William Henry Gladstone

William Henry Gladstone (3 June 1840 – 4 July 1891) was a British Liberal Party Member of Parliament, and the eldest son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine née Glynne.

Portrait of Gladstone, c.1865
Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1882
Funerary monument to Gladstone at St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden

Gladstone was born in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. He attended Eton College and read Greek and Latin at Christ Church, Oxford University. He was a member of parliament for a total of 20 years, representing Chester for 3, Whitby for 12 and East Worcestershire for 5.

A singer and organist, he was well versed in musical history, especially the development of Anglican church music. He wrote on musical topics, and one of the views he expressed was that choral church services were to be deplored because "the choirs often discourage the congregations from singing". He wrote the anthems "Gracious and Righteous" and "Withdraw Not Thou", and chants, anthems, introits and organ voluntaries. He composed the hymn tunes Hammersmith, to which "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" is sometimes set, and Ombersley,[1] sometimes used for "Lord of All Being, Throned Afar".

William played for Scotland in the first unofficial England v Scotland Football International in 1870. He was one of two sitting members of parliament to play for Scotland in this match, the other being John Wingfield Malcolm, MP for Boston.[2]

When his mother's brother Sir Stephen Glynne died without heirs in 1874, the Glynne baronetcy became extinct, but William inherited the Glynne estates, including Hawarden Castle, which had in any case been the Gladstones' family home since his grandfather Sir John Gladstone had used some of his substantial fortune to rescue the Glynne family from bankruptcy in the 1840s.[3] He was appointed High Sheriff of Flintshire for 1888.[4]

He died in London on 4 July 1891; his son William Glynne Charles Gladstone inherited Hawarden.[5] His funeral at Hawarden was extremely well attended, and the poor of the parish were said to have "unmistakeably felt that they had lost a most kind and generous benefactor".[6]

References
  1. http://www.hymnary.org/tune/ombersley_gladstone
  2. Association of Football Statisticians: http://www.11v11.co.uk/index.php?pageID=466.
  3. Dictionary of National Biography: Sir John Gladstone
  4. "No. 25798". The London Gazette. 20 March 1889. p. 1696.
  5. Dictionary of National Biography: Gladstone, Henry Neville
  6. "The Late Mr W. H. Gladstone". Wrexham Advertiser: 6. 11 July 1891 – via British Newspapers Online.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Earl Grosvenor and
Philip Stapleton Humberston		 Member of Parliament for Chester
1865–1868
With: Earl Grosvenor		 Succeeded by
Earl Grosvenor and
Henry Cecil Raikes
Preceded by
Charles Bagnall		 Member of Parliament for Whitby
1868–1880		 Succeeded by
Arthur Pease
Preceded by
Henry Allsopp and
Thomas Eades Walker		 Member of Parliament for East Worcestershire
1880–1885
With: George Hastings		 Succeeded by
George Woodyatt Hastings
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