List of Lords Lieutenant of Ireland
Note: Because many of the people appointed as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (sometimes also called Viceroy
) did not always continually remain in office but left the office empty for a period (sometimes to return to the Court of St. James, sometimes to return to their British estates) before either being replaced or returning, it is difficult to state terms of office with any accuracy. As a result, the date of appointment of each, rather than a specified term of office, is stated in brackets. Though the office existed earlier, because of difficulty in getting clear information this list begins in 1529. In the earlier years, there were frequently long vacancies, during which a Lord Deputy or Lord Justice would act as chief governor.
Kingdom of Ireland
The entrance to the Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle
From the 1780s on, the Lord Lieutenant lived here in state only from January to March 17th.
For the rest of the year he lived in the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park.
- Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset (June 22, 1529, d.22 July 1536)
- Thomas Radcliffe, Earl of Sussex (May 6, 1560)
- Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (March 12, 1599, d. 1601)
- Charles Blount (April 25, 1603)
- Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 January 1640, d. May 12, 1641)
- Robert Sydney, 2nd Earl of Leicester (June 14, 1641)
- James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormond (November 13, 1643, appointed by the king)
- Philip Sydney, Lord Lisle (April 9, 1646, appointed by parliament, commission expired April 15, 1647)
- James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormond (September 30, 1648, appointed by the King)
- Oliver Cromwell (June 22, 1649)
- Henry Cromwell (October 6, 1658, resigned June 15, 1659)
- George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (June, 1660)
- James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond (February 21, 1662)
- John Robartes, Lord Robartes (May 3, 1669)
- John Berkeley, Lord Berkeley (February 4, 1670)
- Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex (May 21, 1672)
- James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond (May 24, 1677)
- Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (October 1, 1685)
- James II himself in Ireland (March 12, 1689 - July 4, 1690)
- William III himself in Ireland (June 14, 1690 - September 5, 1690)
- Henry Sydney, Viscount Sydney (March 18, 1692)
- Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester (December 28, 1700)
- James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormond (February 19 1703; returned November 1704)
- Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery (April 30, 1707)
- Thomas Wharton, 1st Earl of Wharton (December 1708; returned May 1710)
- James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormond (October 1710)
- Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury (September 1713)
- Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland (September 1714)
- Charles, Viscount Townsend (February 1717)
- Charles Plowett, 2nd Duke of Bolten (April 1717)
- Charles Fitzroy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (June 1720; returned August 1723)
- John Carteret, 2nd Baron Carteret (May 1724)
- Baron Carteret (October 1727)
- Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset (June 1730; returned September 1733, 1735)
- William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (April 1737; returned March 1740, September 1741, 1743)
- Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (January 1745)
- William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington (November 1746; returned September 1749)
- Duke of Dorset (December 1750, returned September 1753)
The Irish ParliamentThough the Lord Lieutenant was not answerable to it, its abolition freed his administration from any accountability to Ireland.
- William Cavendish, Marquess of Harrington, 4th Duke of Devonshire (April 1755)
- John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (January 1757; returned October 1759)
- George Montague-Dunk, Earl of Halifax (April 1761)
- Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northhumberland (April 1763)
- Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth (June 1765)
- Francis Seymour-Conway, Earl of Hertford (August 1765)
- George William Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (October 1766)
- George Townsend, 4th Viscount Townsend (August 1767)
- Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt (October 1772)
- John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (December 1776)
- Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (November 1780)
- William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Earl of Portland (April 1782)
- George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 3rd Earl Temple (August 1782)
- Robert Henley, 2nd Earl of Northington (May 1783)
- Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Ruthland (February 1784)
- George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, Marquess of Buckingham (November 1787)
- John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmoreland (October 1789)
- William Wentford Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (December 1794)
- John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (March 1795)
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (June 1798)
The Irish Act of Union merges the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The new United Kingdom comes into being on January 1, 1801. One result is the disappearance of the separate Irish Parliament. Though many expect the office of Lord Lieutenant to be abolished, it survives, though periodic debates throughout the nineteenth century erupt over whether it should be replaced by a 'Secretary of State for Ireland'. The office of Chief Secretary for Ireland (in effect number two in Irish government ranking) grows in importance, with the Lord Lieutenant gradually reduced to a largely though not completely ceremonial role.
United Kingdom
- Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (March 1801)
- Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis (November 1805)
- John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (February 1806)
- Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond (April 1807)
- Charles Withworth, 1st Baron Whitworth (June 1813)
- Charles Chetwynd Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot (September 1817)
- Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (December 1821)
- Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess Anglesey (February 1828)
- Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northhumberland (February 1829)
- Marquess of Anglesey (November 1830)
- Marquess Wellesley (September 1833)
- Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington (December 1834)
- Constantine Henry Phipps, 6th Earl of Mulgrave (April 1835)
- Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington (March 1839)
- Thomas Philip de Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (September 1841)
- William A'Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury (September 1844)
- John William Ponsonbt, 4th Earl of Bessborough (July 1846)
- George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (May 1847)
- Archibald William Montgomerie 13th Earl of Eglinton (February 1852)
- Edward Granville Elliot, 3rd Earl of St. Germans (January 1853)
- George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle (February 1855)
Chief Secretary's Office, Dublin CastleBy the late 19th century, power had effectively shifted from the Lord Lieutenant across the courtyard of Dublin Castle to his number two, the Chief Secretary for Ireland.
- Earl of Eglinton (February 1858)
- Earl of Carlisle (June 1859)
- John Woodhouse, 3rd Baron Woodhouse (November 1864)
- James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn, 1st Duke of Abercorn from 1868 (June 1866)
- John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (December 1868)
- James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn (March 1874)
- John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (November 1876)
- Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper (May 1880)
- Earl Spencer (May 1882)
- Henry Howard Molyneaux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carvarvon (June 1885)
- John Campbell Hamilton Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen (February 1886)
- Charles Stewart Vance-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry (August 1886)
- Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Earl of Zetland (August 1889)
- Robert Offley Ashburton Milnes, 2nd Baron Houghton (August 1892)
- George Henry Cadogan, 6th Earl Cadogan (June 1895)
- William Humble Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley (August 1902)
- Earl of Aberdeen (December 1905)
- Ivor Churchill Guest, 2nd Baron Wimborne (February 1915)
- John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Baron French of Ypres and High Lake (May 1918)
- Edmund Fitzalan-Howard, Viscount Fitzalan (April 1921)
Office abolished with the creation of the Irish Free State. It was replaced by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State.
