List of British governments

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The version of the Royal Coat of Arms used by HM Government.

This is a list of British ministries, in the sense of successive governments, from the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, continuing through the duration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1922, and since then dealing with the governments of the present-day United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Guide to the List

"Ministry" is a term used to refer collectively to all the ministers of a government, including cabinet members and junior ministers alike. Only the Civil Service is considered outside of the ministry. While the term was in common parlance in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it has become rarer, except in official and academic uses.[1] Both Australia and Canada have inherited the term and continue to use it. It is perhaps in more common use in those countries, which both have official catalogues of their respective ministries, whereas Britain has no such catalogue.[2][3]

Articles listed by ministry contain information on the term(s) of one prime minister. Articles listed by political party contain information on the ministries of multiple consecutive prime ministers of the same political party. Prior to the 20th century, the leader of the British government traditionally held the title of First Lord of the Treasury, and not that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Therefore, the list below refers to the "Head of Government" and not the "Prime Minister". Even so, the leader of a government was often colloquially referred to as the "prime minister", beginning in the 18th century. Modern-day prime ministers generally still hold the office of First Lord of the Treasury.

Ministries

Date Monarch Head of Government Governing Party Ministry
1707 Anne The Duke of Marlborough Coalition Marlborough–Godolphin ministry
1708
1710 Robert Harley Tory Harley Ministry
1714 George I The Viscount Townshend Whig Townshend Ministry
1717 The Earl Stanhope First Stanhope–Sunderland Ministry
1718 Second Stanhope–Sunderland Ministry
1721 Sir Robert Walpole Walpole–Townshend Ministry
1727 George II
1730 Walpole Ministry
1742 The Earl of Wilmington Carteret Ministry
1743 Henry Pelham
1744 Broad Bottom Ministry [4]
1754 The Duke of Newcastle First Newcastle Ministry
1756 The Duke of Devonshire Devonshire–Pitt Ministry
1757 1757 Caretaker Ministry
1757 The Duke of Newcastle Second Newcastle Ministry
1760 George III
1762 The Earl of Bute Tory Bute Ministry
1763 George Grenville Whig Grenville Ministry
1765 The Marquess of Rockingham First Rockingham Ministry
1766 The Earl of Chatham Chatham Ministry
1768 The Duke of Grafton Grafton Ministry
1770 Lord North North Ministry
1782 The Marquess of Rockingham Second Rockingham Ministry
1782 The Earl of Shelburne Shelburne Ministry
1783 The Duke of Portland Fox-North Coalition
1783 William Pitt the Younger First Pitt the Younger Ministry
1801 Henry Addington Addington Ministry
1804 William Pitt the Younger Second Pitt the Younger Ministry
1806 The Lord Grenville Ministry of All the Talents
1807 The Duke of Portland Second Portland Ministry
1809 Spencer Perceval Perceval Ministry
1812 The Earl of Liverpool Tory Liverpool Ministry
1820 George IV
1827 George Canning Canningite and Whig Canningite Government 1827–1828
1827 The Viscount Goderich
1828 The Duke of Wellington Tory Wellington Ministry
1830 William IV
1830 The Earl Grey Whig Whig Government 1830–1834
1834 The Viscount Melbourne
1834 The Duke of Wellington Conservative Wellington Caretaker Ministry
1834 Sir Robert Peel First Peel Ministry
1835 The Viscount Melbourne Whig Second Melbourne Ministry
1837 Victoria
1839
1841 Sir Robert Peel Conservative Second Peel Ministry
1846 Lord John Russell Whig First Russell Ministry
1852 The Earl of Derby Conservative Who? Who? Ministry
1852 The Earl of Aberdeen Coalition Aberdeen Ministry
1855 Viscount Palmerston Whig and Peelite First Palmerston Ministry
1858 The Earl of Derby Conservative Second Derby Ministry
1859 Viscount Palmerston Liberal Liberal Government 1859–1866
1865 The Earl Russell
1866 The Earl of Derby Conservative Conservative Government 1866–1868
1868 Benjamin Disraeli
1868 William Ewart Gladstone Liberal First Gladstone Ministry
1874 Benjamin Disraeli[5] Conservative Second Disraeli Ministry
1880 William Ewart Gladstone Liberal Second Gladstone Ministry
1885 The Marquess of Salisbury Conservative First Salisbury Ministry
1886 William Ewart Gladstone Liberal Third Gladstone Ministry
1886 The Marquess of Salisbury Conservative Second Salisbury Ministry
1892 William Ewart Gladstone Liberal Liberal Government 1892–1895
1894 The Earl of Rosebery
1895 The Marquess of Salisbury Conservative and Unionist Unionist Government 1895–1905
1901 Edward VII
1902 Arthur Balfour
1905 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Liberal Liberal Government 1905–1915
1908 Herbert Henry Asquith
1910 George V
1915 Coalition Second Asquith Ministry
1916 David Lloyd George Lloyd George Ministry
1919
1922 Andrew Bonar Law Conservative Conservative Government 1922–1924
1923 Stanley Baldwin
1924 Ramsay MacDonald Labour First MacDonald Ministry
1924 Stanley Baldwin Conservative Second Baldwin Ministry
1929 Ramsay MacDonald Labour Second MacDonald Ministry
1931 National First National Ministry
1931 Second National Ministry
1935 Stanley Baldwin Third National Ministry
1936 Edward VIII
1936 George VI
1937 Neville Chamberlain Fourth National Ministry
1939 Chamberlain War Ministry
1940 Winston Churchill Coalition Churchill War Ministry
1945 National Churchill Caretaker Ministry
1945 Clement Attlee Labour Attlee Ministry
1951 Sir Winston Churchill Conservative Third Churchill Ministry
1952 Elizabeth II
1955 Sir Anthony Eden Eden Ministry
1957 Harold Macmillan Conservative Government 1957–1964
1963 Sir Alec Douglas-Home[6]
1964 Harold Wilson Labour First Wilson Ministry
1970 Edward Heath Conservative Heath Ministry
1974 Harold Wilson Labour Labour Government 1974–79
1976 James Callaghan
1979 Margaret Thatcher Conservative First Thatcher Ministry
Second Thatcher Ministry
Third Thatcher Ministry
1990 John Major Major Ministry
1997 Tony Blair Labour Blair Ministry
2007 Gordon Brown Brown Ministry
2010 David Cameron Coalition First Cameron Ministry
2015 Conservative Second Cameron Ministry

See also

References

  1. An Encyclopaedia of Parliament by Philip Laundy, Norman Wilding
  2. ParlInfo - Part 6 - Historical information on the Australian Parliament : Ministries and Cabinets
  3. Ministers of the Crown
  4. In 1746, the Earl of Bath attempted to form the Short-lived Ministry. He was unsuccessful, and is not counted as PM at his own page or List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
  5. From 1876 he was Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden.
  6. For the first five days of his ministry, until he had renounced his peerage, Douglas-Home was known as The Earl of Home.