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Sir John Gladstone

(1764-1851), Merchant, philanthropist and Conservative politician; MP for Lancaster, Woodstock and Berwick

Sitter in 3 portraits
Born John Gladstones, he dropped the ‘s’ when he moved to Liverpool to become a merchant. From there, he operated throughout the British Empire trading corn with India as well as sugar and cotton with the West Indies. Along with his brother Robert, Gladstone extended his business in the Caribbean purchasing plantations and enslaved Africans in British Guiana (now Guyana). The largest was the Vreedenhoop estate in Demerara, which was worked by 430 enslaved people. With the ending of slavery in the 1830s Gladstone moved into schemes involving the importing of indentured labourers into the Caribbean. His son, William Ewart Gladstone, became a liberal MP and eventually Prime Minister. His start in politics was dependent on financial support from his father. Despite this inheritance and support for the compensation of slave owners, in later life he supported anti-slavery causes.

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Sir John Gladstone

by Thomas Gladstones
oil on canvas, circa 1830
NPG 5042

Sir John Gladstone

after David Octavius Hill, and Robert Adamson
carbon print, 1843-1848; published 1928
NPG Ax29540

Sir John Gladstone

by Samuel William Reynolds Jr, printed by Brooker & Harrison, published by Paul and Dominic Colnaghi & Co, published by Alexander Hill, after William Bradley
mezzotint, published 26 February 1844
NPG D34512

Family Tree

Gladstone

Related People

Mary Drew (née Gladstone) (granddaughter)
Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone (grandson)
Henry Neville Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden (grandson)
Helen Gladstone (granddaughter)
Robertson Gladstone (son)
Stephen Edward Gladstone (grandson)
Sir Thomas Gladstone, 2nd Bt (son)
William Ewart Gladstone (son)
William Henry Gladstone (grandson)
Agnes Wickham (née Gladstone) (granddaughter)

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Sir John Gladstone