Talk on Gladstone
`GLADSTONE: The Grand Old Man of Nottinghamshire’ was the title of the March talk at Sutton Bonington Local History Society.
It was delivered by Dr Richard Gaunt. The title was a bit of a misnomer as Gladstone was anything but a grand old man when associated with Nottinghamshire, he was in fact a young man when he was elected to his first parliamentary seat as the MP for Newark in 1832.
Although the talk was about Gladstone’s connections with Nottinghamshire it also served to illustrate the nature of parliamentary elections and the patronage that, to some extent, corrupted politics at the time. The Duke of Newcastle liked to think that Newark was a seat within his gift and to some extent it was. The Great Reform bill had just been passed, but the vote was not secret.
Those of the Dukes tenants who voted against his will were evicted. Those tenants who voted as the duke wished received a generous amount of coal, think of this as the modern day equivalent of tax reductions before elections. Gladstone was at the time a Tory and as you might expect this chimed with the Dukes beliefs and Gladstone was duly elected to the seat. Being a friend of the dukes son and heir also helped.
Gladstone lost the seat in 1846 when he voted for the repeal of the Corn Laws and lost the Dukes support, although he remained in the government.
Gladstone had, by now, changed his political thinking and thrown his lot in with the Liberals. However on the death of the 4th Duke, Gladstone’s friend, Lord Lincoln, became the 5th Duke of Newcastle and friendly relationships with the Duke blossomed, but Gladstone had been elected as MP for an Oxford University seat in 1851. The friendship gave rise to Gladstone’s other major connection with Nottingham. The 5th Duke died relatively young and Gladstone was a Trustee of his estate. As a consequence was responsible for overseeing the continued development of the residential area known as The Park. This was built on land owned by the Duke of Newcastle to a design by the local architect Thomas Hine.
Most of Gladstone’s other connections with Nottingham are as consequence of his friendship with the Duke. There is Gladstone House in the Park. Also in the Park is a plaque marking the time in May 1875 when Gladstone chopped a tree down, a favourite pastime of Gladstone’s , in 45 minutes and in public. His effigy also adorns the Express Buildings, designed by Watson Fothergill, and which is now a Tesco Express. Finally in 1877 he laid a foundation stone at a building in Shakespeare St.
This was a very entertaining talk delivered flawlessly and without notes. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 12. As usual the venue will be the Methodist School Rooms, Main St., Sutton Bonington, starting at 7:30pm. The topic will be `Bygone Shops and Shopping in Nottingham’ by Chris Weir. An evening of pure nostalgia, come along and see what you have forgotten, or miss, about the shops in Nottinghamshire.