Gladstone, William Henry

Composer

b Hawarden, Flintshire 1840, d Westminster, London 1891. Eton Coll and Christ Ch Oxford; the eldest son of Prime Minister Wm E Gladstone, who followed his father into the House of Commons as MP for 20 years in all, in turn for Chester, Whitby and E Worcs. He inherited the Hawarden Estate, and often played the organ of the parish church. Respected as a scholar in history, classics, and Anglican church music; as a musician himself, he edited A Selection of Hymns and Tunes (1882), which the organist Prof Sir Walter Parratt called ‘the only hymnbook I know which has no bad tunes’. His music was composed mainly for the organ and included 10 hymn tunes, one of which has proved an outstanding success. No.663.