President of the Board of Trade

The President of the Board of Trade the title of a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. It is the secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

The Board of Trade and Plantations was created on May 15, 1696 in order to promote British trade and improve "our plantations in America and elsewhere". There were 15 (and later 16) members of the Board - 7 (later 8) Great officers of state, and 8 unofficial members, who did the majority of the work. The senior unofficial member of the board was the President of the Board of Trade. The board was abolished on July 11, 1782, but reestablished on March 5, 1784, and more strongly focused on commercial functions than the previous board of trade. At first the President of the Board of Trade only occasionally sat in the cabinet, but from the early 19th century it was usually a cabinet level position.

Following the creation of the Department of Trade and Industry with the merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology in 1970, the President of the Board of Trade became a secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Following a following a Labour Party victory in the general election of October 1974 the office was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection. The title President of the Board of Trade became the secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade. In 1983 the offices of trade and industry were remerged and the title of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was recreated. When Michael Heseltine held this office he preferred to be known by the older title of President of the Board of Trade. The office is currently held by Patricia Hewitt.

Table of contents

1 Presidents of the First Board of Trade, 1696-1782
2 Presidents of the Board of Trade, 1784-Present

2.1 Secretary of State for Trade & Industry and President of the Board of Trade (1970-1974)
2.2 Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade (1974-1983)
2.3 Secretary of State for Trade & Industry and President of the Board of Trade (1983-)

Presidents of the First Board of Trade, 1696-1782

John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgwater 1696-1699

Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford 1699-1702
Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth 1702-1707
Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford 1707-1711
Charles Finch, 4th Earl of Winchilsea 1711-1713
Francis North, 3rd Lord Guildford 1713-1714
William Berkeley, 4th Lord Berkeley of Stratton 1714-1715
Henry Howard, 6th Earl of Suffolk 1715-1718
Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holdernesse 1718-1719
Thomas Fane, 6th Earl of Westmorland 1719-1735
Benjamin Mildmay, 1st Earl Fitzwalter 1735-1737
John Monson, 1st Lord Monson 1737-1748
George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax 1748-1761
Samuel Sandys, 1st Lord Sandys 1761-1763
Charles Townshend 1763
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne 1763
Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough 1763-1765
William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth 1765-1766
Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough 1766
Robert Nugent, 1st Viscount Clare 1766-1768
Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough 1768-1772 (also Secretary of State for the Colonies)
William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth 1772-1775 (also Secretary of State for the Colonies)
Lord George Sackville-Germain 1775-1779 (also Secretary of State for the Colonies)
Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle 1779-1780
Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham 1780-1782

Presidents of the Board of Trade, 1784-Present

Thomas Townshend, 1st Lord Sydney 1784-1786 (also Home Secretary)
Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool 1786-1804 (also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster)
James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose 1804-1806 (also Postmaster-General)
William Eden, 1st Lord Auckland 1806-1807
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (also Master of the Mint) 1807-1812
Richard le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty 1812-1818 (also Treasurer of the Navy)
Frederick John Robinson 1818-1823 (also Treasurer of the Navy)
William Huskisson (also Treasurer of the Navy) 1823-1827
Charles Grant (also Treasurer of the Navy) 1827-1828
William Vesey Fitzgerald (also Treasurer of the Navy) 1828-1830
John Charles Herries (also Master of the Mint 1830
George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (also Master of the Mint) 1830-1834
Charles Edward Poulett Thomson (also Treasurer of the Navy) 1834
Alexander Baring, 1st Lord Ashburton (also Master of the Mint) 1834-1835
Charles Edward Poulett Thomson 1835-1839
Henry Labouchere (also Master of the Mint) 1839-1841
Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon 1841-1843
William Ewart Gladstone 1843-1845
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 10th Earl of Dalhousie 1845-1846
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon 1846-1847
Henry Labouchere 1847-1852
Joseph Warner Henley 1852
Edward Cardwell 1852-1855
Edward John Stanley, 2nd Lord Stanley of Alderley 1855-1858
Joseph Warner Henley 1858-1859
Richard John Hely Hutchinson, 4th Earl of Donoughmore 1859
Thomas Milner Gibson 1859-1866
Sir Stafford Northcote 1866-1867
Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond 1867-1868
John Bright 1868-1871
Chichester Samuel Parkinson-Fortescue 1871-1874
Sir Charles Bowyer Adderley 1874-1878
Dudley Francis Stuart Ryder, Viscount Sandon 1878-1880
Joseph Chamberlain 1880-1885
Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond 1885
Edward Stanhope 1885-1886
Anthony John Mundella 1886
Frederick Arthur Stanley, 1st Lord Stanley of Preston 1886-1888
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach 1888-1892
Anthony John Mundella 1892-1894
James Bryce 1894-1895
Charles Thomson Ritchie 1895-1900
Gerald William Balfour 1900-1905
James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury 1905
David Lloyd George 1905-1908
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 1908-1910
Sydney Charles Buxton 1910-1914
John Burns 1914
Walter Runciman 1914-1916
Sir Albert Henry Stanley 1916-1919
Sir Auckland Campbell Geddes 1919-1920
Sir Robert Stevenson Horne 1920-1921
Stanley Baldwin 1921-1922
Sir Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame 1922-1924
Sidney James Webb 1924
Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame 1924-1929
William Graham 1929-1931
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister (formerly Lloyd-Greame) 1931
Walter Runciman, 1st Lord Runciman (1932) 1931-1937
Oliver Frederick George Stanley 1937-1940
Sir Andrew Rae Duncan 1940
Oliver Lyttelton 1940-1941
Sir Andrew Rae Duncan 1941-1942
John Jestyn Llewellin 1942
Hugh John Neale Dalton 1942-1945
Oliver Lyttelton (also Minister of Production) 1945
Sir Stafford Cripps 1945-1947
Harold Wilson 1947-1951
Sir Hartley William Shawcross 1951
George Edward Peter Thorneycroft 1951-1957
Sir David Eccles 1957-1959
Reginald Maudling 1959-1961
Frederick James Erroll 1961-1963
Edward Heath 1963-1964
Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay 1964-1967
Anthony Crosland 1967-1969
Roy Mason 1969-1970
Michael.A.C. Noble 1970

Secretary of State for Trade & Industry and President of the Board of Trade (1970-1974)

John E.H. Davies 1970-1972
Peter Edward Walker 1972-1974

Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade (1974-1983)

Peter David Shore 1974-1976

Edmund Emanuel Dell 1976-1978

John Smith 1978-1979
John W.F. Nott 1979-1982
William John Biffen 1982
Francis Arthur Cockfield, Lord Cockfield 1982-1983

Secretary of State for Trade & Industry and President of the Board of Trade (1983-)

Cecil Edward Parkinson 1983
Norman Beresford Tebbit 1983-1985
Leon Brittan 1985-1986
Paul Channon 1986-1987
Lord Young of Graffham 1987-1989
Nicholas Ridley 1989-1990
Peter Lilley 1990-1992
Michael Heseltine 1992-1995
Ian Lang 1995-1997
Margaret Beckett 1997-1998
Peter Mandelson 1998
Stephen Byers 1998-2001
Patricia Hewitt 2001-