William Ewart Gladstone: Faith and Politics in Victorian Britain (Library of Religious Biography Series)

Book Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Churchill, a towering historical biography, available for the first time in paperback.

William Gladstone was, with Tennyson, Newman, Dickens, Carlyle, and Darwin, one of the stars of nineteenth-century British life. He spent sixty-three of his eighty-nine years in the House of Commons and was prime minister four times, a unique accomplishment. From his critical role in the formation of the Liberal Party to his preoccupation with the cause of Irish Home Rule, he was a commanding politician and statesman nonpareil. But Gladstone the man was much more: a classical scholar, a wide-ranging author, a vociferous participant in all the great theological debates of the day, a voracious reader, and an avid walker who chopped down trees for recreation. He was also a man obsessed with the idea of his own sinfulness, prone to self-flagellation and persistent in the practice of accosting prostitutes on the street and attempting to persuade them of the errors of their ways. This full and deep portrait of a complicated man offers a sweeping picture of a tumultuous century in British history, and is also a brilliant example of the biographer’s art.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Too Tedious To Read.......2007-04-12

I bought this 600+ page tome because I wanted to learn more about 19th century English history. I knew virtually nothing about Gladstone, and I was convinced by the cover that claims this to be "[an] enthralling biography ... utterly absorbing" [an exact quote] according to "The Atlantic Monthly."

But as noted by other reviewers, this book dwells only on minutiae without (before I gave up at around page 60) providing any memorable insights into anything. It is possible that I can't "get it" because I'm an American without a grounding in the basics of English politics and English history -- exactly who are the Whigs, who are the Tories, Palmerston, that sort of thing -- but I think this book's problems are deeper than that.

For instance, we learn on page 57 that Gladstone's sister-in-law married "George Lyttelton, of Hagley Hall, who had succeeded as the fourth Lord Lyttelton of the second creation in 1837" and that his later achievements included "honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge" and becoming "the first principal of Queen's College, Birmingham." But a few pages later, where we find Gladstone giving an important speech in the Commons concerning his opposition to the Opium Wars, we are told absolutely nothing about the Opium Wars, etc.

I know quite a bit about American history, but when reading a biography of Andrew Jackson, I doubt I would be very interested in learning about the comings and goings of the second cousins of members of his administration.

The Architect of the "Pax Victoria".......2006-11-01

William Gladstone is probably the most recognized name in British life and politics during the period known as the Victorian era. His public life ran nearly concurrently with Queen Victoria's reign, usually not to his comfort or benefit, but his influence in government and public life was both an embodiment of the Victorian Age and at times a check upon its excesses.

I spent a fair amount of time wondering if the United States had ever produced someone even remotely similar to Gladstone, and I have still come up empty. Gladstone entered Parliament in 1833 and gave his last address in 1894. Despite youthful political indiscretions, an early tendency toward controversial outspokenness in matters theological, religious eccentricities, a tendency toward micromanagement, a temperamental sovereign, and a mixed record as four-time prime minister, Gladstone navigated sixty-some years of public service in a fashion that earned him the universal title Grand Old Man. The Gladstone portrayed by Jenkins becomes a character greater than the sum of his parts, certainly at least as responsible for the Pax Victoria as Victoria herself, whose vanities of empire were stoked, unwisely as it proved, by Gladstone's lifelong rival, Disraeli.

The young Gladstone fancied himself a theologian, and as a young MP produced a lengthy and polemical defense of the Anglican Church that fortuitously came to be forgotten in succeeding years. He never lost interest in theology, however, nor in the health of the established Anglican Church. The conversion of his friends Newman and Manning to Roman Catholicism troubled him, but the experience perhaps ameliorated a residual dogmatism to the point where he could converse with such as Charles Darwin in the latter's home. Religion would always be a major drive in Gladstone's life, but one of his religious practices has drawn particular interest over the years.

Gladstone, during the first half of his life, believed he was called to rescue prostitutes from a life of sin. Jenkins is careful here to walk a thin line in his assessment of Gladstone's "ministry." He [Jenkins] concludes that while Gladstone probably did believe his work was religious, he did find erotic stimulation in visiting such women in their places of residence, but apparently without technical marital infidelity. Gladstone himself would admit later that he succeeded in converting perhaps one of the ninety or so women he frequented; his diary indicates that such activity caused him enough moral discomfort that he engaged in frequent self-flagellation.

Fortunately for Gladstone, it was his legislative, oratorical, and administrative competence that shaped his public image. Somewhat like Churchill, he served in a number of government capacities, but clearly he was best suited as Chancellor of the Exchequer. American government does not have an equivalent officer who in effect draws up the nation's budget and establishes spending and taxing priorities for Parliament to vote up or down. Gladstone was a Conservative of a curious sort by today's standards: he eschewed deficit spending but did not shrink from raising taxes for what Henry Clay would have called "internal improvements." His policies over the years were generally good for the economy, and as Prime Minister for four separate tenures he enjoyed popularity among the laboring classes. In his later years Gladstone took to campaigning for elections and causes, attracting large and generally friendly crowds. This was an innovation in British politics, and Victoria thought it pedestrian.

Four times during his career Gladstone was summoned by the Queen to form new governments. Relations between the two were never warm, particularly after the death of Prince Albert. Gladstone, unlike many in government, became more liberal in old age. He was never entirely at peace with jingoistic rhetoric of empire [which Disraeli, according to Jenkins, spoon-fed the Queen to saturation], and his major political crucible was a morally equitable settlement of the Irish dilemma, a dream which regrettably escaped him and crippled his governments. Victoria, with a near neurotic fear of anarchy, found Gladstone's popularity unsettling and his politics too radical.

Gladstone, on the other hand, took advantage of the rapidly expanding railroad systems to observe first hand economic and political developments both in England and on the Continent. In some ways he shared Victoria's concern over nineteenth century upheavals and threats to legitimate and long established structures of authority, but his political instincts guided him toward moderate governance and a steady improvement in the standard of living. One may argue that Gladstone was also voted out of office four times, which is true; in his defense, his "social agenda" on such matters as Ireland and suffrage, modest as it was, ran against the tide of a reactionary monarch and the still well entrenched aristocracy of the House of Lords.

Gladstone's foreign policy was generally benign, a case of his being lucky and good. He was a Confederate sympathizer during the Civil War, but he did not object to American damage claims involving the Confederate warship Alabama, outfitted in England. His one major adventure was an incursion into Egypt in 1882 to stem nationalist unrest. Gladstone, then old and distracted, was not enthused by the cause but won pundits when the uprising was quelled with minimal loss of life.

Gladstone died in 1898 at the age of 89. Queen Victoria outlived him by about three years. Although a devotee of long walks, chopping trees, and frigid swimming outings, Gladstone's life was marred with illnesses and perhaps a tendency toward hypochondria. Certainly his very location in history is remarkable--a living bridge between Napoleon and Winston Churchill. Jenkins makes the most of this tenure in a very satisfying way for the reader. I would note here that an excellent sequel to this work is A.N. Wilson's "After the Victorians."

Very dry and narrow biography.......2006-04-13

This book on one of Britian's greatest prime ministers, especially of the 19th century proves to be very boring. I guess that is blunt enough. This is a political biography written by a politican turned historian. The narrow focus of this biography ensure that we know everything about Gladstone's political life and almost nothing outside of it. Subject matters that does not involved Gladstone, the author did not touch. We do not know what kind of Britain Gladstone presided over, what her foreign policies or even her domestic policies if Gladstone wasn't involved. How did Britain's imperialism, her many wars and its cost affected Gladstone? In all these 640 odds pages, we hardly know what kind of man Gladstone was outside of his political arena. His personal relationship with his family, friends, allies and enemies remains vague, superificial and smokey. What we get after reading this biography is a highly detail narrative of Gladstone's political accomplishments, failures, relationships and "what if" political scenarios. I guess if a politican writes about another politican, this is the type of biography you might get, an one dimensional look.

I didn't find the book very well written. It almost look like the author was overdosing on his thesaurus to impressed his English composition teacher. I found the Amazon.com review regarding that element to be very accurate.

Thus, I was bit surprised to read all these nice accolodes printed in the book. I wondered if any of these people actually read the book which can put almost anyone to sleep unless of course, if you are a politican.

I find it hard to recommend this book to anyone. Its definitely not for casual reading unless 19th century British parlimentary history is what you are looking for.

state versus church.......2006-01-05

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), 4 times Prime Minister of Great Britain during the height of Britain's influence and imperial power, was an extraordinary leader and individual who repays close study. His life, like that of Queen Victoria herself, spanned most of the 19th century. He was perhaps the most eminent of the British Victorians. One can compare him only to Darwin in the extent to which he influenced the culture and lives of his countrymen during that century. He was fourth son of Sir John Gladstone, a wealthy merchant in Liverpool who attained his riches at least partially via his holdings in the slave-worked Carribean cotton and sugar plantations. Like many of the sons of the rich in England during the early Victorian period, William was educated at Eton and Christ College, Oxford. It was at Oxford apparently where the future prime Minister awoke to his three greatest passions: religion, politics and Homer.

Gladstone's intellectual struggles with those three passions are very ably summarized in a coupl eof recent books on the man: Babbington's book on Gladstone's intellectual development and the biography here under review by Jenkins. It speaks well of Gladstone that he took seriously the question of how religion and politics, or church and state ought to be related both culturally and institutionally/legally. Gladstone really did grapple mightily with the issue and his labors did produce fruit it seems to me. In some ways Gladstone was the ideal man to pursue the question of Church and State. He was an able politician and administrator in a country where Church and State issues had been life or death matters for centuries. He was also a deeply religious man who read voraciously in theology and spirituality and who all his life engaged in regular prayer and ministry. On the other hand, though he was a very successful politician he was not a profound political thinker. He did not have the same deep grounding in either theology or in political philosophy that many of his contemporaries had. He knew enough, however, to know that he did not know and thus he very wisely sought counsel from the experts. Although he was an almost fanatical High Anglican churchman, he eagerly sought counsel from three Roman Catholics: the German theologian Dollinger, the convert John Henry Newman and the political historian Lord Acton. Three of these men, Gladstone, Acton and Dollinger, were lifelong friends who corresponded and met regularly over several decades. Newman corresponded with the 3 but was limited in his travel and meetings during to his clerical life and duties. Gladstone, Acton and Dollinger, nevertheless, held Newman in highest regard, though Gladstone always regretted Newman's conversion to Roman Catholicism.
Gladstone's position on Church-state relations evolved along with his political views over the many years he spent in public life. When he graduated from Oxford in 1832, his father convinced the Duke of Newcastle to sponsor his son for the Newark constituency and thus Gladstone entered politics in a fateful year for Britain and for Gladstone. In that year the great Reform Act of 1832 had been passed which substantially increased the franchise. Gladstone would be at the center of further increases in the franchise throughout the 19th century.

Gladstone distinguished himself with fine oratorical skills in his maiden speeches in parliament. He was very conservative and opposed the extension of the franchise and loosening up the tight Church-state relationship. He very quickly developed the view that the strength of a polity depended on the strength and respect given to the Church. His deep religious sense also allowed him to sometimes place the interests of the state in service to the interests of the Church. This makes sense if you view the interests of the population as the same as or coterminous with the interests of religion. If the people need religion in order to flourish then the job of the State is to protect and nurture religious institutions and power. To do so would be to increase the power of the people.

He parliamentary speeches got him noticed by Peel, the prime Minister, who appointed him to a post in the Treasury. He quickly evidenced unusual administrative ability and the following year he was promoted to under-secretary for the colonies. Before he could distinguish himself in this new post he lost office when Peel resigned in 1835. He reasonably quickly returned to the government, however, when the Whigs were forced out of power in 1841. He now began to display extraordinary political and administrative skills. In 1844 he put together the Railway Bill that obliged railway companies to transport third-class travelers for fares that did not exceed a penny a mile. This bill reduced the unpopularity of his party among ordinary Britons.

In1847 Gladstone was elected the conservative member of parliament (MP) for Oxford University. This is a significant fact as Oxford at that time was a bastion of High Church, conservative thought which held that the State ought to support, financially, legally and in general promote an established religion, namely the High Church form of Anglicanism. Gladstone believed that Anglicanism had discovered the right form of state-church relations with the two entities roughly co-equal influence in the larger culture and each competent in its own domain. The state could not and should not undertake any actions that would undermine the influence of the Church and vice versa. Gladstone opposed Roman Catholicism insofar as it yielded where religious questions were concerned to a power outside of the local nationality. He also opposed low church and protestant manifestations of religion in England as disordered in their relations to the state: either they were hostile to the state and too subservient to state powers (e.g. the Puritans under Cromwell). All his life Gladstone was quite critical, even fanatically so, of the Roman Catholic Papacy-this despite his intense and life-long friendships with devout Roman Catholics. His own sister had converted to Roman Catholicism. Yet he saw the papacy as illiberal and operating to instill superstious subservience in the life of the faithful. When the First Vatican Council created the dogma of papal infallibility Gladstone only felt confirmed in his estimate of the backwardness of the Papacy. He never learned to see that the Papacy represented a cultural force that could be appealed to over and beyond the state. It represented a check on state power... but Gladstone never understood that. Indeed, it is now generally believed by many competent historians that democracy emerged first in the West precisely because the Papacy always constituted an extra-local, extra-national, spiritual, legal and institutional authority that could trump the local sovereign in several important cultural and economic domains that affected the lives of ordinary people nominally under the jurisdiction of the local Sovereign. Such was not the case in the Eastern Orthodox tradition where Church (in the form of the Metropolitan and Patriarchate) was subordinated to the Emperor and Czar. Thus it is not Christianity per se that yields liberty and democracy but the Latin rite which does so.

When Lord Palmerston, the leader of the Whigs, became Prime Minister in1859, he made Gladstone the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Again Gladstone proved an extraordinarily able Administrator: He abolished the paper duty which enabled publishers to produce cheap newspapers. He, bucked the tide in his own party and supported another reform Bill which would have enfranchised large sections of the working class (but this was defeated). His support for reform cost him his seat as representative from Oxford University. He now moved away from the conservative party. Lord Russell, the new Prime Minister, asked Gladstone to become leader of the House of Commons as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Gladstone again introduced a reform bill and again was defeated and Russell's administration resigned.

Lord Derby, leader of the conservatives now became Prime Minister with the unscrupulous Benjamin Disraeli acting as leader of the House of Commons. To steal the thunder from Gladstone and the liberals, Disraeli proposed (in 1867) a new Reform (enfranchisement) Act. Unlike Disraeli himself who had earlier blocked Gladstone's efforts on the same measure, Gladstone took a principaled stand, pointed out that he had practically written the bill himself (Disraeli being too stupid to undertake the task), supported the bill and the measure was passed.

The new reform act gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency, approximately1,500,000 new voters. Who would get the new voters? Interestingly, the new voters were not decieved by Disraeli's machinations. In the general election of December 1868, the conservatives were defeated and Gladstone, leader of the liberal party, became Prime Minister. Now Gladstone acted with astonishing energy. He wrote and passed the education act (1870) and quickly moved to consolidate his party's base by passing the Ballot Act (1872). This made voting anonymous. Until then voters had to mount a platform and announce their choice of candidate to the officer who then recorded it in the poll book. Employers and local landlords therefore knew how people voted and could punish them if they did not support their preferred candidate.

In the 1874 general election, however, the conservatives squeaked out a bare majority and Disraeli now became Prime Minister. Gladstone led the opposition. At this point he began his lifelong habit of intense scholarly and religious research when out of office. Amazingly enough in less than two years he wrote and published (all while leading the opposition in Parliament!) his book An Inquiry into the Time and Place of Homer in History (1876). It is difficult to describe the work as it contained some very big ideas (Greek culture as part of the Christian revelation-not merely foreshadowing the revelation) and some extraordinary minutiae only scholars could find interesting (e.g. an enumeration of styles, descriptions and functions of doorways in Homer...such info later helped helped anthropologists excavating ruins of Mycanae and Troy).

On a side note: While Disraeli gained the favor of Queen Victoria, Gladstone incurred her wrath. This it turns out was due to the fact that Gladstone was constantly trying to get her to play a role in the religious and political affairs of state (while Disraeli preferred a more tame royalty)-yet she would not budge from the Palaces after the death of Prince Albert. Disraeli's inactivity on the domestic front and bungling of foreign crises led to the dissolution of Parliament in 1880, and the general election resulted in a overwhelming Liberal victory and Gladstone's return to the Prime Minister-ship. Once again he acted energetically, introducing two new measures concerning parliamentary reform. The corrupt practices act reigned in some of the buying and selling of candidates and offices that proliferated under the Disraeli regime. The 1884 reform act gave the counties the same franchise as the boroughs and added about six million to the total number of new voters. Not surprisingly Gladstone and the liberals won the 1886 general election.

He now began another unpopular crusade: Gladstone now attempted to convince Parliament to accept Irish Home Rule. At this time the master Irish politician Parnell was using brilliant parliamentary tactics to bring the issue before Parliament. When Gladstone finally introduced a home rule bill the proposal split his own party and Parliament rejected the measure. He nevertheless tried again but this time Parnell became embroiled in a personal scandal (He had a mistress whom he apparently passionately loved and later married). Without Parnell's leadership in the House of Commons the bill suffered and again went down to defeat. Gladstone was defeated in the polls in the 1886 elections but was once again returned to office for the final time in 1892. He tried once more. The following year the Irish home rule bill was defeated in the house of lords. William Gladstone resigned from office in March 1894 and died at Hawarden on 19th May, 1898.

Enchanting - An absolutely exceptional book........2003-04-23

Gladstone was a remarkable, complicated, even enigmatic man and Jenkins does not waste our time with the sort of pop-psychology projection and junk theories that ruin so much contemporary biography. Instead, Jenkins lets the facts speak for themselves, weighting them based on their demonstrable impact on Gladstone's own life and on British society viewed from the vantage point of 100 years or more of subsequent history. Gladstone emerges through records of his actions, the memoirs of his contemporaries, and his own diary. Jenkins resists the too-common modern conceit of pretending intimate knowledge of Gladstone as if through some astral mind-meld. Although he admits his own affection for the man, Jenkins lets readers decide for themselves what they think of this stubborn, courageous, long-winded, sanctimonious, and usually dead right -- even prophetic -- dynamo.

Along the way there are delightful, balanced, spot-on portraits of some of Gladstone's contemporaries. The often-deified Disraeli comes out as a man of great talent, imagination, and political genius who was a self-absorbed, underhanded lightweight. (A portrayal such as that some modern critics have applied to Bill Clinton.) The slow intellectual and emotional curdling of Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert is as eloquent a meditation on the corruptions of isolation and power as I've read in some time. Spencer, Parnell, Hartington, Rosebery, Balfour, Joseph Chamberlain, Manning, Wilberforce, Palmerston -- all are here drawn with flavor and economy and no trace of bitterness or partisanship.

One of the great strengths of this biography is that it never talks down to the reader. Jenkins is clearly an almost frighteningly literate individual, and his vocabulary occasionally sent me to the dictionary, but I consulted it in delight as every rare word was clearly used unselfconsciously by an author who knew it well and knew exactly what he was trying to say. (As Simon Winchester has noted, there are very few true synonyms in English.) More challenging in this regard may be the fact that the book, having been written for a British audience, assumes an elementary knowledge of the outlines of British history, which many American readers don't have. Just as a book about a prominent American nineteenth-century figure would not feel it necessary to produce extensive background on, say, the industrial revolution, the transcontinental railroad, or abolition, so Gladstone assumes the reader's familiarity with the Indian Raj, the expansion of the franchise, Britain's own industrial progress, and other subjects. My advice is to just jump right in anyway -- I myself was not well versed in these topics yet found the narrative so strong that the author's insights were easy to follow.

Public Speech and the Culture of Public Life in the Age of Gladstone
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Public Speech and the Culture of Public Life in the Age of Gladstone
Joseph S. Meisel
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 023112144X

Book Description

By the last decades of the nineteenth century, more people were making more speeches to greater numbers in a wider variety of venues than at any previous time. This book argues that a recognizably modern public life was created in Victorian Britain largely through the instrumentality of public speech. Shedding new light on the careers of many of the most important figures of the Victorian era and beyond, including Gladstone, Disraeli, Sir Robert Peel, John Bright, Joseph Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and Canon Liddon, the book traces the ways in which oratory came to occupy a central position in the conception and practice of Victorian public life. Not a study of rhetoric or a celebration of great oratory, the book stresses the social developments that led to the production and consumption of these speeches.

The Two Mr. Gladstones: A Study in Psychology and History

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The Two Mr. Gladstones: A Study in Psychology and History
Travis L. Crosby
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300068271

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The greatly revered Mr. Gladstone-four times the prime minister of Great Britain and the premier moral spokesman of the Victorian era-had another, disquieting side. This book is the first comprehensive study to place Gladstone`s dual character in a sophisticated psychological framework, revealing a man who wrestled with powerful internal conflicts as much as he did with the formidable political and social issues of his time.

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Gladstone

Manufacturer: Hambledon & London
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Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), four times Prime Minister and an MP for sixty-three years, was one of the greatest British statesmen. He was remarkable both for his political impact on Victorian England and for his complex personality. His astonishing energy and command of detail was matched by exceptionally wide reading (it is possible to list over 20,000 books he read) and by his active involvement in many different areas of life, in and out of politics. These essays by leading historians, published in the centenary of his death, demonstrate the many different facets to this extraordinary and idiosyncratic man.

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Superb analysis of Gladstone's early years

Gladstone 1809-1874 (Oxford Lives)
H. C. G. Matthew
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Paperback

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William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was both the most characteristic and the most extraordinary of Victorians. His huge public career - in and out of office from 1834 to 1894 and four times Prime Minister - was consistently controversial and dramatic. His private life was a most curious blend of happiness and temptation. His Christian faith held the extremes of his character in sufficient harmony to avoid disintegration and to produce one of the most powerful political personalities in British history. The book describes Gladstone's early years as a Tory, the great transformation of his political position in the 1840s, his lengthy period as Chancellor of the Exchequer with its long-lasting implications for British financial policy, and his spectacular first administration from 1868 to 1874. It sets in context the remarkable private drama of sexual temptation and moral crisis which from the 1840s onwards accompanied these public developments. The account ends in December 1874, with Gladstone's formal retirement from leadership of the Liberal Party - the move which he intended as his farewell to party politics. Gladstone was perhaps the most influential political leader of modern Britain, and this book is a major contribution to our understanding of his character, his life, and his role in the Victorian political arena.

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Superb analysis of Gladstone's early years.......2003-12-15

William Ewart Gladstone is one of the giants of nineteenth century British politics. First elected to House of Commons in 1832, he went on to serve in a number of offices, most notably as prime minister for an unprecedented four times over a 26-year period. The leader of the Liberals, he left an indelible stamp on the party which spent a generation emerging from underneath his long shadow.

There are few more qualified to study Gladstone's life than H. C. G. Matthew. An accomplished historian, he was co-editor of the third and fourth volumes of the published edition of Gladstone's diaries and lead editor for the remainder of the series. This project forms the basis of his book; taken from the introductions to the third through the eight volumes of the series (with two original chapters added to cover Gladstone's early years), they offer a penetrating examination into the man in the context of his times.

Born in Liverpool in 1809, Gladstone was the fifth child in an Evangelical household. The son of a wealthy merchant, he attended Eton and Oxford, where he excelled academically. Matthew details Gladstone's intellectual and social development during this period, examining both his studies and the circle of friends he had in school. It was the father of one of these friends, the Duke of Newcastle, who offered Gladstone a seat in Parliament from a pocket borough, thus launching the young man on the political career he sought.

Matthew notes that at the start of his career Gladstone was a Tory and a staunch opponent of many of the reform measures being introduced by the Whig governments of the era. Yet while deemed by many to be "the Tories' best hope" for the future, Gladstone's politics were still evolving. Matthew sees the decade from 1841 to 1851 as the crucial period of Gladstone's political development, as he broke from the Conservatives on the issue of free trade and completed his separation with his attack on Disraeli's budget in 1852. Yet as Matthew shows, the decade that followed proved to be the most personally complex period of Gladstone's career. Like most Peelites, Gladstone had no great attachment to the Liberals; in fact, throughout the 1850s his personal inclinations continued to lay more with the Conservatives than with Palmerston. Cooperation ultimately foundered on the social implications of Gladstone's taxing schemes and Disraeli's presence - in the end, Matthew states, Gladstone became a Liberal by process of elimination.

At the same time as he was building his political career Gladstone was also starting a family, marrying Catherine Glynne in 1839 and presiding over a steadily growing household. Matthew provides an insightful examination of Gladstone's private life, particularly with regards to his faith. Embracing Tractarianism after Oxford, he was usually in attendance at church on a daily basis and in many of his writings he attempted to reconcile Christianity to modern civilization. His faith also found expression in an unusual form in his "rescue work" with London prostitutes. Matthew's analysis of this aspect of Gladstone's life is one of the most sophisticated in the book, interpreting his involvement as motivated in part by Gladstone's acknowledgement of (...) the need to confront and overcome temptation - a process that sometimes included self-scourging. In spite of the appearance of this work, though, Matthew concludes that Gladstone ultimately remained within contemporary social conventions and was never unfaithful to his wife.

In 1852 Gladstone joined the Aberdeen coalition as Chancellor of the Exchequer, serving in that office - with a four-year gap between 1855 and 1859 - until July 1866. Matthew considers this the most successful ministerial period of Gladstone's career, as well as the most satisfying on a personal level. Embracing the Liberal ethos of limited government, Gladstone strove throughout his tenure to reduce its role in the economy by minimizing expenditures and shifting finances from tariffs towards a mixture of direct and indirect taxes. Matthew's account of such an intricate and inherently dull subject is excellent, clear in its analysis and straightforward in its explanation of how these policies fit into Gladstone's vision of government and society. This period also saw Gladstone's emergence as a national politician, the unquestioned heir to the Liberal leadership after Palmerston's death in 1865 and Lord John Russell's retirement in 1867.

The final three chapters cover Gladstone during his first ministry. In the aftermath of the 1868 election the administration existed on a foundation of sand. Lacking a counterpart to John Gorst, the Liberals failed to build a party organization in the country, as Gladstone relied on his considerable political skills to maintain his government. Here Matthew concentrates on the issues the prime minister dealt with himself; the broader achievements of his administration, in such areas as education and army reform, are addressed in passing, as Matthew focuses on foreign policy and Gladstone's "mission" to pacify Ireland by addressing discontent over religion, land, and education. The failure of the Irish Universities Bill in March 1873 prompted the resignation of the cabinet; Disraeli's refusal to form a Conservative government forced its return, exhausted and fatally weakened by scandal. When Gladstone decided on dissolution the next year, the result was a Conservative victory and his retirement from politics. Though two more decades remained in political career, at this point he had already left a considerable legacy, one that Matthew has analyzed with an ability and expertise that is unlikely to be bettered.

British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, 1866-1880

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Nicely surprised.

British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, 1866-1880
John Beeler
Manufacturer: Stanford University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0804729816

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This book examines British naval policy during the mid-Victorian period, with an emphasis on the political, economic, and foreign relations contexts within which naval policy was formulated. This period has sometimes been characterized as the “dark age” of modern British naval history, reflecting not only the comparative lack of research on the period, but also the marginal role played by the Royal Navy during a time of peace. The author takes a fresh look at the navy’s role, which traditionally has been viewed negatively in the wake of the reconceptualization of naval strategy brought about by Mahan and the changed global circumstances of the 1890’s.

Against a background of rapid industrialization and economic transformation, the author describes the structure of British naval administration in the Gladstone-Disraeli era, assesses the important reforms of that structure by the Liberal politician Hugh Childers, and examines the strategic and operational contexts of the navy itself. The comfortable foundations upon which were erected the world views and assumptions of mid-Victorian politicians and naval administrators were swept away with disconcerting swiftness by the mechanization of naval warfare. The author shows how this transformation went far beyond the realm of technology, profoundly influencing naval tactics and strategy, government finance, political discourse, and public opinion. This book is therefore as much a case study in human responses to the process of modernization as it is an investigation of mid-Victorian British naval policy.

Customer Reviews:

Nicely surprised........1999-03-04

I am not well-versed in the history of the Royal Navy but found this book to be quite interesting. The author's willingness to take an unsparing look at the professional and personal motivations behind naval policy-making during this time is refreshing. Would recommend it to colleagues and naval buffs, definitely.

Democracy and Religion: Gladstone and the Liberal Party 18671875 (Cambridge Studies in the History and Theory of Politics)

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Democracy and Religion: Gladstone and the Liberal Party 18671875 (Cambridge Studies in the History and Theory of Politics)
J. P. Parry
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Church & State | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This book relates the political history of mid-nineteenth-century Britain to the assumptions which then prevailed about the abstract moral purposes of political activity. A great number of mid-Victorian writers and politicians expressed far-reaching hopes for the future development of British society, indeed for its regeneration; and such hopes were inspired by their religious outlook. They contended that these aims would be promoted by the pursuit, by governments, of particular educational, ecclesiastical, Irish and other policies. Part I of this book examines at length the varying aspirations, in this direction, of the different elements of Gladstone's Liberal party. In addition to Gladstone's own views, those of whigs, broad churchmen, theist intellectuals, high churchmen, liberal Catholics, nonconformists, secularist radicals and spokesmen for working-men's interests are all analysed, in an account which ranges far beyond the time limits suggested by the book's title. Part II recounts the disputes within the party which these conflicting aims provoked between 1867 and 1875. These years were marked by the rise and fall of Gladstone's first and most active government, by the disestablishment of the Irish Church in 1869 and the passage of the 1870 Elementary Education Act. In addition, politicians were introduced to a long series of broader and more intangible problems with connotations for religious and political stability -- including those thrown up by the 1867 Reform Act, the Vatican Council, the Franco-Prussian war, the progress of the free-thinking movement, the rise of the home rule party in Ireland, and the growth of ritualism within the Church of England. Dr Parry shows howthe attempt to tackle these issues slowly paralysed the effectiveness of Gladstone's government, leading to its fall in 1874, and to a crisis about the identity of British Liberalism which was never subsequently resolved. A long introduction and conclusion reassess the his

Gladstone (British History in Perspective)

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The Life of William Gladstone.

Gladstone (British History in Perspective)
Eugenio F. Biagini
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Four times elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Ewart Gladstone was also the most influential Chancellor of the Exchequer of the 19th century. His political career covered the period of Britain's greatest power in the world, and the Liberal Party that he helped to create, and led until 1894, became a model for European political commentators throughout the 20th century. He has recently become the center of renewed interest and debate as both Thatcherite Conservatives and New Labour extol him as a model parliamentarian for today's politicians. With its thematic, rather than merely chronological, approach, this volume offers a new perspective on the quintessential Victorian whose ideas and leadership shaped the British political agenda at the end of the second millennium.

Customer Reviews:

The Life of William Gladstone........2005-04-15

This is the political life story of the Grand Old Man of British politics (GOM). William E. Gladstone certainly did influence British politics for over fifty years, and was elected to the Prime Minister position four times. This short book (or thesis) explained his political development through those fifty years. He moved from a Conservative on social issues to that of a Liberal or even Radical position. His championship of Irish Home Rule kept Ireland within the British Empire for thirty more years. This man and his political position kept the radical left from many popular positions.
The unfortunate part of this book is that it reads like a thesis. It probably was a thesis and as such will not attract much interest from the general public. I did learn a great deal about this most influencial of British politicians.

Gladstone (Routledge Historical Biographies)

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Gladstone (Routledge Historical Biographies)
M. Partridge
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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British History, 1815-1906 (The Short Oxford History of the Modern World)
Three Dublin Plays: The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, & The Plough and the Stars
Ancestral Voices: Religion and Nationalism in Ireland
Translations: A Play (Faber Paperbacks)
The Year of the French

ASIN: 0415216265

Book Description

W.E. Gladstone (1809-1898) was prime minister of Great Britain four times during the Victorian era and is considered one of the most important political figures in modern British history. This biography provides a new assessment of Gladstone's life and career, placing him firmly in the context of nineteenth century Britain. Surveying a broad range of source material, Partridge begins by examining Gladstone's early life, education, entry to Parliament and marriage. He goes on to look in detail at Gladstone's terms as prime minister concluding with his fourth ministry, when Gladstone, by now in his eighties, returned to power. Partridge recounts how Gladstone tried and failed to resolve the problems of Ireland, which had become his great obsession, for the last time and eventually reties from politics in 1894 and died a few years later.

This engaging work provides a deep and thorough survey of the life and significance of Gladstone, and is a welcome starting point for all those interested in one of the most prominent and complex characters of Victorian Britain.

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