Paper entitled Gladstone at the Colonial Office, 1846, by Professor Alan Shaw of Monash University, presented at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Australian Studies Centre, 1986.
Dates
- Creation: 1986
Extent
16 ff.
Language of Materials
- English
Preferred Citation
Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 543].
Shelfmark:
MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 543
Collection ID (for staff)
CMD ID 4165
Biographical / Historical
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) entered Parliament as a Conservative MP in 1832 and remained there until 1895, serving under successive Tory and Liberal governments, except for a period spent as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1845-1847. He was made President of the Board of Trade, 1843, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1858-1866 and leader of the Liberal Party, 1867. In 1868 he was elected Prime Minister.
As Prime Minister he oversaw Cardwell's Army Reform, 1868, which made peacetime flogging illegal, the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, 1869, the Irish Land Act, 1870 which protected tenants from arbitrary eviction and provided compensation for improvements, Forester's Education Act, 1870 which provided elementary schooling for children between the ages of five and thirteen, and the 1872 Ballot Act, which instituted secret ballots for Parliamentary elections. Gladstone was replaced as Prime Minister by Disraeli, 1874. He returned to lead the country in 1879 during a period which witnessed British military defeat at the hands of the Afrikaners in 1881 and the death of General Gordon at Khartoum, 1885. During his third ministry, 1886, he supported Irish home rule and resigned when the home rule bill was defeated. His final term as Prime Minister also ended with his resignation, in 1894, when a further Irish home rule bill was defeated in the Lords.
Other Finding Aids
The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers were donated to the library by Professor Colin Matthew on 19th March 1997.
Subject
- Title
- Paper on Gladstone at the Colonial Office, 1846
- Status
- Published
- Author
- Paul Davidson
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
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