The career of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) spanned over sixty years from his first election to Parliament in 1832 until his resignation as prime minister at the age of eighty-four in 1894.
Gladstone, Prime Minister of the Victorian Era
Gladstone would serve as Prime Minister under Queen Victoria four times: 1868-74, 1880-85, 1886-86, and 1892-94. At the time of his resignation in March of 1894 he had been the oldest serving Prime Minister.
All four of the Parliaments he presided over were during the reign of Queen Victoria and he had profound influence over the government although he was often at odds with his queen.
Early Life
William Gladstone was born in Liverpool into a wealthy and politically connected family of Scotch ancestry. His father was was a merchant who had made a fortune in international trade.
He was educated at Eaton College and Christ Church, Oxford where he took a double first-class degree in classics and mathematics in late 1831.
In 1832 he was elected to Parliament as a member of the Conservative party. In subsequent years he held several minor ministerial positions including that as Junior Minister of the Treasury and Under-Secretary of State for War.
He married Catherine Glynne in 1838 with whom he would have eight children and they would remain married for fifty-nine years.
