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Gladstone
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1809  Born in Liverpool [29 December], son of Sir John Gladstone and his second wife

1821  Gladstone went to school at Eton.

1828  Gladstone went to Christ Church College, Oxford.

1831  Gladstone spoke against the Reform bill at the Oxford Union.
         He gained a double First Degree in Mathematics and Classics.

1832  Gladstone was elected as a Tory for Newark-on-Trent with the patronage of the Duke of Newcastle.

1833  Gladstone defended his father against accusations about the treatment of slaves on his plantations
         in the West Indies.

1834  Appointed as a Junior Treasury Minister In Peel’s first administration.

1835  Appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.

1835  Peel resigned, Gladstone left office.  

1839  Gladstone married Catherine Glynne, daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, at Hawarden, Cheshire.

1840  Gladstone began his work of rescuing and rehabilitating prostitutes in London.

1841  Gladstone Vice-President of the Board of Trade,  Peel's second ministry.

1843  Gladstone President of the Board of Trade and a member of the Cabinet.

1844  The first general Railway Act was steered through Parliament by Gladstone.

1845  Gladstone resigned from the Cabinet because of the Maynooth [Roman Catholic] grant

1845  Colonial Secretary in Peel’s administration.

1852  Gladstone Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Aberdeen’s administration. First budget in April 1853.

1854-6  Gladstone increased Income Tax from 7d to 10½d in the £ in anticipation of increased government
            expenditure during the Crimean War. Gladstone was out of office in 1855 when Lord Aberdeen resigned

1859  Palmerston’s second ministry. Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1860  Cobden free trade treaty with France. Gladstone reduced considerably the number of articles
          subject to customs duty. The budget reduced the cost of living and his reputation as a financier grew.

1862  Gladstone provided relief work on the Hawarden estate cotton workers who had been thrown out of work
          because of the blockade of US Confederate ports, preventing the export of cotton.

1864  Gladstone committed himself to lowering the franchise qualification.

1865  Gladstone lost his Oxford University seat because of his support of franchise extension, Later returned as MP for Lancashire.

1865  Gladstone continued as Chancellor of the Exchequer when Palmerston died and
         Lord John Russell became Prime Minister.         

1866  Gladstone introduced the Representation of the People Bill which proposed to lower the franchise qualification.
          The Bill was opposed by the Conservatives and also by some Liberals.
          Russell's government resigned.

1868-74 Gladstone Prime Minister, his first administration. He announced that his ‘mission was to pacify Ireland’.

1869  Disestablishment of the Irish Church Act.

1870  Forster's Education Act and First Irish Land Act

1871  Army Regulation Act; University Test Act and abolition of the purchase of commissions in the Army

1872  Ballot Act and Licensing Act

1874  General Election. Disraeli Prime Minister.

1875  Gladstone resigned as Leader of the Liberal Party but continued to sit on the Opposition Front Bench.

1876  Gladstone attacked Disraeli's foreign policy; writes The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East.

1879  Gladstone's Midlothian Campaign enthusiastic reception by the people.

1880  General election. Gladstone MP for Edinburghshire; his son Herbert was elected for Leeds
         and his son William was elected for Worcestershire East.
         Queen Victoria asked Lord Hartington to form a ministry but he persuaded her to send for Gladstone.
         Gladstone’s second ministry. He also took the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1881  The Irish Coercion Act was passed, giving the Viceroy the power to detain people
         for as ‘long as was thought necessary’.
         The second Land Act was passed.

1882  Phoenix Park, Dublin, murders of government officials. A more severe Coercion Bill was introduced.
         Gladstone resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1884  The third Reform Act was passed and the Redistribution of Seats Act was passed.

1885  The fall of Khartoum. Gordon and his forces were massacred.  
         The government was defeated by an alliance of Conservatives and Irish Nationalists.
         Gladstone resigned; Lord Salisbury became Prime Minister.
1885  The ‘Hawarden Kite’: Herbert Gladstone leaked to the press that his father
         was in favour of Home Rule in Ireland.

1886  The Conservatives vowed to maintain the union of Great Britain and Ireland.
         Gladstone and the Irish Nationalists joined to defeat the government. Salisbury resigned.
         Gladstone Prime Minister, his third administration.
         Gladstone introduced a Home Rule Bill: it was defeated.
         General Election; Conservative victory. Gladstone resigned

1890  The Irish-Liberal alliance ended [after the O'Shea divorce case in which
         Charles Stuart Parnell was cited as co-respondent]

1891  Gladstone announced the ‘Newcastle programme’: Home Rule for Ireland,
         the disestablishment of the Church in Scotland and Wales, universal manhood suffrage
         and triennial parliaments.

1892  General Election, Liberals won a majority. Gladstone’s fourth administration 1892-4.

1893  Second Home Rule Bill was introduced; defeated by the House of Lords.

1894  Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister: continued to sit as an MP until the General Election
         when he retired from parliament.

1898  Gladstone died at Hawarden. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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