Thomas Gladstones (3 June 1732 – 12 May 1809) was a Scottish flour merchant and philanthropist. He was the father of Sir John Gladstone and the grandfather of the British prime minister

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Early life

Born at the farm of Mid Toftcombs in the parish of Biggar, Lanarkshire, Thomas Gladstones was the fourth son of John Gladstones (c.1696–1757), a

miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

and farmer at Mid Toftcombs. John Gladstones also served as an

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

of Biggar Kirk. Thomas's elder brother, James, was a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

minister and rector of

Leith Academy Leith Academy is a state school in Leith, Edinburgh. It currently educates around 1000 pupils and around 2,800 part-time adult learners. Mike Irving has been head teacher since August 2017. History It is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, w ...

. In 1746, when he was aged 14, Thomas's father arranged for him to be apprenticed to Alexander Somerville, a wine merchant in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. When Thomas completed his apprenticeship he decided that the

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

trade offered better prospects than did wine, and he established himself in Leith as a provision merchant and corn dealer, eventually trading at both wholesale and retail. He died in 1809 at his home on Coalhill in Leith.

Marriage and family

On 21 April 1762, Gladstones married Nelly Neilson (1738–1806), the daughter of Walter Neilson, a merchant from Springfield near Edinburgh. They had sixteen children together, the second-born, and eldest son, being Sir John Gladstones.

Career

Thomas Gladstones' corn business prospered during the 1760s. His business operated from a shop at the front of his house on Coalhill in Leith. Thomas became the lessee of the Dalry

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

, where he appointed his brother-in-law, James Murray, as superintendent. He also bought and sold grain from the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

ports, was an investor in a Leith

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...

, owned a number of trading ships, and had an interest in the

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

plants at Barrowmuirhead, near Leith. His provisions business focused on provisioning ships with butter, oranges, wine, vinegar and other goods. Thomas Gladstones was a Whig and an elder in the

. He died at his home in Leith in May 1809, aged 86. He was buried in the churchyard of

North Leith Parish Church North Leith Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland, within the Presbytery of Edinburgh. It is serves part of Leith, formerly an independent burgh and since 1920 a part of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Building The current ...

References

* Checkland, S.G. ''The Gladstones: A Family Biography 1764–1851'' (1971) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gladstones, Thomas 1732 births 1809 deaths

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

People from Biggar, South Lanarkshire People from Leith Scottish merchants 18th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish philanthropists 18th-century philanthropists

Early life

Marriage and family

Career

See also

References