Home Secretary -- full title, Secretary of State for the Home Department

[The HomeSecretary] is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. The HomeOffice has also previously [as in the Victorian Era] dealt with social issues, including social exclusion, equality and race relations. ...

Unlike many other governments, the British government has separate departments for the issues dealt with by the Home Office and for legal, judicial and civil rights issues; these have been dealt with by the Lord Chancellor's Department. ...

Because the HomeOffice was initially the primary government department with responsibility for domestic affairs, all subsequent domestic departments have effectively been created by taking responsibilities from the HomeOffice, leaving in addition to law and order a variety of miscellaneous tasks that have not yet been allocated to a government minister. Consequently the HomeSecretary can find themselves dealing with matters as diverse as wild birds in Scotland, which towns in England and Wales are entitled to call themselves cities and formal ceremonies annointing bishops in the Church of England. It is, however, the law and order function of the department that predominates overwhelmingly.

Home Secretaries 1880-1895

• Sir WilliamVernonHarcourt (April 28, 1880 - June 23, 1885)
• Sir RichardAsshetonCross (June 24, 1885 - February 1, 1886)
• HughChilders (February 6, 1886 - July 25, 1886)
• HenryMatthews (August 3, 1886 - August 15, 1892)
• HerbertHenryAsquith (August 18, 1892 - June 25, 1895)

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 29 Jan 2005