List of the First Lords of the Admiralty

This is a List of First Lords of the Admiralty of England, Great Britain and then the United Kingdom. The earlier Lords High Admiral were mostly courtiers or members of the Royal family. When the office of Lord High Admiral was "put into commission" it was exercised by a board of Lords Commissioners (or "Sea Lords") headed by a First Lord of the Admiralty, and not by a single man. The office of First Lord remained a political one which did not need to be filled by a professional naval officer, although it sometimes was.

The first such First Lord of the Admiralty was Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland, who was appointed in 1628. In the 17th century and the early 18th century, it was not invariable for the Admiralty to be in commission, so there are gaps in the list of First Lords, and a small number of First Lords were for a time Lord High Admiral.

In 1964, the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was abolished, the last holder being the second Earl Jellicoe, the son of Admiral of the Fleet Earl Jellicoe, and the functions of the Sea Lords were then transferred to the Admiralty Board, which forms part of the tri-service Defence Council of the United Kingdom.

First Lords of the Admiralty of England, 1628–1701

Name	Entered office	Left office
The Earl of Portland	1628	1635
The Earl of Lindsey	1635	1636
William Juxon, Bishop of Lincoln	1636	1638
The Earl of Northumberland (Lord High Admiral 1638–1642)	1642	1643
The Lord Cottington	1643	1646
Sir Henry Capell	1679	1681
The Earl of Nottingham	1681	1684
The Earl of Torrington (Lord High Admiral 1689)	1689	1690
The Earl of Pembroke	1690	1692
The Lord Cornwallis	1692	1693
The Viscount Falkland	1693	1694
The Earl of Orford	1694	1699
The Earl of Bridgewater	1699	1701

First Lords of the Admiralty of Great Britain, 1709–1801

Name	Entered office	Left office
The Earl of Orford	1709	1710
Sir John Leake	1710	1712
The Earl of Strafford	1712	1714
The Earl of Orford	1714	1717
The Earl of Berkeley	1717	1727
The Viscount Torrington	1727	1733
Sir Charles Wager	1733	1742
The Earl of Winchilsea	1742	1744
The Duke of Bedford	1744	1748
The Earl of Sandwich	1748	1751
The Lord Anson	1751	1756
The Earl Temple	1756	1757
The Earl of Winchilsea	1757	1757
The Lord Anson	1757	1762
The Earl of Halifax	1762	1762
Hon. George Grenville	1762	1763
The Earl of Sandwich	1763	1763
The Earl of Egmont	1763	1766
Sir Charles Saunders	1766	1766
Sir Edward Hawke	1766	1771
The Earl of Sandwich	1771	1782
The Viscount Keppel	1782	1783
The Viscount Howe	1783	1783
The Viscount Keppel	1783	1783
The Viscount Howe	1783	1788
The Earl of Chatham	1788	1794
The Earl Spencer	1794	1801

First Lords of the Admiralty of the United Kingdom, 1801–1964

Name		Entered office	Left office
	The Earl of St Vincent	1801	1804
	The Viscount Melville	1804	1805
	The Lord Barham	1805	1806
	Viscount Howick	1806	1806
	Thomas Grenville	1806	1807
	The Lord Mulgrave	1807	1810
	Charles Philip Yorke	1810	1812
	The Viscount Melville	1812	1827
	HRH The Duke of Clarence (Lord High Admiral)	1827	1828
	The Viscount Melville	1828	1830
	Sir James Graham, Bt	1830	1834
	The Lord Auckland	1834	1834
	The Earl de Grey	1834	1835
	The Lord Auckland	1835	1835
	The Earl of Minto	1835	1841
	The Earl of Haddington	1841	1846
	The Earl of Ellenborough	1846	1846
	The Earl of Auckland	1846	1849
	Sir Francis Baring, Bt	1849	1852
	The Duke of Northumberland	1852	1852
	Sir James Graham, Bt	1852	1855
	Sir Charles Wood, Bt	1855	1858
	Sir John Pakington, Bt	1858	1859
	The Duke of Somerset	1859	1866
	Sir John Pakington, Bt	1866	1867
	Hon. Henry Lowry-Corry	1867	1868
	Hugh Childers	1868	1871
	George Goschen	1871	1874
	George Ward Hunt	1874	1877
	W. H. Smith	1877	1880
	The Earl of Northbrook	1880	1885
	Lord George Hamilton	1885	1886
	The Marquess of Ripon	1886	1886
	Lord George Hamilton	1886	1892
	The Earl Spencer	1892	1895
	George Goschen	1895	1900
	The Earl of Selborne	1900	1905
	The Earl Cawdor	1905	1905
	The Lord Tweedmouth	1905	1908
	Reginald McKenna	1908	1911
	Winston Churchill	1911	1915
	Arthur Balfour	1915	1916
	Sir Edward Carson	1916	1917
	Sir Eric Geddes	1917	1919
	Walter Long	1919	1921
	The Viscount Lee of Fareham	1921	1922
	Leo Amery	1922	1924
	The Viscount Chelmsford	1924	1924
	William Bridgeman (Viscount Bridgeman from 1929)	1924	1929
	A. V. Alexander	1929	1931
	Sir Austen Chamberlain	1931	1931
	Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell (Viscount Monsell from 1935)	1931	1936
	Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt	1936	1937
	Duff Cooper	1937	1938
	The Earl Stanhope	1938	1939
	Winston Churchill	1939	1940
	A. V. Alexander	1940	1945
	Brendan Bracken	1945	1945
	A. V. Alexander	1945	1946
	The Viscount Hall	1946	1951
	Lord Pakenham	1951	1951
	James Thomas (Viscount Cilcennin from 1955)	1951	1956
	The Viscount Hailsham	1956	1957
	The Earl of Selkirk	1957	1959
	The Lord Carrington	1959	1963
	The Earl Jellicoe	1963	1964

Fictional First Lords

W. H. Smith portrayed in a Punch cartoon from 13 October 1877 when First Lord, saying: "I think I'll now go below." In Pinafore, Sir Joseph Porter similarly sings: "When the breezes blow / I generally go below".

The "Radical" First Lord, and a major character, in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), is Sir Joseph Henry Porter, KCB. W. S. Gilbert wrote to Arthur Sullivan he did not intend to portray the real-life then First Lord, plain W. H. Smith, a Conservative, although some of the public, including Prime Minister Disraeli (who later referred to Smith as "Pinafore Smith"), identified Porter with him. The counterparts shared a known lack of naval background. It has been suggested the character was drawn on Smith's actual "Radical" predecessor of 1868–71, Hugh Childers.