Sir John Gladstone, 1764 - 1851. East and West India Merchant; Member of Parliament; philanthropist; father of William Ewart Gladstone [a]
About this artwork
John Gladstone was a merchant and MP and father of the British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. He started off in the family corn trading business in Leith and in 1786 moved to Liverpool. He began trading in cotton and sugar in 1803 and in Demerara and Jamaica, purchased multiple plantation estates and more than 2500 enslaved people. Following the abolition of slavery, in return for the emancipation of the 2508 people he had enslaved, Gladstone received in today’s money £83 million in compensation. This photograph was made around the time Gladstone was created a Baronet. His philanthropic investments in canals, railways, churches, and schools were made possible, in part, by the profits he earned from the slave trade.
Updated before 2020
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artists:
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title:Sir John Gladstone, 1764 - 1851. East and West India Merchant; Member of Parliament; philanthropist; father of William Ewart Gladstone [a]
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date created:1843 - 1847
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materials:Carbon print
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measurements:19.90 x 14.30 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Elliot Collection, bequeathed 1950
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accession number:PGP HA 965
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gallery:
David Octavius Hill
David Octavius Hill
A painter and a lithographer by training, David Octavius Hill is best remembered for the beauty of the calotypes he and Robert Adamson produced together. Hill was a sociable and kind-hearted man who did much to support the arts in Scotland and between 1830 and 1836 he was the unpaid Secretary of...