During the interval between the fall of Gladstone's second government and the beginning of his third, in February 1886, Spencer became a convert to Irish Home Rule, unlike most of the other leading Whigs, who deserted to Liberal Unionism.

Spencer would serve as Lord President in Gladstone's third government, and was instrumental in the formulation of Gladstone's home rule legislation.

Rosebery served as Foreign Secretary in Gladstone's brief third ministry, 1886.

He declined to serve in Gladstone's third government, formed after Gladstone came out in favour of Irish Home Rule ( unlike Joseph Chamberlain, who accepted the Local Government Board but then resigned ), and after voting against the First Home Rule Bill became the leader of the Liberal Unionists.

But he re-entered the cabinet in May 1864 as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ; and upon the death of Lord Palmerston in 1865, Lord Russell again became prime minister, when Lord Clarendon returned to the foreign office, which was again confided to him for the third time upon the formation of Gladstone's administration in 1868.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery served as Liberal Prime Minister from 1894-1895 ( after William Ewart Gladstone's fourth term and before Lord Salisbury's third ).

In February 1886 he became Secretary for Scotland and Vice-President of the Scottish Education Department in Gladstone's third administration, but resigned in March over Irish Home Rule.

His younger son, the fifth Baron ( who succeeded his half-brother ), served in 1886 as Master of the Buckhounds in William Gladstone's third ministry and was admitted to the Privy Council the same year.

In 1886 he was appointed Lord of the Treasury in Gladstone's third ministry.

He held this office until 1885 and again briefly in Gladstone's third administration between February and July 1886.

Despite the unpopularity of the Liberals during the dying days of Gladstone's First Government, he became president of the Oxford Union in the Trinity ( summer ) term of his fourth year.

He never served as a junior minister ; his first post was Home Secretary in Gladstone's fourth cabinet in 1892.

He did not serve in Gladstone's fourth administration of 1892 to 1894, but when Lord Rosebery succeeded as prime minister in March 1894, Cork was once again appointed Master of the Horse.

In 1886 Gladstone's party was allied with Irish Nationalists to defeat Lord Salisbury's government.

Chamberlain resigned from Gladstone's Third Government in 1886 in opposition to Irish Home Rule, and after the Liberal Party split he became a Liberal Unionist, a party which included a bloc of MPs based in and around Birmingham.

Chamberlain had briefly taken office in the Gladstone government which had been formed in 1886 but resigned when he saw the details of Gladstone's Home Rule plans.

When in 1886 Lord Rosebery became Foreign Secretary in Gladstone's government, John Bright asked him if he had read about Palmerston's policies as Foreign Secretary.

During the debate which followed Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule in 1886, he declared: " As a Nationalist, I do not regard as entirely palatable the idea that forever and a day Ireland's voice should be excluded from the councils of an empire which the genius and valour of her sons have done so much to build up and of which she is to remain ".

However, Parnell's policy of allying his party to Gladstone's Liberal Party in 1886 to enable Home Rule was also ultimately defeated by the murders.

Unionism emerged as a unified force in opposition to William Ewart Gladstone's Home Rule Bill of 1886.

After an interval in opposition from 1874 to 1880, Lord Kimberley returned to the Colonial Office in Gladstone's next ministry ; but at the end of 1882 he exchanged this office first for that of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and then for the secretaryship of state for India, a post he retained during the remainder of Gladstone's tenure of power ( 1882 – 1885, 1886, 1892 – 1894 ), though in 1892-1894 he combined with it that of the lord presidency of the council.

In Gladstone's 1886 government he was First Lord of the Admiralty, and in that of 1892 – 95 he was Secretary of State for the Colonies.

After Gladstone's brief Home Rule Ministry in 1886 Hicks Beach entered Lord Salisbury's next Cabinet again as Irish Secretary, making way for Lord Randolph Churchill as Leader of the House ; but troubles with his eyesight compelled him to resign in 1887.

Lord Selborne and Sir Henry James, however, successively declined Gladstone's offer of the Woolsack, and in 1886 Herschell suddenly found himself lord chancellor.

rightHerschell's chancellorship lasted barely six months, because in June 1886 Gladstone's Home Rule Bill was rejected in the Commons and his administration fell.

The first bill, with Gladstone's Irish Home Rule speech beseeching parliament to pass the Irish Government Bill 1886 and grant Home Rule to Ireland in honour rather than being compelled to one day in humiliation, was defeated in the Commons by 30 votes ; while the second Irish Government Bill 1893 was passed, but then defeated in the Lords.

In 1886, Gladstone's policy of Home Rule had alienated many of the aristocrats in the Liberal Party, and no lady of suitable ( i. e., ducal ) rank could be found who was willing to serve as Mistress of the Robes.

He was a member of William Ewart Gladstone's second administration from 1880 to 1883 and served as Chairman of Ways and Means ( Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons ) between 1886 and 1893.

He served as Secretary for Scotland in William Ewart Gladstone's short-lived 1886 administration.

In April 1886 he succeeded George Trevelyan ( who had resigned over Irish Home Rule ) as Secretary for Scotland in Gladstone's short-lived 1886 administration, although in contrast to Trevelyan he was not a member of the cabinet.

He remained Prime Minister until Gladstone's Liberals formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalist Party, despite the Unionists gaining the largest number of votes and seats in the 1892 general election.

In 1892 he joined Gladstone's last cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and was sworn of the Privy Council at the same time.

Between 1880 and 1892 Harcourt acted as Gladstone's political deputy.

He was Under-Secretary of State for War in Gladstone's brief 1886 administration and again from 1892 to 1895 under Gladstone and Lord Rosebery.

Gladstone's first outdoor Chautauqua was held on July 24 – 26, 1894.

Gladstone's opposition to Spencer's policy, following the recommendations of the sea lords, of naval expansion, led to Gladstone's final resignation in March 1894.

In 1894, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone's government officially announced that Uganda was to become a British Protectorate, where Muslim and Christian strife had attracted international attention.

After Gladstone's retirement in 1894 and Lord Rosebery's selection as prime minister, Harcourt became the leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, but it was never probable that he would work comfortably in the new conditions.

As well as the end of Gladstone's formal association with the Conservative Party.

The inquiry was largely unnecessary, all the essential facts being well known, but the mission was a device of Gladstone's to avoid an immediate decision on a perplexing question.

He had been ignored as Gladstone's successor, and it was evident that Rosebery's ideas of Liberalism and of the policy of the Liberal Party were not those of Harcourt.