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Permanent Under Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs
The FCO: Policy, people and places - Permanent Under Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs 1827-2000Apr 1827-Apr 1842
Backhouse, John: the first Under-Secretary to describe his office as 'Permanent', and the first to define the functions associated with the position. His background was distinctly political rather than bureaucratic; he twice served as Canning's private secretary before being appointed Under-Secretary in 1827. He continued to hold office despite the death of his patron and the disappearance of the Canningites from Wellington's government in 1828 (C.R. Middleton, The Administration of British Foreign Policy 1782-1846 - Durham N.C.: 1977).
Mar 1842-Apr 1854
Addington, Henry U: nicknamed 'Pumpy', his early career in diplomacy was brought to an end by Lord Palmerston. He owed his appointment as PUS to the patronage of Lord Aberdeen and during his last two years in office he might be said to have partially prepared the way for the more positive and robust Edmund Hammond (Middleton).
Apr 1854-Oct 1873
Hammond, Edmund (later Lord): a vigorous administrator, he considered the prime requirement of a Foreign Office clerk to be that he should write 'a good bold hand forming each letter distinctly'; he was opposed to the introduction of a career structure and resisted the introduction of electric telegraphy complaining that nothing 'is sufficiently explained by it. It tempts hasty decision. It is an unsatisfactory record for it gives no reason' (R.A. Jones, The Nineteenth Century Foreign Office - London: 1971).
Oct 1873-Sep 1882
Tenterden, 3rd Baron, Charles Stuart Aubrey Abbott: made a name for himself as secretary to Lord Grey's mission to Washington during the Alabama arbitration proceedings. His opposition during the Near Eastern crisis of 1876 to Lord Salisbury's resort to personal diplomacy was denounced by the Prime Minister as 'Tenterdenism - a dusty affair, not suited to the time and things we have to grapple with'. He died in office at the age of 47 (R.A. Jones; H. Seton Watson, Disraeli, Gladstone and the Eastern Question - London: 1935).
Sep 1882-Apr 1889
Pauncefote, Sir Julian (later Lord): a lawyer by profession, able and popular, his appointment was criticised by those who felt the post should have been filled by a career official; he tired of the work and sought a mission abroad; appointed Minister at Washington in 1889 he became the first British Ambassador to the United States when the legation was raised to the status of an Embassy four years later (DNB).
Apr 1889-Dec 1893
Currie, Sir Philip (later Lord): a career clerk who accompanied Lord Salisbury to the Constantinople Conference of 1876 and to the Congress of Berlin of 1878 and subsequently served as Salisbury's private secretary. He was rapid in his work and clear in judgement but inclined to be implastic in his dealings with foreigners (R.A. Jones, The British Diplomatic Service, 1815-1914 - Ontario: 1983; DNB).
Jan 1894-Feb 1906
Sanderson, Sir Thomas (later Lord): better known to his colleagues as 'Lamps' or 'Giglamps' because of his thick-lensed spectacles; a methodical and painstaking bureaucrat, his sharp wit and cultured intellect appealed to Lords Rosebery and Salisbury; he was regarded by the junior staff as a 'martinet of the old order'. He was, however, at least partially responsible for initiating the processes which led to a greater devolution of work within the Office (K.A. Hamilton, Bertie of Thame: Edwardian Ambassador - Woodbridge: 1990).
Feb 1906-Nov 1910
Hardinge, Sir Charles (later Lord Hardinge of Penshurst): his meteoric rise was aided by his close connexions with the royal family, particularly Edward VII. He was the first PUS to be appointed directly from a post abroad and the transfer involved heavy pecuniary sacrifice: he later recalled that 'the only way to get on in the service was to disregard material advantage and to seek only power'. He oversaw the introduction of a General Registry and became a close adviser of the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey. He was appointed Viceroy of India in 1910 but returned to the Office as PUS in 1916 when his second term was marred by his inability to cope with the prime-ministerial diplomacy of David Lloyd George (Lord Hardinge, Old Diplomacy: Reminiscences - London: 1947; B.C. Busch, Hardinge of Penshurst. A Study of Old Diplomacy - Hamden: 1980).
Nov 1910-Jun 1916
Nicolson, Sir Arthur (later Lord Carnock): generally regarded as a Russophile, he favoured tighter relations between Britain and her partners. He failed to establish a close working relationship with Grey and, dogged by ill-health, he had difficulty in coping well with an ever-increasing workload. (H. Nicolson, Sir A. Nicolson - London: 1930).
Jun 1916-Nov 1920
Hardinge, Sir Charles (later Lord Hardinge of Penshurst)
Nov 1920-Apr 1925
Crowe, Sir Eyre: born in Leipzig of Anglo-German parentage, he was almost forced to resign in 1915 owing to his German connexions. Best remembered for his memorandum of 1907 on relations with France and Germany, he was also a powerful advocate of reform, e.g. the establishment of a 'Research and Historical Section of the Library'. In a memorandum of 1908 he argued in favour of giving historians more generous access to the Foreign Office archives: 'We have nothing to lose as a nation, and a good deal to gain, by the widest possible publicity being given to our transactions with foreign countries.' His appointment as PUS marked the fulfilment of a personal ambition nurtured since the age of 17 (Zara Steiner, The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy 1898-1914 - Cambridge: 1969; Sibyl Crowe & Edward Corp, Our Ablest Public Servant. Sir Eyre Crowe GCB, GCMG, KCB, KCMG, 1864-1924 - Braunton Devon: 1993).
May 1925-Jul 1928
Tyrrell, Sir William (later Lord): the grandson of an Indian princess, he spent most of his formative years in Germany. Never the best of administrators, he knew little about the internal workings of the Office and as PUS would rarely commit himself to any decision in writing; his private secretary once wrote on a minute, 'A decision is required on this matter', to which Tyrrell added, 'Yes it is' (C. Gladwyn, The Paris Embassy - London: 1976).
Jul 1928-Dec 1929
Lindsay, Sir Ronald: an unsuccessful PUS, his relations were strained with the Labour Foreign Secretary, Arthur Henderson, who promptly nominated him as Ambassador to Washington as soon as the post became vacant (DNB).
Jan 1930-Jan 1938
Vansittart, Sir Robert (later Lord): known as 'Van' to many of his friends, he was one of the most controversial of modern PUSs. Private secretary to Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay MacDonald, he was, according to Anthony Eden, more 'a sincere, almost fanatical, crusader' than 'an official giving cool and disinterested advice'. His minutes could be allusive, amusing and contorted, and his immediate successor had good reason to complain of his 'dancing literary hornpipes'. Often associated with opposition to 'appeasement' his strong views on European matters and his independent stance so irritated Eden and Chamberlain that in 1937 he was replaced through 'promotion' to the new post of Chief Diplomatic Adviser (Lord Vansittart, The Mist Procession - London: 1958; N. Rose, Vansittart: Study of a Diplomat - London: 1978).
Jan 1938-Jan 1946
Cadogan, Sir Alexander: served in the Foreign Office for all but two years between 1914 and 1946; Crowe thought him 'the best man in the Office' and he was appointed Head of the League of Nations Section. He took comparatively little interest in the formal machinery or procedures, but valued promptitude, efficiency and good drafting and as a wartime PUS faced the Blitz with complete composure, often refusing to take shelter. In 1946 he was made Britain's first resident representative at the United Nations. His diaries, published posthumously, caused astonishment by their outspokenness (D. Dilks, Ed., The Cadogan Diaries 1938-1945 - London: 1971).
Feb 1946-Feb 1949
Sargent, Sir Orme: like his predecessor, he spent the greater part of his career in the Foreign Office where he earned the nickname 'Moley'. Claustrophobia may have deterred him from foreign travel and he resisted all attempts to post him abroad. During the 1930s he headed the Central Department and there played a vital role in helping to frame British policy towards Nazi Germany and was the author of the influential memorandum 'Stocktaking after V-E Day' (cited on p. 8). He was not, however, inclined to press his views on ministers. As Vansittart later observed, he was 'a philosopher who strayed into Whitehall. He knew all the answers; when politicians did not want to hear them he went out to lunch' (Dilks).
Feb 1949-Nov 1953
Strang, Sir William (later Lord): his career was for the most part spent in Whitehall, but he also participated in important negotiations abroad, accompanying Neville Chamberlain to Berchtesgarten, Bad Godesberg and Munich, and travelling to Moscow in 1939 in a vain effort to achieve an agreement with the Soviet Union. From 1945 to 1947 he was political adviser to the C-in-C Germany, Field-Marshal Montgomery. He was widely regarded as a first class administrator, and on his retirement The Times commented that he 'coupled a capacity for hard work and very long hours with the analytical mind of a mathematician'. One of his principal achievements as PUS was the establishment in 1949 of the Permanent Under-Secretary's Committee, a planning body discontinued by the incoming administration in 1951, which was intended to consider long-term questions of foreign policy. After leaving the Office he published a number of works on diplomacy, including 'The Foreign Office' (London, 1955) and 'Home and Abroad' (London, 1956). (J. Zametica, British Officials and British Foreign Policy, 1945-1950 - Leicester: 1990).
Nov 1953-Feb 1957
Kirkpatrick, Sir Ivone: joined the Office in February 1919 after spending the previous three years in wartime intelligence and propaganda work, an activity to which he returned when in 1941 he became foreign adviser to the BBC. After 1945 he was very much involved with German affairs, serving for a year as PUS of the Office's Germany Section and then, from 1950-1953, as High Commissioner in Bonn. His difficult period as PUS culminated in the Suez Crisis of 1956. A combative, even aggressive, Irishman, who had little time for discussion, he was not, according to some of his former colleagues, the easiest of men to work with. He would, Lord Gladwyn noted, have made 'an excellent general' (Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, The Inner Circle - London: 1959; Lord Gladwyn, Memoirs - London: 1972).
Feb 1957-Feb 1962
Hoyer Millar, Sir Frederick (later Lord Inchyra): his first experience of diplomacy was in 1922 when for a year he acted as Honorary Attaché at the British Embassy at Brussels; he later served in Cairo and Washington, and in 1952 became Britain's first permanent representative to NATO. As Kirkpatrick's successor at Bonn, he was also Britain's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. He was a good committee-man and, after retirement, was a member of the Plowden Committee which reviewed British representation overseas (The Times, 19 October 1989).
Jan 1962-May 1965
Caccia, Sir Harold (later Lord): of Italian descent, he spent what was perhaps the most exciting part of his career in the Mediterranean area, becoming involved in the forced escape of the British Legation from Athens in 1941 and the rescue of the Greek King from Crete. After the war, he chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee, and was subsequently High Commissioner at Vienna and Ambassador at Washington. As PUS, he was to be the first head of the new unified diplomatic service, and applied his robust common sense to tackling the problems associated with implementing the recommendations of the Plowden Committee. A good shot and keen sportsman, he used his many trophies to decorate his office walls (The Times, 1 November 1990).
May 1965-Feb 1969
Gore-Booth, Sir Paul (later Lord): served as a Deputy Under-Secretary from 1956 to 1960 and then as High Commissioner at Delhi, before returning to the Office where in 1968 he oversaw its merger with the Commonwealth Office. In the spring of 1968 his performance as Sherlock Holmes in a re-enactment of the great detective's combat with Professor Moriarty on the narrow path overlooking the Reichenbach Falls won him widespread media acclaim. He edited the latest edition of 'Satow's Guide to Diplomatic Practice' (P. Gore-Booth, With Great Truth and Respect - London: 1974).
Feb 1969-Nov 1973
Greenhill, Sir Denis (later Lord): Lord Greenhill, More by Accident - London: 1992).
Nov 1973-Nov 1975
Brimelow, Sir Thomas (later Lord)
Nov 1975-Apr 1982
Palliser, Sir Michael
Apr 1982-Jun 1986
Acland, Sir Antony
Jun 1986-Jun 1991
Wright, Sir Patrick (later Lord)
Jun 1991-Jul 1994
Gillmore, Sir David (later Lord)
Aug 1994-Nov 1997
Coles, Sir John
Nov 1997-
Kerr, Sir John