Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
Encyclopedia
Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery and 2nd Earl of Midlothian (8 January 1882 – 31 May 1974), known by his third name of Harry, was a UK politician who briefly served as Secretary of State for Scotland
in 1945. He was known by the courtesy title
of Lord Dalmeny from birth until he inherited the family peerages in 1929.
His parents were Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
, Liberal
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
from 1894 to 1895 and Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery
, a member of the Rothschild family
. His sister was the writer Lady Sybil Grant
. Rosebery attended Eton
and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He joined the British Army
and became a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards
.
As Lord Dalmeny he was a prominent cricketer and he played two first-class
matches for Middlesex
in 1902. He served as captain of Surrey County Cricket Club
(1905-1907). He played in 102 first-class matches in all, scoring 3551 runs at an average of 22.47, including 2 centuries with a highest score of 138. He was a hitter of notable power and though never consistent he could on occasions “knock the best bowling all over the field”, as when he hit 58 against Hallam
on a difficult wicket at The Oval
in 1905. Rosebery was notable in horseracing circles for winning the Epsom Derby
with Blue Peter
and Ocean Swell
, and winning most other classic British flat races, with horses bred at his Mentmore and Crafton Studs
.
He commenced his political career by being elected Liberal
Member of Parliament for the Scottish seat of Edinburghshire. This was a county, better known by its modern name of Midlothian
, which was an area where the Roseberys had long been prominent landowners. Dalmeny was one of almost 400 Liberals returned in the great landslide victory of the 1906 election
. He retired from the House of Commons
in January 1910. At the time of his death he was the last survivor of the 1906 Liberal MPs.
In 1909, he married Dorothy Alice Margaret Augusta Grosvenor, daughter of Lord Henry George Grosvenor. They had a son, Archibald Ronald Primrose (1910-1931), and a daughter, Helen Dorothy Primrose (born 1913). During the First World War, Rosebery served in France from 1914-1917 as Camp Commandant and ADC to General Allenby and subsequently in Palestine as Allenby's Military Secretary. His brother Neil
was killed in Palestine.
With the end of the war came also Rosebery's divorce in 1919. He eventually re-married in 1924, to Eva Isabel Marion Bruce, daughter of the 2nd Baron Aberdare of Duffryn
. Their only child, Neil Archibald Primrose
, was born in 1929. After the death of the 5th Earl later that same year, Rosebery became a member of the House of Lords
and was Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian
1929-1964. In 1931, Rosebery's eldest son Archibald died at the age of 21 from blood poisoning, while at Oxford.
In February 1941, during the Second World War, he was appointed Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence in Scotland. When the wartime coalition government broke up in 1945, Winston Churchill
formed a caretaker administration to hold office until the 1945 general election
. The new government was composed of members of the Conservative Party
and the small groups which had allied with it in the National governments in office 1931-1940. Amongst these allies was the National Liberal Party
to which Rosebery belonged.
One of the most unexpected appointments Churchill made was to install Rosebery as a member of the Privy Council
and Secretary of State for Scotland
. Both men had served together in the Liberal Parliamentary Party in the 1906-1910 Parliament. The caretaker Ministry was in office May to July 1945.
Rosebery was President of the National Liberal Party 1945-1957. He was also appointed Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland
in 1952.
Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...
in 1945. He was known by the courtesy title
Courtesy title
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...
of Lord Dalmeny from birth until he inherited the family peerages in 1929.
His parents were Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
, Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
from 1894 to 1895 and Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery was the daughter of Mayer de Rothschild and his wife Juliana, née Cohen...
, a member of the Rothschild family
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
. His sister was the writer Lady Sybil Grant
Sybil Grant
Lady Sybil Myra Caroline Grant was a British writer, designer and artist. She was the eldest child of Archibald "Archie" Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery and his wife Hannah...
. Rosebery attended Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and became a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
.
As Lord Dalmeny he was a prominent cricketer and he played two first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches for Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
in 1902. He served as captain of Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
(1905-1907). He played in 102 first-class matches in all, scoring 3551 runs at an average of 22.47, including 2 centuries with a highest score of 138. He was a hitter of notable power and though never consistent he could on occasions “knock the best bowling all over the field”, as when he hit 58 against Hallam
Albert Hallam
Albert Hallam was an off spin bowler who is primarily remembered, along with Thomas Wass, for giving Nottinghamshire an astonishing win in the County Championship of 1907...
on a difficult wicket at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1905. Rosebery was notable in horseracing circles for winning the Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
with Blue Peter
Blue Peter III
Blue Peter was a British bred Thoroughbred racehorse whose career was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. He won the Epsom Derby and was later a Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland....
and Ocean Swell
Ocean Swell
Ocean Swell was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1943 to 1945 he ran fifteen times and won six races. As a three-year-old 1944 he won the New Derby, a wartime substitute for the Epsom Derby run at Newmarket...
, and winning most other classic British flat races, with horses bred at his Mentmore and Crafton Studs
Mentmore and Crafton Studs
Mentmore Stud and Crafton Stud were thoroughbred horse breeding operations that were part of the Mentmore Towers estate on the Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire borders, England....
.
He commenced his political career by being elected Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Member of Parliament for the Scottish seat of Edinburghshire. This was a county, better known by its modern name of Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
, which was an area where the Roseberys had long been prominent landowners. Dalmeny was one of almost 400 Liberals returned in the great landslide victory of the 1906 election
United Kingdom general election, 1906
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
. He retired from the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
in January 1910. At the time of his death he was the last survivor of the 1906 Liberal MPs.
In 1909, he married Dorothy Alice Margaret Augusta Grosvenor, daughter of Lord Henry George Grosvenor. They had a son, Archibald Ronald Primrose (1910-1931), and a daughter, Helen Dorothy Primrose (born 1913). During the First World War, Rosebery served in France from 1914-1917 as Camp Commandant and ADC to General Allenby and subsequently in Palestine as Allenby's Military Secretary. His brother Neil
Neil James Archibald Primrose
Captain The Honourable Neil James Archibald Primrose PC, MC , was a British Liberal politician and soldier. The second son of Prime Minister Lord Rosebery, he represented Wisbech in parliament from 1910 to 1917 and served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1915 and as...
was killed in Palestine.
With the end of the war came also Rosebery's divorce in 1919. He eventually re-married in 1924, to Eva Isabel Marion Bruce, daughter of the 2nd Baron Aberdare of Duffryn
Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare
Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare VD, DL, JP , styled The Honourable from 1873 to 1895, was a British soldier and peer.-Background:...
. Their only child, Neil Archibald Primrose
Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery
Neil Archibald Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery, 3rd Earl of Midlothian, 7th Viscount Inverkeithing, 3rd Viscount Mentmore, 4th Baron Rosebery and 3rd Baron Epsom , is a Scottish nobleman.-Biography:...
, was born in 1929. After the death of the 5th Earl later that same year, Rosebery became a member of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and was Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian
Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian .*Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch 17 March 1794 – 11 January 1812*Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch 25 January 1812 – 20 April 1819...
1929-1964. In 1931, Rosebery's eldest son Archibald died at the age of 21 from blood poisoning, while at Oxford.
In February 1941, during the Second World War, he was appointed Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence in Scotland. When the wartime coalition government broke up in 1945, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
formed a caretaker administration to hold office until the 1945 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
. The new government was composed of members of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and the small groups which had allied with it in the National governments in office 1931-1940. Amongst these allies was the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)
The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...
to which Rosebery belonged.
One of the most unexpected appointments Churchill made was to install Rosebery as a member of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
and Secretary of State for Scotland
Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...
. Both men had served together in the Liberal Parliamentary Party in the 1906-1910 Parliament. The caretaker Ministry was in office May to July 1945.
Rosebery was President of the National Liberal Party 1945-1957. He was also appointed Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland
Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland
The Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland was a Scottish public body.It was appointed in 1927 "to enquire into such questions of public amenity or of artistic importance relating to Scotland as may be referred to them by any of our Departments of State and to report thereon to such Departments;...
in 1952.
External links
- The Scottish Secretaries A website dedicated to the Scottish Secretaries
- David Torrance David Torrance's Scottish Office blog
- http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/12033.html
- Cricinfo
- Cricket Archive