Robertson Gladstone

Liverpool West India merchant, son (and beneficiary of in vivo gifts from) John Gladstone (q.v.) and brother of the future Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, and Mayor of Liverpool 1842-44. Sent to Demerara in 1829. Counterclaimed successfully as one of the mortgagees on Met-en-Meerzorg in British Guiana.

1. 'West Indies merchant and sugar importer in Liverpool, plantation owner in the West Indies and Mauritius. Also a partner in Heywood's Bank, Liverpool, and Deputy Chairman of the Grand Junction Railway. "Merchant" (1851, 1861, and 1871 Censuses). An elder brother of the Prime Minister. The Return of Owners of Land of 1872 states that he owned 142 acres worth £2478 p.a. Some of this is probably urban property in Liverpool, which he is known to have owned.' Left £120,000 at his death.

2. Described as 'preparing his own house in Abercromby Square' in 1829; listed in Abercromby Square as a voter in 1835.

1. Rubinstein 1875/52.

2. S. G. Checkland, The Gladstones: a family biography 1764-1851 (Cambridge, 1971) p. 222; The Poll for the election of Members of Parliament for the Borough of Liverpool, taken between Lord Viscount Sandon, William Ewart, Esq., Major-General Sir Howard Douglas, Bart. and James Morris, Esq. at the polling booths, on Tuesday, the 6th, and Wednesday, the 7th January, 1835... (Liverpool, 1835) p. 35.

We are grateful to Joe Kelly for his assistance with compiling this entry.