[William Henry Gladstone, Member of Parliament for Chester, son of Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.] Autograph Letter Signed to W. Farish of Chester, with reference to ‘the Local Option principle’ with regard to prohibition of alcohol.

W. H. Gladstone was the eldest of W. E. Gladstone’s eight children. See his father’s entry in the Oxford DNB, along with those of his brothers Henry Neville Gladstone and Herbert John Gladstone. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with spike hole through one corner of each leaf. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘W H Gladstone’ and addressed to ‘W. Farish Esq / Chester’. He apologizes for having to decline Farish’s request, and is returning the card Farish has sent him. ‘I must return to London at the end of next week - and I regret also that my Brother is at present on the sea on his way to Gibraltar’ (it is unclear which of his other three brothers he is referring to). He continues: ‘I do trust we shall eventually reap a rich harvest of advantage from the Local Option principle; but the movement will become (I think) doubly important when a good scheme of County Government shall have been passed & established.’ The ‘Local Option’ was a move to give local town and city councils powers to prohibit the sale and purchase of alcohol. It was a devisive measure: there had been a riot over the issue in Cambridge in 1880.