{{Short description|British politician (1885-1915)}} {{other people|Gladstone}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox politician | image = William Glynne Charles Gladstone in 1906.jpg | party = Liberal Party | office = MP for Kilmarnock Burghs | term_start = 1911 | term_end = 1915 | predecessor = Adam Rolland Rainy | successor = Alexander Shaw | office2 = Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire | term_start2 = 1911 | term_end2 = 1915 | predecessor2 = Hugh Robert Hughes | successor2 = Henry Gladstone | alt = Gladstone in 1906 aged 21 | birth_name = {{nowrap|William Glynne Charles Gladstone}} | birth_date = {{Birth date |df=y|1885|07|14}} | death_date = {{death date and age |df=y|1915|04|13|1885|07|14}} | death_place = Laventie, Pas-de-Calais, France | resting_place = St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales | education = Eton College | alma_mater = New College, Oxford | branch = British Army | battles = {{tree list}} *World War I **Western Front {{tree list/end}} | unit = Royal Welsh Fusiliers | service_years = 1914–1915 | rank = Lieutenant | father = {{nowrap|William Henry Gladstone}} | mother = Hon. Gertrude Gladstone }}
'''William Glynne Charles Gladstone''' (14 July 1885 – 13 April 1915) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, and the last of four generations of Gladstones to sit in the House of Commons, the first being his great-grandfather Sir John Gladstone (1764–1851).<ref name="DNB-Sir-John_Gladstone">''Dictionary of National Biography'': Gladstone, Sir John, 1st Baronet</ref> His body was the last to be officially repatriated to the United Kingdom during the First World War.<ref name="The quick and the dead" />
==Early life== thumb|left|Gladstone as a child in 1887 with his famous grandfather Gladstone was born on 14 July 1885.<ref name="rayment">{{rayment-hc|k|2|date=March 2012}}</ref> His father, William Henry Gladstone (1840–1891), was the eldest son of the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine, and his mother was the Hon. Gertrude Gladstone, daughter of Charles Stuart, 12th Lord Blantyre. He inherited from his father the 18th-century Hawarden Castle which had belonged to the family of his grandmother's brother Sir Stephen Glynne, the 9th and last baronet.<ref name="DNB-Herbert-Gladstone">''Dictionary of National Biography'': Gladstone, Herbert John</ref>
He was educated at home before attending Eton and then New College, Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1907<ref name="BBC News - Can we really know the Lost Generation?">{{cite web|last=Timpson|first=Trevor|title=WW1: Can we really know the Lost Generation?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/24526419|work=BBC News|access-date=17 January 2014|date=17 January 2014}}</ref> and graduated with a second class degree.<ref name="Spectator - WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE">{{cite news|title=WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/29th-june-1918/14/william-g-c-gladstone|access-date=17 January 2014|newspaper=The Spectator|date=28 June 1918|pages=14–15}}</ref>
==Career== ===Political career=== thumb|right|William Gladstone in 1911 around the time of his election as an MP In 1909, Gladstone was the Assistant Private Secretary to John Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen who was serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.<ref name="Spectator - WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE" /> In 1911, he worked for a few months at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., as an honorary attaché<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news|title=W G C Gladstone an MP|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/09/28/105031843.pdf|access-date=17 January 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 September 1911}}</ref> to Lord Bryce.<ref name="Spectator - WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE" />
He stood as the Liberal Party candidate in the Kilmarnock Burghs by-election held on 26 September 1911 and was elected as the member of parliament (MP).<ref name="LG 29 September 1911">{{London Gazette |issue=28536 |date=29 September 1911 |page=7121 }}</ref> A whip in Asquith's government, he was in Parliament for only 4 years.
===Military service=== thumb|left|Gladstone in military uniform in 1915 Gladstone was commissioned into the British Army on 15 August 1914 as a second lieutenant (on probation);<ref name="The quick and the dead">{{cite book|last=Van Emden|first=Richard|author-link = Richard van Emden|title=The Quick and the Dead|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=978-1408822456|pages=131–133|date=7 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="LG 29 September 1914">{{London Gazette |issue=28918 |date=29 September 1914 |page=7694 }}</ref> he had originally wished to enlist as a private but was advised to become an officer.<ref name="BBC News - Can we really know the Lost Generation?" /> He joined the 3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers<ref name="LG 16 March 1915">{{London Gazette |issue=29102 |date=16 March 1915 |pages=2638–2640 }}</ref> and underwent training at Wrexham before going out to France in March 1915.<ref name="Spectator - WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE" /> He first came under fire on 23 March.<ref name="Spectator - WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE" /> His commission was confirmed and he was promoted to lieutenant on 7 April 1915.<ref name="LG 20 April 1915">{{London Gazette |issue=29137 |date=20 April 1915 |page=3992 |supp=y }}</ref>
==Death== thumb|right|Gladstone's funeral procession leaving Hawarden Castle, Flintshire, Wales, on 23 April 1915 thumb|right|Gladstone's funeral procession passing through the village of Hawarden On 13 April 1915,<ref>{{CWGC|id=671332|name=Gladstone, William Glynne Charles|access-date=30 August 2016}}</ref> he was killed in action near Laventie,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bebbington|first=David|title=Gladstone centenary essays|year=2000|publisher=Liverpool University Press|location=Liverpool|isbn=9780853239253|page=154|edition=1. publ.|author2=Swift, Roger }}</ref> three weeks after arriving in France.<ref name="The quick and the dead" /> He was shot by a sniper.<ref name="Spectator - WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE" /> He was initially buried in France, but permission was granted by King George V for his body to be brought back to the United Kingdom.<ref name="The quick and the dead" /> Nine days after his death,<ref name="The quick and the dead" /> his body was disinterred and re-buried in the churchyard of St Deiniol's, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales.<ref name="Hawarden War Memorial">{{cite web|title=Hawarden – 1914-1918 War Memorial|url=http://www.clwydfhs.org.uk/cofadeiladau/hawarden-wwi_wm.htm|publisher=Clwyd Family History Society|access-date=17 January 2014|date=1 January 2014}}</ref> Also commemorated on the gravestone is his cousin William Herbert Gladstone, MC, son of Stephen and Annie Gladstone, killed in action in 1918.
As a memorial, a rood was installed at St Deiniol's, Hawarden, and a new theatre and wards at Chester Royal Infirmary. Gladstone is also commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs who died during the War to be named on that memorial.<ref>{{cite web|title=Recording Angel memorial Panel 8|publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk)|website=Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wwi-angel-memorial/recording-angel-panel8/|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall|publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk)|website=Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall|url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/War-Memorial-Lists/War-Memorial-Westminster-Hall-WW1.pdf|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> Gladstone is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gladstone|publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk)|website=Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wars-heraldic-shields/gladstone/|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of the life and death of Gladstone.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker|date=6 February 1932 |page=7|issue=46050}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Moss-Blundell|editor-first=Edward Whitaker|title=The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918|publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot|year=1931}}</ref>
After his death, the estate was purchased by an uncle Henry Gladstone, the third son (and seventh child) of William and Catherine.<ref name="DNB-Henry-Gladstone">''Dictionary of National Biography'': Gladstone, Henry Neville</ref> Herbert Gladstone, another uncle, wrote a memoir of him that was published in 1918.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gladstone |first=Herbert John |author-link=Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone |title=William G. C. Gladstone: a Memoir |url=https://archive.org/details/williamgcgladsto00gladiala |year=1918 |publisher=Nisbet }}</ref>
<gallery class="center"> File:Rood cross in St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, in 1917.jpg|1917 picture of the rood at St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott File:Eglwys St Deiniol's Church Penarlag Hawarden Flintshire Wales 28.JPG|1999 picture of the rood at St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden </gallery>
==Honours== On 8 July 1911, Gladstone was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire.<ref name="LG 11 July 1911">{{London Gazette |issue=28512 |date=11 July 1911 |page=5168 }}</ref> This appointment also came with the title of Custos Rotulorum of Flintshire.
== Election results == {{Election box begin | title=Kilmarnock Burghs by-election, 1911<ref>''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918'' by Craig, F. W. S. (1974)</ref> Electorate}} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Will Gladstone''' |votes = 6,923 |percentage = 48.3 |change = -12.6 }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate = John David Rees |votes = 4,637 |percentage = 32.4 |change = -6.7 }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = Thomas McKerrell |votes = 2,761 |percentage = 19.3 |change = n/a }} {{Election box majority |votes = 2,286 |percentage = 15.9 |change = -5.9 }} {{Election box turnout |votes = 14,321 |percentage = |change = }} {{Election box hold with party link |winner = Liberal Party (UK) |swing = -3.0 }} {{Election box end}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} *{{Hansard-contribs | mr-william-gladstone-1 | William Gladstone }} *{{NPG name|name=William Glynne Charles Gladstone (1885-1915)}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock Burghs | years = 1911–1915 | before = Adam Rolland Rainy | after = Alexander Shaw }} {{s-hon}} {{succession box | title = Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire | years = 1911–1915 | before = Hugh Robert Hughes | after = Henry Gladstone }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gladstone, Will}} Category:1885 births Category:1915 deaths Category:People from Hawarden Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:British MPs who died in office Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:Royal Welch Fusiliers officers Category:Scottish Liberal Party MPs Category:Lord-lieutenants of Flintshire Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Category:UK MPs 1910–1918 Will Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford Category:Presidents of the Oxford Union Category:Deaths by firearm in France