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List of Poets Laureates of Britain

 The title of poet laureate was first granted in England in the 17th century for poetic
excellence.
 The post has become free of specific poetic duties, but its holder remains a salaried
member of the British royal household.
 The tradition of a poet acting in service to a British sovereign is a long one, but the
origins of the modern post can be traced to Ben Jonson, who was granted a pension
by James I in 1616.
 After 1668 the laureateship was recognized as an established royal office to be filled
automatically when vacant.
 Until 1999 the position was a lifetime appointment; Andrew Motion was the first laureate
to serve a fixed 10-year term.
 This list orders the laureates chronologically, from the first to the most recent.

 John Dryden (1668–89)
 Thomas Shadwell (1689–92)
 Nahum Tate (1692–1715)
 Nicholas Rowe (1715–18)
 Laurence Eusden (1718–30)
 Colley Cibber (1730–57)
 William Whitehead (1757–85)
 Thomas Warton (1785–90)
 Henry James Pye (1790–1813)
 Robert Southey (1813–43)
 William Wordsworth (1843–50)
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1850–92)
 Alfred Austin (1896–1913)
 Robert Bridges (1913–30)
 John Masefield (1930–67)
 Cecil Day-Lewis (1968–72)
 Sir John Betjeman (1972–84)
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 Ted Hughes (1984–98)
 Andrew Motion (1999–2009)
 Carol Ann Duffy (2009–19)
 Simon Armitage (2019– )