Primrose, Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847 -1929)

Archibald Philip, 5th Earl Rosebery, was the elder son of Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny, and Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina, only daughter of Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope. He was educated at Bayford near Hertford, at Mr Lee's School at Brighton, at Eton, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated January 1866. He succeeded his grandfather, Archibald John, 4th Earl in 1868, and the following year bought his first racehorse. The University authorities objected and he left Oxford without a degree. In 1870 he became a member of the Jockey Club. In November 1871 he made his maiden speech in the House of Lords, and was immediately recognised as a remarkable political figure. After holding many government and other offices he became Prime Minister in 1894. In 1878 he married Hannah, only daughter and heir of Baron Meyer Amschel de Rothschild, and so eventually inherited Mentmore. She died in November 1890. He was made a Knight of the Garter in October 1892, and on his government resigning in 1895, was awarded the Order of the Thistle as well as a special mark of royal favour. An ardent and discriminating book collector, in 1927 he presented many of his most important manuscripts and books to the newly formed National Library of Scotland. The library which he collected at Durdans, near Epsom in Surrey was dispersed, some of the books going to the National Library of Scotland, and the remainder being sold in London in 1933.