William Ewart Gladstone was born on December 29, 1809, in Liverpool.
William was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
Gladstone served as President of the Oxford Union debating society, where he developed a reputation as an orator, which followed him into the House of Commons.
At university Gladstone was a Tory and denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform.
Elected to Parliament in 1832 as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark, partly through the influence of the local patron, the Duke of Newcastle.
Although Gladstone entered Lincoln's Inn in 1833, with a view to becoming a barrister, by 1839 he had requested that his name should be removed from the list because he no longer intended to be called to the Bar.
In the House of Commons, Gladstone was initially a disciple of High Toryism, opposing the abolition of slavery and factory legislation.
In December 1834 he was appointed as a Junior Lord of the Treasury in Robert Peel's first ministry. The following month he was appointed as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, an office he held until the government's resignation in April 1835.
Gladstone published his first book, The State in its Relations with the Church, in 1838, in which he argued that the goal of the state should be to promote and defend the interests of the Church of England.
He served as Prime Minister four times from 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, and 1892-1894.
William Ewart Gladstone died on May 19, 1898.
Gladstone, Queensland, Australia was named after him and has a statue on display in its town museum.
British Prime Ministers
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