Gladstone, William E

Gladstone, William E(wart)

William E. Gladstone.

(credit: Culver Pictures)

(born Dec. 29, 1809, Liverpool, Eng.—died May 19, 1898, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales) British politician and prime minister (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, 1892–94). He entered Parliament in 1833 as a Tory, but after holding various government posts, including chancellor of the Exchequer (1852–55, 1859–66), he slowly converted to liberalism and became Liberal Party leader in 1866. In his first term as prime minister (1868–74), he oversaw national education reform, voting reform (see Ballot Act), and the disestablishment of the Irish Protestant church (1869). In 1875–76 he denounced the indifference of Benjamin Disraeli's government to the Bulgarian Horrors. In his second term, he secured passage of the Reform Bill of 1884. His cabinet authorized the occupation of Egypt (1882), but his failure to rescue Gen. Charles George Gordon in Khartoum (1885) cost Gladstone much popularity and his government's defeat. In 1886, throwing his weight behind support for Irish Home Rule, he was able to regain control of Parliament, but when his Home Rule Bill was rejected he resigned. He devoted the next six years to trying to convince the electorate to grant Home Rule to Ireland. Liberals won a majority again in 1892, and in his fourth cabinet he piloted through another Home Rule Bill, but it was soundly rejected by the House of Lords. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.