Gladstone

W.E. Gladstone (1809-1898) was prime minister of Great Britain four times during the Victorian era and is considered one of the most important political figures in modern British history. This biography provides a new assessment of Gladstone's life and career, placing him firmly in the context of nineteenth century Britain. Surveying a broad range of source material, Partridge begins by examining Gladstone's early life, education, entry to Parliament and marriage. He goes on to look in detail at Gladstone's terms as prime minister concluding with his fourth ministry, when Gladstone, by now in his eighties, returned to power. Partridge recounts how Gladstone tried and failed to resolve the problems of Ireland, which had become his great obsession, for the last time and eventually reties from politics in 1894 and died a few years later. This engaging work provides a deep and thorough survey of the life and significance of Gladstone, and is a welcome starting point for all those interested in one of themost prominent and complex characters of Victorian Britain.

Michael Partridge is Reader in History at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, London and researches largely in nineteenth-century Britain