Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

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Archibald Primrose redirects here. For other persons with this name, see Earl of Rosebery.

The Earl of Rosebery

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 5 March 1894 – 22 June 1895
Preceded by	William Ewart Gladstone
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Salisbury

Born	7 May 1847 Berkeley Square, London
Died	21 May 1929 Epsom, Surrey
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Hannah de Rothschild

Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister, also known as Archibald Primrose (1847-1851) and Lord Dalmeny (1851-1868).

1 Early life
2 Prime Minister
3 Thoroughbred horse racing
4 Lord Rosebery's government, March 1894 – June 1895
- 4.1 Changes
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Rosebery's father died when he was three, which brought him the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny. He attended Eton where he was a pupil of the influential master William Johnson Cory, and went up to Christ Church, Oxford. While there, he was asked to stand as a candidate for Parliament at Darlington when under age, but refused on the grounds that he had not definitely committed himself to a political party. While at university he set three aims for his life: to marry an heiress; to own a racehorse that won the Epsom Derby; and to be Prime Minister. He managed all three.

The 21-year-old Dalmeny succeeded to his grandfather's Scottish earldom in 1868. The next year he indulged his passion for horse-racing and bought Ladas. University rules prohibited undergraduates from owning racehorses and when the university authorities discovered that he owned one, he was offered a choice between selling his horse or abandoning his studies. He chose the latter.

In 1878 Rosebery married Hannah de Rothschild, the greatest heiress of her day. She died in 1890. They had four children: Sybil (1879-1955), Margaret (1881-1967), Harry (1882-1974), and Neil (1882-1917), killed in action in Palestine. It was speculated that he was bisexual. Like Oscar Wilde, he was hounded by the Marquess of Queensberry for his association with one of Queensberry's sons — Francis Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig.

Rosebery took his seat in the House of Lords on his coming-of-age. He became a Liberal, and was involved in Gladstone's Midlothian Campaign, which brought the Liberals back into power in 1880. In the Liberal administration that followed, Rosebery served in junior offices, including that of Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (from which he resigned when there was no separate Minister for Scotland). He returned as First Commissioner of Works and Lord Privy Seal, with a seat in the Cabinet, in February 1885.

The Sydney suburb of Rosebery was named in his honour after his visit to Australia for two months in 1883-84.

[edit] Prime Minister

Rosebery became a leader of the Liberal Imperialist faction of the Liberal Party, and in Gladstone's third (February to July 1886) and fourth (August 1892 to March 1894) administrations, Rosebery served as Foreign Secretary. When Gladstone retired in 1894, Rosebery became his successor as Prime Minister, much to the disgust of Sir William Harcourt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the more left-wing Liberals. His selection was largely the consequence of Queen Victoria's dislike for most of the leading Liberals of the day.

Rosebery's government was largely unsuccessful. His designs in foreign policy, such as expansion of the fleet, were defeated by disagreements within the Liberal Party, while the Tory-dominated House of Lords stopped the whole of the Liberals' domestic legislation. On June 21, 1895, Rosebery resigned after a minor defeat in the House of Commons, and a Conservative government under Lord Salisbury, took his place.

Rosebery resigned as leader of the Liberal Party on October 8, 1896, to be succeeded by Harcourt, and gradually moved further and further from the mainstream of the party, supporting the Boer War and opposing Irish Home Rule, a position that prevented him from participating in the Liberal government that returned to power in 1905. In his later years, Rosebery turned to writing, including biographies of Lord Chatham, Pitt the Younger, Napoleon, and Lord Randolph Churchill. Another one of his passionate interests was the collecting of books.

When Rosebery died in 1929 his estate was probated at £1,396,577.

[edit] Thoroughbred horse racing

As a result of his marriage to Hannah de Rothschild, Rosebery acquired Mentmore Towers and Mentmore Stud in Leighton Buzzard that had been built by Mayer Amschel de Rothschild. Rosbery would build another stable and stud near Mentmore Towers at Crafton, Buckinghamshire, called Crafton Stud.

Rosebery's horses won at least one of each of the five English Classic races. Among the most famous were Ladas who won the 1894 Epsom Derby, Sir Visto who did it again in 1895, and Cicero in 1905.

[edit] Lord Rosebery's government, March 1894 – June 1895

[edit] Changes

May 1894 - James Bryce succeeds A.J. Mundella at the Board of Trade. Lord Tweedmouth succeeds Bryce at the Duchy of Lancaster, remaining also Lord Privy Seal.

[edit] See also

In his fraudulent memoirs, Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet claimed to be Rosebery's lover.
Rosebery: Statesman in Turmoil by Leo McKinstry ISBN 0-7195-5879-4

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

Earl Of Rosebery 1847-1929 biography from the Liberal Democrat History Group

Political offices
Preceded by George Lefevre	First Commissioner of Works 1885	Succeeded by David Plunket
Preceded by The Lord Carlingford	Lord Privy Seal 1885	Succeeded by The Earl of Harrowby
Preceded by The Marquess of Salisbury	Foreign Secretary 1886	Succeeded by The Earl of Iddesleigh
Preceded by The Marquess of Salisbury	Foreign Secretary 1892–1894	Succeeded by The Earl of Kimberley
Preceded by: The Earl of Kimberley	Lord President of the Council 1894–1895	Succeeded by: The Duke of Devonshire
Preceded by: The Earl of Kimberley	Leader of the House of Lords 1894–1895	Succeeded by: The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by: William Ewart Gladstone	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1894–1895	Succeeded by: The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Marquess of Salisbury	Leader of the Opposition 1895–1896	Succeeded by Sir William Harcourt
Party Political Offices
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone	Leader of the British Liberal Party 1894–1896	Succeeded by Sir William Harcourt
Academic Offices
Preceded by The Lord Avebury	Rector of the University of St Andrews 1910–1913	Succeeded by The Earl of Aberdeen
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Archibald Primrose	Earl of Rosebery 1868–1929	Succeeded by Harry Primrose
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Earl of Midlothian 1911–1929	Succeeded by Harry Primrose