X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Under-Secretary of State for War


Baron Monkswell

His eldest son, the second Baron, served as Under-Secretary of State for War in 1895 in the Liberal administration of Lord Rosebery.

Baron Raglan

He held office as Under-Secretary of State for War between 1900 and 1902 in the Conservative government of Lord Salisbury.

George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke

Pembroke served as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1874 to 1875 in the second Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli.

Ramsden baronets

The fifth Baronet sat as Liberal Member of Parliament for Taunton, Hythe, the West Riding of Yorkshire and Monmouth and served as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1857 to 1858.


Cardiff East by-election, 1942

In this role he worked closely and effectively with Sir Alan Brooke the Chief of the Imperial General Staff and in 1942, in an unorthodox move, the Prime Minister Winston Churchill appointed Grigg Secretary of State for War as a replacement for David Margesson whom he dismissed after the fall of Singapore to the Japanese.

Chaudhry Muhammad Ali

In 1945, Ali joined the British government and became first Indian to have appointed as Finance adviser to Secretary of State for War Percy James Grigg.

Christine Keeler

In July 1961, Ward introduced Keeler to John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, at a pool party at Cliveden, the Buckinghamshire mansion owned by Lord Astor.

Dardanelles Commission

Matters were complicated by the death of Field Marshal Kitchener, who had been Secretary of State for War, on 6 June 1916.

Earl of Donoughmore

His grandson, the fifth Earl, was also a Conservative politician and held office as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1903 to 1904 under Arthur Balfour.

Earl of Longford

He was a Conservative politician and served under the Earl of Derby and Benjamin Disraeli as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1866 to 1868.

Forage cap

In 1902 a new style of forage cap was introduced and named after the then Secretary of State for War, St John Brodrick.

John Hay Beith

The work so impressed the Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, that he appointed Beith Director of Public Relations at the War Office.

John Lowther du Plat Taylor

However, in mid July 1882 du Plat Taylor was authorised by the Postmaster General, Henry Fawcett and the Secretary of State for War, Hugh Childers to organise an Army Post Office Corps (APOC), and on Saturday 22 July 1882 Queen Victoria issued a Royal Warrant to that effect.

Karataş, Izmir

According to an 1856 British report presented to the Secretary of State for War, they numbered as many as 17,000 in İzmir at the time, and owing to the comparative liberty and immunity from oppression they enjoyed, their numbers were rapidly increasing.

Minister for Co-ordination of Defence

When the Second World War broke out, the new Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain formed a small War Cabinet, and it was expected that Chatfield would serve as a spokesperson for the three service ministers, the Secretary of State for War, the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for Air; however political considerations resulted in all three posts being included in the Cabinet, and Chatfield's role proved increasingly redundant.

Operation Hardboiled

After he declined, the Chiefs of Staff chose Colonel Oliver Stanley, the former Secretary of State for War, as the new Controlling Officer.

Richard Hely-Hutchinson, 6th Earl of Donoughmore

He served as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1903 to 1905 in the Unionist administration headed by Arthur Balfour.

Royal Irish Rifle Volunteers

On 12 May 1859 the Secretary of State for War, Jonathan Peel had issued a circular letter to lieutenants of counties in England, Wales and Scotland, authorising the formation of volunteer rifle corps (VRC, a.k.a. corps of rifle volunteers and rifle volunteer corps), and of artillery corps in defended coastal towns.

Second Battle of Artois

At a meeting on 29 March with Sir John French the commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and Herbert Kitchener the Secretary of State for War, it was agreed that the IX and XX corps would be relieved at Ypres by British units and on 1 April, French agreed to attack at the same time as the Tenth Army.

The Fairmont Hamilton Princess

The Secretary of State for War insisted he could not approve either project while Bermuda contributed nothing to her own defence.


see also

John Ramsden

Sir John William Ramsden, 5th Baronet (1831–1914), MP for Taunton, Hythe, the West Riding of Yorkshire and Monmouth, Under-Secretary of State for War from 1857–1858