Naval Secretary

{{Short description|Royal Navy officer}}

{{For|the former British cabinet political office|First Lord of the Admiralty}}

{{Infobox official post

| post = Office of the Naval Secretary

| body =

| nativename =

| insignia = Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg

| insigniasize = 150px

| insigniacaption = Ensign of the Royal Navy

| image = File:Commodore Jude Terry (2021-05-25).jpg

| imagesize =

| incumbent = Rear-Admiral Jude Terry

| incumbentsince = 2022

| department = Ministry of Defence

| member_of = Navy Command

| reports_to = First Sea Lord

| nominator = Secretary of State for Defence

| appointer = Monarch of the United Kingdom

| appointer_qualified =

| termlength = Not fixed (typically 1–3 years)

| inaugural = Captain John Harrison

| formation = 1800-current

| website = [http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/ royalnavy.mod.uk]

}}

The Naval Secretary is the Royal Navy officer who advises the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on naval officer appointing (and General Officers).{{cite book |last1=Office |first1=Cabinet |title=Civil Service Year Book |date=2016–2017 |publisher=The Stationery Office:Dandy Book Sellers Ltd |location=London, England |isbn=9781787320345 |pages=194–195 |edition=53}}

Their counterpart in the British Army is the Military Secretary. The Royal Air Force equivalent is the Air Secretary. The Director People and Training has taken over the role, combining the responsibilities of Flag Officer Sea Training.{{cite news |author= |title=Integrating the way we work |url=https://issuu.com/navynews/docs/nn_issuu_march_2020 |work=Navy News |date=31 March 2020 |access-date=22 May 2020 }}

History

The Office of the Naval Secretary was originally established in 1800 when the appointment was styled Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty{{cite web|last1=Sainty|first1=J. C.|title=Private Secretary to First Lord and Lord High Admiral 1800–70 {{!}} British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol4/pp65-66|website=www.british-history.ac.uk|publisher=University of London, London, 1975.|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en}} and remained so styled until 1911. In 1912 it was re-titled Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty.{{cite book|last1=Lambert|first1=Andrew|title=Admirals : the naval commanders who made Britain great|date=2008|isbn=9780571265688|page=345}}

When the Admiralty department was abolished in 1964 the post was renamed Naval Secretary, colloquially known as "NAVSEC", and now advising the Royal Navy's military head and, consequently, the Navy Board on future appointments. In the case of tri-service appointments, the responsibility was to recommend candidates to the Defence Board.

From 2010 to 2015, Sir David Steel, as Naval Secretary, simultaneously held the additional title of Chief Naval Logistics Officer (as head the Naval Logistics Branch).{{cite book |last1=Office |first1=Cabinet |title=Civil service yearbook. |date=2012–2013 |publisher=The Stationery Office: Dandy Booksellers Ltd |location=London, England |isbn=9781905262878 |page=104 |edition=49}} In 2015 further additional responsibilities were assumed for the Royal Naval Reserve and the title of Flag Officer, Maritime Reserves.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/~/media/royal%20navy%20responsive/documents/useful%20resources/the%20maritime%20reservist.pdf|title=Forward by Flag Officer Reserves|publisher=The Maritime Reservist|date=Spring 2016|access-date=1 February 2016}}

In this capacity the incumbent is responsible for advising the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on all matters relating to Flag Officers’ appointing, with Officers with the rank of Commodore and/or Captain delegated to the Office of Assistant to the Naval Secretary who currently holds the rank of Commodore.{{cite book |last1=Office |first1=Cabinet |title=Civil Service Year Book |date=2016–2017 |publisher=The Stationery Office:Dandy Book Sellers Ltd |location=London, England |isbn=9781787320345 |pages=194–195 |edition=53}} A March 2020 edition of Navy News noted that the Director People and Training took over the people-related policies and career management below this level from the Naval Secretary.{{cite news |author= |title=Integrating the way we work |url=https://issuu.com/navynews/docs/nn_issuu_march_2020 |work=Navy News |date=31 March 2020 |access-date=5 April 2020 }}

In May 2021, it was announced that Jude Terry would be the next Naval Secretary, being promoted to rear admiral and taking up the post in 2022. She is the first woman to serve as an admiral in the Royal Navy.{{cite web |title=Royal Navy appoints Jersey woman as first female admiral |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-57257640 |website=BBC News |access-date=28 May 2021 |date=26 May 2021}}

Secretaries

Post holders included:[http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf Senior Royal Navy Appointments] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711133321/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf |date=2011-07-11 }}

=Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty=

  • 1800 – 1801 John Harrison
  • 1801 – 1802 Benjamin Tucker
  • 1802 – 1804 George Parker
  • 1804 – 1805 William Budge {{cite book|last1=MacDonald|first1=Janet|title=The British Navy's victualling board, 1793–1815 : management competence and incompetence|date=2010|publisher=Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge, Suffolk|isbn=9781843835530|page=228|edition=1. publ.}}
  • 1805 – 1806 John Deas Thomson{{cite book|last1=Nelson|first1=Horatio|title=The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TatTZITyqEMC&q=J+D+Thompson+Private+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA28|publisher=Cambridge University Press, pp. 28|access-date=31 January 2017|language=en|date=10 November 2011|isbn=9781108035477}}
  • 1806 – 1807 Henry Grant {{cite web|title=The Scots Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49c5AQAAMAAJ&q=Captain+H+Grant+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA317|publisher=Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran, pp.317, 1805|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1806}}
  • 1807 – 1808 Edward Golding {{cite journal|last1=Craig|first1=Hardin|title=The First Lord Opens His Mail: Thomas Grenville and Personnel Problems at the Admiralty, 1806–1807|jstor=3816720|journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |volume=33|issue=2|pages=175–186|doi=10.2307/3816720|date=1 January 1970}}
  • 1808 – 1809 Captain Robert Moorsom{{cite web|last1=Nichols|first1=John|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FgyAQAAMAAJ&q=R+Moorsom+Private+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA322|publisher=E. Cave, pp. 322|access-date=31 January 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1835}}
  • 1809 – 1810 Captain Lord Edward O'Brien {{cite web|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfcRAAAAYAAJ&q=Captain+Edward+O%27Bryen+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA183|publisher=The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 109, pp. 183, 1811|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1811}}
  • 1810 – 1812 Captain Frederick Edgcumbe {{cite book|last1=MacDonald|first1=Janet|title=The British Navy's Victualling Board, 1793–1815: Management Competence and Incompetence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RCU6o3XXBgC&q=Captain+F+Edgcumbe+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA229|publisher=Boydell & Brewer, pp. 229, 2010|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 2010|isbn=9781843835530}}
  • 1812 – 1823 Captain Robert William Hay{{cite web|last1=Wade|first1=John|title=The Black Book: Or, Corruption Unmasked!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVBBAQAAMAAJ&q=Private+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty+1800&pg=PA394|publisher=J. Fairburn, pp. 394|access-date=31 January 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1823}}{{cite book|last1=MacDonald|first1=Janet|title=The British Navy's Victualling Board, 1793–1815: Management Competence and Incompetence|date=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781843835530|page=230|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RCU6o3XXBgC&q=Private+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty+1800&pg=PA230|language=en}}
  • 1823 – 1827 Captain George Baillie Hamilton {{cite web|last1=Marshall|first1=John|title=Royal Naval Biography; Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-officers, Superannuated Rear-admirals, Retired-captains, Post-captains, and commanders, Whose Names Appeared on the Admiralty List of Sea Officers at the Commencement of the Present Year, Or who Have Since Been Promoted; Illustrated by a Series of Historical and Explanatory Notes ... With Copious Addenda: Captains. Commanders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ThEAAAAYAAJ&q=Captain+G+Baille+Hamilton++Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA49|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, pp.49|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1832}}
  • 1827 – 1828 Captain Hon. Robert Cavendish Spencer
  • 1828 – 1830 Captain Richard Saunders Dundas
  • 1830 – Captain John Thomas Briggs
  • 1830 – 1831 Captain Edward Stewart {{cite web|last1=Campbell|first1=Thomas|last2=Hall|first2=Samuel Carter|last3=Lytton|first3=Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron|last4=Hook|first4=Theodore Edward|last5=Hood|first5=Thomas|last6=Ainsworth|first6=William Harrison|title=New Monthly Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuURAAAAYAAJ&q=Captain+E.+Stewart+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA90|publisher=Henry Colburn, pp.90|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1831}}
  • 1831 – 1834 Major George Graham (RM) {{cite web|last1=Admiralty|first1=Great Britain|title=The Navy List|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jg8YAAAAMAAJ&q=Captain+G.+Graham+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA136|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office, pp. 136|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1834}}
  • 1834 Captain George Gipps{{cite book|title=The Nautical Magazine for 1834|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOakjkWRXpsC&q=Lord+E+O%27Brien+Private+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA442|publisher=pp.442, Cambridge University Press|access-date=31 January 2017|language=en|date=28 February 2013|isbn=9781108053860}}
  • 1834 – Captain John George Cole
  • 1835 – Captain George Gipps{{cite web|last1=Admiralty|first1=Great Britain|title=The Navy List|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jg8YAAAAMAAJ&q=Captain+G.+Gipps+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=RA1-PA136|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office, pp. 136|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1834}}
  • 1835 – Captain Hon. Frederick William Grey
  • 1835 – 1839 Captain Henry Tufnell
  • 1839 – 1841 Viscount Melgund (acting) {{cite web|last1=Force|first1=William Quereau|title=Army and Navy Chronicle, and Scientific Repository|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLFLAAAAYAAJ&q=Viscount+Melgund++Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=PA378|publisher=Wm. Q. Force, pp.378|access-date=3 February 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1840}}
  • 1841 – 1845 Captain William Baillie-Hamilton{{cite web|title=Medical Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QB8CAAAAYAAJ&q=Lord+E+O%27Brien+Private+Secretary+to+the+First+Lord+of+the+Admiralty&pg=RA1-PA18|publisher=J. Angerstein Carfrae, Volume 11, pp.18|access-date=31 January 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1845}}
  • 1845 – 1846 Captain Richard Saunders Dundas
  • 1846 – Captain Hon. Henry Spencer Law
  • 1846 – 1848 Captain Henry Eden
  • 1848 – 1852 Captain Charles Eden
  • 1852 – 1853 Captain Frederick Thomas Pelham
  • 1853 – 1855 Captain Henry Higgins Donatus O'Brien
  • 1855 – 1857 Captain Thomas George Baring
  • 1857 – 1858 Captain Hon. James Robert Drummond
  • 1858 – 1859 Captain Herbert Harley Murray
  • 1859 – 1862 Captain John Moore
  • 1862 – 1863 Captain Alfred Phillips Ryder
  • 1863 – 1866 Captain Robert Hall
  • 1866 – Captain Frederick Archibald Campbell
  • 1866 – 1867 Captain John Slaney Pakington
  • 1867 – 1868 Captain Thomas Brandreth
  • 1868 – 1870 Captain Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour
  • 1870 – 1871 Captain Chandos S. Scudamore Stanhope
  • 1871 – 1873 Captain George Tryon
  • 1874 – 1876 Captain Michael Culme-Seymour
  • 1876 – 1881 Captain William Codrington
  • 1881 – 1883 Captain John O. Hopkins
  • 1883 – 1885 Captain Lewis A. Beaumont
  • 1885 – 1888 Rear-Admiral The Rt. Hon. Lord Walter Kerr
  • 1889 – 1892 Rear-Admiral Alfred T. Dale
  • 1892 – 1894 Captain Richard H. Hamond
  • 1894 – 1897 Captain Hedworth Lambton
  • 1897 – 1899 Captain Wilmot Fawkes
  • 1899 – 1900 Captain Maurice Bourke
  • 1900 – 1902 Captain Wilmot Fawkes
  • 1902 – 1905 Captain Hugh Tyrwhitt
  • 1905 – 1908 Captain Hugh Evan-Thomas
  • 1908 – 1910 Captain Charles Madden

=Naval Secretaries to the First Lord of the Admiralty=

Post holders included

=Naval Secretaries=

Post holders included

References

{{reflist|30em}}

Further reading

  • '[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol4/pp65-66 Private Secretary to First Lord and Lord High Admiral 1800–70]', in Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4, Admiralty Officials 1660–1870, ed. J C Sainty (London, 1975), pp. 65–66. British History Online [accessed 29 January 2017].
  • Hamilton, C. I. (2003). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/26061639 Expanding Naval Powers: Admiralty Private Secretaries and Private Offices, 1800–1945]". War in History 10 (2): pp. 125–156.
  • Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division (1929). The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. Its Work and Development. B.R. 1845 (late C.B. 3013). Copy at The National Archives. ADM 234/434.
  • Sainty, J. C. (1975). Admiralty Officials, 1660–1870. London: The Athlone Press. {{ISBN|0-485-17144-9}}.

{{Navy Command (Ministry of Defence)|state=collapsed}}

{{Admiralty Department|state=collapsed}}

{{Naval Service (British)|state=collapsed}}

Category:Royal Navy appointments