William Gladstone: 978-1-902918-50-0 A Cappella Archive Limited Edition
for the birth bicentenary of W.E. Gladstone, 29th December 2009
370pp. 120 illus. 280x190mm: HB. £66.00 inc. post & Packing
The Hawarden Events Book is a rare private record which the occupants of Hawarden Castle have kept since 1864. It describes the annual events on the estate for almost 150 years.
As a document of social history, it relates the challenges for a family estate during the periods of great social change before, during, and after the two world wars.
Although W.E. Gladstone himself was not a recorder, his efforts to rescue the estate from financial disaster are described. In addition, there is an annual commentary on affairs in the wider world as they occur, including Albert Gladstone's masterly account of the Second World War as it affected Hawarden.
The Events are typeset in their entirety with an Introduction and Explanatory Notes. A separate section is copiously illustrated with materials from family photographic albums and collections, thus combining an informative text and historic pictures in one volume.