The Viscount Gladstone | |
|---|---|
 Gladstone c. 1910 | |
| 1st Governor-General of South Africa | |
| In office 31 May 1910 – 8 September 1914 | |
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | Louis Botha |
| Preceded by | SirWalter Hely-Hutchinson (asHigh Commissioner for Southern Africa) |
| Succeeded by | Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 11 December 1905 – 19 February 1910 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Aretas Akers-Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Winston Churchill |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Herbert John Gladstone (1854-01-07)7 January 1854 Downing Street Westminster,Middlesex, England |
| Died | 6 March 1930(1930-03-06) (aged 76) Ware,Hertfordshire, England |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 0 |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | William Henry Gladstone (brother) Henry Gladstone (brother) Helen Gladstone (sister) |
| Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930[1][2]) was a BritishLiberal politician. The youngest son ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone, he wasHome Secretary from 1905 to 1910 andGovernor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1914.
Appointed whip in 1899, Gladstone was an innovator who provided a long-term strategy, kept the party from splitting over theSecond Boer War, introduced more modern constituency structures; and encouraged working-class candidates. In secret meetings with Labour leaders in 1903 he forged theGladstone–MacDonald pact. In two-member constituencies, it arranged that Liberal and Labour candidates did not split the vote. Historians give him much of the credit for theLiberal triumph in 1906, with 397 MPs and a majority of 243.[1]
Rising toHome Secretary in 1906–1908, he was responsible for theWorkmen's Compensation Act 1906, a Factory and Workshops Act, and in 1908 the eight hour working day underground in theCoal Mines Regulation Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 57). HistorianJohn Grigg states that while his name is not often included in any list of radicals, his radical record is second to none in theCampbell-Bannerman Government. He was no firebrand but a good party man whose common sense inclined him to be less Gladstonian in the matter of state intervention then than his famous father had been. With his able under-secretary,Herbert Samuel, he sponsored no less than 34 Acts of Parliament during his time at theHome Office.[3]
Gladstone was the youngest son of Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone and his wifeCatherine, daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, 8th Baronet, and was born inDowning Street where his father was living at the time asChancellor of the Exchequer.William Henry Gladstone andLord Gladstone of Hawarden were his elder brothers. He was educated atEton andUniversity College, Oxford, and lectured in history atKeble College, Oxford, for three years.[1]
In 1880 Gladstone became private secretary to his father.[4] That same year, having unsuccessfully contested theMiddlesex constituency,[5] he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament forLeeds.[6]
TheHawarden Kite was a famous newspaper scoop of December 1885, an instance offlying a kite, made by Gladstone, who often served as his father's secretary.[7] At the timeWilliam Ewart Gladstone was Leader of the Liberal Opposition. Herbert gave the report toEdmund Rogers of the National Press Agency in London. The key statement was that his father now supportedhome rule forIreland. The statement is accurate but it is unknown whether the father knew and approved of releasing it to the press. The bombshell announcement resulted in the fall ofLord Salisbury'sConservative government. Irish Nationalists, led byCharles Stewart Parnell'sIrish Parliamentary Party, held the balance of power in Parliament. Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule convinced them to switch away from the Conservatives and support the Liberals using the 86 seats in Parliament they controlled.[8][9]
In the1885 General Election Gladstone was returned toParliament forLeeds West.[6] Having been a juniorLord of the Treasury from 1881 to 1885, Gladstone became Deputy Commissioner of theOffice of Works in 1885. The following year served for a brief period asFinancial Secretary to the War Office in his father's third administration. In 1892, on his father's return to power, he was madeUnder-Secretary of State for the Home Department,[1] and two years later he becameFirst Commissioner of Works inLord Rosebery's government,[10] at which time he was also sworn into thePrivy Council.[11] In 1895 he gave the first contract toMary Howard Ashworth to create the first typing facility in the Houses of Parliament[12] just before the Liberals fell from power. He became the Liberals'Chief Whip in 1899,[13] and in 1903 he negotiated on behalf of the Liberals anelectoral pact with theLabour Representation Committee.[1] He was president of theDarlington Liberal and Radical Association from early 1900.[14]
Gladstone returned to office in 1905 when SirHenry Campbell-Bannerman appointed himHome Secretary.[15] According to historian Professor Ian Machin, Gladstone was not among “the foremost New Liberals such asLloyd George andChurchill,” but he nevertheless played a large part in carrying a number of theLiberal welfare reforms during his time in office, including theWorkmen's Compensation Act 1906, theChildren Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 67), and theTrade Boards Act 1909.[16]
As Prince of Wales, KingEdward VII had come to enjoy warm and mutually respectful relations with W. E. Gladstone, whom Queen Victoria detested.[17] These feelings did not extend to his son. In September 1908 Herbert permitted Roman Catholic priests in vestments, led by CardinalVincenzo Vannutelli, to carry the Host in a procession through the streets of London. There were a flood of protests, and the King asked Gladstone to ban the procession to avert a breach of the peace. The Home Secretary was on holiday in Scotland at the time, and did not reply, giving rise to false rumours that the King – who was known to take an interest in Roman Catholic rituals when abroad – favoured the procession. In the end the Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith had to askLord Ripon, the only Catholic Cabinet Minister, to ask for the Host and vestments to be cancelled.[18]
The following year the King rebuked Gladstone for appointing two women, LadyFrances Balfour andMay Tennant, to serve on aRoyal commission on reforming Divorce Law – the King thought divorce could not be discussed with "delicacy or even decency" before ladies. Philip Magnus suggests that Gladstone may have become a whipping-boy for the King's general irritation with the Liberal Government.[18]
Gladstone was sacked in the reshuffle in 1910 and the King agreed, with some reluctance, to appoint him the firstGovernor-General of the Union of South Africa as well as theHigh Commissioner for Southern Africa.[18][19] He was appointed a Knight Commander of theOrder of St Michael and St George and raised to the peerage as Viscount Gladstone, of theCounty ofLanark, the same year.[20]
.png)
After his return from South Africa in 1914, Lord Gladstone was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Bath (GCB),[21] and spent much of theFirst World War being involved with various charities and charitable organisations, including the War Refugees Committee, the South African Hospital Fund, and the South African Ambulance in France.[1][22][23] He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the British Empire (GBE) in 1917.[24]
In 1901 Lord Gladstone married Dorothy Mary, daughter ofSir Richard Paget, 1st Baronet, who was over twenty years his junior. He died in March 1930, aged 76, at hisWare home, and was buried in the town's Little Munden Church. There were no children from the marriage, and therefore his title became extinct at his death. Viscountess Gladstone died in June 1953.[25]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLeeds 1880 –1885 With:John Barran andWilliam Jackson | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forLeeds West 1885 –Jan. 1910 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the War Office 1886 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1892–1894 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | First Commissioner of Works 1894–1895 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Home Secretary 1905–1910 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| New office | Governor-General of the Union of South Africa 1910–1914 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Gladstone 1910–1930 | Extinct |
.svg) | .svg) | ||
.svg)
