First Commissioner of Works

Lord John Manners, later 7th Duke of Rutland, who served thrice as First Commissioner of Works in the 1850s and 1860s

The First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings was a position within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It took over some of the functions of the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1851 when the portfolio of Crown holdings was divided into the public and the commercial. The position was frequently of cabinet level. The office was renamed Minister of Works and Buildings and First Commissioner of Works in 1940, Minister of Works and Planning in 1942, Minister of Works in 1943 and finally Minister of Public Buildings and Works in 1962. On 15 October 1970 the Ministry was amalgamated in the Department of the Environment.

List of Works Commissioners and Ministers

First Commissioners of Works (1851–1940)

First Commissioner of Works

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable Edward Seymour Lord Seymour MP for Totnes (1804–1885)	1 August 1851	21 February 1852	Whig	Russell I
		The Right Honourable Lord John Manners MP for Colchester (1818–1906)	4 March 1852	17 December 1852	Conservative	Who? Who?
		The Right Honourable Sir William Molesworth Bt MP for Southwark (1810–1855)	5 January 1853	21 July 1855	Radical	Aberdeen (Peelite–Whig)
		The Right Honourable Sir Benjamin Hall Bt MP for Marylebone (1802–1867)	21 July 1855	21 February 1858	Whig	Palmerston I
		The Right Honourable Lord John Manners MP for Leicestershire North (1818–1906)	26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Conservative	Derby–Disraeli II
		The Right Honourable Henry FitzRoy MP for Lewes (1807–1859)	18 June 1859	17 December 1859	Liberal	Palmerston II
		The Right Honourable William Cowper MP for Hertford (1811–1888)	9 February 1860	26 June 1866	Liberal
						Russell II
		The Right Honourable Lord John Manners MP for Leicestershire North (1818–1906)	6 July 1866	1 December 1868	Conservative	Derby–Disraeli III
		The Right Honourable Austen Henry Layard MP for Southwark (1817–1894)	9 December 1868	26 October 1869	Liberal	Gladstone I
		The Right Honourable Acton Smee Ayrton MP for Tower Hamlets (1816–1886)	26 October 1869	11 August 1873	Liberal
		The Right Honourable William Patrick Adam DL MP for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire (1823–1881)	11 August 1873	17 February 1874	Liberal
		The Right Honourable Lord Henry Lennox MP for Chichester (1821–1886)	21 March 1874	14 August 1876	Conservative	Disraeli II
		The Right Honourable Gerard Noel MP for Rutland (1823–1911)	14 August 1876	21 April 1880	Conservative
		The Right Honourable William Patrick Adam DL MP for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire (1823–1881)	3 May 1880	1880	Liberal	Gladstone II
		The Right Honourable George Shaw-Lefevre MP for Reading (1831–1928)	29 November 1881	13 February 1885	Liberal
		The Right Honourable Archibald Primrose 5th Earl of Rosebery PC (1847–1929)	13 February 1885	9 June 1885	Liberal
		The Right Honourable David Plunket QC MP for Dublin University (1838–1919)	24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Conservative	Salisbury I
		The Right Honourable Albert Parker 3rd Earl of Morley PC DL (1843–1905)	17 February 1886	16 April 1886	Liberal	Gladstone III
		The Right Honourable Victor Bruce 9th Earl of Elgin PC (1849–1917)	16 April 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal
		The Right Honourable David Plunket QC MP for Dublin University (1838–1919)	5 August 1886	11 August 1892	Conservative	Salisbury II
		The Right Honourable George Shaw-Lefevre DL MP for Bradford Central (1831–1928)	18 August 1892	10 March 1894	Liberal	Gladstone IV
		The Right Honourable Herbert Gladstone MP for Leeds West (1854–1930)	10 March 1894	21 June 1895	Liberal	Rosebery
		The Right Honourable Aretas Akers-Douglas JP DL MP for St Augustine's (1851–1926)	4 July 1895	11 August 1902	Conservative	Salisbury (III & IV) (Con.–Lib.U.)
		The Right Honourable Robert Windsor-Clive 14th Baron Windsor PC (1857–1923)	11 August 1902	4 December 1905	Conservative	Balfour (Con.–Lib.U.)
		The Right Honourable Lewis Vernon Harcourt MP for Rossendale (1863–1922)	10 December 1905	3 November 1910	Liberal	Campbell-Bannerman
						Asquith (I–III)
		The Right Honourable William Lygon 7th Earl Beauchamp GCMG PC (1872–1938)	3 November 1910	6 August 1914	Liberal
		The Right Honourable Alfred Emmott 1st Baron Emmott GCMG PC (1858–1926)	6 August 1914	25 May 1915	Liberal
		The Right Honourable Lewis Vernon Harcourt MP for Rossendale (1863–1922)	25 May 1915	10 December 1916	Liberal	Asquith Coalition (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		The Right Honourable Sir Alfred Mond Bt MP for Swansea West (1868–1930) [Note 1]	10 December 1916	1 April 1921	Liberal	Lloyd George (I & II) (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		The Right Honourable David Lindsay 27th Earl of Crawford KT DL PC FSA (1871–1940)	1 April 1921	19 October 1922	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Sir John Baird Bt GCMG DSO MP for Ayr Burghs (1874–1941)	31 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative	Law
						Baldwin I
		The Right Honourable Fred Jowett MP for Bradford East (1864–1944)	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	MacDonald I
		The Right Honourable William Wellesley Peel 2nd Viscount Peel GCE PC TD (1867–1937)	10 November 1924	18 October 1928	Conservative	Baldwin II
		The Most Honourable Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart 7th Marquess of Londonderry KG MVO PC (1878–1949)	18 October 1928	4 June 1929	Conservative
		The Right Honourable George Lansbury MP for Bow and Bromley (1859–1940)	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	MacDonald II
		The Most Honourable Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart 7th Marquess of Londonderry KG MVO PC (1878–1949)	25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Conservative	National I (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N.–Lib.)
		The Right Honourable William Ormsby-Gore MP for Stafford (1885–1964)	5 November 1931	16 June 1936	Conservative	National II (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N.–Lib.)
						National III (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		The Right Honourable James Stanhope 7th Earl Stanhope KG DSO MC PC (1880–1967)	16 June 1936	27 May 1937	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Sir Philip Sassoon Bt GBE CMG MP for Hythe (1888–1939)	27 May 1937	7 June 1939	Conservative	National IV (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		The Right Honourable Herwald Ramsbotham OBE MC MP for Lancaster (1887–1971)	7 June 1939	3 April 1940	Conservative
						Chamberlain War (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		The Right Honourable Herbrand Sackville 9th Earl De La Warr PC JP (1900–1976)	3 April 1940	18 May 1940	National Labour
		The Right Honourable George Tryon 1st Baron Tryon PC (1871–1940)	18 May 1940	3 October 1940	Conservative	Churchill War (All parties)

Ministers of Works & Buildings and First Commissioner of Works (1940–1942)

Minister of Works & Buildings and First Commissioner of Works

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable John Reith 1st Baron Reith GCVO GBE PC (1889–1971) [Note 2]	3 October 1940	11 February 1942	Independent (National)	Churchill War (All parties)

Ministers of Works and Planning (1942–1943)

Minister of Works and Planning

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable John Reith 1st Baron Reith GCVO GBE PC (1889–1971)	3 October 1940	11 February 1942	Independent (National)	Churchill War (All parties)
		The Right Honourable Wyndham Portal 1st Baron Portal MVO DSO PC (1885–1949)	22 February 1942	February 1943	Conservative

Ministers of Works (1943–1962)

Minister of Works

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable Wyndham Portal 1st Baron Portal MVO DSO PC (1885–1949)	February 1943	21 November 1944	Conservative	Churchill War (All parties)
		The Right Honourable Duncan Sandys MP for Norwood (1908–1987)	21 November 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative
						Churchill Caretaker (Con.–N.Lib.)
		The Right Honourable George Tomlinson MP for Farnworth (1890–1952)	4 August 1945	10 February 1947	Labour	Attlee (I & II)
		The Right Honourable Charles Key MP for Bow and Bromley (1883–1964)	10 February 1947	28 February 1950	Labour
		The Right Honourable Richard Stokes MC MP for Ipswich (1897–1957)	28 February 1950	26 April 1951	Labour
		The Right Honourable George Brown MP for Belper (1914–1985)	26 April 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
		The Right Honourable Sir David Eccles KCVO MP for Chippenham (1904–1999)	1 November 1951	18 October 1954	Conservative	Churchill III
		The Right Honourable Nigel Birch OBE MP for West Flintshire (1906–1981)	18 October 1954	20 December 1955	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Patrick Buchan-Hepburn MP for Beckenham (1901–1974)	20 December 1955	16 January 1957	Conservative	Eden
		The Right Honourable Hugh Molson MP for High Peak (1903–1991)	16 January 1957	22 October 1959	Conservative	Macmillan (I & II)
		The Right Honourable Lord John Hope MP for Edinburgh Pentlands (1912–1996)	22 October 1959	16 July 1962	Conservative

Ministers of Public Buildings and Works (1962–1970)

Minister of Public Buildings and Works

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable Geoffrey Rippon QC MP for Norwich South (1924–1997)	16 July 1962	10 October 1964	Conservative	Macmillan (I & II)
						Douglas-Home
		The Right Honourable Charles Pannell MP for Leeds West (1902–1980)	19 October 1964	6 April 1966	Labour	Wilson (I & II)
		The Right Honourable Reg Prentice MP for East Ham North (1923–2001)	6 April 1966	29 August 1967	Labour
		The Right Honourable Bob Mellish MP for Bermondsey (1913–1998)	29 August 1967	30 April 1969	Labour
		The Right Honourable John Silkin MP for Deptford (1923–1987)	30 April 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
		The Right Honourable Julian Amery MP for Brighton Pavilion (1919–1996)	23 June 1970	15 October 1970	Conservative	Heath

Notes