Biggar connection to former Prime Minister

Very few people today know that Biggar has connections with William Ewart Gladstone, one of the most important Prime Ministers in late Victorian Britain.
Former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (inset) has a family connection to Biggar in that his grandfather was born at Toftcombs, the pretty cottage pictured here.Former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (inset) has a family connection to Biggar in that his grandfather was born at Toftcombs, the pretty cottage pictured here.
Former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (inset) has a family connection to Biggar in that his grandfather was born at Toftcombs, the pretty cottage pictured here.

He was the most prominent Liberal Party member of his day in a period when there were only two main political parties in Westminster – Liberals and Tories.

Gladstone started his political life as a Tory but joined the reformed Liberal Party in 1859. In 1868 he became Pri me Minster for the first time; during his term in office he introduced voting in secret for the first time. He was Prime Minister another three times, the last being in 1892 at the age of 82. By this time he felt too old and resigned in 1894 at the age of 84.

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Gladstone stood up for the ordinary man and was a believer in equality of opportunity. He was responsible for introducing the Third Reform Act which greatly expanded the number of potential voters in the UK but his main effort was to try to secure Home Rule for Ireland. Unfortunately, this idea came to nothing due to opposition from the Lords.

The Gladstone family came from Scotland; his grandfather was born just outside Biggar at the small farm of Toftcombs. The farm building is shown in the picture above. It is a typical 18th century farm with a thatched roof. Such a farm was widely found the length and breadth of Lanarkshire before agricultural innovations became more widely shared.

Thomas Gladstone moved to Leith, where he became a commodity trader. It was as a result of the profits made in this business that his son Sir John Gladstone moved to Liverpool where the family fortune was made – mostly in the sugar business in British Guiana.

William Ewart Gladstone’s belief in humanity did not extend to slaves in his early political life and as a Prime Minister he secured massive compensation for his father but not the slaves. He did, however, support measures to suppress the slave trade run by the Arabs in East Africa.

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The farm was eventually demolished but its name lives on at Toftcombs Mansion House. It is a pity Gladstone’s ancestral home is not preserved but its links with slavery would not likely make it a popular visitor attraction.

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