Ernest Marples
1959-1964 Reginald Bevins
1964-1966 Tony Benn
1966-1968 Edward Short
1968 Roy Mason
1968-1969 John Stonehouse

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Falmouth packet archives accessed 9 June 2008