William Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone (1809 – 1898) was a British Liberal politician in the House of Commons who served as Prime Minister four separate times, and was noted for his rivalry with Tory MP Benjamin Disraeli.

Biography

Early life

William Gladstone was born in Liverpool in 1809, as the fifth of six children born to Anna Mackenzie and Sir John Gladstone. He studied Mathematics and Classics at the Christ Church at Oxford, serving as president of Union debating society and an advocate for Toryism.

Gladstone was elected to Parliament in 1832 and became a member of High Toryism in the House of Commons, with the objective of abolition of slavery. However, as slavery was abolished, William helped his father collect £100,000 from the government for having owned 2000 slaves in the Caribbean.

Rivalry with the Disraelis

During his time in parliament, he began to despise his rival Benjamin Disraeli, who shared the same disgust to him. Gladstone had trouble finding a wife, but he eventually married Catherine Glynn.

By 1840, William took it upon himself to "rescue and rehabilitate" prostitutes for several decades, which earned him backlash from the people. Leaving and returning to the parliament several times, Gladstone served as a Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1859 and a Liberal Part in 1868.

Gladstone after an arguement with Disraeli

That year, Prime Minister Disraeli petitioned for the Corrupt Practices Act. The Templars opposed the act, planning to assassinate Disraeli and replace him with Gladstone, who they believed would be more easy to manipulate, but their plot ultimately failed.

Sometime later, the Assassin Jacob Frye stole Gladstone and his wife's invitations for one of Queen Victoria's balls held at Buckingham Palace, as well as their carriage. Afterwards, Gladstone shared a carriage ride with Duleep Singh, who was seeking sympathetic politicians to recruit to his cause of freeing India from British rule. Gladstone refused on the belief that the British Empire was more capable of governing India than Singh and stated that once he became Prime Minister, their dominion would continue to endure.

When Gladstone and his wife arrived at Buckingham Palace for the ball, they realized that their invitations were misplaced before noticing their own carriage roll into the palace.

Later life and death

Gladstone eventually served his first premiership later in 1868 and retired by 1874. However, dismayed with Disraeli's changes, he returned to the parliament and served another three times as Prime Minister. Unlike Disraeli, he had poor relations with Queen Victoria. William eventually died of heart failure in 1898 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, with his wife later laid next to his grave.

Gallery

• 
  Gladstone giving a speech at a rally
• 
  The Gladstones being refused entrance to the royal ball

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate