Gladstone, Catherine (1812–1900)

views updated

Gladstone, Catherine (1812–1900)

Welsh prime-ministerial wife. Name variations: Lady Gladstone, Mrs. William E. Gladstone. Born Catherine Glynne, 1812, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales; died 1900; dau. of Sir Stephen Glynne, local squire; m. William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898, Liberal prime minister of England, 1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, and 1892–94), in July 1839; children: 8, including John Gladstone (statesman), W.H. Gladstone (died 1891), Agnes Gladstone, Helen Gladstone and Mary Gladstone Drew (died 1927).

Said to be a woman of wit, discretion and charm; with husband, worked for the well-being of prostitutes.

See also Georgina Battiscombe, Mrs. Gladstone: The Portrait of a Marriage (1956).