Gladstone, William Ewart

b. 1809; d. 1898

British statesman, born in Liverpool of Scottish descent, the fourth son of John Gladstone, a merchant. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took a double first in classics and mathematics. Gladstone first wanted to take holy orders, but instead entered the first Reform Parliament as a Tory member for Newark in 1832.

When at the end of 1834 Peel became prime minister, he appointed Gladstone as junior lord of the Treasury. He was promoted under-secretary of state for war and the colonies in June 1835, but the ministry went out in the following April. While out of office Gladstone devoted himself to his favourite studies. Stimulated by the Oxford Movement with which he was sympathetic, both from conviction and through his friendship with Cardinal Manning, then still a clergyman of the Church of England, he published in 1838 his famous book, The State in its Relations with the Church. It was an immediate sensation and aroused considerable controversy. In 1839 he married Catherine Glynne of Hawarden, Flintshire.

In the general election of 1841 Gladstone was again returned for Newark. Peel formed his second administration, in which Gladstone was vice-president of the Board of Trade. Gladstone drafted the revised tariff of 1842. Two years later he became president of the Board of Trade and entered the Cabinet, but resigned in 1845 on conscientious grounds on the Maynooth issue. In December 1845 he returned to office as colonial secretary under Peel. Peel had been converted to Free Trade as being in his opinion the only means of averting famine in Ireland and his repeal of the Corn Laws caused a violent split in the Tory party. Gladstone's increasing interest in financial affairs also led him to Free Trade, and for this reason he gave up his seat for Newark, where his major supporter, the Duke of Newcastle, was a Protectionist. In the general election of 1847, however, he was returned for the University of Oxford. In the period which followed his attention turned to foreign affairs, and he became a constant critic of Palmerston.

Gladstone now, as in the future, stood for what he conceived to be moral right in dealings with other countries. A visit to Naples in the autumn of 1850 led him to take up the cause of the oppressed subjects of the Neapolitan government. In 1852, when Lord Aberdeen became premier, at the head of a coalition of Whigs and Peelites, Gladstone became chancellor of the Exchequer, and his speech on the introduction of his first budget on 18 April 1853 established beyond question his reputation as a financier. He held this office until 1855. Lord Derby succeeded Palmerston in 1858 and attempted to bring Gladstone into the government, but he declined a position which would have made him a colleague of Disraeli, then chancellor and leader of the House of Commons. When Palmerston returned to power in 1859 Gladstone accepted office as chancellor of the Exchequer, an act which marked his move over to the Liberal party. In the general election of 1865 he lost his seat for Oxford, but was narrowly elected for South Lancashire.

On the death of Palmerston, Lord Russell became prime minister. Gladstone was again chancellor but with the added responsibility of being leader of the House. The government fell, however, on the issue of the Reform Bill, though the bill as finally passed by the Tories owed much to the amendments which Gladstone forced upon it. On the retirement of Lord Russell in 1867, Gladstone succeeded to the leadership of the Liberal party. The following year the retirement of Lord Derby made Disraeli prime minister, and thus the two great protagonists became the leaders of their respective parties. By the end of the year Disraeli's government resigned. The Liberals won the ensuing election on the issue of the disestablishment of the Irish Church. Gladstone, defeated in South Lancashire, was returned for Greenwich.

In 1868 he became prime minister for the first time. He remained in office until 1874. The disestablishment of the Irish Church, the Irish Land Act, the Education Act introducing compulsory national elementary education, and the Ballot Act were among the great domestic measures of his government, while his handling of the Alabama case was an example of his insistence on moral right rather than force in international affairs. In the general election of 1874 the Liberals were defeated. Gladstone announced his resignation from the leadership of the Liberal party, though he retained his seat in the Commons. He devoted himself to his theological studies, but his full return to public life soon came as the result of his vigorous denunciation of the atrocities perpetuated by the Ottoman Empire upon the Bulgarians. He was thus in direct conflict with Disraeli's pro-Turkish policy. Gladstone aroused the conscience of the country, and the Conservatives were defeated in the elections of 1880. Lord Hartington, the new Liberal leader, retired in Gladstone's favour.

Gladstone's second administration lasted from June 1880 to June 1885 - a turbulent five years which frustrated the Liberal policy of 'peace, retrenchment, and reform'. Gladstone's sympathy for a people struggling for independence persuaded him to treat with the Boers who had defeated the British at Majuba, and the first Boer War was concluded (March 1881) by the Boers being granted independence under British suzerainty. In Irish affairs circumstances impelled Gladstone unwillingly towards coercion. Liberal principles were further compromised by the aggressive action in Egypt where the Khedive was restored by British arms at the battle of Al-Tall al-Kabir. Then followed the rising of the Mahdi in the Sudan, the surrender of the Sudan, and the death of General Gordon. This event excited popular feeling at home against the government, and Gladstone's popularity declined. In domestic legislation, however, he was more successful, and he introduced several Irish measures and extended the franchise to agricultural labourers and others.

Gladstone resigned in 1885, but returned to office for the third time in the following year. He now introduced his long-cherished measure for Home Rule for Ireland. His own party split on the issue. The Liberal Unionists, who included Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, voted with the Conservatives and the bill was thrown out on the second reading. An appeal to the country brought the combined Conservatives and Liberal Unionists a majority, and Lord Salisbury's government lasted until 1892. Then Gladstone became prime minister for the fourth time. He was now in his 83rd year, and determined to devote his last years to bringing the Home Rule question for a successful issue. His second Home Rule Bill was put before Parliament in February 1893, and after much controversy was passed by the House of Commons in September. It was then rejected by the Lords by an overwhelming majority. Gladstone continued in office, but made his last speech in the House of Commons of 1 March 1894, in which he bequeathed to his followers the task of destroying the veto of the House of Lords. Two days later he resigned the office of prime minister, in which he was succeeded by Lord Rosebury. He did not again attend the House of Commons, but he retained his seat until the dissolution in 1895. The Armenian massacres moved him so deeply that he again appeared to speak in public in 1896 with something of his old vigour of denunciation. He died less than two years later, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Gladstone was one of the great statesmen of the 19th century. Stern in principle, activated always by a sense of moral right, he believed it was his duty as the leader of a great democracy to understand the will of the people and to fulfil it. Gifted with a deep, sonorous voice and fine delivery, he was a magnificent orator. His budget speeches in particular were masterly for their lucidity and grasp of fact. He was one of the best chancellors of the Exchequer that Britain has ever had, though as a prime minister his emotional approach to international and national affairs was a fundamental impediment; and though he could rouse enthusiasm by his oratory, he was not an easy leader under whom to work.

© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

Recommended reading

Gladstone 15% off
Shannon, Richard — £11.04 (normal price £12.99) —

Gladstone 15% off
Shannon, Richard — £11.04 (normal price £12.99) —