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 of his father in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl of Rosebery, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.

Rosebery first came to national attention in 1879 by sponsoring the successful Midlothian campaign of William Ewart Gladstone. His most successful performance in office came as chairman of the London County Council in 1889. He entered the Cabinet in 1885 and was twice Foreign Secretary, paying special attention to French and German affairs. He succeeded Gladstone as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party in 1894; the Liberals lost the 1895 election. He resigned the party leadership in 1896 and never again held political office.

Rosebery was widely known as a brilliant orator, an outstanding sportsman and marksman, a writer and historian, connoisseur and collector. All of these activities attracted him more than politics, which became for him both boring and unattractive. He drifted to the right of the Liberal Party and became a bitter critic of its policies. Winston Churchill, observing that he never adapted to democratic electoral competition, quipped: "He would not stoop; he did not conquer."

Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who favoured strong national defence and imperialism abroad and social reform at home, while being solidly anti-socialist. Historians judge him a failure as foreign minister and as prime minister.Peter Stansky, Ambitions and Strategies: The Struggle for the Leadership of the Liberal Party in the 1890s (1964).Robert Rhodes James, Rosebery: a biography of Archibald Philip, fifth earl of Rosebery (1963).

Origins and early life

Archibald Philip Primrose was born on 7 May 1847 in his parents' house in Charles Street, Mayfair, London. His father was Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny (1809–1851), son and heir apparent to Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery (1783–1868), whom he predeceased. Lord Dalmeny was a courtesy title used by the Earl's eldest son and heir apparent, during the Earl's lifetime, and was one of the Earl's lesser Scottish titles. Lord Dalmeny was MP for Stirling from 1832 to 1847 and served as Civil Lord of the Admiralty under Lord Melbourne.Rhodes James (paperback), p. 4.

Rosebery's mother was Lady (Catherine Lucy) Wilhelmina Stanhope (1819–1901), a historian who later wrote under her second married name "the Duchess of Cleveland", a daughter of Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope. Lord Dalmeny died on 23 January 1851, having predeceased his father, when the courtesy title passed to his son, the future Rosebery, as the new heir to the earldom.Rhodes James (paperback), pp. 10–11. In 1854 his mother remarried to Lord Harry Vane (later after 1864 known as Harry Powlett, 4th Duke of Cleveland).Rhodes James (paperback), pp. 11–12. The relationship between mother and son was very poor. His elder and favourite sister Constance was the wife of Henry Wyndham, 2nd Baron Leconfield.Footprints in Time. John Colville. 1976. Chapter 2, Lord Roseberys lamb.

Education and youth Dalmeny attended Bayford House school in Hertfordshire, a school in Brighton run by Mr Lee, and then Eton College (1860–65). At Eton, he formed a close attachment to his tutor William Johnson Cory: they visited Rome together in 1864, and maintained correspondence for years afterwards. Dalmeny proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, matriculating in January 1866. During his time at Oxford he was a member of the Bullingdon Club. He left Oxford in 1868: Dalmeny bought a horse named Ladas, although a rule banned undergraduates from owning horses. When he was found out, he was offered a choice: to sell the horse or to give up his studies. He chose the latter, and subsequently was a prominent figure in British horseracing for 40 years.

The three Prime Ministers from 1880 to 1902, namely Gladstone, Salisbury and Rosebery, all attended both Eton and Christ Church. Rosebery toured the United States in 1873, 1874 and 1876. He was pressed to marry Marie Fox, the sixteen-year-old adopted daughter of Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland. She declined him because she was unwilling to renounce Roman Catholicism.

Succession to earldom When his grandfather died in 1868, Dalmeny became 5th Earl of Rosebery. Rosebery inherited his title at age 21, together with an income of £30,000 a year (equivalent to £ in present-day terms). He owned 40,000 acres (160 km2) in Scotland, and land in Norfolk, Hertfordshire, and Kent.Young p. 18.

Career Rosebery is reputed to have said that he had three aims in life: to win the Derby, to marry an heiress, and to become Prime Minister. He managed all three.

Early political career As part of the Liberal plan to get William Ewart Gladstone to be MP for Midlothian, Rosebery sponsored and largely ran the Midlothian Campaign of 1879. He based this on what he had observed in elections in the United States. Gladstone spoke from open-deck trains, and gathered mass support. In 1880, he was duly elected Member for Midlothian and returned to the premiership.David Brooks, "Gladstone and Midlothian: The Background to the First Campaign", Scottish Historical Review (1985) 64#1 pp. 42–67.Robert Kelley, "Midlothian: A Study in Politics and Ideas", Victorian Studies (1960) 4#2, pp. 119–40.

Rosebery served as Foreign Secretary in Gladstone's brief third ministry in 1886. He served as the first chairman of the London County Council, set up by the Conservatives in 1889. Rosebery Avenue in Clerkenwell is named after him. He served as President of the first day of the 1890 Co-operative Congress.

In 1892 he was appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter. Rosebery's second period as Foreign Secretary, 1892–1894, predominantly involved quarrels with France over Uganda. To quote his hero Napoleon, Rosebery thought that "the Master of Egypt is the Master of India"; thus he pursued the policy of expansion in Africa. He helped Gladstone's Second Home Rule Bill in the House of Lords; nevertheless it was defeated overwhelmingly in the autumn of 1893. The first bill had been defeated in the House of Commons in 1886.McKinstry (paperback), p. 159.

Prime Minister

Rosebery became a leader of the Liberal Imperialist faction of the Liberal Party and when Gladstone retired, in 1894, Rosebery succeeded him as Prime Minister, much to the disgust of Sir William Harcourt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the more left-wing Liberals. Rosebery's selection was largely because Queen Victoria disliked most of the other leading Liberals. Rosebery was in the House of Lords, but Harcourt controlled the House of Commons, where he often undercut the prime minister.David W. Gutzke, "Rosebery and Campbell-Bannerman: the Conflict over Leadership Reconsidered." Historical Research 54.130 (1981): 241–250.

Rosebery's government was largely unsuccessful, as in the Armenian crisis of 1895–96. He spoke out for a strongly pro-Armenian and anti-Turkish policy. Gladstone, a prime minister in retirement, called on Britain to intervene alone. The added pressure weakened Rosebery.R. C. K. Ensor. England: 1870 – 1914 (1936), pp. 238–39.

His designs in foreign policy, such as an expansion of the fleet, were defeated by disagreements within the Liberal Party. He angered all the European powers.

The Unionist-dominated House of Lords stopped the whole of the Liberals' domestic legislation. The strongest figure in the cabinet was Rosebery's rival, Harcourt. He and his son Lewis were perennial critics of Rosebery's policies. There were two future prime ministers in the Cabinet, Home Secretary H. H. Asquith, and Secretary of State for War Henry Campbell-Bannerman. Rosebery rapidly lost interest in running the government. In the last year of his premiership, he was increasingly haggard: he suffered insomnia due to the continual dissension in his Cabinet.Gutzke, "Rosebery and Campbell-Bannerman: the Conflict over Leadership Reconsidered." .

On 21 June 1895, the government lost a vote in committee on army supply by just seven votes. While this might have been treated merely as a vote of no confidence in Secretary for War Campbell-Bannerman, Rosebery chose to treat it as a vote of censure on his government. On 22 June, he and his ministers tendered their resignations to the Queen, who invited the Unionist leader, Lord Salisbury, to form a government. The following month, the Unionists won a crushing victory in the 1895 general election, and held power for ten years (1895–1905) under Salisbury and Arthur Balfour. Rosebery remained the Liberal leader for another year, then permanently retired from politics.

Lord Rosebery's government, March 1894 – June 1895 Lord Rosebery – First Lord of the Treasury, Lord President of the Council, and Leader of the House of Lords Lord Herschell – Lord Chancellor Lord Tweedmouth – Lord Privy Seal H. H. Asquith – Secretary of State for the Home Department Lord Kimberley – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Ripon – Secretary of State for the Colonies Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman – Secretary of State for War Sir Henry Hartley Fowler – Secretary of State for India Sir William Harcourt – Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons Lord Spencer – First Lord of the Admiralty Anthony John Mundella – President of the Board of Trade Arnold Morley – Postmaster-General George John Shaw-Lefevre – President of the Local Government Board James Bryce – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster John Morley – Chief Secretary for Ireland Sir George Otto Trevelyan – Secretary for Scotland Sir Arthur Herbert Dyke Acland – Vice-President of the Council

Later life

Liberal Imperialists

Rosebery resigned as leader of the Liberal Party on 6 October 1896, to be succeeded by William Harcourt and gradually moved further and further from the mainstream of the party. With the Liberals in opposition divided over the Boer War which started in 1899, Rosebery, although officially politically inactive, emerged as the head of the "Liberal Imperialists" faction of the party, opposed to Irish Home rule. He supported the war, and brought along many nonconformists likewise.Élie Halévy, Imperialism and the Rise of Labour, 1895–1905 (1951) pp. 99–110.John S. Galbraith, "The pamphlet campaign on the Boer war." Journal of Modern History (1952): 111–126. However the war was opposed by a younger faction of Liberals, including David Lloyd George and the party leader Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

Rosebery's acolytes, including H. H. Asquith and Edward Grey, regularly implored him to return as party leader and even Campbell-Bannerman said he would serve under Rosebery, if he accepted fundamental Liberal party doctrine.Wilson, p. 381. In a much trailed speech to the Chesterfield Liberal Association in December 1901, Rosebery was widely expected to announce his return but instead delivered what Harcourt's son and private secretary Lewis described as "an insult to the whole past of the Liberal party", by telling the party to "clean its slate".Rhodes James (paperback), p. 433. In 1902 Rosebery was installed as president of the newly formed "Liberal League" which superseded the Liberal Imperialist League and counted amongst its vice presidents Asquith and Grey.Wilson, p. 387.

He was Honorary Colonel of the 1st Midlothian Artillery Volunteers from January 1903 until his death in 1929.

1905 onwards

Rosebery's positions made it impossible to join the Liberal government that returned to power in 1905. 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 rare books.