Prime Minister William Gladstone's letters to be digitised

Image source, Geograph/ Bill Harrison

Image caption, William Gladstone was born in Liverpool to Scottish parents and spent time living in Hawarden, Flintshire

4 December 2018

About 15,000 letters and 5,390 annotated books written by former Prime Minister William Gladstone will be digitised to be viewed globally.

A voracious reader, he donated 20,000 books for a library at his former home, Hawarden Castle, north Wales, in 1894.

The Grade I-listed building now houses 200,000 items and is a national memorial to the Liberal who led the UK for 12 years between 1868 and 1894.

A US $400,000 (£313,000) grant from the Carnegie Corporation will fund work.

The three year project will see letters either written by or to Gladstone, as well as papers pertaining to crucial events in his own life and British politics digitised.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, William Gladstone had four separate terms as prime minister between 1868 and 1894

When Gladstone left office in March 1894 aged 84, he was the oldest person to have served as prime minister, and the only person to have served four terms.

He brought in many reforms such as secret voting and proposed home rule for Ireland.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is America's oldest grant-making foundation and got involved via its association with The US Friends of Gladstone's Library.

As Britain's only Prime Ministerial library, the link-up aims to provide worldwide access to the historical material just like documents are at US Presidential libraries.