Eldest son of Bri­tish prime min­is­ter William Glads­tone, Will­iam at­tend­ed Eton Coll­ege and read Greek and La­tin at Christ Church, Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty. A Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for a to­tal of 20 years, rep­re­sent­ing Ches­ter for three, Whit­by, York­shire for 12 and East Wor­ces­ter­shire for five. A sing­er and or­gan­ist, he was well versed in mu­sic­al his­to­ry, es­pe­cial­ly the de­vel­op­ment of An­gli­can church mu­sic. He wrote on mu­sic­al to­pics, and one of the views he ex­pressed was that chor­al church ser­vic­es were to be de­plored be­cause “the choirs of­ten dis­cour­age the con­gre­ga­tions from sing­ing.” He wrote the anthems “Gra­cious and Righ­teous” and “With­draw Not Thou,” and chants, an­thems, in­troits and or­gan vol­un­tar­ies. His works in­clude:

• A Selection of Hymns and Tunes, 1882

Music

1. Erskine
2. Hammersmith
3. Ombersley