ROSEBERY, ARCHIBALD PHILIP PRIMROSE, 5TH EARL OF (1847-1929), British statesman, born in London on May 7, 1847, was the son of Archibald, Lord Dalmeny (1809 1851) and Catherine, daughter of the 4th earl Stanhope. Lady Dalmeny married, after her husband's death, the duke of Cleve land. Young Dalmeny was educated at Brighton and at Eton, where he had as slightly junior contemporaries A. J. Balfour and Randolph Churchill. In 1866 he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but went down in 1868, by the request of the dean, rather than abandon the possession of a small racing stud. In the same year he succeeded his grandfather, the 4th earl, in the earldom and the family estates. After some time spent in travel he acquired an English country house called The Durdans, Epsom, which he largely rebuilt and adorned with some of the finest turf portraits of George Stubbs. He had a famous stable, and, later, won the Derby three times, in 1894, 1895 and 1905. In 1878 he married Hannah, only child of Baron Meyer Amschel de Rothschild.
Though impeded in his political career by his exclusion from the House of Commons, Lord Rosebery's reputation as a social reformer and orator was steadily growing. In 1878 he was elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen and in 188o of Edinburgh University, where he gave an eloquent address upon Patriotism. In 188o he entertained Gladstone at Dalmeny, and during the "Mid Lothian campaign" he arranged the demonstrations. In August 1881 he became under-secretary at the home office, his immediate chief being William Harcourt. His work was practically confined to the direction of the Scottish department of the office, and he resigned in 1883. He resumed office (1884) as first commissioner of works with a seat in the cabinet.
In the brief Gladstonian government of 1886 Lord Rosebery threw in his lot with the old leader, and was foreign secretary. His views on foreign policy differed materially from those of Gran ville and Gladstone. His mind was dwelling constantly upon the political legacy of the two Pitts; he was a reader of John Seeley; he had himself visited the colonies ; had predicted that a war would not, as was commonly said, disintegrate the empire, but rather the reverse; had magnified the importance of taking colonial opinion, and had always been a convinced advocate of some form of Imperial Federation. He was already taunted with
being an Imperialist, but his independent attitude won public approval. In January 1889 he was elected a member of the first county council of London, and on Feb. 12, chairman of that body by 104 votes to 17. With a view to the impending political cam paign he found it necessary to resign the chairmanship of the county council in June. In November of this year, however, Lady Rosebery died, and he withdrew for a period from public business. In January 1892 he again for a few months became chairman of the county council. In October he received the Garter.
In August 1892, upon the return of Gladstone to power, he was induced with some difficulty (for he was suffering at the time from insomnia) to resume his position as foreign minister. He strongly opposed the evacuation of Egypt ; he insisted upon the exclusive control by Great Britain of the Upper Nile Valley, and also upon the retention of Uganda. In 1893 the question of Siam came near to causing serious trouble with France, but the crisis was averted, and the lines were laid down for preserving Siam, if possible, as a buffer state between the English and French frontiers in Indo-China. In the spring of 1895 he was clear sighted enough to refuse to join the anti-Japanese league of Russia, France and Germany at the end of the China-Japan War.
Lord Rosebery's personal popularity had been increased at home by his successful intervention in the coal strike of December 1893, and when in March 1894 the resignation of Gladstone was announced, his selection by Queen Victoria for 'the premiership was generally welcomed, but the malcontents in his own party, who considered that William Harcourt should have been the prime minister, or who were perpetually intriguing against a leader who did not satisfy their idea of radicalism, made Lord Rosebery's personal position no easy one. The support of the Irish National ists was endangered by his insistence that the goodwill of England, the "predominant partner," was essential to the success of Home Rule. On June 24, 1895, the government fell.