| The Right Honourable The Viscount Gladstone GCB, GCMG, GBE, PC, JP |
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|---|---|
| 1st Governor-General of South Africa | |
| In office 31 May 1910 – 8 September 1914 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Preceded by | Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson as High Commissioner for Southern Africa |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Buxton |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 11 December 1905 – 19 February 1910 |
|
| Prime Minister | Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith |
| Preceded by | Aretas Akers-Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Winston Churchill |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 February 1854 Downing Street Westminster, Middlesex United Kingdom |
| Died | 6 March 1930 (aged 76) Ware, Hertfordshire United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Dorothy Mary Paget (1876–1953) |
| Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone GCB, GCMG, GBE, PC, JP (18 February 1854 – 6 March 1930) was a British Liberal statesman. The youngest son of William Ewart Gladstone, he was Home Secretary from 1905 to 1910 and Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1914.
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Gladstone was the youngest son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, 8th Baronet, and was born in Downing Street where his father was living at the time as Chancellor of the Exchequer. William Henry Gladstone and Lord Gladstone of Hawarden were his elder brothers. He was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford, and lectured in history at Keble College, Oxford, for three years.[1]
In 1880 he Gladstone became private secretary to his father.[1] That same year, having unsuccessfully contested the Middlesex constituency, he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Leeds,[1][2] and in the 1885 General Election was returned to Parliament for Leeds West.[1][2] Having been a junior Lord of the Treasury from 1881 to 1885, Gladstone became Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Works in 1885. The following year served for a brief period as Financial Secretary to the War Office in his father's third administration. In 1892, on his father's return to power, he was made Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department,[1] and two years later he became First Commissioner of Works in Lord Rosebery's government,[3] at which time he was also sworn of the Privy Council.[4] The Liberals fell from power in 1895. He became the Liberals' Chief Whip in 1899[1] and in 1903 he negotiated on behalf of the Liberals an electoral pact with the Labour Representation Committee.
Gladstone returned to office in 1905 when Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman appointed him Home Secretary.[5] His tenure as Home Secretary was not widely considered a great success and notably included the inept handling of a (somewhat controversial) parade by Catholics through the streets of London. This incident disturbed both the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, and King Edward VII, and directly led to his leaving the position of Home Secretary in 1910 to become the first Governor-General of the Union of South Africa as well as the High Commissioner there.[6] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George and raised to the peerage as Viscount Gladstone, of the County of Lanark, the same year.[7]
After his return from South Africa in 1914, Lord Gladstone was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB),[8] and spent much of the First World War being involved with various charities and charitable organizations, including the War Refugees Committee, the South African Hospital Fund, and the South African Ambulance in France. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1917.[9]
Lord Gladstone married Dorothy Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Paget, 1st Baronet, in 1901. She was over twenty years his junior. There were no children from the marriage. Lord Gladstone died in March 1930, aged 76, at his Ware home, and was buried in the town's Little Munden Church. With no children, his title became extinct at his death. The Viscountess Gladstone died in June 1953.[1]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone John Barran William Jackson |
Member of Parliament for Leeds 1880 – 1885 With: John Barran and William Jackson |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Leeds West 1885 – Jan. 1910 |
Succeeded by Thomas Harvey |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Henry Northcote |
Financial Secretary to the War Office 1886 |
Succeeded by Hon. St John Brodrick |
| Preceded by Charles Stuart-Wortley |
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1892–1894 |
Succeeded by George W. E. Russell |
| Preceded by George Shaw-Lefevre |
First Commissioner of Works 1894–1895 |
Succeeded by Aretas Akers-Douglas |
| Preceded by Aretas Akers-Douglas |
Home Secretary 1905–1910 |
Succeeded by Winston Churchill |
| Government offices | ||
| New office | Governor-General of the Union of South Africa 1910–1914 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Buxton |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Gladstone 1910–1930 |
Extinct |
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