Mary Gladstone

"Mary Gladstone was daughter and private secretary to William Gladstone, who spent sixty-three years in the House of Commons, twenty-seven of them in office, and was four times Prime Minister. This placed her at the heart of British politics, campaigning for her father, dealing with official correspondence and controlling access to the Prime Minister as well as disseminating and controlling information from him both to the press and to his ministers. This biography of Mary focuses on the period during which she was working with her father up to his death in 1898. It covers a crucial period in British history including Gladstone's attempts to give home rule to Ireland, brinkmanship in the Balkans, the height of the Empire and domestic reform such as universal male suffrage and elementary education for all."--BOOK JACKET.