 Born John Gladstones, the son of the merchant Thomas Gladstones, John assumed by Royal licence the surname of Gladstone (without the "s" at the end) in 1835.The name Gladstone is geographical, deriving from a farmstead near Biggar in Lanarkshire; it comes from the Old English for "kestrel stone".John Gladstone was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baronet.