William Ewart Gladstone (; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician.
He was elected a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1881. ==Early life== Born in 1809 in Liverpool, at 62 Rodney Street, William Ewart Gladstone was the fourth son of the merchant John Gladstone, and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson.
Gladstone, 1809–1874 (1988); Gladstone, 1875–1898 (1995) online complete * Matthew, Gladstone: 1809–1898 (1997) is an unabridged one-volume version.
Gladstone: Peel's Inheritor, 1809–1865 (1985), ; Gladstone: Heroic Minister, 1865–1898 (1999), , a scholarly biography vol 1 online ===Special studies=== Aldous, Richard.
Gladstone, church, state, and Tractarianism: a study of his religious ideas and attitudes, 1809–1859 (1982). Buxton, Sydney.
G Gladstone: 1809-1898 (1997) pp 293–313 Whitehead, Cameron Ean Alfred.
One of his earliest childhood memories was being made to stand on a table and say "Ladies and gentlemen" to the assembled audience, probably at a gathering to promote the election of George Canning as MP for Liverpool in 1812.
In 1814, young "Willy" visited Scotland for the first time, as he and his brother John travelled with their father to Edinburgh, Biggar and Dingwall to visit their relatives.
In 1815, Gladstone also travelled to London and Cambridge for the first time with his parents.
From Castlereagh to Gladstone, 1815–1885 (1969), survey of political history online Bebbington, D.W.
Whilst in London, he attended a service of thanksgiving with his family at St Paul's Cathedral following the Battle of Waterloo, where he saw the Prince Regent. William Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St.
It is located in the grounds of Our Lady Star of the Sea Church facing the former site of St Thomas's Church where Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821.
Whilst in London, he attended a service of thanksgiving with his family at St Paul's Cathedral following the Battle of Waterloo, where he saw the Prince Regent. William Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St.
In 1821, William followed in the footsteps of his elder brothers and attended Eton College before matriculating in 1828 at Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Classics and Mathematics, although he had no great interest in the latter subject.
It is located in the grounds of Our Lady Star of the Sea Church facing the former site of St Thomas's Church where Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821.
"The British West India interest and its allies, 1823–1833." English Historical Review 133.565 (2018): 1478–1511.
In 1821, William followed in the footsteps of his elder brothers and attended Eton College before matriculating in 1828 at Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Classics and Mathematics, although he had no great interest in the latter subject.
representing the MA graduates of the University) at the General Election in 1847—Peel had once held this seat but had lost it because of his espousal of Catholic Emancipation in 1829.
In December 1831, he achieved the double first-class degree he had long desired.
He first entered the House of Commons in 1832, beginning his political career as a High Tory, a grouping which became the Conservative Party under Robert Peel in 1834.
He won his seat at the 1832 United Kingdom general election with 887 votes.
His early Parliamentary speeches followed a similar line: in June 1833, Gladstone concluded his speech on the ‘slavery question’ by declaring that though he had dwelt on "the dark side" of the issue, he looked forward to "a safe and gradual emancipation". In 1834, when slavery was abolished across the British Empire, the owners were paid full value for the slaves.
He first entered the House of Commons in 1832, beginning his political career as a High Tory, a grouping which became the Conservative Party under Robert Peel in 1834.
His early Parliamentary speeches followed a similar line: in June 1833, Gladstone concluded his speech on the ‘slavery question’ by declaring that though he had dwelt on "the dark side" of the issue, he looked forward to "a safe and gradual emancipation". In 1834, when slavery was abolished across the British Empire, the owners were paid full value for the slaves.
Gladstone wrote on 16 July 1892 in autobiographica that "In 1834 the Government...did themselves high honour by the new Poor Law Act, which rescued the English peasantry from the total loss of their independence".
In 1835, the family name was changed from Gladstones to Gladstone by royal licence.
Period 4: Growth Of Democracy: Victoria 1837–1880 (1902) online 608pp; highly detailed older political narrative * A History of England: Period V.
In 1838 Gladstone nearly ruined his career when he tried to force a religious mission upon the Conservative Party.
Gladstone was fiercely against both of the Opium Wars Britain waged in China, in the First Opium War initiated in 1840 and the Second Opium War initiated in 1857, denouncing British violence against Chinese, and was ardently opposed to the British trade of opium in China.
Gladstone lambasted it as "Palmerston's Opium War" and said that he felt "in dread of the judgements of God upon England for our national iniquity towards China" in May 1840.
During the late 1840s, when he was out of office, he worked extensively to turn Hawarden into a viable business. In 1848 he founded the Church Penitentiary Association for the Reclamation of Fallen Women.
They had eight children together: William Henry Gladstone MP (3 June 1840 – 4 July 1891); married Hon.
Due to the First Opium war brought on by Palmerston, there was initial reluctance to join the government of Peel on the part of Gladstone before 1841. ==Minister under Peel (1841–1846)== Gladstone was re-elected in 1841.
In September 1842 he lost the forefinger of his left hand in an accident while reloading a gun.
They had three children. Agnes Gladstone (18 October 1842 – 9 May 1931); she married Very Rev.
Gladstone passed the Coal Vendors Act 1843 to set up a central office for employment.
Looking back in 1883, Gladstone wrote that "In principle, perhaps my Coalwhippers Act of 1843 was the most Socialistic measure of the last half century". He resigned in 1845 over the Maynooth Grant issue, a matter of conscience for him.
In 1844 Gladstone broke with his father when, as President of the Board of Trade, he advanced proposals to half duties on foreign sugar not produced by slave labour, in order to "secure the effectual exclusion of slave-grown sugar" and to encourage Brazil and Spain to end slavery.
In the second ministry of Robert Peel he served as President of the Board of Trade (1843–1845). Gladstone was responsible for the Railways Act 1844—regarded by historians as the birth of the regulatory state, of network industry regulation, of rate of return regulation, and telegraph regulation.
Stephen Edward Gladstone (4 April 1844 – 23 April 1920); he married Annie Wilson on 29 January 1885.
Looking back in 1883, Gladstone wrote that "In principle, perhaps my Coalwhippers Act of 1843 was the most Socialistic measure of the last half century". He resigned in 1845 over the Maynooth Grant issue, a matter of conscience for him.
After accepting Gladstone's resignation, Peel confessed to a friend, "I really have great difficulty sometimes in exactly comprehending what he means." Gladstone returned to Peel's government as Colonial Secretary in December 1845.
They had five children and were ancestors of the Gladstone baronets after 1945. Catherine Jessy Gladstone (27 July 1845 – 9 April 1850) Mary Gladstone (23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927); she married Reverend Harry Drew on 2 February 1886.
Gladstone served as a minister in both of Peel's governments, and in 1846 joined the breakaway Peelite faction, which eventually merged into the new Liberal Party in 1859.
His father was made a baronet, of Fasque and Balfour, in 1846. Although born and raised in Liverpool, William Gladstone was of purely Scottish ancestry.
representing the MA graduates of the University) at the General Election in 1847—Peel had once held this seat but had lost it because of his espousal of Catholic Emancipation in 1829.
Gladstone became a constant critic of Lord Palmerston. In 1847 Gladstone helped to establish Glenalmond College, then The Holy and Undivided Trinity College at Glenalmond.
They had five children and were ancestors of the Gladstone baronets after 1945. Catherine Jessy Gladstone (27 July 1845 – 9 April 1850) Mary Gladstone (23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927); she married Reverend Harry Drew on 2 February 1886.
During the late 1840s, when he was out of office, he worked extensively to turn Hawarden into a viable business. In 1848 he founded the Church Penitentiary Association for the Reclamation of Fallen Women.
"Gladstone and Italian unification, 1848–70: the making of a Liberal?", The English historical review, (1970) vol.
In May 1849 he began his most active "rescue work" and met prostitutes late at night on the street, in his house or in their houses, writing their names in a private notebook.
They had two daughters. Helen Gladstone (28 August 1849 – 19 August 1925), Vice-Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge Henry Neville Gladstone (2 April 1852 – 28 April 1935); he married Hon.
After Peel's death in 1850, Gladstone emerged as the leader of the Peelites in the House of Commons.
In a "Declaration" signed on 7 December 1896 and only to be opened after his death, Gladstone wrote, "I desire to record my solemn declaration and assurance, as in the sight of God and before His Judgement Seat, that at no period of my life have I been guilty of the act which is known as that of infidelity to the marriage bed." In 1850/51 Gladstone visited Naples.
They had five children and were ancestors of the Gladstone baronets after 1945. Catherine Jessy Gladstone (27 July 1845 – 9 April 1850) Mary Gladstone (23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927); she married Reverend Harry Drew on 2 February 1886.
Popular Radicalism, Organised Labour and Party Politics in Britain, 1850–1914 (Cambridge University Press, 1991). Boyce, D.
In February 1851 Gladstone visited the prisons where thousands of them were held and was extremely outraged.
It had begun with just 5,000 items at his father's home Fasque, which were transferred to Hawarden for research in 1851. On 8 January 1896, in conversation with L.A.
Gladstone, 1851-1865 (1928) Guedalla, Philip, ed.
In April and July he published two Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen against the Neapolitan government and responded to his critics in An Examination of the Official Reply of the Neapolitan Government in 1852.
Gladstone's first letter described what he saw in Naples as "the negation of God erected into a system of government". ==Chancellor of the Exchequer (1852–1855)== In 1852, following the appointment of Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister, head of a coalition of Whigs and Peelites, Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
They had two daughters. Helen Gladstone (28 August 1849 – 19 August 1925), Vice-Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge Henry Neville Gladstone (2 April 1852 – 28 April 1935); he married Hon.
The Whig Sir Charles Wood and the Tory Disraeli had both been perceived to have failed in the office and so this provided Gladstone with a great political opportunity. His first budget in 1853 almost completed the work begun by Peel eleven years before in simplifying Britain's tariff of duties and customs.
The income tax had legally expired but Gladstone proposed to extend it for seven years to fund tariff reductions: We propose, then, to re-enact it for two years, from April, 1853, to April, 1855, at the rate of 7d.
Gladstone's dividing line set up in 1853 had been abolished in 1858 but Gladstone revived it, with lower incomes to pay 6½d.
Britain entered the Crimean War in February 1854, and Gladstone introduced his budget on 6 March.
Maud Rendel on 30 January 1890. Herbert John Gladstone MP (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930); he married Dorothy Paget on 2 November 1901. Gladstone's eldest son William (known as "Willy" to distinguish him from his father), and youngest, Herbert, both became Members of Parliament.
The income tax had legally expired but Gladstone proposed to extend it for seven years to fund tariff reductions: We propose, then, to re-enact it for two years, from April, 1853, to April, 1855, at the rate of 7d.
in the £; from April, 1855, to enact it for two more years at 6d.
When this Act expired in 1856 a Select Committee was appointed by the Lords in 1857 to look into the question.
Gladstone was fiercely against both of the Opium Wars Britain waged in China, in the First Opium War initiated in 1840 and the Second Opium War initiated in 1857, denouncing British violence against Chinese, and was ardently opposed to the British trade of opium in China.
When this Act expired in 1856 a Select Committee was appointed by the Lords in 1857 to look into the question.
from April, 1857, at 5d.
The Formation of the Liberal Party, 1857–1868 (1966) online. ===Midlothian campaign=== Blair, Kirstie.
Gladstone's dividing line set up in 1853 had been abolished in 1858 but Gladstone revived it, with lower incomes to pay 6½d.
Gladstone served as a minister in both of Peel's governments, and in 1846 joined the breakaway Peelite faction, which eventually merged into the new Liberal Party in 1859.
In his lifetime, he read around 20,000 books, and eventually owned a library of over 32,000. ==Chancellor of the Exchequer (1859–1866)== In 1859, Lord Palmerston formed a new mixed government with Radicals included, and Gladstone again joined the government (with most of the other remaining Peelites) as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to become part of the new Liberal Party. Gladstone inherited a deficit of nearly £5,000,000, with income tax now set at 5d (fivepence).
in income tax. On 12 September 1859 the Radical MP Richard Cobden visited Gladstone, who recorded it in his diary: "...
At the beginning of 1859, there were 419 duties in existence.
In 1859 he wrote to his brother, who was a member of the Financial Reform Association at Liverpool: "Economy is the first and great article (economy such as I understand it) in my financial creed.
and thousands of arms were stretched out at once, to shake hands with Mr Gladstone as one of themselves. When Gladstone first joined Palmerston's government in 1859, he had opposed further electoral reform, but he changed his position during Palmerston's last premiership, and by 1865 he was firmly in favour of enfranchising the working classes in towns.
Under this proposal, on 5 April 1860, the income-tax will by law expire. Gladstone wanted to maintain a balance between direct and indirect taxation and to abolish income tax.
What I look to is the social good, the benefit to the relations of the two countries, and the effect on the peace of Europe". Gladstone's budget of 1860 was introduced on 10 February along with the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty between Britain and France that would reduce tariffs between the two countries.
The 1860 budget reduced the number of duties to 48, with 15 duties constituting the majority of the revenue.
for incomes above £100. In 1860 Gladstone intended to abolish the duty on paper - a controversial policy - because the duty traditionally inflated the cost of publishing and hindered the dissemination of radical working-class ideas.
He wrote to his wife on 14 January 1860: "I am certain, from experience, of the immense advantage of strict account-keeping in early life.
Gladstone, resting on the handle of his axe, looked up, and with deep earnestness in his voice, and great intensity in his face, exclaimed: 'My mission is to pacify Ireland.' He then resumed his task, and never said another word till the tree was down. In the 1860s and 1870s, Gladstonian Liberalism was characterised by a number of policies intended to improve individual liberty and loosen political and economic restraints.
Popular Liberalism in the Age of Gladstone, 1860–1880 (Cambridge University Press, 1992). Biagini, Eugenio.
"Gladstone and Nonconformity in the 1860s: The Formation of an Alliance." Historical Journal 17, no.
In 1861 the tax was reduced to ninepence (£0–0s–9d), in 1863 to sevenpence, in 1864 to fivepence and in 1865 to fourpence.
The most significant expression of working-class opinion was at Northumberland in 1862 when Gladstone visited.
In 1861 the tax was reduced to ninepence (£0–0s–9d), in 1863 to sevenpence, in 1864 to fivepence and in 1865 to fourpence.
In 1861 the tax was reduced to ninepence (£0–0s–9d), in 1863 to sevenpence, in 1864 to fivepence and in 1865 to fourpence.
In 1861 the tax was reduced to ninepence (£0–0s–9d), in 1863 to sevenpence, in 1864 to fivepence and in 1865 to fourpence.
George Holyoake recalled in 1865: When Mr Gladstone visited the North, you well remember when word passed from the newspaper to the workman that it circulated through mines and mills, factories and workshops, and they came out to greet the only British minister who ever gave the English people a right because it was just they should have it ...
and thousands of arms were stretched out at once, to shake hands with Mr Gladstone as one of themselves. When Gladstone first joined Palmerston's government in 1859, he had opposed further electoral reform, but he changed his position during Palmerston's last premiership, and by 1865 he was firmly in favour of enfranchising the working classes in towns.
Queen Victoria was not pleased with this statement, and an outraged Palmerston considered it a seditious incitement to agitation. Gladstone's support for electoral reform and disestablishment of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland won support from Nonconformists but alienated him from constituents in his Oxford University seat, and he lost it in the 1865 general election.
Gladstone: Peel's Inheritor, 1809–1865 (1985), ; Gladstone: Heroic Minister, 1865–1898 (1999), , a scholarly biography vol 1 online ===Special studies=== Aldous, Richard.
The crisis of imperialism, 1865–1915 (1976), pp. 76–100, 142–98. Shannon, Richard.
The Conservatives then formed a ministry, in which after long Parliamentary debate Disraeli passed the Second Reform Act of 1867; Gladstone's proposed bill had been totally outmanoeuvred; he stormed into the Chamber, but too late to see his arch-enemy pass the bill.
Gladstone was furious; his animus commenced a long rivalry that would only end on Disraeli's death and Gladstone's encomium in the Commons in 1881. ===Leader of the Liberal Party, from 1867=== Lord Russell retired in 1867 and Gladstone became leader of the Liberal Party.
Democracy and religion: Gladstone and the liberal party, 1867–1875 (1986). Quinault, Roland, et al.
In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894.
His popularity amongst the working-class earned him the sobriquet "The People's William". In 1868, Gladstone became prime minister for the first time.
In 1868 the Irish Church Resolutions was proposed as a measure to reunite the Liberal Party in government (on the issue of disestablishment of the Church of Ireland—this would be done during Gladstone's First Government in 1869 and meant that Irish Roman Catholics did not need to pay their tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland).
When it was passed Disraeli took the hint and called a General Election. ==First premiership (1868–1874)== In the next general election in 1868, the South Lancashire constituency had been broken up by the Second Reform Act into two: South East Lancashire and South West Lancashire.
Evelyn Ashley famously described the scene in the grounds of Hawarden Castle on 1 December 1868: One afternoon...in the Park at Hawarden, I was standing by Mr.
In contrast to 1868 and 1880 when the Liberal campaign lasted several months, only three weeks separated the news of the dissolution and the election.
Unlike the efforts of the Conservatives, the organisation of the Liberal Party had declined since 1868 and they had also failed to retain Liberal voters on the electoral register.
In 1868 the Irish Church Resolutions was proposed as a measure to reunite the Liberal Party in government (on the issue of disestablishment of the Church of Ireland—this would be done during Gladstone's First Government in 1869 and meant that Irish Roman Catholics did not need to pay their tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland).
Matthew has called "the classic mid-Victorian reply" on 20 October 1869: The only means which have been placed in my power of 'raising the wages of colliers' has been by endeavouring to beat down all those restrictions upon trade which tend to reduce the price to be obtained for the product of their labour, & to lower as much as may be the taxes on the commodities which they may require for use or for consumption.
(Cheers.) Gladstone instituted abolition of the sale of commissions in the army: he also instituted the Cardwell Reforms in 1869 that made peacetime flogging illegal.
Gladstone, resting on the handle of his axe, looked up, and with deep earnestness in his voice, and great intensity in his face, exclaimed: 'My mission is to pacify Ireland.' He then resumed his task, and never said another word till the tree was down. In the 1860s and 1870s, Gladstonian Liberalism was characterised by a number of policies intended to improve individual liberty and loosen political and economic restraints.
Gladstone was associated with the Charity Organization Society's first annual report in 1870.
In 1870, the Irish Land Act and Forster's Education Act.
The danger came when the pope or bishops attempted to exert temporal power, as in the Vatican decrees of 1870 as the climax of the papal attempt to control churches in different nations, despite their independent nationalism.
On the other hand, when ritual practices in the Church of England—such as vestments and incense—came under attack as too ritualistic and too much akin to Catholicism, Gladstone strongly opposed passage of the Public Worship Regulation Act in 1874. In November 1874, he published the pamphlet The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance, directed at the First Vatican Council's dogmatising Papal Infallibility in 1870, which had outraged him.
Gladstone similarly refused to speak out against the persecution of Romanian Jews in the 1870s and Russian Jews in the early 1880s.
He also passed the Second Land Act (the First, in 1870, had entitled Irish tenants, if evicted, to compensation for improvements which they had made on their property, but had little effect) which gave Irish tenants the "3Fs"—fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale.
The Local Government Board Act 1871 put the supervision of the Poor Law under the Local Government Board (headed by G.J.
At a speech at Blackheath on 28 October 1871, he warned his constituents against these social reformers: ...
In 1871 his government passed the Trade Union Act allowing trade unions to organise and operate legally for the first time (although picketing remained illegal).
In 1871, he instituted the Universities Tests Act.
Gladstone later counted this reform as one of the most significant of the previous half century, saying that prior to its passage the law had effectively "compelled the British workman to work...in chains." He secured passage of the Ballot Act for secret ballots, and the Licensing Act 1872.
In foreign affairs his over-riding aim was to promote peace and understanding, characterised by his settlement of the Alabama Claims in 1872 in favour of the Americans. Gladstone unexpectedly dissolved Parliament in January 1874 and called a general election.
In 1873, his leadership led to the passage of laws restructuring the High Courts.
Edward Wickham on 27 December 1873.
After electoral defeat in 1874, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party.
He never actually owned Hawarden, which belonged first to his brother-in-law Sir Stephen Glynne, and was then inherited by Gladstone's eldest son in 1874.
He became Prime Minister for the first time and remained in the office until 1874.
In foreign affairs his over-riding aim was to promote peace and understanding, characterised by his settlement of the Alabama Claims in 1872 in favour of the Americans. Gladstone unexpectedly dissolved Parliament in January 1874 and called a general election.
On the other hand, when ritual practices in the Church of England—such as vestments and incense—came under attack as too ritualistic and too much akin to Catholicism, Gladstone strongly opposed passage of the Public Worship Regulation Act in 1874. In November 1874, he published the pamphlet The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance, directed at the First Vatican Council's dogmatising Papal Infallibility in 1870, which had outraged him.
The pamphlet sold 150,000 copies by the end of 1874.
I remember his speaking indignantly to me of the budget of 1874 as “That socialistic budget of Northcote's,” merely because of the special relief which it gave to the poorer class of income-tax payers.
Gladstone, whiggery and the liberal party, 1874–1886 (1988). Langer, William L.
John Henry Newman wrote the Letter to the Duke of Norfolk in reply to Gladstone's charges that Catholics have "no mental freedom" and cannot be good citizens. A second pamphlet followed in Feb 1875, a defence of the earlier pamphlet and a reply to his critics, entitled Vaticanism: an Answer to Reproofs and Replies.
Gertrude Stuart (daughter of Charles Stuart, 12th Lord Blantyre) on 30 September 1875.
Gladstone, 1809–1874 (1988); Gladstone, 1875–1898 (1995) online complete * Matthew, Gladstone: 1809–1898 (1997) is an unabridged one-volume version.
From 1876 he began a comeback based on opposition to the Ottoman Empire reaction to the Bulgarian April Uprising.
It is, indeed, not too much to say that his conception of Liberalism was the negation of Socialism. ===Bulgarian Horrors=== A pamphlet Gladstone published on 6 September 1876, Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, attacked the Disraeli government for its indifference to the Ottoman Empire's violent repression of the Bulgarian April uprising.
The Turks he said: The historian Geoffrey Alderman has described Gladstone as 'unleashing the full fury of his oratorical powers against Jews and Jewish influence' during the Bulgarian Crisis (1885–88), telling a journalist in 1876 that: "I deeply deplore the manner in which, what I may call Judaic sympathies, beyond as well as within the circle of professed Judaism, are now acting on the question of the East'.
Gladstone and the Bulgarian agitation, 1876 (1975) online Taylor, Michael.
"The Bulgarian Horrors: culture and the international history of the Great Eastern Crisis, 1876-1878" (PhD.
The Political Correspondence of Gladstone and Lord Granville 1876-1886.
The sculptor was James Pittendrigh MacGillivray. A statue to Gladstone, who was Rector of the University of Glasgow 1877–1880 was unveiled in Glasgow in 1902.
His Midlothian Campaign of 1879–80 was an early example of many modern political campaigning techniques.
Alderman attributes these developments, along with other factors, to the collapse of the previously strong ties between British Jews and Liberalism. During the 1879 election campaign, called the Midlothian campaign, he rousingly denounced Disraeli's foreign policies during the ongoing Second Anglo-Afghan War in Afghanistan.
After the 1880 general election, Gladstone formed his second ministry (1880–1885), which saw the passage of the Third Reform Act as well as crises in Egypt (culminating in the Fall of Khartoum) and Ireland, where his government passed repressive measures but also improved the legal rights of Irish tenant farmers. Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed home rule for Ireland but was defeated in the House of Commons.
In contrast to 1868 and 1880 when the Liberal campaign lasted several months, only three weeks separated the news of the dissolution and the election.
Gladstone similarly refused to speak out against the persecution of Romanian Jews in the 1870s and Russian Jews in the early 1880s.
I am bound to say hardly ever in the six years that Sir Stafford Northcote has been in office have I heard him speak a resolute word on behalf of economy. ==Second premiership (1880–1885)== In 1880, the Liberals won again and the Liberal leaders, Lord Hartington (leader in the House of Commons) and Lord Granville, retired in Gladstone's favour.
Gladstone's second administration—both as Prime Minister and again as Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1882—lasted from June 1880 to June 1885.
Arnstein concludes: Lord Acton wrote in 1880 that he considered Gladstone one "of the three greatest Liberals" (along with Edmund Burke and Lord Macaulay). In 1909 the Liberal Chancellor David Lloyd George introduced his "People's Budget", the first budget which aimed to redistribute wealth.
The term was used occasionally during the Midlothian election campaign, first became widely associated with him during the 1880 general election, and was ubiquitous in the press by 1882.
Imperial Reaction, Victoria, 1880‒1901 (1904) online Butler, P.
Gladstone and Kruger: Liberal government and colonial ‘home rule’, 1880–85 (1969). Schreuder, D.
He was elected a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1881. ==Early life== Born in 1809 in Liverpool, at 62 Rodney Street, William Ewart Gladstone was the fourth son of the merchant John Gladstone, and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson.
Gladstone was furious; his animus commenced a long rivalry that would only end on Disraeli's death and Gladstone's encomium in the Commons in 1881. ===Leader of the Liberal Party, from 1867=== Lord Russell retired in 1867 and Gladstone became leader of the Liberal Party.
More recently, specialists on Egypt have been interested primarily in the internal dynamics among Egyptians that produce the failed Urabi Revolt. ===Ireland=== In 1881 he established the Irish Coercion Act, which permitted the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to detain people for as "long as was thought necessary", as there was rural disturbance in Ireland between landlords and tenants as Cavendish, the Irish Secretary, had been assassinated by Irish rebels in Dublin.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1881. ===Franchise=== Gladstone extended the vote to agricultural labourers and others in the 1884 Reform Act, which gave the counties the same franchise as the boroughs—adult male householders and £10 lodgers—and added six million to the total number of people who could vote in parliamentary elections.
In 1881 Lord Tweedmouth's daughter and her husband, Lord Aberdeen, took up residence.
Gladstone's second administration—both as Prime Minister and again as Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1882—lasted from June 1880 to June 1885.
He originally intended to retire at the end of 1882, the 50th anniversary of his entry into politics, but did not do so. ===Foreign policy=== Historians have debated the wisdom of Gladstone's foreign-policy during his second ministry.
His term saw the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the First Boer War, and the war against the Mahdi in Sudan. On 11 July 1882, Gladstone ordered the bombardment of Alexandria, starting the short, Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882.
Many of the pamphlets bear the handwriting of Gladstone, which provides direct evidence of Gladstone's interest in various topics. ===Statues=== A statue of Gladstone by Albert Bruce-Joy and erected in 1882, stands near the front gate of St.
The city of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, was named after him and has a 19th-century marble statue on display in its town museum. Gladstone, Manitoba, was named after him in 1882. Streets in the cities of Athens, Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Limassol, Springs, Newark-on-Trent, Waterford City, Clonmel, Baltimore, MD., Brighton, Bradford, Scarborough, Swindon, Vancouver (including a school), Windsor, Ottawa, Halifax and Brisbane are named for him.
The term was used occasionally during the Midlothian election campaign, first became widely associated with him during the 1880 general election, and was ubiquitous in the press by 1882.
Gladstone, home rule and the Ulster question, 1882–1893 (1986).
Looking back in 1883, Gladstone wrote that "In principle, perhaps my Coalwhippers Act of 1843 was the most Socialistic measure of the last half century". He resigned in 1845 over the Maynooth Grant issue, a matter of conscience for him.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1881. ===Franchise=== Gladstone extended the vote to agricultural labourers and others in the 1884 Reform Act, which gave the counties the same franchise as the boroughs—adult male householders and £10 lodgers—and added six million to the total number of people who could vote in parliamentary elections.
Midlothian Speeches 1884 with an Introduction by M.
Gladstone's second administration—both as Prime Minister and again as Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1882—lasted from June 1880 to June 1885.
Parliamentary reform continued with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Gladstone was increasingly uneasy about the direction in which British politics was moving.
In a letter to Lord Acton on 11 February 1885, Gladstone criticised Tory Democracy as "demagogism" that "put down pacific, law-respecting, economic elements that ennobled the old Conservatism" but "still, in secret, as obstinately attached as ever to the evil principle of class interests".
It arrived in January 1885 two days after a massacre killed thousands.
He resigned as Prime Minister in June 1885 and declined Queen Victoria's offer of an earldom. ==Third premiership (1886)== The Hawarden Kite was a December 1885 press release by Gladstone's son and aide Herbert Gladstone announcing that he had become convinced that Ireland needed a separate parliament.
Stephen Edward Gladstone (4 April 1844 – 23 April 1920); he married Annie Wilson on 29 January 1885.
After the 1880 general election, Gladstone formed his second ministry (1880–1885), which saw the passage of the Third Reform Act as well as crises in Egypt (culminating in the Fall of Khartoum) and Ireland, where his government passed repressive measures but also improved the legal rights of Irish tenant farmers. Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed home rule for Ireland but was defeated in the House of Commons.
In 1886 Gladstone's party allied with Irish Nationalists to defeat Lord Salisbury's government.
They had five children and were ancestors of the Gladstone baronets after 1945. Catherine Jessy Gladstone (27 July 1845 – 9 April 1850) Mary Gladstone (23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927); she married Reverend Harry Drew on 2 February 1886.
In response, the Jewish Chronicle attacked Gladstone in 1888, arguing that 'Are we, because there was once a Liberal Party, to bow down and worship Gladstone—the great Minister who was too Christian in his charity, too Russian in his proclivities, to raise voice or finger' to defend Russian Jews...
Paid for by the industrialist Theodore Bryant, it is viewed as a symbol of the later 1888 match girls strike, which took place at the nearby Bryant & May Match Factory.
Volume I (John Murray, 1888) Gopal, S.
Whenever the Liberals were out of power, home rule proposals languished. ==Opposition (1886–1892)== Gladstone supported the London dockers in their strike of 1889.
Maud Rendel on 30 January 1890. Herbert John Gladstone MP (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930); he married Dorothy Paget on 2 November 1901. Gladstone's eldest son William (known as "Willy" to distinguish him from his father), and youngest, Herbert, both became Members of Parliament.
The Diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902 (2nd ed.
There were many who disagreed with him. Gladstone wrote to Herbert Spencer, who contributed the introduction to a collection of anti-socialist essays (A Plea for Liberty, 1891), that "I ask to make reserves, and of one passage, which will be easily guessed, I am unable even to perceive the relevancy.
They had eight children together: William Henry Gladstone MP (3 June 1840 – 4 July 1891); married Hon.
Gladstone formed his last government in 1892, at the age of 82.
On 24 March 1892 Gladstone said that the Liberals had: ...come generally...to the conclusion that there is something painful in the condition of the rural labourer in this great respect, that it is hard even for the industrious and sober man, under ordinary conditions, to secure a provision for his own old age.
Gladstone wrote on 16 July 1892 in autobiographica that "In 1834 the Government...did themselves high honour by the new Poor Law Act, which rescued the English peasantry from the total loss of their independence".
The passage Gladstone alluded to was one where Spencer had spoken of "the behaviour of the so-called Liberal party". ==Fourth premiership (1892–1894)== The general election of 1892 resulted in a minority Liberal government with Gladstone as Prime Minister.
When Willesden acquired the house and land in 1899, they named the park Gladstone Park after the old Prime Minister. Gladstone Rock, a large boulder about 12 ft high in Cwm Llan on the Watkin Path on the south side of Snowdon where Gladstone made a speech in 1892, was named for him.
The Government of Ireland Bill 1893 passed through the Commons but was defeated in the House of Lords in 1893.
In February 1893 he introduced the Second Home Rule Bill, which was passed in the Commons at second reading on 21 April by 43 votes and third reading on 1 September by 34 votes.
The House of Lords defeated the bill by voting against by 419 votes to 41 on 8 September. The Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, passed in 1893, required local authorities to provide separate education for blind and deaf children. Conservative MP Colonel Howard Vincent questioned Gladstone in the Commons on what his government would do about unemployment on 1 September 1893.
Anything that contributes to such an impression inflicts an injury upon the labouring population. In December 1893, an Opposition motion proposed by Lord George Hamilton called for an expansion of the Royal Navy.
In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894.
Gladstone left office in March 1894, aged 84, as both the oldest person to serve as Prime Minister and the only prime minister to have served four terms.
In January 1894, Gladstone wrote that he would not "break to pieces the continuous action of my political life, nor trample on the tradition received from every colleague who has ever been my teacher" by supporting naval rearmament.
In a fragment of autobiography dated 25 July 1894, Gladstone denounced the tax as ...by far the most Radical measure of my lifetime.
And the severity of the blow is greatly aggravated in moral effect by the fact that it is dealt only to a handful of individuals. Gladstone had his last audience with Queen Victoria on 28 February 1894 and chaired his last Cabinet on 1 March—the last of 556 he had chaired.
He left Parliament in 1895 and died three years later. Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as "The People's William" or the "G.O.M." ("Grand Old Man", or, to political rivals "God's Only Mistake").
He retained his seat in the House of Commons until 1895.
He was not offered a peerage, having earlier declined an earldom. Gladstone is both the oldest person to form a government—aged 82 at his appointment—and the oldest person to occupy the Premiership—being 84 at his resignation. ==Final years (1894–1898)== In 1895, at the age of 85, Gladstone bequeathed £40,000 (equivalent to approximately £ today) and much of his 32,000 volume library to found St Deiniol's Library in Hawarden, Wales.
In a "Declaration" signed on 7 December 1896 and only to be opened after his death, Gladstone wrote, "I desire to record my solemn declaration and assurance, as in the sight of God and before His Judgement Seat, that at no period of my life have I been guilty of the act which is known as that of infidelity to the marriage bed." In 1850/51 Gladstone visited Naples.
It had begun with just 5,000 items at his father's home Fasque, which were transferred to Hawarden for research in 1851. On 8 January 1896, in conversation with L.A.
In 1896, in his last noteworthy speech, he denounced Armenian massacres by Ottomans in a talk delivered at Liverpool.
On 2 January 1897, Gladstone wrote to Francis Hirst on being unable to draft a preface to a book on liberalism: "I venture on assuring you that I regard the design formed by you and your friends with sincere interest, and in particular wish well to all the efforts you may make on behalf of individual freedom and independence as opposed to what is termed Collectivism". In the early months of 1897, Gladstone and his wife stayed in Cannes.
Gladstone riposted "It was enough to make Peel and Cobden turn in their graves". On the advice of his doctor Samuel Habershon in the aftermath of an attack of facial neuralgia, Gladstone stayed at Cannes from the end of November 1897 to mid-February 1898.
In 1897 Lord Aberdeen was appointed Governor-General of Canada and the Aberdeens moved out.
William Ewart Gladstone (; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician.
Gladstone riposted "It was enough to make Peel and Cobden turn in their graves". On the advice of his doctor Samuel Habershon in the aftermath of an attack of facial neuralgia, Gladstone stayed at Cannes from the end of November 1897 to mid-February 1898.
Alone he knelt in the presence of his God till the absolution has been spoken, and the sacred elements received. Gladstone died on 19 May 1898 at Hawarden Castle, Hawarden, aged 88.
The term is still widely used today and is virtually synonymous with Gladstone. Gladstone's burial in 1898 was commemorated in a poem by William McGonagall. There is a scene in the Turkish film Free Man about Islamic scholar Said Nursi who is deeply troubled by Gladstone.
Sculptor Tom Murphy created the bronze bust. ===Namesakes=== Gladstone Park in the Municipal Borough of Willesden, London was named after him in 1899.
When Willesden acquired the house and land in 1899, they named the park Gladstone Park after the old Prime Minister. Gladstone Rock, a large boulder about 12 ft high in Cwm Llan on the Watkin Path on the south side of Snowdon where Gladstone made a speech in 1892, was named for him.
His wife, Catherine Gladstone (née Glynne), died two years later on 14 June 1900 and was buried next to him. ==Religion== Gladstone's intensely religious mother was an evangelical of Scottish Episcopal origins, and his father joined the Church of England, having been a Presbyterian when he first settled in Liverpool.
Maud Rendel on 30 January 1890. Herbert John Gladstone MP (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930); he married Dorothy Paget on 2 November 1901. Gladstone's eldest son William (known as "Willy" to distinguish him from his father), and youngest, Herbert, both became Members of Parliament.
The sculptor was James Pittendrigh MacGillivray. A statue to Gladstone, who was Rector of the University of Glasgow 1877–1880 was unveiled in Glasgow in 1902.
Arnstein concludes: Lord Acton wrote in 1880 that he considered Gladstone one "of the three greatest Liberals" (along with Edmund Burke and Lord Macaulay). In 1909 the Liberal Chancellor David Lloyd George introduced his "People's Budget", the first budget which aimed to redistribute wealth.
The proposal in the Commons of one bill only per session for the national finances was a precedent uniformly followed from that date until 1910, and it has been ever since the rule. Gladstone steadily reduced Income tax over the course of his tenure as Chancellor.
The Liberal statesman Lord Rosebery ridiculed it by asserting Gladstone would reject it, "Because in his eyes, and in my eyes, too as his humble disciple, Liberalism and Liberty were cognate terms; they were twin-sisters." Lloyd George had written in 1913 that the Liberals were "carving the last few columns out of the Gladstonian quarry". Lloyd George said of Gladstone in 1915: "What a man he was! Head and shoulders above anyone else I have ever seen in the House of Commons.
The Liberal statesman Lord Rosebery ridiculed it by asserting Gladstone would reject it, "Because in his eyes, and in my eyes, too as his humble disciple, Liberalism and Liberty were cognate terms; they were twin-sisters." Lloyd George had written in 1913 that the Liberals were "carving the last few columns out of the Gladstonian quarry". Lloyd George said of Gladstone in 1915: "What a man he was! Head and shoulders above anyone else I have ever seen in the House of Commons.
Stephen Edward Gladstone (4 April 1844 – 23 April 1920); he married Annie Wilson on 29 January 1885.
They had two daughters. Helen Gladstone (28 August 1849 – 19 August 1925), Vice-Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge Henry Neville Gladstone (2 April 1852 – 28 April 1935); he married Hon.
They had five children and were ancestors of the Gladstone baronets after 1945. Catherine Jessy Gladstone (27 July 1845 – 9 April 1850) Mary Gladstone (23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927); she married Reverend Harry Drew on 2 February 1886.
Maud Rendel on 30 January 1890. Herbert John Gladstone MP (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930); he married Dorothy Paget on 2 November 1901. Gladstone's eldest son William (known as "Willy" to distinguish him from his father), and youngest, Herbert, both became Members of Parliament.
They had three children. Agnes Gladstone (18 October 1842 – 9 May 1931); she married Very Rev.
Gladstone (1933) online Lord Kilbracken, Reminiscences of Lord Kilbracken (Macmillan, 1931). . . Matthew, H.C.G.
Gladstone (2 vols, 1933) online edition Hirst, F.W.
They had two daughters. Helen Gladstone (28 August 1849 – 19 August 1925), Vice-Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge Henry Neville Gladstone (2 April 1852 – 28 April 1935); he married Hon.
They had five children and were ancestors of the Gladstone baronets after 1945. Catherine Jessy Gladstone (27 July 1845 – 9 April 1850) Mary Gladstone (23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927); she married Reverend Harry Drew on 2 February 1886.
In the Golden Days (Frederick Muller, 1947). Isba, Anne.
History of Economic Analysis (George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954). Seton-Watson, R.W.
(2 vol Clarendon, 1962) online Temperley, Harold and L.M.
With Cabinet Minutes & Prime-Ministerial Correspondence (13 vol; vol 14 is the index; 1968–1994); includes diaries, important selections from cabinet minutes and key political correspondence.
1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971). Gladstone, William E.
Foot, (New York: Humanities Press, 1971) online Guedalla, Philip, ed.
1885–1894 (The Harvester Press, 1975). Beales, Derek.
Margaret Thatcher proclaimed in 1983: "We have a duty to make sure that every penny piece we raise in taxation is spent wisely and well.
Popular Radicalism, Organised Labour and Party Politics in Britain, 1850–1914 (Cambridge University Press, 1991). Boyce, D.
Popular Liberalism in the Age of Gladstone, 1860–1880 (Cambridge University Press, 1992). Biagini, Eugenio.
In 1996, she said: "The kind of Conservatism which he and I...favoured would be best described as 'liberal', in the old-fashioned sense.
"Gladstone and the Rise and Fall of Victorian Liberalism" History Review (Dec 1996) v.
The main purpose of this administration was to deliver Ireland a reform which would give it a devolved assembly, similar to those which would be eventually put in place in Scotland and Wales in 1999.
The Mind of Gladstone: Religion, Homer and Politics (2004). Bebbington, David and Roger Swift (eds.), Gladstone Centenary Essays (Liverpool University Press, 2000). Biagini, E.F.
"Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–1898)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004; online edition, May 2006. Matthew, H.C.G.
One of his collateral descendants, George Freeman, has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk since 2010. Sir Albert Gladstone, 5th baronet and Sir Charles Gladstone, 6th baronet (from whom the 7th and 8th baronets are descended) were also grandsons. ==Legacy== The historian H.
Deiniol's), near the commencement of Gladstone Way at Hawarden. A statue of Gladstone stands in front of the Kapodistrian University building in the centre of Athens. There is a Gladstone statue at Glenalmond College, unveiled in 2010, which is located in Front Quad. A Gladstone memorial was unveiled on 23 February 2013 in Seaforth, Liverpool by MP Frank Field.
Gladstone and Ireland: Politics, Religion, and Nationality in the Victorian Age (Palgrave Macmillan; 2011), 307 pp. Bright, J.
Deiniol's), near the commencement of Gladstone Way at Hawarden. A statue of Gladstone stands in front of the Kapodistrian University building in the centre of Athens. There is a Gladstone statue at Glenalmond College, unveiled in 2010, which is located in Front Quad. A Gladstone memorial was unveiled on 23 February 2013 in Seaforth, Liverpool by MP Frank Field.
Dissertation, University of British Columbia, 2014) online Yildizeli, Fahriye Begum.
Upton, (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016).
Gladstone and British Policy Towards the Ottoman Empire." (PhD dissertation, University of Exeter, 2016) online. ===Historiography=== St.
The Historiography of Gladstone and Disraeli (Anthem Press, 2016) 402 pp excerpt ===Primary sources=== Gladstone, W.E.
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