ABSTRACT
The defeat over the Irish Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons on 8 June 1886 marked the end of William Ewart Gladstone’s third ministry and brought about the dissolution of Parliament. It meant that Gladstone’s immediate task was to present his Irish policy to the electors and secure their support for it so that he could put pressure on the Lords. Unfortunately, it was not to be: instead of returning the ‘Grand Old Man’ to the House of Commons in triumph, the voters reduced the Liberal party to a shadow of its former self and condemned him to years of opposition. Gladstone and Jessy Catherine’s last visit to Cannes took place between the end of November 1897 and the middle of February 1898. After his retirement, Gladstone was well aware that he could not expect to live much longer, and, at about the time of Archbishop Benson’s death, he began to prepare a final revision of his will.
