William Gladstone: a legacy of reform and political influence in the 19th century

Gladstone's early life and career

William Edwart Gladstone was born in 1809 and such as his rival Benjamin Disraeli, he was considered one of the most important figure of the 19° century. In fact he was elected Prime Minister four times, the first time he was elected prime minister was in 1868. During that period, reforming legislation focused on education. Elementary schools had long been organised by the Church, during the Victorian Age a lot of different institution were led by the church, so at the beginning of the the 1870 Education Act introduced by Gladstone started a national system by introducing ‘board schools’ in the poorer areas of the towns. So thanks to the Prime Minister, in 1880 elementary education had become compulsory.

Political reforms and Home Rule

Other reforms passed during his government such as in the legalisation of trade unions in 1871, with the Trade Union Act, and the introduction of the secret ballot at elections in 1872, with the Ballot Act. Gladstone was re-elected three times. The Third Reform Act that passe during the 1884 was important because for the first time it extended voting to all male householders, including miners, mill-workers and farm labourers. This extension gave public opinion an important role as a political force. The Irish Parliamentary Party, sitting as a group in Westminster and led by Charles Stewart Parnell, demanded a new type of government , a self-government, for Ireland, it was also known as the ‘Home Rule’. Gladstone thought that Home Rule was the way to bring peace to Ireland and so he was in favour of this new type of government for Ireland, but an Irish government was possible only after World War I.