GLADSTONE LEGACY BEING KEPT ALIVE
By Rob Davies
Daily Post (Liverpool)
November 2, 2009 Monday
UK
FOR some of us,William Gladstone is a name from the history books –
a great statesman of a bygone era. A Victorian icon fading with the
passage of time.
Yet at Flintshire’s Hawarden Castle the spirit lives on of this
towering figure of the 19th century, who served four times as Britain’s
prime minister.
He has, of course, been chosen by Daily Post readers as one of our
top 30 Great North Walians.
The castle remains the home of the Gladstone family and at its head
is Sir William Gladstone, 84 last week, great grandson of the former
prime minister.
To sit with SirWilliam in his study at the castle and talk about his
great grandfather, surrounded by shelf upon shelf of history books is
to feel transported back to the Victorian age dominated by Gladstone
and Benjamin Disraeli.
"When I was a child, most adults in Britain remembered Gladstone as
a living person and gradually they disappeared and he has become
an historical figure," says Sir William, whose father Charles was
Gladstone’s second son.
"But I have learned about him from his grandchildren who know him. My
father attended Gladstone’s funeral as a schoolboy, he walked behind
the coffin with his brother. It was all vivid to him."
There will soon be a new history book about Gladstone, written by
Sir William himself, from the very room where Gladstone would himself
have penned books and speeches.
It is called Gladstone: A Bicentenary Portrait and is intended
to delve further into the life of Gladstone the man, not just the
politician. It will contain previously unseen essays and documentary
evidence from castle archives and be available from December from
Norwich publishers Michael Russell.
"What I want to do is to enable people to know what Gladstone was like,
what he wanted to achieve and feel they know the man by the time they
have read it," says Sir William.
"It’s not just concerned with praising him, but detailing his problems,
difficulties and mistakes. I have picked out some of the most important
scenes in his life. It’s a labour of love and I should have started
it long before."
Does the direct family link help him get closer to his subject? "I
feel I do know quite a lot about him. (Former Home Secretary) Roy
Jenkins paid me a lot of visits and asked me a lot of questions for his
biography – it is very good on his politics and the House of Commons,
but he was weak on some of his other characteristics.
"I am claiming to have a slightly different perception of Gladstone
because I feel I know the man intimately, I have spent so long studying
him and I like the man.
"I understand his faults and his foibles but I like him. It helps to
be a direct descendant and to have the privilege of living among his
possessions and books. His spirit lives on here."
Sir William admires Gladstone as a free thinker, many of whose ideas
were before his time, who generated considerable hostility among
contemporaries, including his monarch, Victoria. There is much which
can connect people today with a politician like Gladstone, believes
Sir William.
"He hated the idea of the British fighting wars in order to acquire
territory.
He roused the nation against the atrocities committed against the
Christians in the Turkish empire and later in life against the
Armenians.
"He was taking an absolutely modern 21st century view of international
tolerance. Gladstone is worth celebrating because he pioneered a
fair society and an inclusive society. He pioneered protests against
ethnic and racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing. He started
out on the road. It’s very easy to forget that the first steps are
the most difficult steps."
Sir William admits his own world view is influenced by his remarkable
great grandfather. Does he regret not following in his footsteps and
giving Britain and the modern-day Liberals a second William Gladstone?
"No, because I felt that all the glory I could get would be reflected
glory. He was very much cleverer and more gifted than me," replies
Sir William. "I would have been a poor shadow of the great man."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
