Sir Henry William Primrose (22 August 1846 – 17 June 1923) was a Scottish civil servant. He joined the Treasury in 1869, served as private secretary to the Viceroy of India from 1880 to 1884 and to
Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
in 1886. He was secretary of the Office of Works from 1887 to 1895. He became chairman of the Board of the Inland Revenue from 1899 to 1907.
In his youth, he made one appearance for the Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
Primrose was born at Dalmeny, near Edinburgh, the second of the six sons of the Hon. Bouverie Francis Primrose (1813–1898) and his wife, Frederica Sophia Anson (1814–1867).
His father was the son of
Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald John Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery (14 October 1783 – 4 March 1868), styled Viscount Primrose until 1814, was a British politician.
He was the eldest son of Neil Primrose, 3rd Earl of Rosebery and his second wife, Mary Vincent. Prim ...
and Harriett Bouverie. His mother was the daughter of
Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson
Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson (14 February 1767 – 31 July 1818) was a British politician and peer from the Anson family.
Background and career
Thomas Anson was born 14 February 1767, the first son of George Anson, of Shugborough and Mar ...
and Lady Anne Margaret Coke.
His brothers included Francis Archibald, (born 1843), Gilbert Edward (1848–1935), who also made one international football appearance for Scotland, and George Anson Primrose (1849–1930), who became a vice-admiral.
Primrose was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, between 1855 and 1864, where he was captain of both the school's football and cricket XIs. In 1864, he went up to
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
where he obtained second class degrees in classical moderations (1867) and in the final honour school of law and modern history (1869).
Wife and children
On 2 November 1888, he married Mrs. Helen Mary Walker, the daughter of Gilbert McMicking of Wigtownshire. She had been married twice previously: first, to the Hon. Richard Denman, the grandson of
Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman
Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman, (23 July 177926 September 1854) was an English lawyer, judge and politician. He served as Lord Chief Justice between 1832 and 1850.
Background and education
Denman was born in London, the son of Dr Thomas Den ...
, who was Lord Chief Justice from 1832 to 1850 and spent a month in 1834 as interim
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
.
The marriage to Denman lasted from 1871 to 1878, and ended in divorce. There were three children of the marriage:
* Hon. Anna Maria Heywood Denman (c. 1874–1965) who married
Sir John Emmott Barlow, 1st Baronet
Sir John Emmott Barlow, 1st Baronet (16 April 1857 – 17 September 1932) was a British businessman and Liberal Party politician.
Barlow was the son of Thomas Barlow and his wife Mary Ann (née Emmott). He was educated at Windlesham House Sch ...
(1857–1932),
M.P.
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for Frome from 1892 to 1895, and from 1896 to 1918.
*
Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman
Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, (16 November 1874 – 24 June 1954), was a British aristocrat and politician who served as the fifth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1911 to 1914.
Denman was born into the English nobility, inhe ...
of Dovedale (1874–1954), who became
Governor-General of Australia
The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Richard Douglas Denman, 1st Baronet (1876–1957), who became M.P. for
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
from 1910 to 1918 and for Leeds Central from 1929 to 1945.
Her second marriage, to James Montgomery Walker lasted from 1879 to 1888 but was dissolved on the grounds of desertion.
Lady Primrose died in 1919: there was one child of the marriage:
* Archibald Henry Reginald Primrose, born 14 December 1889.
Football career
In his youth, Primrose was a member of the
Civil Service Football Club
Civil Service Football Club is an English football club based in the city of London. The club originally played both association football and rugby football and the Civil Service, along with Blackheath F.C., is one of the two clubs that can c ...
. In November 1870, he was selected to represent Scotland in the second of a series of international representative matches against England; the Scottish team captain, James Kirkpatrick was a fellow civil servant. Primrose played as one of the forwards with the match ending in a victory for the English by a single goal.
He was selected for further matches but was unavailable; for the February 1872 match, the match report says that "the only change in the list of players previously published was the substitution . . . for Scotland, C. Thompson for Primrose".
Civil service
On leaving Oxford, he joined the civil service, entering the Treasury in 1869. From April to June 1880, he was secretary to the Prime Minister,
William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
before being sent to India as secretary to Lord Ripon, the newly appointed viceroy. In January 1885, Primrose was appointed a Companion of the "Most Exalted Order of the Star of India".
At the end of Ripon's term in office in India in 1884, Primrose returned to work with Gladstone until the fall of the Government in June 1885. He again rejoined Gladstone following his return to office in February 1886, becoming head of the Downing Street secretariat. Described as "the least admiring of Gladstone's secretaries" Primrose became "a useful conduit of information" to his cousin, Rosebery, who was then
foreign secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
.
In August 1886, he was appointed Secretary to the Office of Works. In January 1895, he was appointed a Companion of the "Most Honourable Order of the Bath".
Treasury
In May 1895, Primrose returned to the Treasury when he was appointed a Commissioner of Her Majesty's
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
, becoming chairman.
Primrose was one of several former private secretaries to Gladstone who attended at his funeral at Westminster Abbey on 28 May 1898.
In January 1899, he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of The Bath; shortly afterwards, he was also promoted to become chairman of the board of the Inland Revenue, a position he held until he retired from the civil service in 1907, aged sixty-one.
At the Treasury, he had a reputation as "a strict Gladstonian at a time when Treasury attitudes were fast changing". In 1895, he commented that:
responsible politicians on the Liberal side would be glad to see the area of indirect taxation widened, and would not undo what had been done in that way. On occasions of great emergency, when large demands are to be made on the people, I think you must have a partial resort to indirect taxation; and on occasions when demands less large are to be made on the people, if those demands have a character of apparent permanence, then also, I think, you ought to call in the aid of indirect taxation.
His evidence to the select committee on Income Tax in 1906 vigorously defended Victorian precepts. He opposed the scheme to introduce a graduated Income Tax and expressed the view that
death duties
An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died.
International tax law distinguishes between an es ...
could be "regarded as partaking to some extent of the nature of a deferred Income Tax". He disliked the proposal to introduce a higher rate of tax on unearned ("precarious") income than on earned ("permanent") income.
I have indicated that my opinion is against charging a higher rate upon the income that is derived from savings as long as those savings are in the hands of those persons which have made the savings.
Later career
After his retirement, he remained active in public life, serving on several public bodies and commissions. Primrose was described as "a distinguished and valuable public servant, especially known for the clarity of his minutes and reports".
He was Chairman of the
Commercial Pacific Cable Company
Commercial Pacific Cable Company was founded in 1901, and ceased operations in October 1951. It provided the first direct telegraph route from America to the Philippines, China, and Japan.
The company was established as a joint venture of three c ...
from 1907 until 1914 and was a director of the Reversionary Interest Society from 1911.
Shortly after his retirement, he was appointed chairman of a royal commission to enquire into the financial relationship between the Supreme Government in India and the various provincial governments, although he resigned the appointment after a month, to be replaced by Sir Charles Hobhouse.
In 1911 he chaired a committee on the financial clauses of the Irish Home Rule Bill, a subject with which he had had experience since 1886. He proposed that an Irish government should have full control over its revenue, with the British government providing some additional funds to meet the deficit. His plan was rejected by Herbert Samuel, who drew up the financial clauses of the Home Rule Bill of 1912, as it was thought to offer excessive financial autonomy to the Irish.
In 1912, he was a member of the MacDonnell royal commission on the civil service and in 1913 of the Loreburn royal commission on railways.
In September 1914, Primrose was appointed chairman of the Welsh church commission consequent on
Welsh disestablishment
The Welsh Church Act 1914 is an Act of Parliament under which the Church of England was separated and disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire, leading to the creation of the Church in Wales. The Act had long been demanded by the Nonconformis ...
and of the commission set up to enquire into the supply of sugar after the First World War. In 1918 he was a member of the Bradbury committee on staff retrenchment in government offices.
In June 1912, he was sworn into the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
, an unusual honour for a civil servant.
Death
Like his cousin, Lord Rosebery, Primrose was a chronic insomniac which led to depression. On the morning of 17 June 1923, he was found in
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde P ...
(near his home at
Ennismore Gardens
''Ennismore'' is the second solo studio album by the English singer Colin Blunstone of rock band the Zombies. The name of the album comes from Ennismore Gardens, a square in Knightsbridge where Blunstone was living; the name being a variant spel ...
), having shot himself; he was taken to
St George's Hospital
St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...