Gladstains

This name is variously spelt, but appears to derive from the old English ‘glede stan’, which means ‘rock of the hawk’. The ancient lands associated with this name appear to have been in Teviotdale, and there is still land by this name near the village of Biggar in Lanarkshire. Herbert de Gledstanes is shown on the Ragman Roll of nobles giving their submission to Edward I of England in 1296. William de Gledstanes witnessed a charter around 1354. Black suggests that this may be the same person as Sir William of Gledstanes who was present at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. The name being of territorial origin, however, means that such connections must always be considered dubious. John Gladstanes who claimed descent from Gledstanes of that Ilk was appointed to the Supreme Court Bench in January 1542. George Gledstanes was made Bishop of Caithness in 1600 and in 1606 was translated to the archbishopric of St Andrews. He died in May 1615. The most prominent family claiming descent from Gledstanes of that Ilk, were the Lairds of Toftcombs near Biggar. They became prosperous merchants in the port of Leith, and John Gledstones (born on 11 December 1764) was to move to Liverpool and become the first Baronet of Fasque. He amassed a considerable fortune and marked his Scottish origin by endowing a splendid new church at Leith and making considerable gifts to Trinity College Glenalmond, the Scottish public school. One of his younger sons was William Ewart Gladstone, the great nineteenth-century Prime Minister, who is also remembered for the distinctly shaped bag named after him. The family name was standardised as Gladstone by royal licence on 10 February 1835. The Prime Minister’s son was raised to the peerage as Viscount Gladstone, but this title became extinct in 1930. The main line, however, still continues to this day bearing the undifferenced arms.