Will Gladstone

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title: "Will Gladstone" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1885-births", "1915-deaths", "people-from-hawarden", "british-army-personnel-of-world-war-i", "british-military-personnel-killed-in-world-war-i", "british-mps-who-died-in-office", "english-people-of-scottish-descent", "royal-welch-fusiliers-officers", "scottish-liberal-party-mps", "lord-lieutenants-of-flintshire", "members-of-the-parliament-of-the-united-kingdom-for-scottish-constituencies", "uk-mps-1910–1918", "gladstone-family", "people-educated-at-eton-college", "alumni-of-new-college,-oxford", "presidents-of-the-oxford-union", "deaths-by-firearm-in-france"] description: "British politician (1885-1915)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Gladstone" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British politician (1885-1915) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox politician"]

Field	Value
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	William Glynne Charles Gladstone
birth_date
death_date
death_place	Laventie, Pas-de-Calais, France
resting_place	St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales
education	Eton College
alma_mater	New College, Oxford
residence	Hawarden Castle, Flintshire, Wales
branch	British Army
battles
unit	Royal Welsh Fusiliers
serviceyears	1914–1915
rank	Lieutenant
father	William Henry Gladstone
mother	Hon. Gertrude Gladstone
::

| 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 = William Glynne Charles Gladstone | birth_date = | death_date = | death_place = Laventie, Pas-de-Calais, France | resting_place = St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales | education = Eton College | alma_mater = New College, Oxford | residence = Hawarden Castle, Flintshire, Wales | branch = British Army | battles =

• World War I
  • Western Front | unit = Royal Welsh Fusiliers | serviceyears = 1914–1915 | rank = Lieutenant | father = 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). His body was the last to be officially repatriated to the United Kingdom during the First World War.

Early life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/William_Ewart_Gladstone_with_his_grandson_William_Glynne_Charles_Gladstone_in_1887.jpg" caption="Gladstone as a child in 1887 with his famous grandfather"] ::

Gladstone was born on 14 July 1885. 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.

He was educated at home before attending Eton and then New College, Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1907 and graduated with a second class degree.

Career

Political career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/1911_William_Gladstone.jpg" caption="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. In 1911, he worked for a few months at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., as an honorary attaché to Lord Bryce.

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). A whip in Asquith's government, he was in Parliament for only 4 years.

Military service

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/William_Glynne_Charles_Gladstone_in_1915.jpg" caption="Gladstone in military uniform in 1915"] ::

Gladstone was commissioned into the British Army on 15 August 1914 as a second lieutenant (on probation); he had originally wished to enlist as a private but was advised to become an officer. He joined the 3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers and underwent training at Wrexham before going out to France in March 1915. He first came under fire on 23 March. His commission was confirmed and he was promoted to lieutenant on 7 April 1915.

Death

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Funeral_procession_of_William_Glynne_Charles_Gladstone_01.jpg" caption="Gladstone's funeral procession leaving Hawarden Castle, Flintshire, Wales, on 23 April 1915"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Funeral_procession_of_William_Glynne_Charles_Gladstone_02.jpg" caption="Gladstone's funeral procession passing through the village of Hawarden"] ::

On 13 April 1915, he was killed in action near Laventie, three weeks after arriving in France. He was shot by a sniper. 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. Nine days after his death, his body was disinterred and re-buried in the churchyard of St Deiniol's, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. 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. Gladstone is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber. 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.

After his death, the estate was purchased by an uncle Henry Gladstone, the third son (and seventh child) of William and Catherine. Herbert Gladstone, another uncle, wrote a memoir of him that was published in 1918.

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

Honours

On 8 July 1911, Gladstone was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire. This appointment also came with the title of Custos Rotulorum of Flintshire.

Election results

Electorate}} |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = Will Gladstone |votes = 6,923 |percentage =48.3 |change =-12.6 |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate =John David Rees |votes =4,637 |percentage =32.4 |change =-6.7 |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate =Thomas McKerrell |votes =2,761 |percentage =19.3 |change =n/a |votes =2,286 |percentage =15.9 |change =-5.9 |votes =14,321 |percentage = |change = |winner = Liberal Party (UK) |swing =-3.0

References

References

1. ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'': Gladstone, Sir John, 1st Baronet
2. {{rayment-hc. k. 2. (March 2012)
3. ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'': Gladstone, Herbert John
4. Timpson, Trevor. (17 January 2014). "WW1: Can we really know the Lost Generation?". BBC News.
5. (28 June 1918). "WILLIAM G. C. GLADSTONE". The Spectator.
6. (28 September 1911). "W G C Gladstone an MP". The New York Times.
7. {{London Gazette. (29 September 1911)
8. Van Emden, Richard. (7 June 2012). "The Quick and the Dead". Bloomsbury.
9. {{London Gazette. (29 September 1914)
10. {{London Gazette. (16 March 1915)
11. {{London Gazette. (20 April 1915)
12. {{CWGC
13. Bebbington, David. (2000). "Gladstone centenary essays". Liverpool University Press.
14. (1 January 2014). "Hawarden – 1914-1918 War Memorial". Clwyd Family History Society.
15. "Recording Angel memorial Panel 8". UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk).
16. "List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall". UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk).
17. "Gladstone". UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk).
18. (6 February 1932). "House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker".
19. (1931). "The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918". E. Mathews & Marrot.
20. ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'': Gladstone, Henry Neville
21. Gladstone, Herbert John. (1918). "William G. C. Gladstone: a Memoir". Nisbet.
22. {{London Gazette. (11 July 1911)
23. ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918'' by [[Craig, F. W. S.]] (1974)

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