Talk:Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland

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Some facts are in conflict -- thepeerage.com & 1911 Britannica both say he served as Lord Chamberlain for eight months, while Wikipedia says he served for a few years... that fact seems to be an error on our part. However, thepeerage.com also states that he served as North Secretary twice, and South Secretary at different intervals than are indicated on the lists here... ugen64 16:43, Aug 28, 2004 (UTC)

I derived the list of secretaries of state from the Handbook of British Chronology, which is not infallible... john k 00:17, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Looking at thepeerage.com's version, that looks to be likely right - usually the junior secretary of state had the northern office, and the more senior one the southern, so Sunderland oughtn't have gone directly to the southern office in 1684. (The first time this was ignored was, I believe, in 1706, when Harley, the senior secretary, remained at the northern office following the resignation of Hedges as Southern Secretary). john k 00:22, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)