The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-23
MIR. GLADsToNE's ESTATE.
Little Friction In the Family Over
Its Settlement.
Washington Post.

Good old Mrs. Gladstone is no longer mis-
tress of Hawarden Castle, and the latter is
no longer her home. That is an intimatlon
of a shock to all the many admirers OF Eng
lands grand old man on both sides or the
Atlantic. There has been consAderstele
amount of friction and unpleasantness IN
the Gladstone family since the old man
death, mainly in connection with the dlspo-
sition OF his estates and in the control OF the
property bad feeling being engendered in
the minds of the sons and daughters or Mr.
Gladstone by the altered position III Wnlcn
the widow Of his eldest son, namely, the
Hon. Mrs. William Henry Gladstone, has
been placed by his death.
AS long as the famous commoner was
alive he was regarded as master OF ma
life interest in the estate, the true owner
having seen his eldest son, the late William
Henry Gladstone, who inherited 1T from his
uncle old Mrs Gladstone's brother, Sir
Stephen Glynne. And on Mr.. William Henry
Gladstone's death it was his boy, the now
thirteen year-old William Glynne Gladstone,
who became the real owner. of the place.
Yet in spite of this. the lads mother was
never permitted to make her home at Ha-
warden. When she came there 1t was mere
ly as q visitor. She did not get on well with
her dead husbands brothers or sisters, and
it will be noted that her portrait is included
in none of the innumerable family groups
of the Gladstone household at Hawarden
which have ever been issued to the public.
Nor did she have any say in the manage
ment of what was virtually her sons es-
tates of which her sters-in-law-that is to
say, old Mr. Gladstones daughrerS-had lar
more control than herself.
The Hon. Mrs. Gladstone, who is daugh-
ter of old Lord Blantyre, submitted to all
this in silence as long as her distinguished
father-in-law, for whom she entertained the
most profound veneratiOn was alive. But
there was no reason for continuing to per-
NIT herself to be thus ignored in connec-
ton with Hawarden after his DEATH, all the
more as old Mrs. Gladstone had fallen into
state of complete dotage, and does not
seem to even realize or to appreciate that
she has become a widow.
There has been, as l said above no little
UNDERSTANDINGS about the whole matter
which has eliminated in the public an
nouncement that the Hon. Mrs. William
Henry Gladstone has now taken up her
residence at Hawarden Castle as its mis-
tress, where she will keep house on behalf
of her son, the owner of the estate. until
he attains his majority. That is to say,
Hawarden Castle becomes from henceforth
the home of the Hon. Mrs. William Henry
Gladstone of her son, and of her two
daughters, while it ceases to be the home
of old Mrs. Gladstone, of her unmarried
Hon. Herbert Gladstone, end OF the Rev.
and Mrs. Harry Drew. with their little
daughter. Dorothy Drew. the favorite
grandchild of the Grand Old Man, The
Rev Stephen Gladstone. being rector or the
parish of Hawarden, will. of course, remain
on the estate. But I doubt whether there
will be as much cordially and intercourse
between the castle and the rectorate as in
DAYS of yore. 1t is probable that from
henceforth and for the remainder of her
DAYS old Mrs Gladstone will make her
home in London with her son Herbert, and
be cared for and nursed by her unmarried
daughter Helen.