Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Not to be confused with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Permanent Under Secretary of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs and Head of HM Diplomatic Service
Royal arms as used by His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Sir Oliver Robbins since 8 January 2025
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Reports to	Cabinet Secretary Foreign Secretary
Nominator	Cabinet Secretary
Appointer	Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	George Aust
Formation	1790

This is a list of permanent under-secretaries in the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (and its predecessors) since 1790.

The office holder chairs the Royal Visits Committee which provides advice to the Prime Minister on whether to invite Heads of State. ^[1]

Permanent under-secretaries at the Foreign Office, 1790 to present

These are the permanent secretaries or senior civil servants at the Foreign Office.

• February 1790: George Aust
• October 1795: George Hammond (resigned 1806)
• March 1807: George Hammond
• October 1809: William Richard Hamilton
• July 1817: Joseph Planta
• April 1827: John Backhouse
• 1842: Henry Unwin Addington
• 1854: Edmund Hammond (later Lord Hammond)
• 1873: Charles Abbott, 3rd Baron Tenterden
• 1882: Sir Julian Pauncefote (later Lord Pauncefote)
• 1889: Sir Philip Currie (later Lord Currie)
• 1894: Sir Thomas Sanderson (later Lord Sanderson)
• 1906: Sir Charles Hardinge (later Lord Hardinge of Penshurst)
• 1910: Sir Arthur Nicolson (later Lord Carnock)
• 1916: Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst
• 1920: Sir Eyre Crowe (died in office)
• 1925: Sir William Tyrrell (later Lord Tyrrell)
• 1928: Sir Ronald Lindsay
• 1930: Sir Robert Vansittart (later Lord Vansittart)
• 1938: Sir Alexander Cadogan
• 1946: Sir Orme Sargent (jointly with Sir William Strang, Head of the German Section 1947–1949)
• 1949: Sir William Strang (jointly with the Heads of the German Section: Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick 1949–1950, Sir D. Gainer 1950–1951) (later Lord Strang)
• 1953: Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick
• 1957: Sir Frederick Hoyer Millar (later Lord Inchyra)
• 1962: Sir Harold Caccia (later Lord Caccia)
• 1965: Sir Paul Gore-Booth (also Head of the Diplomatic Service from 1968; later Lord Gore-Booth)
• 1969: Sir Denis Greenhill (later Lord Greenhill of Harrow)
• 1973: Sir Thomas Brimelow (later Lord Brimelow)
• 1975: Sir Michael Palliser
• 1982: Sir Antony Acland
• 1986: Sir Patrick Wright (later Lord Wright of Richmond)
• 1991: Sir David Gillmore (later Lord Gillmore of Thamesfield)
• 1994: Sir John Coles
• 1997: Sir John Kerr (later Lord Kerr of Kinlochard)
• 2002: Sir Michael Jay (later Lord Jay of Ewelme)
• 2006: Sir Peter Ricketts (later Lord Ricketts)
• 2010: Sir Simon Fraser
• 2015: Sir Simon McDonald (later Lord McDonald of Salford)
• 2020: Sir Philip Barton
• 2025: Sir Oliver Robbins

See also

• List of permanent under secretaries of state of the Home Office
• Undersecretary

References

1. State visits to the UK