Gladstone, Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount

▪ English statesman

born Jan. 7, 1854, London

died March 6, 1930, Dane End, near Ware, Hertfordshire, Eng.

      English statesman, son of William Ewart Gladstone; he was the first governor general and high commissioner of the Union of South Africa.

      Educated at Eton and at University College, Oxford, Gladstone lectured on history at Keble College for three years (1877–80) and then entered on a parliamentary career, representing Leeds from 1880 to 1910.

      From 1880 to 1881 he acted as private secretary to his father and in 1881 became a lord of the Treasury. His other political offices were financial secretary to the War Office (1886); under secretary at the Home Office (1892–94); first commissioner of works (1894–95); chief whip to the Liberal Party (1899–1906); and secretary of state for home affairs (1905–10).

      In 1910 he was created a viscount and was appointed the first governor general and high commissioner for South Africa, a post which he held until July 1914, winning the appreciation of both the Boers and the English. During World War I he became treasurer of the War Refugees Committee, especially devoted to the charge of Belgian refugees in Britain. He wrote W.E. Gladstone (1918) and After Thirty Years (1928).

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