Colonialism
Colonialism is the policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories with the aim of opening trade opportunities. The colonizing country seeks to benefit from the colonized land mass. In the process, colonizers imposed their religion and medicinal practices on the natives; some argue this was a positive move toward modernization, while other scholars counter that this is an intrinsically Eurocentric rationalization, given that modernization is itself a concept introduced by Europeans. Colonialism is regarded as a relationship of domination of an indigenous majority by a minority of foreign invaders where the latter rule in pursuit of its interests. Early records of colonization go as far back as Phoenicians, an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC and the Greeks and Persians continued on this line of setting up colonies; the Romans would soon follow, setting up colonies throughout the Mediterranean, Northern Africa, Western Asia.
In the 9th century a new wave of Mediterranean colonization had begun between competing states such as the Islamic Ottomans and the Venetians and Amalfians, invading the wealthy Byzantine or Eastern Roman islands and lands. Venice began with the conquest of Dalmatia and reached its greatest nominal extent at the conclusion of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, with the declaration of the acquisition of three octaves of the Byzantine Empire. In the 15th century some European states established their own empires during the European colonial period; the Belgian, Danish, French, Russian and Swedish empires established colonies across large areas. Imperial Japan, the Ottoman Empire and the United States acquired colonies, as did imperialist China and in the late 19th century the German and the Italian. At first, European colonizing countries followed policies of mercantilism, in order to strengthen the home economy, so agreements restricted the colonies to trading only with the metropole. By the mid-19th century, the British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and adopted the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs.
Christian missionaries were active in all of the colonies because the Colonialists were Christians. Historian Philip Hoffman calculated that by 1800, before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans controlled at least 35% of the globe, by 1914, they had gained control of 84%. In the aftermath of World War II, the archetypal European colonial system ended between 1945–1975, when nearly all Europe's colonies gained political independence. Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as "the policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker peoples or areas". Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary defines colonialism as "the system or policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories"; the Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers four definitions, including "something characteristic of a colony" and "control by one power over a dependent area or people". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy "uses the term'colonialism' to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including the Americas and parts of Africa and Asia".
It discusses the distinction between colonialism and imperialism and states that "given the difficulty of distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism as a broad concept that refers to the project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended with the national liberation movements of the 1960s". In his preface to Jürgen Osterhammel's Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview, Roger Tignor says "For Osterhammel, the essence of colonialism is the existence of colonies, which are by definition governed differently from other territories such as protectorates or informal spheres of influence." In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can'colonialism' be defined independently from'colony?'" He settles on a three-sentence definition: Colonialism is a relationship between an indigenous majority and a minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are defined in a distant metropolis.
Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population, the colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule. Historians distinguish between various overlapping forms of colonialism, which are classified into four types: settler colonialism, exploitation colonialism, surrogate colonialism, internal colonialism. Settler colonialism involves large-scale immigration motivated by religious, political, or economic reasons, it pursues to replace the original population. Here, a large number of people emigrate to the colony for the purpose of staying and cultivating the land. Australia, Israel, South Africa, the United States are all examples of current settler colonial societies. Exploitation colonialism involves fewer colonists and focuses on the exploitation of natural resources or population as labor to the benefit of the metropole; this category includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration.
Prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labor was unavailable, slaves were imported to the Americas, first by the Portuguese Empire, by the Spanish, Dutch and British. Surrogate colonialism involves a set
Grocery store
A grocery store or grocer's shop is a retail shop that sells food. A grocer is a bulk seller of food. Grocery stores offer non-perishable foods that are packaged in bottles and cans. Large grocery stores that stock significant amounts of non-food products, such as clothing and household items, are called supermarkets; some large supermarkets include a pharmacy, customer service and electronics sections. In Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and convenience shops are sometimes described as grocery businesses, groceries or grocers. Small grocery stores that sell fruits and vegetables are known as greengrocers or produce markets, small grocery stores that predominantly sell prepared food, such as candy and snacks, are known as convenience shops or delicatessens; some grocery stores form the centerpiece of a larger complex that includes other facilities, such as gas stations, which will operate under the store's name. Some groceries specialize in the foods of a certain nationality or culture, such as Chinese, Middle-Eastern, or Polish.
These stores are known as ethnic markets and may serve as gathering places for immigrants. In many cases, the wide range of products carried by larger supermarkets has reduced the need for such specialty stores; the variety and availability of food is no longer restricted by the diversity of locally grown food or the limitations of the local growing season. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, peppers and cocoa, coffee; because these items were bought in bulk, they were named after the french word for wholesaler, or "grossier". This, in turn, is derived from the Medieval Latin term "grossarius", from which the term "gross" is derived; as increasing numbers of staple food-stuffs became available in cans and other less-perishable packaging, the trade expanded its province. Today, grocers deal in a wide range of staple food-stuffs including such perishables as dairy products and produce; such goods are, called groceries. Many rural areas still contain general stores that sell goods ranging from tobacco products to imported napkins.
Traditionally, general stores have offered credit to their customers, a system of payment that works on trust rather than modern credit cards. This allowed farm families to buy staples; the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders, an inventor and entrepreneur. Prior to this innovation, grocery stores operated "over the counter," with customers asking a grocer to retrieve items from inventory. Saunders' invention allowed a much smaller number of clerks to service the customers, proving successful "partly because of its novelty because neat packages and large advertising appropriations have made retail grocery selling an automatic procedure." The early supermarkets began as chains of grocer's shops. The development of supermarkets and other large grocery stores has meant that smaller grocery stores must create a niche market by selling unique, premium quality, or ethnic foods that are not found in supermarkets. A small grocery store may compete by locating in a mixed commercial-residential area close to, convenient for, its customers.
Organic foods are becoming a more popular niche market for the smaller stores. Grocery stores operate in many different styles ranging from rural family-owned operations, such as IGAs, to boutique chains, such as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's, to larger supermarket chain stores. In some places, food cooperatives, or "co-op" markets, owned by their own shoppers, have been popular. However, there has been a trend towards larger stores serving larger geographic areas. Large "all-in-one" hypermarkets such as Walmart and Meijer have forced consolidation of the grocery businesses in some areas, the entry of variety stores such as Dollar General into rural areas has undercut many traditional grocery stores; the global buying power of such efficient companies has put an increased financial burden on traditional local grocery stores as well as the national supermarket chains, many have been caught up in the retail apocalypse of the 2010s. However, many European cities are so dense in population and buildings, large supermarkets, in the American sense, may not replace the neighbourhood grocer's shop.
However, "Metro" shops have been appearing in town and city centres in many countries, leading to the decline of independent smaller shops. Large out-of-town supermarkets and hypermarkets, such as Tesco and Sainsbury's in the United Kingdom, have been weakening trade from smaller shops. Many grocery chains like Spar or Mace are taking over the regular family business model. Larger grocer complexes that include other facilities, such as petrol stations, is common in the United Kingdom, where major chains such as Sainsbury's and Tesco have many locations operating under this format. Traditional shops throughout Europe have been preserved because of their history and their classic appearance, they are sometimes still found in rural areas, although they are disappearing. Grocery stores in Latin America have been growing fast since the early 1980s. A large percentage of food sales and other articles take place in grocery stores today; some examples are the Chilean chains Cencosud, Walmart (Lid
George Kerferd
George Briscoe Kerferd, Australian colonial politician, was the 10th Premier of Victoria. Kerferd was born in Liverpool, the son of G. B. Kerferd, a merchant Kerferd was educated at the Collegiate Institute, with intentions of studying law. Kerferd emigrated to Victoria in 1853 with plans to open a branch of the family business, but this did not eventuate. After trying his luck as a gold miner at Bendigo, he settled in Beechworth and became a brewer and wine merchant, he was mayor of Beechworth three other occasions. In 1853 he married Ann Martindale. Kerferd did not practise as a lawyer. Kerferd was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Ovens in November 1864, represented the area continuously until February 1886, he began studying law in 1864 and was Minister for Mines and Vice-President of the Board of Land and Works in the government of James McCulloch 1868, Solicitor-General 1872-1874, Attorney-General in 1874 in the government of James Francis. When the Francis government was defeated in July 1874, Kerferd succeeded him at the head of a new conservative ministry.
Kerferd's Treasurer, James Service, like most colonial conservatives, a convinced free trader, the government's 1875 budget proposed repealing the tariffs imposed by Charles Gavan Duffy's liberal government, replacing the lost revenue with a land tax and a tax on beer and spirits. But this offended both the landowners and the business community, Kerferd's government was defeated in August 1875. Kerferd was again appointed as Attorney-General in conservative governments. In 1883 Kerferd was a Victorian representative to the federal convention. In 1886, he quit politics and on 1 January 1886 was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria; the appointment was not without controversy as several barristers had served longer in the legal profession, but Kerferd had eight years as attorney-general. There was general agreement. Kerferd served as a judge until his death in 1889 while on a holiday at Victoria. Kerferd Road in Albert Park is named after him. Kerferd Road Avenue, in Sorrento is named after him.
Judiciary of Australia List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria Victorian Bar Association Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900-84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985 Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984 Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972 Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992 Supreme Court of Victoria Website
Governor of Victoria
The Governor of Victoria is the representative in the Australian state of Victoria of its monarch, Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia and is one of the Governors of the Australian states. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia at the federal level; the governor's office and official residence is Government House next to the Royal Botanic Gardens and surrounded by Kings Domain in Melbourne. The Governor of Victoria is appointed by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the Premier of Victoria; the current Governor of Victoria is Victoria's first female governor. In accordance with the conventions of the Westminster system of parliamentary government, the governor nearly always acts on the advice of the head of the elected government, the Premier of Victoria; the governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, has the right to dismiss the premier. The Governor of Victoria is appointed by the Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Premier of Victoria, to act as her representative as head of state in Victoria.
The Governor acts "at the Queen's pleasure", meaning that the term of the Governor can be terminated at any time by the Queen acting upon the advice of the premier. Since the Australia Acts of 1986, it is the governor, not the queen, who exercises all the powers of the head of state, the governor is not subject to the direction or supervision of the monarch, but acts upon the advice of the premier. Upon appointment, he or she becomes a viceroy; the governor's main responsibilities fall into three categories – constitutional and community engagement. The Personal Standard of the Governor of Victoria is the same design as the State Flag of Victoria, but with the blue background replaced by gold, red stars depicting the Southern Cross. Above the Southern Cross is the Royal Crown; the current standard has been in place since 1984. The standard used by Victorian governors after 1870 had been the Union Jack with the Badge of the State of Victoria emblazoned in the centre. Between 1903 and 1953, the Tudor Crown was used on the State Flag and Governor's Standard, this was changed to the present crown in 1954.
The Governor's Standard is flown on vehicles conveying the governor. The Standard is lowered over Government House. There is a lieutenant-governor and an administrator; the Chief Justice of Victoria is ex officio the Administrator, unless he or she is the lieutenant-governor, in which case, the next most senior judge is the administrator. The lieutenant-governor takes on the responsibilities of the governor when that post is vacant or when the governor is out of the state or unable to act; the administrator takes on those duties if both the governor and lieutenant-governor are not able to act for the above reasons. See Governors of the Australian states for a description and history of the office of governor; as with the other states, until the 1986 Australia Acts, the office of Governor of Victoria was an appointment of the British Foreign Office although local advice was considered and sometimes accepted. Until the appointment of Victorian-born Sir Henry Winneke in 1974, the Governors of Victoria were British.
Since governors have been Australian although several were born overseas, namely Dr Davis McCaughey, born in Ireland, came to Australia for work. Prior to the separation of the colony of Victoria from New South Wales in 1851, the area was called the Port Phillip District of New South Wales; the Governor of New South Wales appointed superintendents of the District. In 1839 Charles La Trobe was appointed superintendent. La Trobe became Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria on separation on 1 July 1851. Between 1850 and 1861, the Governor of New South Wales was titled Governor-General of New South Wales, in an attempt to form a federal structure; until Victoria obtained responsible government in 1855, the Governor-General of New South Wales appointed lieutenant-governors to Victoria. On Victoria obtaining responsible government in May 1855, the title of the incumbent lieutenant-governor, Captain Sir Charles Hotham, became governor; as of July 2015, four former governors are alive. The most recent governor to die was Davis McCaughey, on 25 March 2005.
The most serving governor to die was Richard McGarvie, on 24 May 2003. There is a lieutenant-governor and an administrator; the lieutenant-governor takes on the responsibilities of the governor when that post is vacant or when the governor is out of the state or unable to act. The lieutenant-governor is appointed by the governor on the advice of the Premier of Victoria. Appointment as lieutenant-governor does not of itself confers any functions. If there is no governor or if the governor is unavailable to act for a substantial period, the lieutenant-governor assumes office as administrator and exercises all the powers and functions of the governor. If expecting to be unavailable for a short period only, the governor with the consent of the premier commissions the lieutenant-governor to act as deputy for the governor, performing some or all of the powers and functions of the governor; the Chief Justice of Victoria is ex officio the administrator, unless he or she is the lieutenant-governor, in which case, the next most senior judge is the administrator.
The administrator takes on the governor’s duties if both the governor and lieutenant-governor are not able to act for the above reasons. The current lieutenant-governor is Ken L
Legion of Honour
The Legion of Honour is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte and retained by all French governments and régimes. The order's motto is Honneur et Patrie, its seat is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur next to the Musée d'Orsay, on the left bank of the Seine in Paris; the order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: Chevalier, Commandeur, Grand officier, Grand-croix. During the French Revolution, all of the French orders of chivalry were abolished, replaced with Weapons of Honour, it was the wish of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul, to create a reward to commend civilians and soldiers. From this wish was instituted a Légion d'honneur, a body of men, not an order of chivalry, for Napoleon believed that France wanted a recognition of merit rather than a new system of nobility. However, the Légion d'honneur did use the organization of the old French orders of chivalry, for example the Ordre de Saint-Louis; the insignia of the Légion d'honneur bear a resemblance to those of the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which used a red ribbon.
Napoleon created this award to ensure political loyalty. The organization would be used as a façade to give political favours and concessions; the Légion d'honneur was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, commanders, regional "cohorts" and a grand council. The highest rank was not a Grand Cross but a Grand aigle, a rank that wore the insignia common to a Grand Cross; the members were paid, the highest of them generously: 5,000 francs to a grand officier, 2,000 francs to a commandeur, 1,000 francs to an officier, 250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, "You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led... Do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning? Never; that is good only for the scholar in his study. The soldier needs glory, rewards." This has been quoted as "It is with such baubles that men are led." The order was the first modern order of merit. Under the monarchy, such orders were limited to Roman Catholics, all knights had to be noblemen.
The military decorations were the perks of the officers. The Légion d'honneur, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted; the new legionnaire had to be sworn into the Légion d'honneur. It is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion d'honneur is a secular institution; the badge of the Légion d'honneur has five arms. In a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted; this decoration, a cross on a large sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand aigle, in 1814 as the Grand cordon. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, award of the Légion d'honneur gave right to the title of "Knight of the Empire"; the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the Légion d'honneur among his family and his senior ministers.
This collar was abolished in 1815. Although research is made difficult by the loss of the archives, it is known that three women who fought with the army were decorated with the order: Virginie Ghesquière, Marie-Jeanne Schelling and a nun, Sister Anne Biget; the Légion d'honneur was visible in the French Empire. The Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time; the king of Sweden therefore declined the order. Napoleon's own decorations were captured by the Prussians and were displayed in the Zeughaus in Berlin until 1945. Today, they are in Moscow. Louis XVIII changed the appearance of the order. To have done so would have angered the 35,000 to 38,000 members; the images of Napoleon and his eagle were removed and replaced by the image of King Henry IV, the popular first king of the Bourbon line. Three Bourbon fleurs-de-lys replaced the eagle on the reverse of the order. A king's crown replaced the imperial crown. In 1816, the grand cordons were renamed grand crosses and the legionnaires became knights.
The king decreed. The Légion d'honneur became the second-ranking order of knighthood of the French monarchy, after the Order of the Holy Spirit. Following the overthrow of the Bourbons in favour of King Louis Philippe I of the House of Orléans, the Bourbon monarchy's orders were once again abolished and the Légion d'honneur was restored in 1830 as the paramount decoration of the French nation; the insignia were drastically altered. In 1847, there were 47,000 members, yet another revolution in Paris brought a new design to the Légion d'honneur. A nephew of the founder, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, was elected president and he restored the image of his uncle on the crosses of the order. In 1852, the first recorded woman, Angélique Duchemin, an old revolutionary of the 1789 uprising against the absolute monarchy, was admitted into the order. On 2 December 1851, President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte staged a coup d'état with the help of the armed forces, he made himself Emperor of the French one year on 2 December 1852, after a successful plebiscite.
An Imperial crown was added. During Napoleon III's reign, the first American was admitted
Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn
Michael Edward Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn, known as Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt, from 1854 to 1906 and subsequently as The Viscount St Aldwyn to 1915, was a British Conservative politician. Known as "Black Michael", he notably served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1885 to 1886 and again from 1895 to 1902 and led the Conservative Party in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1886. Due to the length of his service, he was Father of the House from 1901 to 1906, when he took his peerage. Born at Portugal Street in London, Hicks Beach was the son of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, 8th Baronet, of Beverston, his wife Harriett Vittoria, second daughter of John Stratton, he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, where he graduated with a first class degree in the School of Law and Modern History in 1858. In 1854 he succeeded his father as ninth Baronet. In 1864 he was returned to Parliament as a Conservative for East Gloucestershire. During 1868 he acted both as Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board and as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs.
In 1874 he was made Chief Secretary for Ireland, was included in the Cabinet in 1877. From 1878 to 1880 he was Secretary of State for the Colonies. In 1885 he was elected for Bristol West, became Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. After Gladstone's brief Home Rule Ministry in 1886 Hicks Beach entered Lord Salisbury's next Cabinet again as Irish Secretary, making way for Lord Randolph Churchill as Leader of the House. From 1888 to 1892 Hicks Beach returned to active work as President of the Board of Trade, in 1895, Goschen being transferred to the Admiralty, he again became Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1899 he lowered the fixed charge for the National Debt from twenty-five to twenty-three million, a reduction imperatively required, apart from other reasons, by the difficulties found in redeeming Consols at their inflated price; when compelled to find means for financing the war in South Africa, he insisted on combining the raising of loans with the imposition of fresh taxation.
The sale of his Netheravon estates in Wiltshire to the War Office in 1898 occasioned some acrid criticism concerning the valuation, for which, Sir Michael himself was not responsible. On Lord Salisbury's retirement in 1902 Hicks Beach left the government, he accepted the chairmanship of the Royal Commission on Ritualistic Practices in the Church, he did valuable work as an arbitrator. Hicks-Beach was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Gloucestershire in 1861. In 1906 he was raised to the peerage as Viscount St Aldwyn, of Coln St Aldwyn, in the County of Gloucester, in 1915 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Quenington, of Quenington, in the County of Gloucester, Earl St Aldwyn, of Coln St Aldwyn, in the County of Gloucester. Lord St Aldwyn married firstly, Caroline Susan Elwes, daughter of John Henry Elwes by Mary Bromley, sister of Henry John Elwes, secondly Lady Lucy Catherine Fortescue, daughter of Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue, in 1874, they had one son, Viscount Quenington a politician, three daughters.
His second daughter, Susan Hicks Beach, was the sitter representing Britannia on the reverse of the Edward VII silver florins issued from 1902 to 1910 and designed by George William de Saulles. She chose the single life residing with her mother for sundry years subsequent to World War II cultivating and caring for the family lands in the Cotswolds. Lord St Aldwyn died in April 1916, aged 78, only a week after his son was killed in action in the First World War, was succeeded in his titles by his grandson Michael, who became a Conservative politician. Lucy, The Countess St Aldwyn had been involved with Elizabeth Malleson in the creating of a Rural Nursing Association in the 1880s; this organisation was incorporated in similar initiatives by Queen Victoria. The countess died in March 1940; the coastal town of Beachport in the Australian state of South Australia was named after Lord St Aldwyn in 1878. Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl St Aldwyn
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served for twelve years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times. Gladstone was born in Liverpool to Scottish parents, he first entered the House of Commons in 1832, beginning his political career as a High Tory, a grouping which became the Conservative Party under Robert Peel in 1834. Gladstone served as a minister in both of Peel's governments, in 1846 joined the breakaway Peelite faction, which merged into the new Liberal Party in 1859, he was Chancellor under Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell. Gladstone's own political doctrine—which emphasised equality of opportunity, free trade, laissez-faire economic policies—came to be known as Gladstonian liberalism, his popularity amongst the working-class earned him the sobriquet "The People's William". In 1868, Gladstone became Prime Minister for the first time.
Many reforms were passed during his first ministry, including the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and the introduction of secret voting. After electoral defeat in 1874, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, his Midlothian Campaign of 1879–80 was an early example of many modern political campaigning techniques. After the 1880 general election, Gladstone formed his second ministry, which saw the passage of the Third Reform Act as well as crises in Egypt and Ireland, where his government passed repressive measures but improved the legal rights of Irish tenant farmers. Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed home rule for Ireland but was defeated in the House of Commons; the resulting split in the Liberal Party helped keep them out of office—with one short break—for twenty years. Gladstone formed his last government in 1892, at the age of 82; the Second Home Rule Bill passed through the Commons but was defeated in the House of Lords in 1893. Gladstone left office in March 1894, aged 84, as both the oldest person to serve as Prime Minister and the only Prime Minister to have served four terms.
He died three years later. Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as "The People's William" or the "G. O. M.". Historians call him one of Britain's greatest leaders. Born in 1809 in Liverpool, at 62 Rodney Street, William Ewart Gladstone was the fourth son of the merchant John Gladstone, his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson. In 1835, the family name was changed from Gladstones to Gladstone by royal licence, his father was made a baronet, of Fasque and Balfour, in 1846. Although born and brought up in Liverpool, William Gladstone was of purely Scottish ancestry, his grandfather Thomas Gladstones was a prominent merchant from Leith, his maternal grandfather, Andrew Robertson, was Provost of Dingwall and a Sheriff-Substitute of Ross-shire. His biographer John Morley described him as "a highlander in the custody of a lowlander", an adversary as "an ardent Italian in the custody of a Scotsman". One of his earliest childhood memories was being made to stand on a table and say "Ladies and gentlemen" to the assembled audience at a gathering to promote the election of George Canning as MP for Liverpool in 1812.
In 1814, young "Willy" visited Scotland for the first time, as he and his brother John travelled with their father to Edinburgh and Dingwall to visit their relatives. Willy and his brother were both made freemen of the burgh of Dingwall. In 1815, Gladstone travelled to London and Cambridge for the first time with his parents. Whilst in London, he attended a service of thanksgiving with his family at St Paul's Cathedral following the Battle of Waterloo, where he saw the Prince Regent. William Gladstone was educated from 1816–1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St. Thomas' Church at Seaforth, close to his family's residence, Seaforth House. In 1821, William followed in the footsteps of his elder brothers and attended Eton College before matriculating in 1828 at Christ Church, where he read Classics and Mathematics, although he had no great interest in the latter subject. In December 1831, he achieved the double first-class degree. Gladstone served as President of the Oxford Union, where he developed a reputation as an orator, which followed him into the House of Commons.
At university, Gladstone was a denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform. Following the success of his double first, William travelled with his brother John on a Grand Tour of Europe, visiting Belgium, France and Italy. Upon his return to England, William was elected to Parliament in 1832 as a Tory Member of Parliament for Newark through the influence of the local patron, the Duke of Newcastle. Although Gladstone entered Lincoln's Inn in 1833, with intentions of becoming a barrister, by 1839 he had requested that his name should be removed from the list because he no longer intended to be called to the Bar. In the House of Commons, Gladstone was a disciple of High Toryism and, as a scion of one of the largest slave-holding families in the world, he opposed both the abolition of slavery and factory legislation. Gladstone's father was a slave owner.
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