Captain John Neilson Gladstone RN |
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Member of Parliament for Devizes |
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In office 1859 – 7 February 1863 |
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Preceded by | Simon Watson Taylor |
Succeeded by | William Addington |
Member of Parliament for Devizes |
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In office 1852 – 1857 |
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Preceded by | James Bucknall Bucknall Estcourt |
Succeeded by | Simon Watson Taylor |
Member of Parliament for Ipswich |
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In office August 1842 – 1847 |
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Preceded by | John Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart |
Succeeded by | John Cobbold |
Member of Parliament for Walsall |
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In office February 1841 – 1841 |
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Preceded by | Francis Finch |
Succeeded by | Robert Wellbeloved Scott |
Personal details | |
Born |
Liverpool, Lancashire, England |
18 January 1807
Died | 7 February 1863 Bowden Park, Wiltshire, England |
(aged 56)
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Honoria Bateson (m. 1839-1862) |
Children | Sir John Gladstone, 4th Baronet |
Profession | Royal Navy officer |
Religion | Church of England |
Captain John Neilson Gladstone RN (18 January 1807 – 7 February 1863) was a British Conservative politician and an officer in the Royal Navy.
He was the fourth child of Sir John Gladstone, a Scottish-born businessman who settled in Liverpool and made a large fortune initially from trading in corn with the United States and cotton with Brazil, and later through sugar plantations in Jamaica. His mother was Anne MacKenzie née Robertson, from Dingwall. His younger brother was the British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, and his elder brother Thomas was also a MP.
He attended Eton and then Christ Church, Oxford.
Gladstone attended the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth from 1820. He spent eight years at sea, but thereafter was still able to gain promotion to Captain RN. William decided to undertake a tour of European cities in 1832 with his naval brother, who was temporarily without a ship. They spent 179 days together criss-crossing Europe, travelling by post-chaise. Leaving London on 1 February 1832 they crossed the Channel into Brittany. By 1 March they had arrived at Turin, where they tarried a week, before moving on to Genoa. They were at Rome during April for a whole month, 25 days in Naples and 10 days in Rome before turning for home on 5 June. Via Ravenna and Bologna they visited Venice; and then onto the Lakes Garda and Como, pausing four days in Milan, before travelling across the Alps to Geneva. From Basle they took a boat down the Rhine, and overland to Brussels and Ostend. They arrived back in London on 28 July 1832.
In 1839 he married Elizabeth Honoria, daughter of William Bateson. They purchased Bowden Park, near Chippenham in Wiltshire where he chose to settle.
No longer able to get a ship at sea with the Royal Navy, he stood as a Conservative and won the seat of Walsall in a by-election on 4 February 1841; the general election in June of that year obscured the raising of a petition against him for corrupt electoral practices. His Anti-Corn Law League opponent accused him of using money from slavery to pay for election expenses. The accusation from J B Smith was flatly denied, both that his family had had anything to do with a West India slavery plantation, until after its abolition, and that the rumours of compensation were much exaggerated.