It is the duty of government to make it difficult for people to do wrong, easy to do right.
― William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 - 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal politician who served four non-consecutive terms as Prime Minster of Britain in a career spanning 60 years, the most non-consecutive terms ever served by a UK Prime Minister. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times. Known to his supporters as the "Grand Old Man" (GOM) and "The People's William" and to his detractors as "God's Only Mistake", Gladstone originated the political doctrine of Gladstonian liberalism, a form of liberalism emphasising equality of opportunity, free trade, low taxes and low government spending. Alongside his main rival Benjamin Disraeli, Gladstone is often seen as one of Britain's greatest Prime Ministers.
Gladstone entered politics in 1832 as a Conservative, winning a seat in Newark with an 887 majority. He immediately came under attack from anti-slavery elements in Parliament because he supported gradual emancipation rather than immediate abolition due to the influence of his father, who owned over 2000 slaves. He later abandoned this view and advocated the immediate worldwide abolition of slavery; as President of the Board of Trade he increased taxes on the importation of slave-produced sugar in order to incentivize use of free workers. He was also a vocal opponent of Britain's opium trade and the war it spawned with China.
In Robert Peel's second ministry Gladstone served as President of the Board of Trade from 1843 until 1845. As previously mentioned he raised taxes on importing slave-produced sugar in this position. He also pushed through the Coal Vendors Act 1843, setting up a central employment office to make it easier for coal vendors to gain employment, and the Railways Act 1844, forcing rail companies to make train journeys affordable for the poor so they could find work. Gladstone resigned in 1845 after a dispute over separation of church and state.
After Peel's 1846 resignation, Gladstone and the rest of Peel's supporters left the Conservative Party and formed the Peelite faction, offering support to the new Prime Minister John Russell because he supported Peel's free trade principles. While a backbench MP, Gladstone founded the Church Penitentiary Association for the Reclamation of Fallen Women, an institution which "rescued" prostitutes from the street and found them legal and safer employment.
Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852 under Lord Aberdeen as part of a Whig-Peelite coalition. His first budget, in 1853, finalized Peel's work in moving Britain towards free trade by abolishing 123 custom duties and reducing an additional 133. The income tax threshold was expanded in order to pay for this. During wartime, Gladstone insisted on raising taxes rather than borrowing money, as he wanted to avoid debt and believed that raising taxes during wartime would turn the public against war. Gladstone resigned in 1855, but was appointed again in 1859 by Viscount Palmerston and continued to abolish and reduce duties and tariffs. He initially failed to abolish the tax on paper in 1860 when the House of Lords rejected it, but was able to get it through the next year by including it in his Finance Bill. He also began to reduce the income tax once it was no longer needed to fund tariff reductions. Gladstone's actions increased his popularity as the liberator of British trade.
Gladstone became leader of the Liberal Party in 1867. He won the election in 1868, beating the incumbent Disraeli, and introduced Gladstonian liberalism to government. He pursued a policy of reducing government spending and reforming or repealing laws that prevented people from acting freely to improve themselves. In foreign policy he aimed to promote peace and understanding between nations. He abolished the selling of positions in the army and outlawed the flogging of disobedient soldiers during peacetime. His government passed the Irish Land Act 1870 entitling evicted Irish tenants to compensation, the Education Act 1870 making education compulsory for all children between the ages of five and twelve, the Trade Union Act 1871 legalizing most of the actions of trade unions (although peaceful picketing remained illegal), the University Test Act 1871 allowing Catholics to go to university, the Ballot Act 1872 creating the secret ballot, the Licensing Act 1872 restricting public consumption of alcohol and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 creating the modern High Court and Court of Appeal.
In January 1874 Gladstone unexpectedly called a general election, which he lost to Disraeli by 108 seats. He remained in opposition until 1880, when he beat Disraeli in the election due to an economic slump at home and military defeats abroad. At this time public approval for the British Empire was at its height. Gladstone, who was personally opposed to imperialism, pursued a policy of non-expansion, not colonizing any further territory and attempting to guide British territories towards self-rule. To this end, he did not pursue the First Boer War after the British defeat at Majuba Hill. However, he did send troops into Egypt to put down a rebellion by Egyptian nationalist Arabi Pasha after public pressure forced him to do so. In domestic policy, he sought to improve the lives of the people and extend the franchise; he passed the Irish Land Act 1881 expanding the rights of Irish tenant farmers, the Married Women's Property Act 1882 granting legal independence and property rights to married women and the Reform Act 1884, which increased the amount of people allowed the vote by 5.5 million. This was followed by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, which introduced the idea of equally populated constituencies. However, Gladstone’s second ministry was brought to an end by the Mahdist revolution in the Sudan. Gladstone supported the freedom of the Sudanese people, but due to public pressure he agreed to send General Charles Gordon to evacuate British citizens from Khartoum. When Gordon disobeyed orders and remained in Khartoum, Gladstone delayed before sending soldiers to help him, with the result that Gordon was dead by the time the army arrived to relieve Khartoum. Public outrage over Gordon’s death forced Gladstone to resign in 1885 and led to his critics inverting his GOM acronym to MOG for “Murderer of Gordon”.
However, Gladstone regained the position of Prime Minister the next year when 86 Irish Radical MPs, opposing Lord Salisbury’s government and approving of Gladstone’s support for Irish Home Rule, gave their seats to the Liberals, allowing them to gain a majority. Upon coming to power, Gladstone proposed an Irish Home Rule Bill proposing to give Ireland its own devolved assembly. Gladstone hoped to pass the bill with the help of the Irish Radicals, but the controversial issue split the Liberals and the bill was soundly rejected, leading to Gladstone’s government falling after only a few months. He was re-elected for the fourth and final time in 1892 and once again tried and failed to introduce a Home Rule Bill, this time getting it through the House of Commons but failing to get it through the House of Lords. However, he successfully pushed through the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1893 mandating separate education for blind and deaf children, the beginning of special needs education in Britain. He also opposed expanding the Royal Navy and the inheritance tax. He resigned on 2 March 1894 after the House of Lords blocked his Home Rule Bill.
Gladstone died at Hawarden Castle on 19 May 1898, aged 88. His cause of death was recorded as “syncope, senility”, meaning heart failure and physical deterioration due to old age.