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  • Gladstone Legacy Being Kept Alive

    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
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