Secretary for Scotland

The Secretary for Scotland was the former title of the chief minister in charge of the Scotland Office in the United Kingdom government. The post of Secretary of State for Scotland existed briefly after the union of the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707 till the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. After the rebellion, responsibility for Scotland lay primarily with the office of the Home Secretary, usually exercised by the Lord Advocate. 1885 saw the creation of the Scotland Office and the post of Secretary for Scotland. From 1892 the Secretary for Scotland sat in cabinet, but the position was not officially recognised as a full cabinet member until the post of Secretary of State for Scotland was recreated in 1926.

Secretaries for Scotland (1885-1926)

• The Duke of Richmond & Gordon (1885-1886)
• Sir George Trevelyan (1886)
• The Earl of Dalhousie (1886)
• Arthur J. Balfour (1886-1887)
• The Marquis of Lothian (1887-1892)
• Sir George Trevelyan (1892-1895)
• Alexander Bruce (Lord Balfour of Burleigh) (1895-1903)
• Andrew Graham Murray (1903-1905)
• The Marquis of Linlithgow (1905)
• John Sinclair (Baron Pentland) (1905-1912)
• Thomas MacKinnon-Wood (1912-1916)
• Harold John Tennant (1916)
• Robert Munro (Lord Alness) (1916-1922)
• Viscount Novar (1922-1924)
• William Adamson (1924)
• Sir John Gilmour (1924-1926)