Constituency : Kilmarnock Burghs 1911-15
William took over from the deceased Adam Rainy at Kilmarnock. He won more comfortably than many expected wich was put down to his abilities as a platform speaker.
William was the grandson of the former Prime Minister and son of the former Whitby MP of the same name. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and as president of the Oxford Union in 1907. He worked as a private secretary to Lord Aberdeen, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and as an attache to the British embassy in Washington. In 1910 he wrote that "I have a great dread of falling short of expectation; people insist on thinking that one has inherited more than one has from one's grandfather"
Asquith made him a junior whip.
William was opposed to British involvement in World War One and accurately predicted that it would inevitably mean conscription.
William enlisted as a second lieutenant at the start of World War One though he maintained that, "far from having the least inclination for military service, I dread it and dislike it intensely " . He was promoted to lieutenant in 1915.
He was killed by a sniper just three weeks after arriving in France. He was the last Gladstone to serve in the Commons.
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