Neil Primrose (politician)

For other people of the same name, see Neil Primrose (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable Neil Primrose PC, MC
Neil Primrose in 1913.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury with Lord Edmund Talbot
In office 14 December 1916 – 2 March 1917
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Lord Edmund Talbot John Gulland
Succeeded by	Lord Edmund Talbot Hon. Frederick Guest
Personal details
Born	14 December 1882 Dalmeny House, Dalmeny, Midlothian
Died	15 November 1917 Gezer, Palestine
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Lady Victoria Stanley (1892–1927)

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.

Background

Primrose was born at Dalmeny House, 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.^[1]

Political career

Primrose entered the House of Commons at the December 1910 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wisbech.^[2][3] In 1913 he became a member of the Anglo-American Peace Centenary Committee.^[4] 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.^[5]

Military career

Primrose was commissioned into the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars in 1909. Promoted Captain 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.^[6][7]

Family

Primrose married Lady Victoria Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, 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.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} thepeerage.com Captain Rt. Hon. Neil James Archibald Primrose
2. ^ London Gazette: no. 28338. p. 1029. 11 February 1910.
3. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)
4. ^ "Delegates from England and British Colonies Officially Welcomed by Gaynor.". New York Times. May 6, 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9404E7D91F3AE633A25755C0A9639C946296D6CF. Retrieved 2010-08-03. "The delegates from Great Britain and the British Colonies, who have come to the United States to arrange with the American committee for the celebration in 1913 of 100 years of peace among English-Speaking peoples, were formally welcomed to New York by Mayor Gaynor yesterday morning." 
5. ^ London Gazette: no. 30131. p. 5867. 15 June 1917.
6. ^ CWGC entry
7. ^ According to Vladimir Jabotinsky's "The Story of the Jewish Legion", Primrose came very close to joining the Jewish Legion but did not because of a miscommunication.

External links

Headstone on Capt. Primrose's grave, Ramleh War Cemetery, Israel.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Neil Primrose

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Cecil Beck	Member of Parliament for Wisbech 1910–1917	Succeeded by Colin Reith Coote
Political offices
Preceded by Francis Dyke Acland	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs February–May 1915	Succeeded by Lord Robert Cecil
Preceded by Lord Edmund Talbot John Gulland	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury with Lord Edmund Talbot 1916–1917	Succeeded by Lord Edmund Talbot Hon. Frederick Guest

Persondata
Name	Primrose, Neil
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 December 1882
Place of birth	Dalmeny House, Dalmeny, Midlothian
Date of death	15 November 1917
Place of death	Gezer, Palestine