Neil James Archibald Primrose
Encyclopedia
Captain The Honourable
Neil James Archibald Primrose PC
, MC
(14 December 1882 – 15 November 1917), 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 joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
from 1916 to 1917. He died from wounds received in action in Palestine
in 1917.
, Dalmeny
, Midlothian
, the second son of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
from 1894 to 1895, by Hannah de Rothschild
, daughter of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild
. He was the brother of Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
and writer Lady Sybil Grant
.
(MP) for Wisbech
. In 1913 he became a member of the Anglo-American Peace Centenary Committee. In February 1915 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
in H. H. Asquith
's Liberal administration, but was not offered a post when the coalition government was formed in May of the same year. When David Lloyd George
became prime minister in December 1916, Primrose returned to the government as joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
(government chief whip) alongside Conservative Lord Edmund Talbot
, a post he only held until March of the following year. In June 1917 he was sworn of the Privy Council
.
in 1915, he was awarded the Military Cross
in 1916. He died in November 1917 from wounds received in action at Gezer
during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
while leading his squadron against Turkish positions on the Abu Shusheh ridge during the Third Battle of Gaza
. He is buried in the Ramleh Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
at Ramla
, in Israel.
, on 7 April 1915. They had one daughter: Ruth Alice Hannah Mary Primrose (18 April 1916–1989), who married Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax
, on 25 April 1936. Lady Victoria married as her second husband Malcolm Bullock, and had one daughter by him. Lady Victoria died in a hunting accident in November 1927, aged 35.
The Honourable
The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.-International diplomacy:...
Neil James Archibald Primrose PC
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...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(14 December 1882 – 15 November 1917), was a British 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...
politician and soldier. The second son of Prime Minister Lord 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...
, he represented Wisbech
Wisbech (UK Parliament constituency)
Wisbech is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of an undivided Cambridgeshire county constituency in 1885 and was itself abolished in 1918.-Boundaries:...
in parliament from 1910 to 1917 and served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been a junior position in the British government since 1782, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs...
in 1915 and as joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial position in the British Government. The holder is usually the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons. However, the office is no longer attached to the Treasury...
from 1916 to 1917. He died from wounds received in action in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1917.
Background
Primrose was born at Dalmeny HouseDalmeny House
Dalmeny House 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 home of the Earl and Countess of Rosebery. The house was the first in...
, Dalmeny
Dalmeny
Dalmeny is a suburban village and civil parish in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on the south side of the Firth of Forth, east-southeast of South Queensferry and west-northwest of central Edinburgh; it falls under the local governance of the City of Edinburgh Council.The name Dalmeny is...
, 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....
, the second son of 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...
, 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, by Hannah de Rothschild
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery was the daughter of Mayer de Rothschild and his wife Juliana, née Cohen...
, daughter of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild
Mayer Amschel de Rothschild
Mayer Amschel de Rothschild of the English branch of the Rothschild family was the fourth and youngest son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild . He was named Mayer Amschel Rothschild, for his grandfather, the patriarch of the Rothschild family.-Life:Known to his family as "Muffy", he was born in New Court,...
. He was the brother of Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery and 2nd Earl of Midlothian , known by his third name of Harry, was a UK politician who briefly served as Secretary of State for Scotland in 1945...
and 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...
.
Political career
Primrose entered the House of Commons at the December 1910 general election as Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Wisbech
Wisbech (UK Parliament constituency)
Wisbech is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of an undivided Cambridgeshire county constituency in 1885 and was itself abolished in 1918.-Boundaries:...
. In 1913 he became a member of the Anglo-American Peace Centenary Committee. In February 1915 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been a junior position in the British government since 1782, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs...
in H. H. Asquith
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916...
's Liberal administration, but was not offered a post when the coalition government was formed in May of the same year. When David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
became prime minister in December 1916, Primrose returned to the government as joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial position in the British Government. The holder is usually the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons. However, the office is no longer attached to the Treasury...
(government chief whip) alongside Conservative Lord Edmund Talbot
Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent
Edmund Bernard FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent KG, PC , known as Lord Edmund Talbot between 1876 and 1921, was a British Conservative politician and the last Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.-Background:...
, a post he only held until March of the following year. In June 1917 he was sworn 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...
.
Military career
Primrose was commissioned into the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars in 1909. Promoted CaptainCaptain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
in 1915, he was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
in 1916. He died in November 1917 from wounds received in action at Gezer
Gezer
Gezer was a Canaanite city-state and biblical town in ancient Israel. Tel Gezer , an archaeological site midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is now an Israeli national park....
during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Sinai and Palestine Campaign
The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns took place in the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. A series of battles were fought between British Empire, German Empire and Ottoman Empire forces from 26 January 1915 to 31 October 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and...
while leading his squadron against Turkish positions on the Abu Shusheh ridge during the Third Battle of Gaza
Third Battle of Gaza
The Third Battle of Gaza was fought in 1917 in southern Palestine during the First World War. The British Empire forces under the command of General Edmund Allenby successfully broke the Ottoman defensive Gaza-Beersheba line...
. He is buried in the Ramleh Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
Ramleh Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery
Ramleh Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is for personnel of both World Wars, and the period of the British mandate of Palestine located in the town of Ramla in Israel....
at Ramla
Ramla
Ramla , is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 AD by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik after the Arab conquest of the region...
, in Israel.
Family
Primrose married Lady Victoria Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of DerbyEdward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby
Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO, TD, PC, KGStJ, JP , known as Lord Stanley from 1893 to 1908, was a British soldier, Conservative politician, diplomat and racehorse owner. He was twice Secretary of State for War and also served as British Ambassador to...
, on 7 April 1915. They had one daughter: Ruth Alice Hannah Mary Primrose (18 April 1916–1989), who married Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax
Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax
Charles Ingram Courtenay Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax was a British politician and peer. He was styled Lord Irwin from 1934 until 1959.-Biography:...
, on 25 April 1936. Lady Victoria married as her second husband Malcolm Bullock, and had one daughter by him. Lady Victoria died in a hunting accident in November 1927, aged 35.
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