Since time immemorial, all who have lived within the shadow of Roseberry must must have had a sense of affection to Cleveland’s iconic “mountain”

Thomas Kitchingman Staveley, Lord of the Manor of Newton, went as far as to name his daughter Roseberry.

When Archibald Primrose was granted a peerage in Scotland in 1700, he chose the title of Viscount Rosebery, supposedly after “a hill near Archibald’s wife’s estates in Yorkshire“¹Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Rosebery> [accessed 19 October 2022]. He continued with the name when he was later created Earl of Rosebery on the accession of Queen Anne in 1703²Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. ‘Archibald Primrose, 1st Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_1st_Earl_of_Rosebery> [accessed 19 October 2022]. It has also been suggested that he liked the play on the names, Primrose and Roseberry³“Roseberry Topping”. Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project. 2006. Page 19. ISBN 978-0-9554153-0-2..

The 5th Earl of Rosebery was Archibald Primrose (1847 – 1929), a writer, historian, connoisseur and collector, he had a reputation as being a brilliant orator, an outstanding sportsman and marksman⁴Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery> [accessed 19 October 2022].

In his youth, Rosebery had gambled, got himself thrown out of Oxford for keeping a racehorse, and was rumoured to have had an affair with the elder brother of Oscar Wilde’s lover, Lord Alfred Bruce ‘Bosie’ Douglas⁵Ibid..

It is said Roseberry had three aims in life: to marry the richest woman in England, to become Prime Minister and to win the Derby. He achieved all three. He married Hannah de Rothschild, his horses thrice won the Derby, and he served as Prime Minister for fifteen months⁶Ibid..

Having served twice as foreign minister, he succeeded Gladstone as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party in March 1894 until the Liberals lost the June 1895 election. By all accounts his prime ministership is considered to have been a failure⁷Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery#cite_ref-3> [accessed 19 October 2022].

It was his foreign policy that let him down, such as his handling of the Armenian crisis of 1895–96, speaking out for a pro-Armenian and anti-Turkish policy. Gladstone, his predeccessor, now in retirement, interfered by calling on Britain to intervene alone. His policy to expand the fleet, were defeated by disagreements within his party. He ended up angering all the European powers.

Rosebery increasingly found politics boring and unattractive, preferring his sporting interests. He drifted to the right of the Liberal party, becoming a bitter critic of its policies.

Rosebery was not the worst Prime Minister we ever had, but he is certainly down there at the bottom of the pile. Winston Churchill, observed that he never adapted to democratic electoral competition, quipping in true Churchillian style: “He would not stoop; he did not conquer.”⁸Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery#cite_ref-1> [accessed 19 October 2022]

• 1
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Rosebery> [accessed 19 October 2022]
• 2
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. ‘Archibald Primrose, 1st Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_1st_Earl_of_Rosebery> [accessed 19 October 2022]
• 3
  “Roseberry Topping”. Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project. 2006. Page 19. ISBN 978-0-9554153-0-2.
• 4
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery> [accessed 19 October 2022]
• 5
  Ibid.
• 6
  Ibid.
• 7
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery#cite_ref-3> [accessed 19 October 2022]
• 8
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery#cite_ref-1> [accessed 19 October 2022]