His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the secretary of state with responsibility for the India Office in Whitehall that oversaw relations and administration of the Indian subcontinent under the British Raj. The post was created in 1858 when the East India Company's rule in Bengal ended and India, except for the Princely States, was brought officially under the British Crown from London and the officeholder was a member of the British Cabinet.
In 1937, the India Office was reorganised which separated Burma and Aden under a new Burma Office, but the same secretary of state headed both departments and a new title was established as His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India and Burma. The India Office and its secretary of state were abolished in August 1947, when the United Kingdom granted independence in the Indian Independence Act, which created two new independent dominions, India and Pakistan. Burma soon achieved independence separately in early 1948.
Secretaries of state for India, 1858–1937
Portrait Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister Edward Stanley, Lord StanleyMP for King's Lynn 2 August1858 11 June1859 Conservative Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Sir Charles WoodMP for Halifax until 1865MP for Ripon after 1865 18 June1859 16 February1866Resigned after being injured in a hunting accident. Liberal Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston John Russell, 1st Earl Russell George Robinson, 3rd Earl de Grey 16 February1866 26 June1866 Liberal Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount CranborneMP for Stamford 6 July1866 8 March1867 Conservative Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Sir Stafford NorthcoteMP for North Devonshire 8 March1867 1 December1868 Conservative Benjamin Disraeli George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll 9 December1868 17 February1874 Liberal William Ewart Gladstone Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 21 February1874 2 April1878 Conservative Benjamin Disraeli Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook 2 April1878 21 April1880 Conservative Spencer Cavendish, Marquess of HartingtonMP for North East Lancashire 28 April1880 16 December1882 Liberal William Ewart Gladstone John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley 16 December1882 9 June1885 Liberal Lord Randolph ChurchillMP for Paddington South 24 June1885 28 January1886 Conservative Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley 6 February1886 20 July1886 Liberal William Ewart Gladstone R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross 3 August1886 11 August1892 Conservative Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley 18 August1892 10 March1894 Liberal William Ewart Gladstone Henry FowlerMP for Wolverhampton East 10 March1894 21 June1895 Liberal Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery Lord George HamiltonMP for Ealing 4 July1895 9 October1903Resigned. Conservative Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury(Unionist Coalition) Arthur Balfour(Unionist Coalition) William St John BrodrickMP for Guildford 9 October1903 4 December1905 Irish Unionist John MorleyMP for Montrose Burghs until 1908Viscount Morley of Blackburn after 1908 10 December1905 3 November1910 Liberal Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Earl of Crewe 3 November1910 7 March1911 Liberal John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn 7 March1911 25 May1911 Liberal Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe 25 May1911 25 May1915 Liberal Austen ChamberlainMP for Birmingham West 25 May1915 17 July1917Resigned. Conservative H. H. Asquith(Coalition)
David Lloyd George(Coalition) Edwin MontaguMP for Chesterton until 1918MP for Cambridgeshire after 1918 17 July1917 19 March1922 Liberal William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel 19 March1922 22 January1924 Conservative Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier 22 January1924 3 November1924 Labour Ramsay MacDonald F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead 6 November1924 18 October1928 Conservative Stanley Baldwin William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel 18 October1928 4 June1929 Conservative William Wedgwood BennMP for Aberdeen North 7 June1929 24 August1931 Labour Ramsay MacDonald Sir Samuel HoareMP for Chelsea 25 August1931 7 June1935 Conservative Ramsay MacDonald(1st & 2nd National Min.) Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland 7 June1935 28 May1937 Conservative Stanley Baldwin(3rd National Min.)
Secretaries of state for India and Burma, 1937–1947
Portrait Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland 28 May1937 13 May1940 Conservative Neville Chamberlain(4th National Min.;War Coalition) Leo AmeryMP for Birmingham Sparkbrook 13 May1940 26 July1945 Conservative Winston Churchill(War Coalition; Caretaker Min.) Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence 3 August1945 17 April1947 Labour Clement Attlee The Right HonourableWilliam Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel 17 April1947 14 August1947 Labour
Secretaries of state for Burma, 1947–1948
Portrait Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister The Right HonourableWilliam Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel 14 August1947 4 January1948 Labour Clement Attlee
See also India Office British Raj British rule in Burma Governor-General of India Imperial Civil Service Government of India Act
Notes
Further reading St. John, Ian. "Writing to the Defence of Empire: Winston Churchill’s Press Campaign against Constitutional Reform in India, 1929–1935". In: C. Kaul, (ed) Media and the British Empire (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) pp.104-124online
Williams, Donovan. "The Council of India and the relationship between the home and supreme governments, 1858-1870." English Historical Review 81.318 (1966): 56-73. exzcerpt
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