John Blaquiere, 1st Baron de Blaquiere
John Blaquiere, 1st Baron de Blaquiere, KCB, PC, known as Sir John Blaquiere, Bt. from 1784 to 1800, was a British soldier, diplomat and politician of French descent. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1772 and 1776
Lord de Blaquiere.
Chief Secretary for Ireland
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.
The Chief Secretary's office in Dublin Castle. The Chief Secretary's residence was the Chief Secretary's Lodge in the Phoenix Park, next to the Viceregal Lodge.
Chief Sectretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, now the Deerfield Residence of the U.S. Ambassador
Image: Edmund Spenser oil painting
Image: Sir Henry Wotton