Not to be confused with First Sea Lord, Lord High Admiral, Admiral of the Fleet (United Kingdom), or Admiral (United Kingdom).
First Lord of the Admiralty
Royal Arms of HM Government
Department of the Admiralty
Status
Abolished
Member of
Board of Admiralty Cabinet
Reports to
Prime Minister
Nominator
Prime Minister
Appointer
Prime Minister Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council
Term length
Not fixed typically 3–7 years
Formation
1628
First holder
Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland
Final holder
George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe
Abolished
1964
Superseded by
Secretary of State for Defence
The First Lord of the Admiralty,[1] or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty,[2] was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the direction and control of the Admiralty, and also of general administration of the Naval Service of the Kingdom of England, Great Britain in the 18th century, and then the United Kingdom, including the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and other services. It was one of the earliest known permanent government posts. Apart from being the political head of the Naval Service the post holder was simultaneously the pre-eminent member of the Board of Admiralty. The office of First Lord of the Admiralty existed from 1628 until it was abolished when the Admiralty, Air Ministry, Ministry of Defence and War Office were all merged to form the new Ministry of Defence in 1964. Its modern-day equivalent is the Secretary of State for Defence.
^Eberle, Sir James (2007). Wider horizons: naval policy & international affairs. Roundtuit Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 9781904499176.[permanent dead link]
^Pryde, E. B. (23 February 1996). Handbook of British Chronology. Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9780521563505.
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