Gladstone’s Library was founded by Victorian Statesman, William
Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), arguably Britain’s greatest Prime
Minister, and the most significant Anglican lay person of the
last two centuries. Four times Liberal Prime Minister, four
times Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Parliamentarian for 63
years, few politicians have achieved as many lasting reforms as
Gladstone. He even came within a hair’s breadth of bringing
peace to Ireland with his sadly ill-fated Home Rule Bill.
Gladstone was a pragmatic political leader with an insatiable
interest in history, literature, the classical world and
theological dispute; a voracious reader who read 20,000 books.
Britain at this time was the most powerful nation on earth, at
the height of Queen Victoria’s imperialism. I find it hard to
reconcile Gladstone’s clear Christian conviction with the
hypocrisy and barbarity of Empire. Yet he was solidly at the
heart of it. Was he compromised by this or did he provide the
conscience against even greater excesses?