Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, 2nd Earl of Midlothian (8 January 1882 – 31 May 1974), styled Lord Dalmeny until 1929, was a British liberal politician who briefly served as

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

in 1945. He was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbu ...

from 1906 to 1910. He became the Earl of Rosebery and Midlothian in 1929 and was thus a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

until his death.

Early life and education

He was born at

Dalmeny House Dalmeny House (pronounced ) is a Gothic revival mansion located in an estate close to Dalmeny on the Firth of Forth, to the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was designed by William Wilkins, and completed in 1817. Dalmeny House is the hom ...

west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 8 January 1882. His parents were

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death o ...

, Liberal

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

(from 1894 to 1895) and

Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery (''née'' de Rothschild; 27 July 1851 – 19 November 1890) was the daughter of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, Baron Mayer de Rothschild and his wife Juliana (''née'' Cohen (surname), Cohen). After inh ...

, a member of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fr ...

. He was the brother of Neil Primrose and the writer

Lady Sybil Grant Lady Sybil Myra Caroline Grant ( Primrose; 18 September 1879 – 25 February 1955) was a British writer and artist. She was the eldest child of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery and his wife, Hannah de Rothschild, Hannah. Apart from ...

. He was educated at Eton then undertook military training at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

Military career

Lord Dalmeny was commissioned into the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

as a

Second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

12 February 1902. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he served in France from 1914 to 1917 as Camp Commandant and ADC to

General Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...

and subsequently in Palestine as Allenby's Military Secretary.

Cricket career

As Lord Dalmeny he was a prominent cricketer. He played two first-class matches for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

in 1902. He served as captain of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

from 1905 to 1907. He played in 102 first-class matches in all, scoring 3551 runs at an average of 22.47, including two centuries. His highest score was 138 against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

in 1905, when he added 260 for the sixth wicket in 130 minutes with J. N. Crawford. 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

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

on a difficult wicket at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in 1905. Against

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

in 1906 he scored 52 in 37 minutes in the first innings and 58 not out in 45 minutes in the second. Rosebery was also a notable race-horse owner. He won The Derby with

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

and

Ocean Swell A swell, also sometimes referred to as ground swell, in the context of an ocean, sea or lake, is a series of mechanical waves that propagate along the interface between water and air under the predominating influence of gravity, and thus are ofte ...

, and won most other classic British flat races, with horses bred at his

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. The Crafton stud farm is located at Crafton, Buckinghamshire, appr ...

Political career and later life

He commenced his political career by being elected Liberal Member of Parliament for the Scottish seat of

Edinburghshire Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

. This was a county, better known by its modern name of

, 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 The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in January 1910. At the time of his death he was the last survivor of the 1906 Liberal MPs. Rosebery entered the

on the death of his father in 1929. The same year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian, a post he held until 1964. In 1938 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were

Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan, (20 February 1873 – 5 September 1952) was a Scottish advocate, judge, parliamentarian and civil servant.Pine, p.187 Life He was born in Glasgow, the son of the Rev Hugh Macmillan DD FRSE (1833 ...

, Sir

Thomas Henry Holland Sir Thomas Henry Holland (22 November 1868 – 15 May 1947) was a British geologist who worked in India with the Geological Survey of India, serving as its director from 1903 to 1910. He later worked as an educational administrator at Edi ...

James Pickering Kendall James Pickering Kendall FRS FRSE (30 July 1889, in Chobham, Surrey – 14 June 1978, in Edinburgh) was a British chemist. Life Kendall was born in Chobham, Surrey to soldier William Henry Kendall of the Royal Horse Artillery, and his second w ...

and James Watt. 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 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

formed a caretaker administration to hold office until the 1945 general election. The new government was composed of members of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

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 A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

and

. 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. So brief was his tenure at the Scottish Office that during the Royal Commission on Scottish Affairs (1952-4) he declined to give evidence on the grounds that he did not know what to say. Reputedly, his last words prior to his departing from the Scottish Office were "Well. I didn't make a bad job of this, did I? Didn't have the time". He was created a Knight of the

Order of the Thistle The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order. The O ...

(KT) in 1947 by King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

. Rosebery was President of the National Liberal Party 1945–1957. From 1951 to 1974 he was the president of the influential Scottish conservation organisation the

Cockburn Association The Cockburn Association (Edinburgh's Civic Trust) is one of the world's oldest architectural conservation and urban planning monitoring organisations, founded in 1875. The Scottish judge Henry Cockburn (1779–1854) was a prominent campaigner t ...

. He was also appointed Chairman of the

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 Department ...

in 1952. He died at

Mentmore Towers Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as "Mentmore", is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

on 30 May 1974.

Family

In 1909, Harry Primrose married the strikingly beautiful Dorothy Alice Margaret Augusta Grosvenor, daughter of Lord Henry George Grosvenor and granddaughter of

Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, (13 October 1825 – 22 December 1899), styled Viscount Belgrave between 1831 and 1845, Earl Grosvenor between 1845 and 1869, and known as The Marquess of Westminster between 1869 and 1874, was an ...

. They had a son, Archibald Ronald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny (1910–1931), and a daughter, Lady Helen Dorothy Primrose (1913–1998). They divorced in 1919. Harry Primrose remarried in 1924, to Dame Eva Isabel Marian Strutt (DBE), daughter of the 2nd Baron Aberdare of Duffryn. Their only child, Neil Archibald Primrose, was born in 1929, and became the 7th Earl of Rosebery on the death of his father on 31 May 1974.

References

Sources

* ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Vol. II: 1886–1918'', edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1978) * Pottinger, George, ''The Secretaries of State for Scotland, 1926-1976'' (Scottish Academic Press, 1979) * Torrance, D., ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn, 2006)

External links

*
The Scottish Secretaries
A website dedicated to the Scottish Secretaries *
David Torrance's Scottish Office blog
davidtorrance.blogspot.com; accessed 18 April 2016

content-uk.cricinfo.com; accessed 18 April 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosebery, Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of 1882 births 1974 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British racehorse owners and breeders British sportsperson-politicians Buckinghamshire cricketers Children of prime ministers of the United Kingdom Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Midlothian, Harry Primrose, 2nd Earl of Earls of Rosebery Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Grenadier Guards officers Jewish British politicians Knights of the Thistle Lord-Lieutenants of Midlothian Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Middlesex cricketers Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945 North v South cricketers Owners of Epsom Derby winners Presidents of Surrey County Cricket Club Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Presidents of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society Recipients of the Military Cross Rothschild family Scottish Liberal Party MPs Scottish cricketers Scottish people of German-Jewish descent Secretaries of State for Scotland Surrey cricket captains Surrey cricketers UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs who inherited peerages

Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

People educated at Eton College