Chief Secretary for Ireland
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The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland, roughly equivalent to the role of a Secretary of State, such as the similar role of Secretary of State for Scotland. Usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the British Cabinet. The Chief Secretary was ex officio President of the Local Government Board for Ireland from its creation in 1872.
Chief Sectretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, now the Deerfield Residence of the U.S. Ambassador
Image: Edmund Spenser oil painting
Image: Sir Henry Wotton
The secretary of state for Northern Ireland, also referred to as the Northern Ireland secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
Image: Francis Pym (cropped)
Image: Merlyn Rees appearing on After Dark , 16 July 1988 (cropped)
Image: Douglas Hurd, November 2007 cropped