William Gladstone (1868-74, 1880-85, 1886, 1892-94) - Prime Minister - Parliament

William Gladstone was born in 1809 and educated at Eton and Oxford. Gladstone progressed under Peel from junior lord of the Treasury to under-secretary for the colonies. He eventually became Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Palmerston.

When the Conservatives were defeated in 1868 Gladstone became Prime Minister with his Liberal party. The Conservatives returned to power however with a majority and Gladstone found himself leading the opposition. When Parliament was dissolved though in 1880, the Liberals won with a landslide victory. After a further few years in and out of office, Gladstone finally resigned in 1894.

William Gladstone to Lord Palmerston – 11th May 1864:
“I am warmly in favour of an extension of the Borough Franchise, I hope I did not commit the Government to anything: nor myself to a particular form of franchise. I stated that I wished to leave the form and figure open; that I was for a sensible and considerable, but not excessive enlargement”.

William Gladstone to Lord Palmerston – 13th May 1864:
“I have never exhorted the working men to agitate for the franchise, and I am at a loss to conceive what report of my speech can have been construed by you in such a sense. I argued as strongly as I could against the withdrawal of the Reform Bill in 1860. I think the party which supports your Government has suffered and is suffering and will much more seriously suffer from the part which is a party it has played within these recent years, in regard to the franchise”.

William Gladstone to Lord Palmerston – 23rd May 1864:
“My speech cannot I admit be taken for less than a declaration that, when a favourable state of opinion and circumstances shall arise, the working class ought to be enfranchised to some extent as was contemplated in the Reform Bill of 1860”.

"[The British constitution] presumes more boldly than any other the good sense and the good faith of those who work it"

"The love of freedom itself is hardly stronger in England than the love of aristocracy"

"I am a firm believer in the aristocratic principle - the rule of the best. I am an out-and-out inegalitarian"

Gladstone on Number 10:
"Nowhere is there a man who has so much power and so little to show for it"