Search the Collection

William Ewart Gladstone

(1809-1898), Prime Minister and writer; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery

Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry

Sitter associated with 324 portraits
Famous as the ‘grand old man’ of British politics; Gladstone was leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister in four governments from 1868 to 1894. Gladstone was responsible for major reforms in every sphere of national life, and for the development of imperial foreign policy. He divided the party on the issue of Irish Home Rule and stamped his moral authority on the politics of his time. Gladstone’s father, John Gladstone was one of the largest owners of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and this wealth supported Gladstone’s early career in politics. As a politician, Gladstone supported the proposal to compensate slave-owners for the loss of their ‘property’ after slavery was abolished and the introduction of the apprenticeship system that required newly freed Africans to continue working for their masters for four to six years.

4 Likes voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Make a donation Close

List Thumbnail

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

after Elliott & Fry
albumen carte-de-visite, 31 March 1879
NPG x5964

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Elliott & Fry
half-plate negative, 31 March 1879
NPG x82165

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Alexander Bassano
panel portrait size glass negative, 10 March 1883
NPG x128004

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Alexander Bassano
panel portrait size glass negative, 10 March 1883
NPG x128005

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Alexander Bassano
panel portrait size glass negative, 10 March 1883
NPG x128006

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Alexander Bassano
panel portrait size glass negative, 10 March 1883
NPG x128007

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Alexander Bassano
panel portrait size glass negative, 10 March 1883
NPG x128008

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Alexander Bassano
panel portrait size glass negative, 10 March 1883
NPG x128003

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Elliott & Fry
half-plate negative, 1887
NPG x82280

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Elliott & Fry
half-plate glass negative, 1887
NPG x82281

Web image not currently available

Catherine Gladstone (née Glynne); William Ewart Gladstone

by Herbert Rose Barraud
platinotype cabinet card, 25 July 1889
NPG x5978

Web image not currently available

Henry Neville Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden on his wedding day with his wife and parents

by Henry Herschel Hay Cameron (later The Cameron Studio)
photogravure, 30 January 1890
NPG x9402

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Eveleen Myers (née Tennant)
platinum print on card mount, 25 April 1890
NPG x36436

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Eveleen Myers (née Tennant)
platinum print on card mount, 25 April 1890
NPG x36435

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Unknown photographer
photogravure, circa 1897
NPG x5985

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Benjamin Stone
platinum print, 28 May 1898
NPG x87640

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Unknown photographer
albumen carte-de-visite
NPG x20591

Web image not currently available

Vanity Fair Panel no. 4

by F. Goedecker, and James Jacques Joseph Tissot, and Carlo Pellegrini, and Adriano Cecioni, and Sir Leslie Ward, and Théobald Chartran ('T'), and Charles Auguste Loye ('M.D' or Montbard)
chromolithographs pasted onto wooden panel, assembled from prints published 1869-1884
NPG D39294

Web image not currently available

William Ewart Gladstone

by Unknown artist
etching and aquatint, late 19th century
NPG D49797

Family Tree

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.