William Ewart Gladstone, by Sir Thomas Brock

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898)

Sir Thomas Brock, K.C.B., R.A. 1847-1922

Marble, on a marble pedestal

Installed 1903

Westminster Abbey

"Gladstone stands bareheaded and wears the robes of Chancellor of the Exchequer. His right hand grasps his lapel and his left hand holds a sheaf of papers. He is looking slightly to the right; his expression firm and resolute, even stern. Gladstone's son Herbert, himself a politician, wrote to Brock on 31 March 1903: 'I must write a line to thank you for your very fine statue of my father. I have looked at it from all points of view and in different lights, and in every way it is worthy of its place in the Abbey'" (Sankey 195).

Photograph and text kindly provided by John Sankey, whose copyright they remain.