Prime Ministers & Politics

So, a short stroll round the corner through SW1 takes you past two plaques marking the life of William Ewart Gladstone, one of two Prime Ministers to have enjoyed the Albany lifestyle.
Both installed by the LCC; the first, 10 St James Square commemorates three Prime Ministers to have lived at the same address, William Pitt, the Elder(1708-1778) first from 1759 - 1762, then Edward Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799-1869) from 1837 - 1854, who both predated Gladstone (1809-1898), the ‘Grand Old Man’ who pitched camp briefly in 1890.

Gladstone beats Derby on periods in the daddy chair 4 to 3 (1868-74, 1880-85 1886 and 1892-94) but though Derby holds the record for his 22yr leadership of the Conservative party he actually only held the post of PM for a total of only 4 years, making Gladstone the clear champion. Pitt possibly wins the hand in this case though as the building is named Chatham House in his honour (made Earl of Chatham in 1766). It’s now the home of the Royal Institute for International Affairs.

Plaque rankings give an order of Gladstone (4), Pitt (2) and Stanley just the one.

The second plaque to Gladstone is at 11 Carlton House Terrace, but before leaving the Square it’s worth noting Nancy Astor (1879-1964) at number 4, the first woman to sit in Parliament in 1919 and one of only two women commemorated in SW1. She remained in Parliament for 25 years and as you would expect for a woman in such a position, was well able to hold her own against the boys. When a fellow MP remarked of Churchill ‘we just don’t know what to make of him’, she allegedly replied ‘how about a nice rug?’.
Sounds like my kind of lady!

Astor was also close friends with George Bernard Shaw (commemorated with plaques in W1 and WC2)

And so onwards….