Rowland Edmund Prothero, 1st Baron Ernle, MVO, PC (6 September 1851 – 1 July 1937) was a British agricultural expert, administrator, journalist, author and Conservative politician. He played first-class cricket between 1875 and 1883.

Prothero was the son of the Reverend Canon George Prothero, Rector of St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, and his wife, Emma, only daughter of the Reverend William Money-Kyrle, of Homme House in Herefordshire.^[1] He was born on 6 September 1851 in Clifton upon Teme, Worcestershire. Amongst his four siblings were the historian Sir George Prothero and the Royal Navy admiral Arthur William Edward Prothero. Prothero was first educated at home by his mother, before proceeding at the age of 10 to Temple Grove School.^[2] However, his education at Temple Grove was interrupted by his affliction with a prolonged illness,^[2] and by the time he had fully recovered he was ready to attend Marlborough College.^[3] There it was noted by The Times that he distinguished himself more as a cricketer than he did academically.^[1] From Marlborough, he matriculated to Balliol College, Oxford,^[4] where he gained a 1st Class Honours degree in Modern History in 1875.^[5] Shortly after his graduation in 1875, he was elected a Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford.^[2]

Prothero's reputation as a good cricketer followed him to Balliol, with Prothero captaining the college cricket team.^[1] Whilst he was not afforded the opportunity to play first-class cricket for Oxford University, he did make his debut in first-class whilst studying at Oxford, when he appeared for the Gentlemen of England against the University at the Magdalen Ground in June 1872.^[6] He met with success in the match, taking five wickets for 34 runs with his medium pace in Oxford's first innings, whilst in their second innings he took 3 for 44, contributing to the Gentlemen of England's victory by nine wickets.^[7] During the year of his graduation, he played a first-class match for Hampshire against Sussex at Winchester.^[6]

Following his studies at Oxford, Prothero spent a year in Darmstadt in Germany to better his proficiency in German.^[2] A student of the Middle Temple, he was called to the Bar in 1878 and became a member of the Oxford Circuit.^[8] After a four year gap, he returned to play first-class cricket in 1879 for the Gentlemen of England against Oxford University;^[6] the match would be notable for Prothero, with his scoring his only first-class century with 110 runs in Gentlemen of England second innings.^[9] His brief legal career came to an end in 1881, when poor eyesight necessitated him to give up law.^[2] Despite his increasingly poor eyesight, he continued to play first-class cricket for Hampshire between 1881 and 1883, making three appearances.^[6] He attempted to improve his eyesight by taking up walking, travelling the length and breadth of France on foot.^[2]

Upon his return to England, Prothero was elected Proctor of the University of Oxford in 1883, serving in that capacity under the Vice-Chancellorship of Benjamin Jowett until 1884; the pair would become close friends during this time.^[1][2] With his eyesight having improved, he embarked on a writing career shortly after the end of his proctorship.^[2] This pursuit enabled him to control his working hours.^[1] Initially he wrote prolifically under a pseudonym,^[1] contributing articles to the Quarterly Review and the Edinburgh Review.^[2][1] He had a longstanding interest in agriculture, fostered by knowledge gained from farmland attached to the rectory at Whippingham. He subsequently wrote extensively on the subject, beginning in 1888 when he published The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming.^[2] He was appointed assistant editor of the literary magazine The Nineteenth Century in 1889 at the behest of James Knowles,^[1] and in 1893 he became editor of the periodical Quarterly Review.^[2] He established his literary reputation in 1893, when he published the Life and Correspondence of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley,^[1] with Prothero subsequently producing a steady flow of works.^[2] In 1896, he published the previously unpublished Letters of Edward Gibbon and between 1898 and 1901 he published six volumes of the Letters and Journals of Lord Byron. He was commissioned by Queen Victoria to produce a private circulation of the Life of Prince Henry of Battenberg.^[2]

However, he 1898 Prothero's literary career largely came to an end when he accepted a "handsome offer" by the 11th Duke of Bedford to become chief agent on his estate, though he contiuned to dedicate a few hours each day to reading and writing.^[2] In the 1901 Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO).^[10] His 1888 work The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming would evolve to become English Farming Past and Present, which was hailed as a "classic" upon its publication in 1912.^[2] His autobiography, entitled From Whippingham to Westminster, would be published posthumously by the publishing house John Murray in 1938.^[11]

Prothero's move into public life began in 1903, when he became chairman of the Higher Education Committee of Bedfordshire County Council,^[2] where he helped to enact the Education Act 1902.^[1] He unsuccessfully contested Biggleswade for the Liberal Unionist Party in the January 1910 general election,^[5] being defeated by the Liberal incumbent Arthur Black.^[12] Following the death of incumbent the death of the incumbent Member of Parliament for Oxford University Sir William Anson in June 1914,^[13] Prothero was elected unopposed as his replacement in the subsequent by-election.^[14] His time as an MP coincided with the First World War, which began a month after his election. He served two agricultural committees during the early years of the war, headed by Viscount Milner and the 2nd Earl of Selborne.^[2]

He held office under David Lloyd George as President of the Board of Agriculture, with a seat in the cabinet, between December 1916 and 1919,^[15] in which role he introduced a guaranteed price for wheat.^[16] He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1916^[15] and on 4 February 1919 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Ernle, of Chelsea in the County of London,^[17] a title chosen in reflection of his pride in his own matrilineal descent from the Ernle family, one of the historic landed families of Wiltshire.^[1]

Lord Ernle was twice married. He married firstly Mary Beatrice, daughter of John Bailward, in 1891. They had one son and one daughter. After her death in May 1899 he married secondly Barbara Jane, daughter of C. O. Hamley, in 1902. They had no children. She died in November 1930. Lord Ernle died in July 1937, aged 85. The barony became extinct upon his death, his only son, Rowland John Prothero, having died from wounds received in action in Mesopotamia during the First World War.

• "Tenant-right and agrarian outrage in France". Contemporary Review. 50: 832–850. December 1886.
• "The Growth of the Historical Novel". The Quarterly Review. 206: 25–54. January 1907.

• The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming. 1888.
• The Life and Correspondence of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, late Dean of Westminster. 1893. 2nd & 3rd editions. 1894.
• as editor: Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753–1794). 1896. vol.1, vol.2
• as editor: The Works of Lord Byron. 1898. New, revised & enlarged edition; 1898–1901, 6 vols.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• The Psalms in Human Life. 1903. 2nd edition. 1904.
• as editor: Letters of Richard Ford, 1797–1858. 1905.
• The Pleasant Land of France. 1908.
• English Farming, Past and Present. 1912.

• The light reading of our ancestors: chapters in the growth of the English novel. 1921.

• A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, 1863 edition, p. 1231 (lineage of Prothero of Malpas Court, co. Monmouth)
• Concise Dictionary of National Biography
• From Whippingham to Westminster (autobiography of R. E. Prothero, later 1st and last Baron Ernle)
• Wiltshire Archæological and Natural History Society Magazine, 1919.

• Works by Rowland Prothero, 1st Baron Ernle at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Rowland Prothero, 1st Baron Ernle at the Internet Archive