View source for Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery

{{Short description|British politician (1882–1974)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Earl of Rosebery
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KT|DSO|MC|PC|FRSE}}
| image = Lord_Dalmeny.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| order1 = [[Secretary of State for Scotland]]
| term_start1 = 23 May 1945
| term_end1 = 26 July 1945
| monarch1 = [[George VI]]
| primeminister1 = [[Winston Churchill]]
| predecessor1 = [[Tom Johnston (Scottish politician)|Thomas Johnston]]
| successor1 = [[Joseph Westwood]]
| office2            = [[Member of the House of Lords]]<br/>[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]]
| term_start2        = 21 May 1929
| term_end2          = 31 May 1974<br/>[[Hereditary peer]]age
| predecessor2       = [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery|The 5th Earl of Rosebery]]
| successor2         = [[Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery|The 7th Earl of Rosebery]]
| office3            = [[Member of Parliament]]<br/>for [[Edinburghshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Midlothian]]
| term_start3 = 8 February 1906
| term_end3 = 10 February 1910
| predecessor3 = [[Alexander Murray, 1st Baron Murray of Elibank|Alexander Murray]]
| successor3 = [[Alexander Murray, 1st Baron Murray of Elibank|Alexander Murray]]
| birth_date = {{birth-date|8 January 1882|}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death-date and age|31 May 1974|8 January 1882}}
| death_place =
| nationality = [[British people|British]]
| party = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] <br> [[National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)|National Liberal]]
| alma_mater =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Dorothy Grosvenor|1909|1919|reason=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Eva Primrose, Countess of Rosebery|Eva Strutt]]|1924}}
}}
| children = 3, including [[Ronald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny|Ronald]] and [[Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery|Neil]]
| parents = [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery]]<br/>[[Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery|Hannah de Rothschild]]
| module = {{Infobox cricketer|embed=yes
| batting           = Right-handed
| bowling           = Right-arm fast
| columns           = 1
| column1           = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches1          = 102
| runs1             = 3,551
| bat avg1          = 22.47
| 100s/50s1         = 2/19
| top score1        = 138
| deliveries1       = 131
| wickets1          = 3
| bowl avg1         = 33.33
| fivefor1          = 0
| tenfor1           = 0
| best bowling1     = 2/16
| catches/stumpings1= 50/–
| source            = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28935/statistics_lists.html CricketArchive
| date              = 8 May
| year              = 2022
}}
}}
'''Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, 2nd Earl of Midlothian''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KT|DSO|MC|PC|FRSE}} (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]] in 1945. He was the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Midlothian (UK Parliament constituency) (1708–1918)|Midlothian]] from 1906 to 1910. He became the [[Earl of Rosebery|Earl of Rosebery and Midlothian]] in 1929 and was thus a member of the [[House of Lords]] until his death.
==Early life==
He was born at [[Dalmeny House]] west of [[Edinburgh]] on 8 January 1882. His parents were [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery]], [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] (from 1894 to 1895) and [[Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery]], a member of the [[Rothschild family]]. He was the brother of [[Neil Primrose (politician)|Neil Primrose]] and the writer [[Sybil Grant|Lady Sybil Grant]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]] then undertook military training at the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Career==
Lord Dalmeny was commissioned into the [[Grenadier Guards]] as a [[Second lieutenant]] 12 February 1902.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27405|page=846|date=11 February 1902}}</ref>
During the [[First World War]], he served in France from 1914 to 1917 as Camp Commandant and [[Aide-de-camp|ADC]] to [[General Allenby]] and subsequently in Palestine as Allenby's [[Military Secretary (United Kingdom)|Military Secretary]].
===Cricket career===
[[File:Lord Dalmeny (LOC).jpg|thumb|Primrose playing cricket]]
As Lord Dalmeny he was a prominent cricketer. He played two [[first-class cricket|first-class]] matches for [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]] in 1902.  He served as captain of [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]] 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 County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] in 1905, when he added 260 for the sixth wicket in 130 minutes with [[Jack Crawford (cricketer)|J. N. Crawford]].<ref>''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' 1975, p. 1082.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Surrey v Leicestershire 1905 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6904.html |website=CricketArchive |access-date=29 August 2020}}</ref> He was a hitter of notable power<ref>''Wisden'' 1906, p. 136.</ref> and though never consistent he could on occasions "knock the best bowling all over the field", as when he hit 58 against [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] on a difficult wicket at [[The Oval]] in 1905. Against [[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]] in 1906 he scored 52 in 37 minutes in the first innings and 58 not out in 45 minutes in the second.<ref>''Cricket'', 22 August 1907, p. 362.</ref>
Rosebery was also a notable race-horse owner. He won [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]] with [[Blue Peter III|Blue Peter]] and [[Ocean Swell]], and won most other classic British flat races, with horses bred at his [[Mentmore and Crafton Studs]].
===Political career===
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2020}}
He commenced his political career by being elected [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] Member of Parliament for the Scottish seat of [[Edinburghshire (UK Parliament constituency)|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 United Kingdom general election|1906 election]]. He retired from the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] in January 1910. At the time of his death he was the last survivor of the 1906 Liberal MPs.
Rosebery entered the [[House of Lords]] 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]]. His proposers were [[Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan]], Sir [[Thomas Henry Holland]], [[James Pickering Kendall]] and James Watt.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. The new government was composed of members of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|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 (UK, 1931)|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 of the United Kingdom|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. 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.<ref>Pottinger, George, ''The Secretaries of State for Scotland, 1926-1976'' (Scottish Academic Press, 1979), p.100.</ref> 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".<ref>Young, Kenneth, ''Harry, Lord Rosebery'', (London, 1974)</ref>
===Later life===
He was created a Knight of the [[Order of the Thistle]] (KT) in 1947 by King [[George VI]]. 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]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/history/office-bearers/|title = Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers}}</ref> He was also appointed Chairman of the [[Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland]] in 1952.
==Personal life==
In 1909, Harry Primrose married Dorothy Alice Margaret Augusta Grosvenor, daughter of Lord Henry George Grosvenor (a son of the [[Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster|1st Duke of Westminster]]) and Dora Mina Erskine-Wemyss. Before their divorce in 1919, they had a son and a daughter:<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
* [[Ronald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny|Archibald Ronald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny]] (1910–1931), a 2nd Lieutenant in the General List.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
* Lady Helen Dorothy Primrose (1913–1998), who married Major Hon. Hugh Adeane Vivian Smith, son of [[Vivian Smith, 1st Baron Bicester]] and Lady Sybil Mary McDonnell (a daughter of the [[William McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim|6th Earl of Antrim]]), in 1933.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
In 1924 Primrose remarried to [[Eva Primrose, Countess of Rosebery|Dame Eva Isabel Marian Strutt]], a daughter of [[Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare]]. They were the parents of two children, only one of whom survived:<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
* [[Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery|Neil Archibald Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery]] (1929–2024), who married Alison Mary Deirdre Reid, daughter of Ronald William Reid, in 1955.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Lady Mary Primrose (1935–1935), who died at birth.<ref name="Mosley2003">Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.'' [[Wilmington, Delaware]]: [[Burke's Peerage]] (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, pp. 1277–1278, volume 3, page 3398.</ref>
Lord Rosebery died at [[Mentmore Towers]] in [[Buckinghamshire]] on 30 May 1974 and was succeeded in his titles by his younger son, [[Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery|Neil]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Sources==
* ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Vol. II: 1886–1918'', edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1978)<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed; page(s) needed -->
* Pottinger, George, ''The Secretaries of State for Scotland, 1926-1976'' (Scottish Academic Press, 1979)
* Torrance, D., ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn, 2006)<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed; page(s) needed -->
==External links==
* {{Hansard-contribs | lord-dalmeny-1 | the Earl of Rosebery }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928173736/http://www.scottishsecretaries.com/ The Scottish Secretaries] A website dedicated to the Scottish Secretaries
* {{Hansard-contribs | lord-dalmeny-1 | Lord Dalmeny}}
* [http://www.davidtorrance.blogspot.com David Torrance's Scottish Office blog], davidtorrance.blogspot.com; accessed 18 April 2016
* [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/12033.html Profile], content-uk.cricinfo.com; accessed 18 April 2016
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Alexander Murray, 1st Baron Murray of Elibank|The Master of Elibank]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Edinburghshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Midlothian]]|years=[[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]] – [[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|1910]]}}
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{{s-off}}
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{{s-hon}}
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{{s-reg|sct}}
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{{s-reg|uk}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Earl of Rosebery|Earl of Midlothian]]|years=1929–1974}}
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{{s-end}}
{{Secretaries of State for Scotland}}
{{Churchill Caretaker Ministry}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosebery, Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
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[[Category:Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom|Midlothian, Harry Primrose, 2nd Earl of]]
[[Category:Earls of Rosebery|6]]
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