A younger
branch of the family--the son of the last of the Gledstanes of
Arthurshiel--after many generations, came to dwell at Biggar, in
Lanarkshire, where he conducted the business of a "maltster," or
grain merchant.
Here, and at about this time, the name was changed to Gladstones, and a
grandson of the maltster of Biggar, Thomas Gladstones, settled in Leith
and there became a "corn-merchant." He was born at Mid Toftcombs, in
1732, and married Helen Neilson, of Springfield. His aptitude for
business was so great that he was enabled to make ample provision for a
large family of sixteen children. His son, John Gladstone, was the
father of William E. Gladstone, the subject of our sketch.
Some have ascribed to Mr. Gladstone an illustrious, even a royal
ancestry, through his father's marriage. He met and married a lovely,
cultured and pious woman of Dingwall, in Orkney, the daughter of Andrew
Robertson, Provost of Dingwall, named Ann Robertson, whom the
unimpeachable Sir Bernard Burke supplied with a pedigree from Henry III,
king of England, and Robert Bruce, of Bannockburn, king of Scotland, so
that it is royal English and Scottish blood that runs in the veins of
Mr. Gladstone.
"This alleged illustrious pedigree," says E.
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