W(illiam) E(wart) Gladstone - Early life, Minister under Peel, Chancellor of the Exchequer, First ministry, 1868–1874

British statesman and prime minister (1868–74, 1880–5, 1886, 1892–4), born in Liverpool, Merseyside, NW England, UK. He studied at Oxford, and entered parliament in 1832 as a Conservative, working closely with Peel. From 1834 he held various junior posts, becoming President of the Board of Trade (1843–5). A firm supporter of free trade, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Aberdeen's coalition (1852–5) and again under Palmerston (1859–66). In 1867 he became leader of the Liberal Party, and soon after served his first term as premier. He disestablished and disendowed the Irish Church, and established a system of national education (1870). Frequently in office until his resignation in 1894, he succeeded in carrying out a scheme of parliamentary reform (the Reform Act, 1884) which went a long way towards universal male suffrage. In his last two ministries he introduced bills for Irish Home Rule, but both were defeated. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. Gladstone's policies followed his strong religious convictions and his liberalism. He resisted imperialist expansion, and his mistrust of socialism was reflected in a belief that government alone cannot solve social problems.

William Ewart Gladstone

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 3 December 1868 – 17 February 1874 23 April 1880 – 9 June 1885 1 February 1886 – 20 July 1886 15 August 1892 – 2 March 1894
Preceded by	Benjamin Disraeli The Earl of Beaconsfield The Marquess of Salisbury The Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by	Benjamin Disraeli The Marquess of Salisbury The Marquess of Salisbury The Earl of Rosebery
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office December 28, 1852 – February 28, 1855 June 18, 1859 – June 26, 1866 August 11, 1873 – February 17, 1874 April 28, 1880 – December 16, 1882
Preceded by	Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli Robert Lowe Stafford Northcote
Succeeded by	George Cornewall Lewis Benjamin Disraeli Stafford Northcote Hugh Childers
Born	29 December 1809 Liverpool
Died	19 May 1898 Hawarden Castle, Flintshire
Political party	Conservative and Liberal

William Ewart Gladstone born Liverpool (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894).

Gladstone was famously at odds with Queen Victoria for much of his career.

Early life

Born in Liverpool at 62 Rodney Street in 1809, William Ewart Gladstone was the fourth son of the merchant Sir John Gladstones and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson.

In 1840, Gladstone began to rescue and rehabilitate London prostitutes, actually walking the streets of London himself and encouraging the women he encountered to change their ways.

Minister under Peel

Gladstone was re-elected in 1841. Gladstone, who had previously argued in a book that a Protestant country should not pay money to other churches, supported the increase in the Maynooth grant and voted for it in Commons, but resigned rather than face charges that he'd compromised his principles to remain in office.

Gladstone returned to Peel's government as Colonial Secretary in December.

As Chancellor he pushed to extend the free trade liberalisations in the 1840s and worked to reduce public expenditures, policies that, when combined with his moral and religious ideals, became known as "Gladstonian Liberalism".

From 1849 until 1859, Gladstone is known to have drawn a picture of a whip in his diary, suggesting that he may have suffered temptation, either in the presence of the prostitutes or from "marginally salacious (published) material" he read (as Roy Jenkins has described it), and may have used self-flagellation as a means of self-regulation or repentance, a practice also adopted by Cardinal Newman and Edward Pusey.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

After visiting Naples in 1850, Gladstone began to support Neapolitan opponents of the Bourbon rulers. In 1852, following the ascendance of Lord Aberdeen, as premier, head of a coalition of Whigs and Peelites, Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer and unsuccessfully tried to abolish the income tax. Lord Stanley became Prime Minister in 1858, but Gladstone declined a position in his government, opting not to work with Benjamin Disraeli, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. In 1859, Lord Palmerston formed a new mixed government with Radicals included, and Gladstone again joined the government as Chancellor of the Exchequer, leaving the Conservatives to become part of the new Liberal Party.

During consideration of his Budget for 1860, it was generally assumed that Gladstone would use the budget's surplus of £5 million to abolish the income tax, as in 1853 he had promised to do before the decade was out.

Significantly, Gladstone succeeded in steadily reducing the income tax over the course of his tenure as CE.

When Gladstone first joined Palmerston's government in 1859, he opposed further electoral reform, but he moved toward the Left during Palmerston's last premiership, and by 1865 he was firmly in favour of enfranchising the working classes in towns.

As Chancellor, Gladstone made a controversial speech at Newcastle on 7 October 1862 in which he supported the independence of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War, claiming that Jefferson Davis had a "made a nation".

Gladstone's support for electoral reform and disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Ireland had alienated him from his constituents in his Oxford University seat, and he lost it in the 1865 general election.

In 1858 Gladstone took up the hobby of tree felling, mostly of oak trees, an exercise he continued with enthusiasm until he was 81 in 1891.

First ministry, 1868–1874

Lord Russell retired in 1867 and Gladstone became a leader of the Liberal party.

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's first premiership instituted reforms in the British Army, Civil Service, and local government to cut restrictions on individual advancement.

Gladstone transformed the Liberal party during his first premiership (following expansion of the electorate in the wake of Disraeli's Reform Act of 1867).

The issue of disestablishment of the Church of Ireland was used by Gladstone to unite the Liberal Party for government in 1868. In the wake of Benjamin Disraeli's victory, Gladstone retired temporarily from the leadership of the Liberal party, although he retained his seat in the House.

Second ministry, 1880–1885

In 1880 the Liberals won again, and the new Liberal leader Lord Hartington, retired in Gladstone's favour.

Queen Victoria asked Lord Hartington, to form a ministry, but he persuaded her to send for Gladstone.

Gladstone was becoming increasingly uneasy about the direction in which British politics was moving.

The fall of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1885 was a major blow to Gladstone's popularity.

Third ministry, 1886

In 1886 Gladstone's party was allied with Irish Nationalists to defeat Lord Salisbury's government;

Fourth ministry, 1892–1894

In 1892 Gladstone was re-elected Prime Minister for the fourth and final time.

Final years

In 1895 at the age of 85, Gladstone bequeathed £40,000 and much of his library to found St Deiniol's Library, the only residential library in Britain.

Gladstone died at Hawarden Castle in 1898 at the age of 88 from metastatic cancer that had started behind his cheekbone.

A statue of Gladstone, erected in 1905, is situated at Aldwych, London, nearby to the Royal Courts of Justice .

Liverpool's Crest Hotel was renamed The Gladstone Hotel in his honour in the early 1990s.

Near to Hawarden in the town of Mancot, there is a small hospital named after Catherine Gladstone.

Gladstone's Governments

First Gladstone Ministry (December 1868–February 1874) Second Gladstone Ministry (April 1880–June 1885) Third Gladstone Ministry (February–August 1886) Fourth Gladstone Ministry (August 1892–February 1894)

Biographies

D.W. Matthew, Gladstone: 1809-98 Roy Jenkins, Gladstone (1995) (ISBN 0-333-66209-1)

Political offices

Political Offices
Preceded by: The Earl of Ripon	President of the Board of Trade 1843–1845	Succeeded by: The Earl of Dalhousie
Preceded by: The Lord Stanley	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1845–1846	Succeeded by: The Earl Grey
Preceded by: Benjamin Disraeli	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1852–1855	Succeeded by: Sir George Lewis, Bt
Preceded by: Sir John Young	Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 1859	Succeeded by: Sir Henry Knight Storks
Preceded by: Benjamin Disraeli	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1859–1866	Succeeded by: Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by: The Viscount Palmerston	Leader of the House of Commons 1865–1866
Preceded by: The Earl Russell	Leader of the British Liberal Party 1866–1875	Succeeded by: The Earl Granville and Marquess of Hartington
Preceded by: Benjamin Disraeli	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1868–1874	Succeeded by: Benjamin Disraeli
	Leader of the House of Commons 1868–1874
Preceded by: Robert Lowe	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1873–1874	Succeeded by: Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt
Preceded by: The Earl Granville and Marquess of Hartington	Leader of the British Liberal Party 1880–1894	Succeeded by: The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by: The Earl of Beaconsfield	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1880–1885	Succeeded by: The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by: Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt	Leader of the House of Commons 1880–1885	Succeeded by: Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bt
	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1880–1882	Succeeded by: Hugh Childers
Preceded by: The Marquess of Salisbury	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1886	Succeeded by: The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by: The Earl of Harrowby	Lord Privy Seal 1886	Succeeded by: The Earl Cadogan
Preceded by: Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bt	Leader of the House of Commons 1886	Succeeded by: Lord Randolph Churchill
Preceded by: The Marquess of Salisbury	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1892–1894	Succeeded by: The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by: The Earl Cadogan	Lord Privy Seal 1892–1894	Succeeded by: The Lord Tweedmouth
Preceded by: Arthur James Balfour	Leader of the House of Commons 1892–1894	Succeeded by: Sir William Harcourt
Honorary Titles
Preceded by: None	Lord Rector of Edinburgh University 1859–1865	Succeeded by: Thomas Carlyle