Catherine Glynne, the daughter of a baronet, married William Gladstone in 1839. Their marriage seems to have been a true partnership of equals. Untypically for the time, he was present at the birth of their eight children, and she acted as his private secretary. Catherine’s biographer attests that it was her influence that kept Gladstone in politics ‘long after his personal inclination would have taken him into retirement’. Catherine was concerned with the condition of the poor, in particular orphans, mill girls and victims of cholera. She established the concept of free convalescent homes and raised money for charitable causes as well as assisting her husband in ‘rescuing’ sex workers.