thumb|The ceremonial seat of the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the [[East India Company, and subsequently that of the Secretary of State for India]]
thumb|right|200px|[[John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn|The 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, Secretary of State for India from 1905 to 1910 and again briefly, as acting Secretary, in 1911]]
His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the secretary of state with responsibility for the India Office in Whitehall that oversaw relations and administration of the India subcontinent under the British Raj. The post was created in 1858 when the East India Company's rule in Bengal ended and India, except for the Princely States, was brought officially under the British Crown from London and the officeholder was a member of the British Cabinet.
In 1937, the India Office was reorganised which separated Burma and Aden under a new Burma Office, but the same secretary of state headed both departments and a new title was established as His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India and Burma. The India Office and its secretary of state were abolished in August 1947, when the United Kingdom granted independence in the Indian Independence Act, which created two new independent dominions, India and Pakistan. Burma soon achieved independence separately in early 1948.
Secretaries of state for India, 1858–1937
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2 | Portrait
! Name
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Prime Minister
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley<br><small>MP for King's Lynn</small>
| <small>2 August</small><br>1858
| <small>11 June</small><br>1859
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
|-
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Sir Charles Wood<br><small>MP for Halifax</small> <small>until 1865</small><br>MP for Ripon <small>after 1865</small>
| rowspan=2 | <small>18 June</small><br>1859
| rowspan=2 | <small>16 February</small><br>1866
| rowspan=2 | Liberal
| style="background-color: " |
| <br>Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston<br>
|-
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| George Robinson, 3rd Earl de Grey
| <small>16 February</small><br>1866
| <small>26 June</small><br>1866
| Liberal
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne<br><small>MP for Stamford</small>
| <small>6 July</small><br>1866
| <small>8 March</small><br>1867
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | <br>Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby<br>
|-
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Sir Stafford Northcote<br><small>MP for North Devonshire</small>
| rowspan=2 | <small>8 March</small><br>1867
| rowspan=2 | <small>1 December</small><br>1868
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| <br>Benjamin Disraeli<br>
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll
| <small>9 December</small><br>1868
| <small>17 February</small><br>1874
| Liberal
| style="background-color: " |
| William Ewart Gladstone
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
| <small>21 February</small><br>1874
| <small>2 April</small><br>1878
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | Benjamin Disraeli
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook
| <small>2 April</small><br>1878
| <small>21 April</small><br>1880
| Conservative
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Spencer Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington<br><small>MP for North East Lancashire</small>
| <small>28 April</small><br>1880
| <small>16 December</small><br>1882
| Liberal
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | William Ewart Gladstone
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
| <small>16 December</small><br>1882
| <small>9 June</small><br>1885
| Liberal
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Lord Randolph Churchill<br><small>MP for Paddington South</small>
| <small>24 June</small><br>1885
| <small>28 January</small><br>1886
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
| <small>6 February</small><br>1886
| <small>20 July</small><br>1886
| Liberal
| style="background-color: " |
| William Ewart Gladstone
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross
| <small>3 August</small><br>1886
| <small>11 August</small><br>1892
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
| <small>18 August</small><br>1892
| <small>10 March</small><br>1894
| Liberal
| style="background-color: " |
| William Ewart Gladstone
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Henry Fowler<br><small>MP for Wolverhampton East</small>
| <small>10 March</small><br>1894
| <small>21 June</small><br>1895
| Liberal
| style="background-color: " |
| Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
|-
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Lord George Hamilton<br><small>MP for Ealing</small>
| rowspan=2 | <small>4 July</small><br>1895
| rowspan=2 | <small>9 October</small><br>1903
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| <br>Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury<br /><small>(Unionist Coalition)</small><br>
|-
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | <br>Arthur Balfour<br><small>(Unionist Coalition)</small><br>
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| William St John Brodrick<br><small>MP for Guildford</small>
| <small>9 October</small><br>1903
| <small>4 December</small><br>1905
| Irish Unionist
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | John Morley<br><small>MP for Montrose Burghs</small> <small>until 1908</small><br>Viscount Morley of Blackburn <small>after 1908</small>
| rowspan=2 | <small>10 December</small><br>1905
| rowspan=2 | <small>3 November</small><br>1910
| rowspan=2 | Liberal
| style="background-color: " |
| Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=4 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=4 | H. H. Asquith
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Earl of Crewe
| <small>3 November</small><br>1910
| <small>7 March</small><br>1911
| Liberal
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
| <small>7 March</small><br>1911
| <small>25 May</small><br>1911
| Liberal
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe
| <small>25 May</small><br>1911
| <small>25 May</small><br>1915
| Liberal
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Austen Chamberlain<br><small>MP for Birmingham West</small>
| <small>25 May</small><br>1915
| <small>17 July</small><br>1917
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | H. H. Asquith<br /><small>(Coalition)</small>
----
David Lloyd George<br /><small>(Coalition)</small>
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Edwin Montagu<br><small>MP for Chesterton</small> <small>until 1918</small><br>MP for Cambridgeshire <small>after 1918</small>
| <small>17 July</small><br>1917
| <small>19 March</small><br>1922
| Liberal
|-
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel
| rowspan=2 | <small>19 March</small><br>1922
| rowspan=2 | <small>22 January</small><br>1924
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Bonar Law
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| Stanley Baldwin
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier
| <small>22 January</small><br>1924
| <small>3 November</small><br>1924
| Labour
| style="background-color: " |
| Ramsay MacDonald
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
| <small>6 November</small><br>1924
| <small>18 October</small><br>1928
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | Stanley Baldwin
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel
| <small>18 October</small><br>1928
| <small>4 June</small><br>1929
| Conservative
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| William Wedgwood Benn<br><small>MP for Aberdeen North</small>
| <small>7 June</small><br>1929
| <small>24 August</small><br>1931
| Labour
| style="background-color: " |
| Ramsay MacDonald
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Sir Samuel Hoare<br><small>MP for Chelsea</small>
| <small>25 August</small><br>1931
| <small>7 June</small><br>1935
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Ramsay MacDonald<br /><small>(1st & 2nd National Min.)</small>
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
| <small>7 June</small><br>1935
| <small>28 May</small><br>1937
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Stanley Baldwin<br /><small>(3rd National Min.)</small>
|}
Secretaries of state for India and Burma, 1937–1947
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2| Portrait
! Name
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Prime Minister
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
| <small>28 May</small><br>1937
| <small>13 May</small><br>1940
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Neville Chamberlain<br><small>(4th National Min.;<br>War Coalition)</small>
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Leo Amery<br><small>MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook</small>
| <small>13 May</small><br>1940
| <small>26 July</small><br>1945
| Conservative
| style="background-color: " |
| Winston Churchill<br><small>(War Coalition; Caretaker Min.)</small>
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| 75px
| Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence
| <small>3 August</small><br>1945
| <small>17 April</small><br>1947
| Labour
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: " |
| rowspan=2 | Clement Attlee
|-
| style="background-color: " |
|
| <small>The Right Honourable</small><br>William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel<br>
| <small>17 April</small><br>1947
| <small>14 August</small><br>1947
| Labour
|}
Secretaries of state for Burma, 1947–1948
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2 | Portrait
! Name
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Prime Minister
|-
| style="background-color: " |
|
| <small>The Right Honourable</small><br>William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel
| <small>14 August</small><br>1947
| <small>4 January</small><br>1948
| Labour
| style="background-color: " |
| Clement Attlee
|}
See also
- India Office
- British Raj
- British rule in Burma
- Governor-General of India
- Imperial Civil Service
- Government of India Act
<br />
Notes
Further reading
- St. John, Ian. "Writing to the Defence of Empire: Winston Churchill’s Press Campaign against Constitutional Reform in India, 1929–1935". In: C. Kaul, (ed) Media and the British Empire (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) pp.104-124online
- Williams, Donovan. "The Council of India and the relationship between the home and supreme governments, 1858-1870." English Historical Review 81.318 (1966): 56-73. exzcerpt