good in politics. He entered parliament as the Tory MP for Newark in December 1832 and in his maiden speech defended his father against allegations that he had mistreated his slaves on their West Indian plantation. He married Catherine Glynne, the daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, and they had eight children, four boys and four girls. Appointed Vice President of the Board of Trade in 1841, and later President of the Board of Trade in 1843. When the Tory Party broke apart in 1846, Gladstone, now believing strongly in free trade, followed Peel in becoming a Liberal-Conservative. He returned to Parliament in 1847 as MP for Oxford University, having lost his Newark seat, and in 1853 was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Aberdeen's coalition government. As Chancellor, Gladstone abolished many tariffs and lowered others; one of his first acts was to order the Foreign Office to stop using large thick sheets of double
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Physical relations with his wife appeared to have ceased after she had conceived nine times in fifteen years, he relieved his sexual frustration by tree-felling on his estate. Gladstone in his attempts at fighting the social evil of prostitution would invite prostitutes home for tea, in the hope of persuading them to change their ways. Gladstone recorded in his diaries that he found himself having to risk sexual temptation. He began to flagellate himself as a punishment after his encounters with prostitutes.
This practice caused him much ridicule and the risk of possible scandal throughout his political career. Some writers have suggested that he took this reforming zeal a little further than he perhaps should, and was in fact Jack the Ripper. In 1888 at the time of the Whitechapel murders, Gladstone was almost 80 years old and half-blind from an unsuccessful cataract operation. Gladstone died from cancer at the age of 88 on 19 May 1898 at Hawarden Castle Flint, and is buried in
Westminster
Physical relations with his wife appeared to have ceased after she had conceived nine times in fifteen years, he relieved his sexual frustration by tree-felling on his estate. Gladstone in his attempts at fighting the social evil of prostitution would invite prostitutes home for tea, in the hope of persuading them to change their ways. Gladstone recorded in his diaries that he found himself having to risk sexual temptation. He began to flagellate himself as a punishment after his encounters with prostitutes.
This practice caused him much ridicule and the risk of possible scandal throughout his political career. Some writers have suggested that he took this reforming zeal a little further than he perhaps should, and was in fact Jack the Ripper. In 1888 at the time of the Whitechapel murders, Gladstone was almost 80 years old and half-blind from an unsuccessful cataract operation. Gladstone died from cancer at the age of 88 on 19 May 1898 at Hawarden Castle Flint, and is buried in
Westminster