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.

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: Lord 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: Lord 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