Memorialising William Gladstone: A Sign of the Times

Gian Ghatora is a second-year English student

Along the Strand, between the Australia High Commission and the St Clement’s Danes Church stands a memorial for the Liberal MP and ex-Prime Minister William Gladstone, created by William Hamo Thornycroft in 1905, and opened that same year, 7 years after Gladstone’s death.

Gladstone served as Prime Minister 4 times, initially from 1868 to 1874, where he notably passed the Trade Union Act (1871); his second term between 1880 and 1885, where he launched the Bombardment of Alexandria (1882), subjugating Egypt under British rule (despite his earlier principle supporting ‘the equal rights of all nations’); his third in 1886, and his fourth between 1892 and 1894, saw Gladstone promote Irish Home Rule.

The statue depicts Gladstone at a particular juncture of his political career, dressed in his Chancellor of the Exchequer attire, ‘GLADSTONE 1809-1898’ inscribed on the plinth. The memorial itself encapsulates not just a particular moment where Gladstone was seen as an individual worthy of commemoration, but a particular narrative of his legacy; today, the honourability of his values, actions, and decisions, may be considered controversial, a consequence of his ties to slavery and imperialism.

On these horrific practices, Gladstone’s position was complex. Whilst Gladstone supported certain progressive contemporary ideas, his actions often failed to fully support or achieve progression for those disenfranchised by British policy— in some cases, even supporting regressive practices tied to slavery and empire.

Despite not owning plantations or enslaved individuals himself, William defended his father, John Gladstone, for his role in the slave trade, in his first, seemingly paradoxical speech in Parliament, where William would claim both that ‘Wanton cruelty had occurred’ in plantations across the West Indies, but also that accusations criticising owners of enslaved individuals for cruelty ‘were wholly untenable’.

Whilst Gladstone eventually supported emancipation— evident in a speech he gave in 1886, where he claimed abolition exemplified the ‘masses’ being right, and the (upper) ‘classes’ being wrong, he ultimately believed this required gradual change, through an oppressive apprenticeship system, whilst undoubtedly utilizing emancipation to his own benefit. Gladstone supported the Slave Compensation Act of 1837, which saw his father gain around £106,000 in benefits for his ownership of 2,508 enslaved individuals across his plantations in Jamaica and (then) British Guiana— John Gladstone being the fifth largest beneficiary of all who claimed compensation. The wealth accumulated by the Gladstones through this trade and compensation, undoubtedly funded William’s own career, whilst such also contributed to King’s College London, an institution close to this memorial. John Gladstone would, in 1829, donate to King’s College London, transferring his share to William Gladstone a year later; William would eventually sit on the university Council from 1838, also serving as a life-governor.

Whilst today the statue stands where it was originally placed, this has, since 1905, travelled beyond the city; during the Second World War, the Gladstone memorial was moved to Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, to be protected amongst objects such as the Gold State Coach; you may question why, in this particular scenario, objects were prioritised over the evacuation of actual civilians— why it was seemingly vital to maintain not just this statue, but the specific memory and historical narrative it provides.

Ultimately, it is important to recognize that Thornycroft had produced a simple image, and a specific idea of Gladstone: as a virtuous politician, encircled by the values of Education, Aspiration, Brotherhood, and Courage— a powerful portrayal, completely disregarding the various histories and memories of those who suffered as a consequence his political legacy. Perhaps, the preservation of this image, simultaneous to the greater criticism of Gladstone’s role in slavery, may inspire you to question how our own values, and our own perceptions of honourability, evolve over time; how historical representations can be understood in the present.

The preservation of this statue upholds the expectation that this memory of his legacy would perpetuate as long as London stands— even, as we have seen in the travels of the statue, if it didn’t. Yet, whilst other Gladstone homages across the country have been removed, or at least protested, you may consider why, outside the Royal Courts of Justice, a figure responsible for injustice remains honoured? Perhaps, this brief history encourages you to consider why we memorialise the people we do— and if we should. You may question how ideas, as well as the people we feel embody them, can be reshaped as time passes, and as our awareness of varying historical narratives broadens. Ask yourself: who we choose to publicly honour, and why?

Why William Gladstone, why here, and why today?

Sources

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Anon, ‘The Victorian Web’, https://victorianweb.org/sculpture/thornycroft/hamo6.html [accessed 18/08/2024]

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