| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Political party |
|---|
| The Right Honourable
Winston Churchill[3]
MP for Dundee 10 January
1919 | 1 April
1921 | Liberal | |
| The Right Honourable
Frederick Edward Guest
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|DSO}}
MP for East Dorset 1 April
1921 | 19 October
1922 | Liberal | |
| The Right Honourable
Sir Samuel Hoare
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|Bt|CMG|JP}}
MP for Chelsea 31 October
1922 | 22 January
1924 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
Christopher Thomson
1st Baron Thomson
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|PC}} | 22 January
1924 | 3 November
1924 | Labour |
| The Right Honourable
Sir Samuel Hoare
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|Bt|CMG|JP}}
MP for Chelsea 6 November
1924 | 4 June
1929 | Conservative | |
| | The Right Honourable
Christopher Thomson
1st Baron Thomson
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|PC}} | 7 June
1929 | 5 October
1930† | Labour |
| The Right Honourable
William Mackenzie
1st Baron Amulree
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|GBE|PC|KC}} | 14 October
1930 | 5 November
1931 | Labour |
| The Most Honourable
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart
7th Marquess of Londonderry
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|KG|MVO|PC}} | 5 November
1931 | 7 June
1935 | Conservative |
| The Right Honourable
Philip Cunliffe-Lister
1st Viscount Swinton
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|GBE|MC|PC}} | 7 June
1935 | 16 May
1938 | Conservative |
| The Right Honourable
Sir Kingsley Wood
MP for Woolwich West 16 May
1938 | 3 April
1940 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|Bt|GCSI|GBE|CMG|JP}}
MP for Chelsea 3 April
1940 | 11 May
1940 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
Sir Archibald Sinclair
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|Bt|KT|CMG}}
MP for Caithness and Sutherland 11 May
1940 | 23 May
1945 | Liberal | |
| The Right Honourable
Harold Macmillan
MP for Stockton-on-Tees 25 May
1945 | 26 July
1945 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
William Wedgwood Benn
1st Viscount Stansgate
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|DSO|DFC|PC}} | 3 August
1945 | 4 October
1946 | Labour |
| The Right Honourable
Philip Noel-Baker
MP for Derby 4 October
1946 | 7 October
1947 | Labour | |
| The Right Honourable
Arthur Henderson
MP for Kingswinford before 1950
MP for Rowley Regis and Tipton after 1950 7 October
1947 | 26 October
1951 | Labour | |
| The Right Honourable
William Sidney
6th Baron De L'Isle and Dudley
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|VC|PC}} | 31 October
1951 | 20 December
1955 | Conservative |
| The Right Honourable
Nigel Birch
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|OBE}}
MP for West Flintshire 20 December
1955 | 16 January
1957 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
George Ward
MP for Worcester 16 January
1957 | 28 October
1960 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
Julian Amery
MP for Preston North 28 October
1960 | 16 July
1962 | Conservative | |
| The Right Honourable
Hugh Fraser
{{post-nominals>country=GBR|MBE}}
MP for Stafford and Stone 16 July
1962 | 1 April
1964 | Conservative | |
1. ^Resigned.
2. ^Resigned.
3. ^Also Secretary of State for War.