GLADSTONE,
a surname originally Gladstanes, and derived from the estate of that
name in Teviotdale. The Gladstanes of that ilk, previously designed of
Cocklaw, were a pretty ancient family, as is proved by charters still
extant. In one, granted by Robert the Third, of several lands to William
Inglis of Manners, the right of Gladstanes of Cocklaw is reserved.
George Gladstanes and William Gladstanes are witnesses in a charter of
Archibald, earl of Angus, to his apparent heir, James Douglas, July 2,
1479. Nisbet mentions some charters of the Gladstanes’ family about the
same period. [Nisbet’s Heraldry, vol. I. P. 267.]
Mr. John
Gladstanes, LL.D., supposed to have belonged to the family of Gladstanes
of Gladstanes, was admitted a lord of session, 30th January
1542. From several instances being recorded of gifts and appointments
made to him, with the view of increasing his emoluments, it would appear
that he was by no means rich. While at the bar, he was, in March 1535,
selected by the lords of session, with “Master Thomas Majoribanks,” to
be advocate for the poor, on a letter from the king, enjoining them to
choose a an of “gude conscience” for that office, under the title of
Advocatus Pauperum. On the 3d September 1546, four years after being
raised to the bench, he was appointed collector of the contributions due
by the prelates, for the supply of the court, when he was designed
“licentiate in baith the lawis.” It does not appear that he adopted any
judicial title, but in a roll of the judges made up on 19th
January 1555, he is styled “My lord Doctor Mr. Jo. Gladstanes.” On 21st
May 1557, he obtained a gift from the court, of the arrears of the
contribution due by the minister of Failfurd, who was superior of the
Trinity or Red Friars.
George
Gladstanes, a native of Dundee, was, in 1600, made bishop of Caithness
by James the Sixth, and in 1606 was translated thence to the
archbishopric of St. Andrews. He had previously been minister of
Arbirlot in Forfarshire, and in 1597 was removed to be minister at St.
Andrews, of the university of which city he was, in 1599, appointed
vice-chancellor. In 1604, while bishop of Caithness, he was named a
commissioner for promoting the union of the two kingdoms, a favourite
project of James the Sixth after his accession to the English throne,
but which at that time proved abortive. Archbishop Gladstanes, whose
name often occurs in the ecclesiastical records of the period, died 2d
May 1615. His son, Mr. Alexander Gladstanes, was archdean of St.
Andrews.
Claiming
descent from the ancient family of Gladstanes of Gladstanes, Mr. John
Gladstones of Toftcombes, near Biggar, in the upper ward of Lanarkshire,
had by his wife Janet Aitken, a son, Thomas, prosperous trader in Leith,
who married Helen, daughter of Mr. Walter Neilson of Springfield, and
died in the year 1809. Of this marriage, Sir John Gladstone, the first
baronet, of Fasque, was the eldest son. Born at Leith on the 11th
of Dec. 1764, he commenced business there at an early age, but soon
removed to Liverpool, where he amassed considerable riches by his
enterprise, industry, and skill, and was munificent in their disposal.
In 1840, he built and endowed St. Thomas’ church at Leith, in communion
with the church of Scotland. He also built on the same spot – in the
neighbourhood of the Coal Hill, where his father had his place of trade
– a school, and an asylum with a revenue of £300 a-year for the support
of ten females labouring under incurable diseases. When carrying on
business in Liverpool – from which he retired in 1843 – he was a liberal
donor to the Church of England; and on returning to Scotland, he became
a not less liberal benefactor to the Scottish Episcopal church. His
gifts to Trinity college, Glenalmond, were princely; he contributed
largely to the fund for endowing the bishopric of Brechin; and at his
own charge he built and endowed a church – making his place of sepulture
within its walls – at his beautiful seat of Fasque in Kincardineshire,
which he had purchased. He likewise built two churches in Liverpool, and
one in the immediate neighbourhood where he had long resided.
In February
1835 he obtained the royal license to drop the final s at his name, and
to change it to Gladstone. His eminent position as a merchant, together
with his great talents and experience, gave much weight to his opinions
on commercial matters. He was frequently consulted on such subjects by
the ministers of the day, and was the author of several pamphlets and
letters to the newspapers on mercantile questions. He was almost to the
last a supporter of the protective policy which reigned supreme during
his youth and manhood; and three or four years before his death he wrote
against the repeal of the corn and navigation laws. Desire was more than
once expressed to see him in parliament, and he contested the
representation of Dundee and other places on those conservative
principles to which he adhered through life, but without success. On the
27th June, 1846, he was created a baronet, on the spontaneous
suggestion of Sir Robert Peel, then Premier, and his was one of the very
few baronetcies conferred by a minister more than commonly frugal in the
grant of titles. He was a magistrate both for Lancashire and
Kincardineshire. He died in December 1851.
Sir John
Gladstone was twice married: first, in 1792, to Jane, daughter of Mr.
Joseph Hall of Liverpool, who died in 1798, without issue; and,
secondly, on 29th April 1800, to Anne, daughter of Mr. Andrew
Robertson, for many years provost of Dingwall. By this lady, who died on
23d September 1835, he had, with two daughters, four sons, namely,
Thomas, second baronet; Robertson Gladstone, born in 1805, an eminent
merchant of Liverpool, and chairman of the Financial Reform Association
of that town, married, with issue; John Neilson Gladstone, born in 1807,
a commander R.N., M.P. for Walsall and subsequently for Devizes, married
with issue; and the Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, born in 1809,
was educated at Eton and at Christ church, Oxford, where he attained a
double first class in 1831, and received the honorary degree of D.C.L.
in 1848. In 1832 he was elected M.P. for Newark, which place he
represented till January 1846. He was a lord of the treasury in December
1834, and under secretary for the colonies from January to April 1835.
In September 1841, he was appointed vice-president of the board of trade
and master of the mint, and sworn a privy councillor. In May 1843, he
became president of the board of trade, retaining the mastership of the
mint, but resigned both offices in February 1845. In December of that
year he was appointed secretary f state for the colonies, which office
he held till July 1846. Elected in 1847 M.P. for the university of
Oxford; chancellor of the Exchequer, Dec. 1852 till Feb. 1855. In 1858
lord-high-commissioner extraordinary to the Ionian islands; in June 1859
re-appointed chancellor of the Exchequer. The same year he was elected
Rector of the University of Edinburgh. He married in 1839 the eldest
daughter of Sir Stephen R. Glynn, Bart., of Hawarden castle, Flintshire,
with issue. Author of ‘The State in its relation with the Church,’
London, 1838, 8vo. ‘Church Principles considered in their results,’
London, 1840, 8vo. ‘A Manual of Prayers from the Liturgy,’ 1845. ‘An
examination of the official Reply to the Neapolitan government,’ 1852.
‘Studies on Homer and the Homeric age.’ Oxford, 1858; and several
political and official papers, letters, and addresses.
The eldest
son, Sir Thomas 2d baronet, born at Annfield near Liverpool, in 1804,
was M.P. for Queensborough in 1830; for Portarlington from 1832 to 1835;
for Leicester from 1835 to 1838; and for Ipswich from June 1842 to
August in the same year, when he was unseated on petition. A deputy
lieutenant of Kincardineshire. He married in 1835, Louisa, daughter of
Robert Fellowes, Esq. of Shottisham Park, Norfolk, with issue. Heir, his
son, John Robert, born in 1852.
