Philip Carteret Hill Primrose (October 23, 1864 – March 17, 1937) was a Canadian police officer and the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
Primrose was born in 1864 in Nova Scotia. He attended the Pictou Academy before graduating from the Royal Military College in 1885. Upon his graduation, he took up employment with the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) (later merged into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police). Over the 30 years he spent with the NWMP, he was stationed at many locations throughout the North-West Territories, serving as Superintendent on four separate occasions before his retirement from the force in 1915.
Primrose then moved to Edmonton and accepted the position of city police magistrate, a position he would hold for 20 years. Amongst other positions, during World War I he commanded the Edmonton Reserve Battalion of the Canadian Army. Although he had never actively participated in politics, in 1936 Primrose was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, a position he held for only 167 days before he died after a long illness.
Early life, education and career
Primrose was born in 1864 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the second of three children of Alexander and Elizabeth Catherine Rebecca Primrose (née Daly). He was named after a good friend of his father, Philip Carteret Hill. His father Alexander came to Nova Scotia from Rothiemay, Scotland and settled in the Pictou area around 1815. He was a barrister and served a term on the Halifax City Council from 1853–1855. He was a distant cousin to the Earls of Rosebery, including the 5th Earl, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1894–1895, A cousin, Clarence Primrose served in the Senate of Canada from 1892 until his death in 1902. He was a descendant of the United Empire Loyalists.
After graduating from the Pictou Academy in 1881, Primrose was accepted into the Royal Military College, from which he graduated in 1885. He remained in Canada after graduation, rejecting the option of accepting a commission in the British Army. Primrose was appointed an Inspector of the North-West Mounted Police on August 1, 1885, and was sworn in on August 31 of the same year.
Police career
North-West Mounted Police
During his 13 years as Inspector, Primrose was posted to many locations in the North-West Territories, including Wood Mountain in the District of Assiniboia (today in Saskatchewan), Fort Macleod, and Calgary (today, both in Alberta). In addition to serving as a "Mountie", he served as Justice of the Peace while stationed at Macleod. In 1898, at the outbreak of the Klondike Gold Rush, Primrose was assigned to the Yukon, where he was stationed at the H Division in Tagish. He became superintendent of that division in October 1899, then was transferred to become superintendent of the B Division one month later. In 1901, he was posted to Dawson, where he assumed responsibility for 43 Mounted Policemen and 4 other men at the Whitehorse station. During his time in the Yukon, the main role of the police was guarding people awaiting trials and prisoners serving sentences.
Primrose supervised the 1900 Yukon census, reporting to the Commissioner that the territory's population was 16,463. On May 13, 1900, he fined 31 "members of the sporting fraternity" $55 each, boosting the territorial treasury. Other activities included more community-oriented tasks, such as firefighting when permitted. During his time in Dawson, he befriended a lawyer currently practicing in the area, William L. Walsh. Walsh would be his predecessor to the office of Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. Primrose's assignment to the Yukon ended in 1902.
After returning from the Yukon, he assumed command of the A Division of the NWMP in Maple Creek (today in Saskatchewan). After two months at Maple Creek, he took over the NWMP Macleod Department (today in Alberta) as Superintendent, serving there until 1913. He became a prominent landowner during his time in Macleod, owning several lots in town, as well as a section outside. He was appointed a commissioner of police in the new province of Alberta in November 1911. In 1913, he was posted to the NWMP Headquarters in Regina to assist in the organization of the Criminal Investigation Branch. In August he was granted a leave of absence when he went to the Mayo Clinic at Rochester to undergo surgery to repair an undisclosed rupture and remove his appendix. After returning to Regina in 1914, he retired at the rank of Superintendent on April 5, 1915.