Major-General George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC (26 January 1716 – 26 August 1785) was a British Army officer, politician and peer who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1775 to 1782.

Serving in the North ministry during the American War of Independence, he received significant blame for Britain's defeat in the conflict; Sackville's issuance of confusing instructions to British commanders in North America coupled with his failure to understand either the geography of Britain's American colonies or the determination of the rebels' resolve have led historians to support such arguments.

[11] In June 1758 Sackville was second in command of a British expedition, led by Marlborough, which attempted an amphibious Raid on St Malo.

Follow-up raids were considered against Le Havre, Caen and other targets in Normandy, but no further landings were attempted, and the force returned home.

In the Battle of Minden on 1 August 1759, British and Hanoverian infantry of the centre made an advance on the French cavalry and artillery in that sector.

As the disrupted French began to fall back on Minden, Ferdinand called for a British cavalry charge to complete the victory, but Sackville withheld permission for their advance.

The difficulty of repaying the debts incurred to fight the war caused a period of unstable ministries and shifting political alliances.

[14] Initially he was a follower of George Grenville's faction, but he increasingly lined up as a supporter of Lord North and, in 1769, he made the alliance formal.

On 10 November 1775, Germain was appointed Secretary of State for the American Department replacing Lord Dartmouth in the post.

Besides international relations, the secretaries were responsible for a great deal of Colonial administration and for military operations within their area.

Following the entry of France, Spain and the Dutch Republic into the conflict, British emphasis shifted to focus increasingly on their colonial territories in the Caribbean and India.

In 1779 one of Germain's associates, Richard Cumberland, was sent to Madrid for failed talks designed to reach a separate peace settlement with Spain.

News of the surrender galvanised the opposition, and the government majorities began to shrink over the following months with calls for resignations of senior ministers.

Germain drew up a plan to continue the war by using the existing British bases in Charleston, New York, Savannah, and Canada to harass the American coastline and frontiers.

In spite of Germain's departure, the North government fell shortly afterwards in February 1782 and was followed by a period of political instability.

[20] The Shelburne government agreed to the Peace of Paris, which brought an end to the war in 1783 and recognised the independence of the United States.

A trove of the subject's letters were published by the Historical Records Commission beginning in 1904 under the title Report on the manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Northhamptonshire / with a new introduction and preface by George Athan Billias.

The Stoneland estate (or Buckhurst Park as it came to be known) passed via the wife of the late 3rd Duke of Dorset to her daughter Countess de la Warr on the Dowager Duchess's death in 1825.