Before
1782, the responsibilities of the two British
Secretaries of State were divided not based on the principles of modern ministerial divisions, but geographically. The
Secretary of State for the Southern Department, the more senior Secretary of State, was responsible for Southern England, Wales, Ireland, the American colonies (until 1768), and relations with the Catholic and Muslim states of Europe.
- Sir Edward Nicholas 1660 - 1662
- Sir Henry Bennet, 1st Lord Arlington (1665), 1st Earl of Arlington (1672) 1662 - 1674
- Henry Coventry 1674 - 1680
- Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland[?] 1680 - 1681
- Sir Leoline Jenkins 1681 - 1684
- Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland[?] 1684 - 1688
- Charles Middleton, Earl of Middleton 1688
- Charles Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury 1689 - 1690
- Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham 1690 - 1693
- Sir John Trenchard 1693 - 1695
- Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury 1695 - [[1698
- James Vernon 1698 - 1699
- Edward Villiers, Earl of Jersey 1699 - 1700
- Charles Montagu, Earl of Manchester 1700 - 1702
- Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham 1702 - 1704
- Sir Charles Hedges 1704 - 1706
- Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland[?] 1706 - 1710
- William Legge, Lord Dartmouth, 1st Earl of Dartmouth (1711) 1710 - 1713
- Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke[?] 1713 - 1714
- James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope 1714 - 1716
- Paul Methuen 1716 - 1717
- Joseph Addison 1717 - 1718
- James Craggs the Younger 1718 - 1721
- John Carteret, Lord Carteret 1721 - 1724
- Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle[?] 1724 - 1748
- John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford 1748 - 1751
- Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holdernesse 1751 - 1754
- Sir Thomas Robinson 1754 - 1755
- Henry Fox 1755 - 1756
- William Pitt the Elder 1756 - 1757
- Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holdernesse 1757
- William Pitt the Elder 1757 - 1761
- Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont 1761 - 1763
- George Montague-Dunk, Earl of Halifax 1763 - 1765
- Henry Seymour Conway 1765 - 1766
- Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond and Lennox 1766
- William Petty, 3rd Earl of Shelburne[?] 1766 - 1768
- Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth 1768 - 1770
- William Nassau de Zuylestein, Earl of Rochford 1770 - 1775
- Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth 1775 - 1779
- Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough 1779 - 1782
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