X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs


Baron Harmsworth

It was created in 1939 for the Liberal politician Cecil Harmsworth, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1919 and 1922.

Dilke baronets

He was also a Liberal politician and served under William Ewart Gladstone as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1880 to 1882 and as President of the Local Government Board from 1882 to 1885.

Earl of St Germans

He was a diplomat and politician and notably served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Mark Lennox-Boyd

He served as a government whip and a Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Nutting baronets

The third Baronet was a Conservative politician and served under Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden as Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.


Baron Strang

It was created in 1954 for the prominent diplomat Sir William Strang, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1953.

Charles Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax

Wood is the eldest son of Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax, son of E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Viceroy of India and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Earl of Kimberley

During his long political career he notably held office as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Secretary of State for India and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury

He served under his father and then his cousin Arthur Balfour as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1900 to 1903 and under Balfour as Lord Privy Seal from 1903 to 1905 and as President of the Board of Trade in 1905.

John Hookham Frere

On Canning's promotion to the board of trade in 1809 he succeeded him as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Leyton by-election, 1965

An MP for over thirty years, his elevation to the peerage was intended to create a vacancy in a safe seat for the Foreign Secretary, Patrick Gordon Walker, who had been defeated in a shock result in the 1964 general election in his Smethwick constituency.

Reginald Hibbert

He was Minister at Bonn 1972–75; Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1975–76; Deputy Under-Secretary of State 1976–79; and finally Ambassador to France 1979–82.

The Grove, Watford

The fourth earl was a statesman, diplomat (architect of the Quadruple Alliance of 1834), Lord Privy Seal, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, President of the Board of Trade, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Knight of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde

In January 1826 he was appointed Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (alongside Lord Howard de Walden) by the Earl of Liverpool, a post he held until August of the same year.

Western Desert Campaign

Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, paraphrasing Churchill, quipped "Never has so much been surrendered by so many to so few."

Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland

In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour communicated the Balfour Declaration to the leader of United Kingdom's Jewish community Lord Rothschild for transmission to the Zionist Federation.


see also

Frederick Butler

In 1916 he was promoted to Principal Clerk and in 1917 was appointed Director of the Overseas Division of the Foreign Office Department of Overseas Trade, a post he held until 1933, when he was promoted to Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Jean Désy

Désy was recruited by Oscar D. Skelton, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in 1925 to fill the position of Counsellor in Canada's new foreign service.

Peter Vansittart

He was a distant cousin of Robert Vansittart, Permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1930 and 1938.