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List of residents of 10 Downing Street

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10 Downing Street in London

Number 10 Downing Street is the residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The headquarters of His Majesty's Government, it is situated on Downing Street in the City of Westminster in London, England.

Number 10 was originally three houses: a stately mansion overlooking St James's Park called "the house at the back" built around 1530, a modest townhouse behind it located at 10 Downing Street and a small cottage next to Number 10. The townhouse, from which the modern building gets its name, was one of several built by Sir George Downing between 1682 and 1684.

Below is a list of the residents of Number 10 and the House at the Back from 1650 to the present.[1]

Residents of Number 10 Downing Street and The House at the Back, 1650–present

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Prime Ministers are indicated in bold.

Name of resident(s) Offices(s) held while in residence (if any) Year(s) in residence
The House at the Back: Before 1733
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham Member of the Cabal Ministry 1673–1676
Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield Master of the Horse 1677–1690
Henry Nassau, Lord Overkirk (formerly Auverquerque) Master of the Horse 1690–1708
Frances Nassau, Lady Overkirk Widow of Lord Overkirk 1708–1720
Johann Caspar von Bothmar, Count Bothmar Envoy from Hanover; advisor to George I and George II 1720–1732
Number 10 Downing Street: Before 1733
The Countess of Yarmouth 1688–1690
Lord Lansdowne 1692–1696
Henry Nassau, Lord Overkirk, 1st Earl of Grantham Master of the Horse 1699–1703
Number 10 Downing Street, including the House at the Back: 1735 and After
Between 1733 and 1735, the architect William Kent, under a commission from Sir Robert Walpole, combined Litchfield House and one of the Downing Street townhouses into one house, known since as Number 10 Downing Street, officially the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury.
Sir Robert Walpole First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1735–1742
Samuel Sandys, later Baron Sandys Chancellor of the Exchequer 1742–1744
Earl of Lincoln Prime Minister Henry Pelham's nephew and son-in-law 1745–1753
Lewis Watson Prime Minister Henry Pelham's son-in-law 1753–1754
Henry Bilson-Legge Chancellor of the Exchequer 1754–1761
Thomas Pelham Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty 1762
Sir Francis Dashwood Chancellor of the Exchequer 1762–1763
George Grenville First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1763–1765
William Dowdeswell Chancellor of the Exchequer 1765–1766
During 1766, Number 10 underwent extensive repairs and reconstruction.
Charles Townshend Chancellor of the Exchequer 1766–1767
Frederick North, Lord North Chancellor of the Exchequer 1767–1770
Frederick North, Lord North First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1770–1782
Sir John Cavendish (doubtful) Chancellor of the Exchequer 1782
William Pitt the Younger Chancellor of the Exchequer 1782–1783
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland First Lord of the Treasury 1783
During 1783, Number 10 again underwent extensive repairs and alterations.
William Pitt the Younger First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1783–1801
Henry Addington First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1801–1804
William Pitt the Younger First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1804–1806
William Pitt lived in Number 10 for a total of twenty years, more than any Prime Minister before or since. This long residency helped to establish an association in the public mind between the house and the office.
William Wyndham Grenville, Lord Grenville First Lord of the Treasury 1806–1807
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland First Lord of the Treasury 1807
Spencer Perceval Chancellor of the Exchequer 1807–1809
Spencer Perceval First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1809–1812
Charles Arbuthnot Joint Secretary to the Treasury 1810
Nicholas Vansittart Chancellor of the Exchequer 1812–1823
Frederick John Robinson Chancellor of the Exchequer 1823–1827
George Canning First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1827–1828
F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich First Lord of the Treasury 1827–1828
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington First Lord of the Treasury 1828–1830
For the first seven months of his ministry, Wellesley refused to live in Number 10 because he thought it too small. He moved in only because his home, Apsley House, required extensive repairs. He returned to Apsley House eighteen months later.
Earl of Bathurst Lord President of the Council 1830
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey First Lord of the Treasury 1830–1834
Sir Thomas Fremantle Secretary to Sir Robert Peel 1835
The residential part of Number 10 was vacant for three years from 1835 to 1838 during the Melbourne Ministry.
The Hon William Cowper and G. E. Anson Private secretaries to Lord Melbourne 1838
G. E. Anson Private secretary to Lord Melbourne 1839–1840
Edward Drummond Private secretary to Sir Robert Peel 1842
Edward Drummond and W. H. Stephenson Chief private secretary and junior private secretary to Sir Robert Peel 1843
W. H. Stephenson and George Arbuthnot Chief private secretary and junior private secretary to Sir Robert Peel 1844–1846
George Keppel, Charles Grey, and R.W. Grey Private secretaries to Lord John Russell 1847
The residential part of Number 10 was vacant for the next thirty years and the house was used only for Cabinet meetings and office space.
In 1877, Disraeli ordered extensive repairs and redecorating of Number 10 so that he could live there, as did Gladstone during his 1880–85 ministry. From this time, every First Lord has lived in Number 10, although not all were also Prime Minister.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield First Lord of the Treasury 1877–1880
William Ewart Gladstone First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer (April 1880 – December 1882) 1880–1885
Sir Stafford Northcote First Lord of the Treasury 1885–1886
William Ewart Gladstone First Lord of the Treasury 1886
Lord Salisbury First Lord of the Treasury 1886–1887
Salisbury lived at his home at 20 Arlington Street in St James's in 1887–92 and 1895–1902.
William Henry Smith First Lord of the Treasury 1887–1891
Arthur Balfour First Lord of the Treasury 1891–1892
William Ewart Gladstone First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Privy Seal 1892–1894
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery First Lord of the Treasury, Lord President of the Council 1894–1895
Arthur Balfour First Lord of the Treasury, Leader of the House of Commons 1895–1902
Since 1902, every Prime Minister has officially resided in Number 10 although several actually lived elsewhere as noted below. Also, since then, all have held the official legal office of First Lord of the Treasury; none have held the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer whilst PM as was often the case previously, with the exception of Stanley Baldwin between May and August 1923.
Arthur Balfour First Lord of the Treasury 1902–1905
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman First Lord of the Treasury 1905–1907
H. H. Asquith First Lord of the Treasury (and Secretary of State for War: January–August 1914) 1907–1916
David Lloyd George First Lord of the Treasury 1916–1922
Bonar Law First Lord of the Treasury 1922–1923
Stanley Baldwin First Lord of the Treasury (and Chancellor of the Exchequer: May–August 1923) 1923–1924
Ramsay MacDonald First Lord of the Treasury and Foreign Secretary 1924
Stanley Baldwin First Lord of the Treasury 1924–1929
Ramsay MacDonald First Lord of the Treasury 1929–1935
Stanley Baldwin First Lord of the Treasury 1935–1937
Neville Chamberlain First Lord of the Treasury 1937–1940
Winston Churchill First Lord of the Treasury, Minister of Defence 1940–1945
For his safety, Churchill lived in the heavily bunkered Annex of Number 10 during most of the Second World War. However, he did insist on using Number 10 for work and dining.
Clement Attlee First Lord of the Treasury 1945–1951
Sir Winston Churchill First Lord of the Treasury 1951–1955
Sir Anthony Eden First Lord of the Treasury 1955–1956
Harold Macmillan First Lord of the Treasury 1957–1960
Macmillan lived in Admiralty House from 1960 to 1964 while Number 10 was restored. Completely gutted, and carefully dismantled, the house was then meticulously rebuilt on deep foundations using as much of the original materials as possible.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home First Lord of the Treasury 1964
Harold Wilson First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1964–1970
Edward Heath First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1970–1974
Harold Wilson First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1974–1976
During his second ministry, Wilson maintained the public illusion of living in Number 10 even though he actually lived in his house at 5 Lord North Street in Westminster.
James Callaghan First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1976–1979
Margaret Thatcher First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1979–1990
John Major First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1990–1997
In 1991, the Provisional IRA launched a mortar bomb at Number 10, blowing out windows and leaving a large crater in the back yard. Major vacated the house during repairs.
Tony Blair First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 1997–2007
Shortly after taking office in 1997, Blair agreed to swap apartments with his Chancellor, Gordon Brown, since the flat at Number 11 was larger and more suited to his larger family.[2] Brown remained at Number 10 after he succeeded to the premiership in 2007,[3] thus spending a full calendar decade, the 2000s, resident in the house, as Thatcher had done in the 1980s.
Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997–2007)
First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service (2007–2010)
2007–2010[3]
David Cameron First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 2010–2016
Cameron agreed to swap apartments with his Chancellor, George Osborne, for similar reasons to Blair.[4]
Theresa May First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service 2016–2019
May chose to live in Number 11 while her Chancellor, Philip Hammond, resided at Number 10.[4]
Boris Johnson First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union 2019–2022
Prime Minister Boris Johnson lived in the flat above Number 11, while his first Chancellor Sajid Javid lived in Number 10.[5]
Liz Truss First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union 2022
Rishi Sunak First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union 2022–2024
In a break with recent tradition, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak moved into the Number 10 flat where he previously resided as Chancellor, while his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt moved into the Number 11 flat.[6]
Keir Starmer First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union 2024-Present

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Minney, pages 441–43. This chart was adapted from Minney and updated.
  2. ^ "Brown to stay put at No 10". BBC News. 7 January 2000. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Goodbye from him: Brown moves out of Number 10". The Independent. October 23, 2011.
  4. ^ a b McCann, Kate (19 July 2016). "Theresa May to move into Downing Street this week after giving David Cameron extra time to leave". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  5. ^ Buchan, Lizzy (29 July 2019). "Boris Johnson to move into bigger Downing Street home with girlfriend, leaving Sajid Javid and four children smaller flat at No 10". The Independent.
  6. ^ Martin, Daniel (2022-10-26). "Rishi Sunak to move back to Number 10". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-10-26.

Further reading

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