His six brothers having
followed him from Leith to Liverpool, he took into partnership with him
his brother Robert. Their business became very extensive, having a large
trade with Russia, and as sugar importers and West India merchants. John
Gladstone was the chairman of the West India Association and took an
active part in the improvement and enlargement of the docks of
Liverpool. In 1814, when the monopoly of the East India Company was
broken and the trade of India and China thrown open to competition, the
firm of John Gladstone & Company was the first to send a private vessel
to Calcutta.
John Gladstone was a public-spirited man and took great interest in the
welfare of his adopted city. He was ever ready to labor for its
prosperity, and consequently endeared himself to the people of all
classes and conditions, and of every shade of political opinion.
The high estimation in which he was held by the citizens of Liverpool
was especially manifest October 18, 1824, when they presented him with a
testimonial, consisting of a magnificent service of plate, of
twenty-eight pieces, and bearing the following inscription: "_To John
Gladstone, Esq., M.P., this service of plate was presented MDCCCXXIV, by
his fellow townsmen and friends, to mark their high sense of his
successful exertions for the promotion of trade and commerce, and in
acknowledgment of his most important services rendered to the town of
Liverpool_.
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