Roedd ef a'r Frenhines Victoria'n anghytun a'i gilydd drwy gydol ei oes; unwaith fe ddywedodd hi amdano, "He always addresses me as if I were a public meeting". Roedd yn cael ei alw'n "Grand Old Man", fodd bynnag. Dywedodd David Lloyd George amdano: "What a man he was! Head and shoulders above anyone else I have ever seen in the House of Commons. I did not like him much. He hated Nonconformists and Welsh Nonconformists in particular, and he had no real sympathy with the working-classes. But he was far and away the best Parliamentary speaker I have ever heard. He was not so good in exposition."[1] Galwyd ef gan Disraeli yn "God's Only Mistake".[2]
Nododd Margaret Thatcher yn 1983: "We have a duty to make sure that every penny piece we raise in taxation is spent wisely and well. For it is our party which is dedicated to good housekeeping—indeed, I would not mind betting that if Mr Gladstone were alive today he would apply to join the Conservative Party".[3] Yn 1996, dywedodd: "The kind of Conservatism which he and I...favoured would be best described as 'liberal', in the old-fashioned sense. And I mean the liberalism of Mr Gladstone, not of the latter-day collectivists".[4] Mynnodd y cyn-Ganghellor Nigel Lawson, mai Gladstone oedd "y Canghellor gorau a fu erioed".[5]
Gyrfa
Cafodd Gladstone ei ethol i San Steffan am y tro cyntaf yn 1832, fel Aelod SeneddolCeidwadol Newark, Swydd Nottingham. Roedd yn erbyn y ddeddf i ddileu caethwasanaeth yn 1833, a'r deddfau ffatrioedd i wellha bywyd y gweithwyr.
Dadleuodd dro ar ôl tro dros Iwerddon Rydd, a llwyddodd i fynd a Mesur Home Rule for Ireland drwy'r Tȳ Cyffredin yn 1886; pan daflwyd ei gynnig dros hunan lywodraeth ymddiswyddodd fel Prif Weinidog.[6]
Oherwydd ei gysylltiadau â Chymru ar adeg pan fu Rhyddfrydiaeth yn cael cefnogaeth y mwyafrif o'r Cymry, ceir sawl llyfr am Gladstone yn y Gymraeg. Er enghraifft:
Griffith Ellis, William Ewart Gladstone: Ei fywyd a'i waith (Hughes a'i Fab, Wrecsam, 1898). Cofiant swmpus darlunedig.
