The English statesman William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) led the Liberal party and served as prime minister. His strong religious sense was an integral part of his political and social policies.

William Gladstone was born in Liverpool on Dec. 29, 1809. His parents were of Scottish descent. His father, Sir John Gladstone, was descended from the Gledstanes of Lanarkshire; he had moved to Liverpool and become a wealthy merchant. William's mother, Anne Robertson of Stornaway, was John Gladstone's second wife, and William was the fifth child and fourth son of this marriage. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; he took from his school days a sustained love for the classics and experience in debating. He was president of the Oxford Union and denounced the Parliamentary Reform Bill in a speech in 1831.

Gladstone graduated in December 1831, and a parliamentary career followed a brief sojourn in Italy in 1832. He, who...