William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone ( YOO-ərt GLAD-stən; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a four-time prime minister of the United Kingdom. He began in politics as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark and ended as the face of the Liberal Party. His four non-consecutive terms — the most of any British prime minister — took place between 1868 and 1894. 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 joined the breakaway Peelite faction that merged into the new Liberal Party in 1859. He was chancellor under Lord Aberdeen (1852–1855), Lord Palmerston (1859–1865) and Lord Russell (1865–1866). Gladstone's own political doctrine – which promoted equality of opportunity and the repeal of taxes and protectionist trade barriers – came to be known as Gladstonian liberalism.

In 1868, Gladstone became prime minister for the first time. His ministry passed many reforms, including the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and the introduction of secret voting. After electoral defeat in 1874, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party. From 1876 he began a comeback based on moral opposition to the Ottoman Empire's massacres of Bulgarians. Gladstone's Midlothian speaking campaign of 1879–1880 is considered the first modern political campaign in Britain, and his popularity among the working class earned him the sobriquet "The People's William". After the 1880 general election, Gladstone returned as party leader and formed his second ministry (1880–1885), which saw the passage of the Third Reform Act as well as crises in Ireland — where his government passed repressive measures but also improved the legal rights of tenant farmers — and Egypt, where public outrage at the death of General Gordon in the Siege of Khartoum forced him to resign.