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The Ministry of Magic was formally established in 1707 with the appointment of the very first man to hold the title ‘Minister for Magic’, Ulick Gamp.* The Minister for Magic is democratically elected, although there have been times of crisis in which the post has simply been offered to an individual without a public vote (Albus Dumbledore was made such an offer, and turned it down repeatedly). There is no fixed limit to a Minister’s term of office, but he or she is obliged to hold regular elections at a maximum interval of seven years. Ministers for Magic tend to last much longer than Muggle ministers. Generally speaking, and despite many a moan and grumble, their community is behind them in a way that is rarely seen in the Muggle world. This is perhaps due to a feeling, on the part of wizards, that unless they are seen to manage themselves competently, the Muggles might try to interfere.
The Muggle Prime Minister has no part in appointing the Minister for Magic, whose election is a matter only for the magical community themselves. All matters relating to the magical community in Britain are managed solely by the Minister for Magic, and he has sole jurisdiction over his Ministry. Emergency visits to the Muggle Prime Minister by the Minister for Magic are announced by a portrait of Ulick Gamp (first Minister for Magic) that hangs in the Muggle Prime Minister’s study in number 10 Downing Street.
No Muggle Prime Minister has ever set foot in the Ministry of Magic, for reasons most succinctly summed up by ex-Minister Dugald McPhail (term of office 1858-1865): ‘Their puir wee braines couldnae cope wi’ it.’
Minister: Ulick Gamp
Term of Office: 1707 - 1718
Previously head of the Wizengamot, Gamp had the onerous job of policing a fractious and frightened community adjusting to the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy. His greatest legacy was to found the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Damocles Rowle
1718 - 1726
Rowle was elected on a platform of being ‘tough on Muggles’. Censured by the International Confederation of Wizards, he was eventually forced to step down.
Perseus Parkinson
1726 - 1733
Attempted to pass a bill making it illegal to marry a Muggle. Misread the public mood; the wizarding community, tired of anti-Muggle sentiment and wanting peace, voted him out at the first opportunity.
Eldritch Diggory
1733 - 1747
Popular Minister who first established an Auror recruitment programme. Died in office (dragon pox).
Albert Boot
1747 - 1752
Likeable, but inept. Resigned after a mismanaged goblin rebellion.
Basil Flack
1752 - 1752
Shortest serving Minister. Lasted two months; resigned after the goblins joined forces with werewolves.
Hesphaestus Gore
1752 - 1770
Gore was one of the earliest Aurors. Successfully put down a number of revolts by magical beings, although historians feel his refusal to contemplate rehabilitation programmes for werewolves ultimately led to more attacks. Renovated and reinforced the prison of Azkaban.
Maximilian Crowdy
1770 - 1781
Father of nine Crowdy was a charismatic leader who routed out several extremist pure-blood groups planning Muggle attacks. His mysterious death in office has been the subject of numerous books and conspiracy theories.
Porteus Knatchbull
1781 - 1789
Was called in confidentially in 1782 by the Muggle Prime Minister of the day, Lord North, to see whether he could help with King George III’s emerging mental instability. Word leaked out that Lord North believed in wizards, and he was forced to resign after a motion of no confidence.
Unctuous Osbert
1789 - 1798
Widely seen as too much influenced by pure-bloods of wealth and status.
Artemisia Lufkin
1798 - 1811
First female Minister for Magic. Established Department of International Magical Co-operation and lobbied hard and successfully to have a Quidditch World Cup tournament held in Britain during her term.
Grogan Stump
1811 - 1819
Very popular Minister for Magic, a passionate Quidditch fan (Tutshill Tornados), established Department of Magical Games and Sports and managed to steer through legislation on magical beasts and beings that had long been a source of contention.
Josephina Flint
1819 - 1827
Revealed an unhealthy anti-Muggle bias in office; disliked new Muggle technology such as the telegraph, which she claimed interfered with proper wand function.
Ottaline Gambol
1827 - 1835
A much more forward-looking Minister, Gambol established committees to investigate Muggle brainpower which seemed, during this period of the British Empire, to be greater than some wizards had credited.
Radolphus Lestrange
1835 - 1841
Reactionary who attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries, which ignored him. Eventually resigned due to ill health, which was widely rumoured to be inability to cope with the strains of office.
Hortensia Milliphutt
1841 - 1849
Introduced more legislation than any other sitting Minister, much of it useful, but some wearisome (hat pointiness and so on), which ultimately resulted in her political downfall.
Evangeline Orpington
1849 - 1855
A good friend of Queen Victoria’s, who never realised she was a witch, let alone Minister for Magic. Orpington is believed to have intervened magically (and illegally) in the Crimean War.
Priscilla Dupont
1855 - 1858
Conceived an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, to an extent that caused such trouble (coins turning to frogspawn in his coat pockets, etc) that she was forced to step down. Ironically, Palmerston was forced to resign by the Muggles two days later.
Dugald McPhail
1858 - 1865
A safe pair of hands. While the Muggle parliament underwent a period of marked upheaval, the Ministry of Magic knew a period of welcome calm.
Faris “Spout-hole” Spavin
1865 - 1903
Longest-ever serving Minister for Magic, and also the most long-winded, he survived an ‘assassination attempt’ (kicking) from a centaur who resented the punchline of Spavin’s infamous ‘a centaur, a ghost and a dwarf walk into a bar’ joke. Attended Queen Victoria’s funeral in an admiral’s hat and spats, at which point the Wizengamot suggested gently that it was time he move aside (Spavin was 147 when he left office).
Venusia Crickerly
1903 - 1912
Second ex-Auror to take office and considered both competent and likeable, Crickerly died in a freak gardening accident (Mandrake related).
Archer Evermonde
1912 - 1923
In post during the Muggle First World War, Evermonde passed emergency legislation forbidding witches and wizards to get involved, lest they risk mass infractions of the International Statute of Secrecy. Thousands defied him, aiding Muggles where they could.
Lorcan McLaird
1923 - 1925
A gifted wizard, but an unlikely politician, McLaird was an exceptionally taciturn man who preferred to communicate in monosyllables and expressive puffs of smoke that he produced through the end of his wand. Forced from office out of sheer irritation at his eccentricities.
Hector Fawley
1925 - 1939
Undoubtedly voted in because of his marked difference to McLaird, the ebullient and flamboyant Fawley did not take sufficiently seriously the threat presented to the world wizarding community by Gellert Grindelwald. He paid with his job.
Leonard Spencer-Moon
1939 - 1948
A sound Minister who rose through the ranks from being tea-boy in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Oversaw a great period of international wizarding and Muggle conflict. Enjoyed a good working relationship with Winston Churchill.
Wilhelmina Tuft
1948 - 1959
Cheery witch who presided over a period of welcome peace and prosperity. Died in office after discovering, too late, her allergy to Alihotsy-flavoured fudge.
Ignatius Tuft
1959 - 1962
Son of the above. A hard-liner who capitalised on his mother’s popularity to gain election. Promised to institute a controversial and dangerous Dementor breeding program and was forced from office.
Nobby Leach
1962 - 1968
First Muggle-born Minister for Magic, his appointment caused consternation among the old (pure-blood) guard, many of whom resigned government posts in protest. Has always denied having anything to do with England’s 1966 World Cup Win. Left office after contracting mysterious illness (conspiracy theories abound).
Eugenia Jenkins
1968 - 1975
Jenkins dealt competently with pure-blood riots during Squib Rights marches in the late sixties, but was soon confronted with the first rise of Lord Voldemort. Jenkins was soon ousted from office as inadequate to the challenge.
Harold Minchum
1975 - 1980
Seen as a hard-liner, he placed even more Dementors around Azkaban, but was unable to contain what looked like Voldemort’s unstoppable rise to power.
Millicent Bagnold
1980 - 1990
A highly able Minister. Had to answer to the International Confederation of Wizards for the number of breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy on the day and night following Harry Potter’s survival of Lord Voldemort’s attack. Acquitted herself magnificently with the now infamous words: ‘I assert our inalienable right to party,’ which drew cheers from all present.
Cornelius Fudge
1990 - 1996
A career politician overly-fond of the old guard. Persistent denial of the continuing threat of Lord Voldemort ultimately cost him his job.
Rufus Scrimgeour
1996 - 1997
The third ex-Auror to gain office, Scrimgeour died in office at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
Pius Thicknesse
1997 - 1998
Omitted from most official records, as he was under the Imperius Curse for his entire term of office, and unconscious of anything that he was doing.
Kingsley Shacklebolt
1998 - present
Oversaw the capture of Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters following the death of Lord Voldemort. Initially named as ‘caretaker Minister’, Shacklebolt was subsequently elected to the office.
*Prior to 1707, the Wizards’ Council was the longest serving (though not the only) body to govern the magical community in Britain. After the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692, however, the wizarding community needed a more highly structured, organised and more complex governing structure than they had hitherto used, to support, regulate and communicate with a community in hiding. Only witches and wizards who enjoyed the title of ‘Minister for Magic’ are included in this entry.
Harry and Arthur Weasley inside the Minstry of Magic.
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Materials from the Harry Potter series of films and from the film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them are courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Wizarding World Publishing and Theatrical Rights © J.K. Rowling. Pottermore.com and Artwork © Pottermore Limited.
Wizarding World is a trademark of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Wizarding World characters, names and related indicia are ™ and © of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
WRITING BY J.K. ROWLING
EXPLORE THE STORY
FANTASTIC BEASTS
CURSED CHILD
FEATURES
NEWS
BOOK CLUB
SORTING
SHOP
Ministers for Magic
By J.K. Rowling
Share via Facebook Share via Twitter
The Ministry of Magic was formally established in 1707 with the appointment of the very first man to hold the title ‘Minister for Magic’, Ulick Gamp.* The Minister for Magic is democratically elected, although there have been times of crisis in which the post has simply been offered to an individual without a public vote (Albus Dumbledore was made such an offer, and turned it down repeatedly). There is no fixed limit to a Minister’s term of office, but he or she is obliged to hold regular elections at a maximum interval of seven years. Ministers for Magic tend to last much longer than Muggle ministers. Generally speaking, and despite many a moan and grumble, their community is behind them in a way that is rarely seen in the Muggle world. This is perhaps due to a feeling, on the part of wizards, that unless they are seen to manage themselves competently, the Muggles might try to interfere.
The Muggle Prime Minister has no part in appointing the Minister for Magic, whose election is a matter only for the magical community themselves. All matters relating to the magical community in Britain are managed solely by the Minister for Magic, and he has sole jurisdiction over his Ministry. Emergency visits to the Muggle Prime Minister by the Minister for Magic are announced by a portrait of Ulick Gamp (first Minister for Magic) that hangs in the Muggle Prime Minister’s study in number 10 Downing Street.
No Muggle Prime Minister has ever set foot in the Ministry of Magic, for reasons most succinctly summed up by ex-Minister Dugald McPhail (term of office 1858-1865): ‘Their puir wee braines couldnae cope wi’ it.’
Minister: Ulick Gamp
Term of Office: 1707 - 1718
Previously head of the Wizengamot, Gamp had the onerous job of policing a fractious and frightened community adjusting to the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy. His greatest legacy was to found the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Damocles Rowle
1718 - 1726
Rowle was elected on a platform of being ‘tough on Muggles’. Censured by the International Confederation of Wizards, he was eventually forced to step down.
Perseus Parkinson
1726 - 1733
Attempted to pass a bill making it illegal to marry a Muggle. Misread the public mood; the wizarding community, tired of anti-Muggle sentiment and wanting peace, voted him out at the first opportunity.
Eldritch Diggory
1733 - 1747
Popular Minister who first established an Auror recruitment programme. Died in office (dragon pox).
Albert Boot
1747 - 1752
Likeable, but inept. Resigned after a mismanaged goblin rebellion.
Basil Flack
1752 - 1752
Shortest serving Minister. Lasted two months; resigned after the goblins joined forces with werewolves.
Hesphaestus Gore
1752 - 1770
Gore was one of the earliest Aurors. Successfully put down a number of revolts by magical beings, although historians feel his refusal to contemplate rehabilitation programmes for werewolves ultimately led to more attacks. Renovated and reinforced the prison of Azkaban.
Maximilian Crowdy
1770 - 1781
Father of nine Crowdy was a charismatic leader who routed out several extremist pure-blood groups planning Muggle attacks. His mysterious death in office has been the subject of numerous books and conspiracy theories.
Porteus Knatchbull
1781 - 1789
Was called in confidentially in 1782 by the Muggle Prime Minister of the day, Lord North, to see whether he could help with King George III’s emerging mental instability. Word leaked out that Lord North believed in wizards, and he was forced to resign after a motion of no confidence.
Unctuous Osbert
1789 - 1798
Widely seen as too much influenced by pure-bloods of wealth and status.
Artemisia Lufkin
1798 - 1811
First female Minister for Magic. Established Department of International Magical Co-operation and lobbied hard and successfully to have a Quidditch World Cup tournament held in Britain during her term.
Grogan Stump
1811 - 1819
Very popular Minister for Magic, a passionate Quidditch fan (Tutshill Tornados), established Department of Magical Games and Sports and managed to steer through legislation on magical beasts and beings that had long been a source of contention.
Josephina Flint
1819 - 1827
Revealed an unhealthy anti-Muggle bias in office; disliked new Muggle technology such as the telegraph, which she claimed interfered with proper wand function.
Ottaline Gambol
1827 - 1835
A much more forward-looking Minister, Gambol established committees to investigate Muggle brainpower which seemed, during this period of the British Empire, to be greater than some wizards had credited.
Radolphus Lestrange
1835 - 1841
Reactionary who attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries, which ignored him. Eventually resigned due to ill health, which was widely rumoured to be inability to cope with the strains of office.
Hortensia Milliphutt
1841 - 1849
Introduced more legislation than any other sitting Minister, much of it useful, but some wearisome (hat pointiness and so on), which ultimately resulted in her political downfall.
Evangeline Orpington
1849 - 1855
A good friend of Queen Victoria’s, who never realised she was a witch, let alone Minister for Magic. Orpington is believed to have intervened magically (and illegally) in the Crimean War.
Priscilla Dupont
1855 - 1858
Conceived an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, to an extent that caused such trouble (coins turning to frogspawn in his coat pockets, etc) that she was forced to step down. Ironically, Palmerston was forced to resign by the Muggles two days later.
Dugald McPhail
1858 - 1865
A safe pair of hands. While the Muggle parliament underwent a period of marked upheaval, the Ministry of Magic knew a period of welcome calm.
Faris “Spout-hole” Spavin
1865 - 1903
Longest-ever serving Minister for Magic, and also the most long-winded, he survived an ‘assassination attempt’ (kicking) from a centaur who resented the punchline of Spavin’s infamous ‘a centaur, a ghost and a dwarf walk into a bar’ joke. Attended Queen Victoria’s funeral in an admiral’s hat and spats, at which point the Wizengamot suggested gently that it was time he move aside (Spavin was 147 when he left office).
Venusia Crickerly
1903 - 1912
Second ex-Auror to take office and considered both competent and likeable, Crickerly died in a freak gardening accident (Mandrake related).
Archer Evermonde
1912 - 1923
In post during the Muggle First World War, Evermonde passed emergency legislation forbidding witches and wizards to get involved, lest they risk mass infractions of the International Statute of Secrecy. Thousands defied him, aiding Muggles where they could.
Lorcan McLaird
1923 - 1925
A gifted wizard, but an unlikely politician, McLaird was an exceptionally taciturn man who preferred to communicate in monosyllables and expressive puffs of smoke that he produced through the end of his wand. Forced from office out of sheer irritation at his eccentricities.
Hector Fawley
1925 - 1939
Undoubtedly voted in because of his marked difference to McLaird, the ebullient and flamboyant Fawley did not take sufficiently seriously the threat presented to the world wizarding community by Gellert Grindelwald. He paid with his job.
Leonard Spencer-Moon
1939 - 1948
A sound Minister who rose through the ranks from being tea-boy in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Oversaw a great period of international wizarding and Muggle conflict. Enjoyed a good working relationship with Winston Churchill.
Wilhelmina Tuft
1948 - 1959
Cheery witch who presided over a period of welcome peace and prosperity. Died in office after discovering, too late, her allergy to Alihotsy-flavoured fudge.
Ignatius Tuft
1959 - 1962
Son of the above. A hard-liner who capitalised on his mother’s popularity to gain election. Promised to institute a controversial and dangerous Dementor breeding program and was forced from office.
Nobby Leach
1962 - 1968
First Muggle-born Minister for Magic, his appointment caused consternation among the old (pure-blood) guard, many of whom resigned government posts in protest. Has always denied having anything to do with England’s 1966 World Cup Win. Left office after contracting mysterious illness (conspiracy theories abound).
Eugenia Jenkins
1968 - 1975
Jenkins dealt competently with pure-blood riots during Squib Rights marches in the late sixties, but was soon confronted with the first rise of Lord Voldemort. Jenkins was soon ousted from office as inadequate to the challenge.
Harold Minchum
1975 - 1980
Seen as a hard-liner, he placed even more Dementors around Azkaban, but was unable to contain what looked like Voldemort’s unstoppable rise to power.
Millicent Bagnold
1980 - 1990
A highly able Minister. Had to answer to the International Confederation of Wizards for the number of breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy on the day and night following Harry Potter’s survival of Lord Voldemort’s attack. Acquitted herself magnificently with the now infamous words: ‘I assert our inalienable right to party,’ which drew cheers from all present.
Cornelius Fudge
1990 - 1996
A career politician overly-fond of the old guard. Persistent denial of the continuing threat of Lord Voldemort ultimately cost him his job.
Rufus Scrimgeour
1996 - 1997
The third ex-Auror to gain office, Scrimgeour died in office at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
Pius Thicknesse
1997 - 1998
Omitted from most official records, as he was under the Imperius Curse for his entire term of office, and unconscious of anything that he was doing.
Kingsley Shacklebolt
1998 - present
Oversaw the capture of Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters following the death of Lord Voldemort. Initially named as ‘caretaker Minister’, Shacklebolt was subsequently elected to the office.
*Prior to 1707, the Wizards’ Council was the longest serving (though not the only) body to govern the magical community in Britain. After the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692, however, the wizarding community needed a more highly structured, organised and more complex governing structure than they had hitherto used, to support, regulate and communicate with a community in hiding. Only witches and wizards who enjoyed the title of ‘Minister for Magic’ are included in this entry.
Harry and Arthur Weasley inside the Minstry of Magic.
SHARE THIS PAGE
Share via Facebook
Share via Twitter
Share via Google+
Share via tumblr
Share via stubleupon
Share via email
Selected for you
The Potter Family
WRITING
Cornelius Fudge
CHARACTER PROFILE
Wand Cores
WRITING
Elsewhere on Pottermore
Who are the ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’?
FEATURE
MinaLima opens new pop-up shop in Japan
NEWS
Every puzzle Hermione solved that made us kick ourselves
FEATURE
FIND US ON
Visit pottermores facebook page Visit pottermores twitter page Visit pottermores instagram page
ABOUT
PRESS
HELP
TERMS & CONDITIONS
PRIVACY & COOKIES POLICY
Materials from the Harry Potter series of films and from the film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them are courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Wizarding World Publishing and Theatrical Rights © J.K. Rowling. Pottermore.com and Artwork © Pottermore Limited.
Wizarding World is a trademark of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Wizarding World characters, names and related indicia are ™ and © of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.