William Ewart Gladstone

Rare card · No. 30312

William Ewart Gladstone ( YOO-ərt GLAD-stən; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom for four non-consecutive terms between 1868 and 1894, the most of any British prime minister. He began in politics as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark and ended as the face of the Liberal Party. He also served four times as Chancellor of the Exchequer, five times as Leader of the House of Commons, and MP for over 60 years, from 1832 to 1846 and from 1847 to 1895, representing a total of five constituencies. His political career thus spanned nearly the entire Victorian era. Gladstone was born in Liverpool to the prominent Scottish merchant and slaveholder Sir John Gladstone. A graduate of Eton and Oxford, Gladstone first entered the House of Commons in 1832 as a High Tory, a grouping that joined the Conservative Party under Sir Robert Peel in 1834. Gladstone served as a minister in both of Peel's governments, and in 1846...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Samuel Alexander Walker, Public domain