Gladstone in 1906 aged 21
William 'Will' Glynne Charles Gladstone (14 July 1885 – 13 April 1915) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, and the last of four generations of Gladstones to serve in the House of Commons, the first being his great-grandfather Sir John Gladstone(s) (1764–1851).[1] His body was the last to be officially repatriated during World War I.[2]
Early life[]
Gladstone as a child in 1887 with his famous grandfather
Gladstone was born on 14 July 1885.[3] His father, William Henry Gladstone (1840–1892), was the eldest son of the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine, and his mother was the Hon. Gertrude Gladstone, daughter of Charles Stuart, 12th Lord Blantyre. He inherited from his father the 18th-century Hawarden Castle which had belonged to the family of his grandmother's brother Sir Stephen Glynne, the 9th and last baronet.[4]
He was educated at home before attending Eton and then New College, Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1907[5] and graduated with a second class degree.[6]
Career[]
Political career[]
William Gladstone in 1911 around the time of his election as an MP
In 1909, Gladstone was the Assistant Private Secretary to John Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen who was serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[6] In 1911, he served a few months at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. as an [7] to Lord Bryce.[6]
He stood as the Liberal Party candidate in the Kilmarnock Burghs by-election held on 26 September 1911 and was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP).[8]
| Kilmarnock District by-election, 1911[9]
Electorate | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal | Will Gladstone | 6,923 | 48.3 | -12.6 | |
| Conservative | John David Rees | 4,637 | 32.4 | -6.7 | |
| Labour | Thomas McKerrell | 2,761 | 19.3 | n/a | |
| Majority | 2,286 | 15.9 | -5.9 | ||
| Turnout | 14,321 | ||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | -3.0 | |||
A whip in Asquith's government, he served only 4 years in Parliament.
Military service[]
Gladstone in military uniform in 1915
Gladstone was commissioned into the British Army on 15 August 1914 as a second lieutenant (on probation);[2][10] he had originally wished to enlist as a private but was advised to become an officer.[5] He joined the 3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers[11] and underwent training at Wrexham before going out to France in March 1915.[6] He first came under fire on 23 March.[6] His commission was confirmed and he was promoted to lieutenant on 7 April 1915.[12]
Death[]
Gladstone's funeral procession leaving Hawarden Castle, Flintshire, Wales, on 23 April 1915
Gladstone's funeral procession passing through the village of Hawarden
On 13 April 1915,[13] he was killed in action near Laventie,[14] three weeks after arriving in France.[2] He was shot by a sniper.[6] Having initially been buried in France, special permission was granted by King George V for his body to be brought back to the United Kingdom.[2] Nine days after his death,[2] his body was disinterred and re-buried in the churchyard of St Deiniol's, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales.[15] Also commemorated on the gravestone is his cousin William Herbert Gladstone, MC, son of Stephen and Annie Gladstone, killed in action in 1918.
As a memorial, a rood was installed at St Deiniol's, Hawarden and a new theatre and wards at Chester Royal Infirmary. Gladstone is also commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs that died during World War I to be named on that memorial.[16][17] Gladstone is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.[18] A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of the life and death of Gladstone.[19][20]
After his death, the estate was purchased by an uncle Henry Gladstone, the third son (and seventh child) of William and Catherine.[21] Herbert Gladstone, another uncle, wrote a memoir of him that was published in 1918.[22]
Honours[]
On 8 July 1911, Gladstone was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire.[23] This appointment also came with the title of Custos Rotulorum of Flintshire.
References[]
- ↑ Dictionary of National Biography: Gladstone, Sir John, 1st Baronet
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Van Emden, Richard (7 June 2012). The quick and the dead. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 131–133. ISBN 978-1408822456.
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)}[better source needed] }}
- ↑ Dictionary of National Biography: Gladstone, Herbert John
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Timpson, Trevor (17 January 2014). "WW1: Can we really know the Lost Generation?". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/24526419. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE". 28 June 1918. pp. 14–15. http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/29th-june-1918/14/william-g-c-gladstone. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ↑ "W G C Gladstone an MP". 28 September 1911. https://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00B1EFF3E5D16738DDDA10A94D1405B818DF1D3. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ↑ "No. 28536". 29 September 1911. p. 7121. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28536/page/7121
- ↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 by Craig, F. W. S. (1974)
- ↑ "No. 28918". 29 September 1914. p. 7694. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28918/page/7694
- ↑ "No. 29102". 16 March 1915. pp. 2638–2640. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29102/page/2638
- ↑ "No. 29137". 20 April 1915. p. 3992. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29137/supplement/3992
- ↑ "Casualty Details: Gladstone, William Glynne Charles". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/671332/.
- ↑ Bebbington, David; Swift, Roger (2000). Gladstone centenary essays (1. publ. ed.). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 154. ISBN 9780853239253.
- ↑ "Hawarden - 1914-1918 War Memorial". Clwyd Family History Society. 1 January 2014. http://www.clwydfhs.org.uk/cofadeiladau/hawarden-wwi_wm.htm. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ↑ "Recording Angel memorial Panel 8". UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wwi-angel-memorial/recording-angel-panel8/.
- ↑ "List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall" (pdf). UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). http://www.parliament.uk/documents/War-Memorial-Lists/War-Memorial-Westminster-Hall-WW1.pdf.
- ↑ "Gladstone". UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wars-heraldic-shields/gladstone/.
- ↑ "Error: no
|title=specified when using {{Cite web}}". 6 February 1932. - ↑ Moss-Blundell, Edward Whitaker, ed (1931). The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918. E. Mathews & Marrot.
- ↑ Dictionary of National Biography: Gladstone, Henry Neville
- ↑ Gladstone, Herbert John (1918). William G. C. Gladstone: a Memoir. Nisbet.
- ↑ "No. 28512". 11 July 1911. p. 5168. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28512/page/5168
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Will Gladstone. |
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Gladstone
- Portraits of William Glynne Charles Gladstone (1885-1915) at the National Portrait Gallery, London
The original article can be found at Will Gladstone and the edit history here.