Chester Chronicle - Saturday 11 March 1916 (page 8) reported: 'THE GLADSTONE WARDS IN CHESTER INFIRMARY, LORD BRYCE TO PERFORM OPENING CEREMONY. Lord Bryce will on Saturday, April 15th, open the Gladstone Wards of Chester Royal Infirmary, which are to form part of the Hawarden memorial to the late Lieutenant W. G. C. Gladstone, M.P. Lieut. Gladstone served for a time on the staff at Washington when Lord Bryce was British Ambassador. The memorial in Hawarden Church - the rood - will be dedicated on the evening of April 13th by the Bishop of Asapah. The rector of Hawarden, in announcing these dates the Parish Magazine, adds: “Lord Bryce has himself with warm affection, written the inscription for the tablet which he will unveil at the Infirmary. I believe that when the memorials come to be dedicated and the tablets unveiled next April we shall be able to feel that as far as things and words can symbolise, and symbolise worthily, feelings which cannot be adequately expressed, our memorials and their dedications are just what we would all wish them to be.” The form which it had been agreed the two memorials should take was announced in “The Chronicle" of February 5th. The rood screen in St. Deiniol’s church is to be the gift of the Hon. Mrs. W. H. Gladstone and her daughters. The cost of the other portion of the memorial is being defrayed by public subscription, and when choosing from three alternative schemes suggested, it was decided to accept the offer of the authorities of Chester Royal Infirmary to let them have for the purpose of the memorial the new ophthalmic theatre, and the wards on each side of it. A tablet and portrait of the late Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone will be placed at the entrance to the wards, which are to bear his name. The various religious bodies of the parish of Hawarden will receive patients’ recommendations. The estimated cost of the Infvrmary memorial is £650. A tablet recording the memorial character of the gifts to the church and the Royal Infirmary is to be placed in Hawarden Church near the rood. The date selected for the dedication of the rood - April 13th - is the anniversary of the date on which Lieut. Gladstone fell at Laventie'. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000342/19160311/202/0008

Cheshire Observer - Saturday 15 April 1916 (page 1) printed a lengthy report of the dedication of the memorial in Hawarden Church, which opened: 'DEDICATION OF THE ROOD AT HAWARDEN. THE BISHOP AND SACRIFICE. A beautiful rood, stretching across the chancel of Hawarden’s historic church, was dedicated on Thursday in memory of the Squire, Lieut. W. G. C. Gladstone, M.P., who, on that day twelve months ago, gave up his young life, so full of promise, in defence of the home he loved so well. Among the many beautiful and famous memorials within this edifice the rood will hold a prominent place. It catches the eye immediately on entering the sacred edifice, and the striking representation of the crucifixion will always vividly recall the supreme sacrifice of one who, in so short a life, not only endeared himself to the countryside around his home but had won the respect and admiration of the nation. Beneath the rood, and built into an angle of the wall just behind the lectern, is a tablet of alabaster, framed with a canopy of Runcorn stone, and on it the following inscription: To the Glory of God, and to remember a gallant soldier, pure in heart and ever loyal to duty, worthy of the honoured name he bore, WILLLAM GLYNNE CHARLES GLADSTONE, Lieutenant, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Flint, Member of Parliament. The Holy Rood above this chancel arch was restored by his mother and sisters, while by his tenants and many friends from far and near, the Gladstone wards of the Chester Royal Infirmary were dedicated to the memory of the young Squire of Hawarden, who wrote in words and wrought in deeds in the trenches in France his life's own best motto: ‘It is not the length of existence that counts, but what is achieved during that existence, however short.' Less than thirty years - but crowned with the love than which no man hath greater, he laid down his life for his friends near Laventie, April 13th, 1915. ‘He was a veray parfit gentil Knyghte.' God rest his soule." ... https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000157/19160415/003/0001

Cheshire Observer - Saturday 22 April 1916 (page 4) printed a detailed report, which opened: 'CHESTER ROYAL INFIRMARY NEW THEATRE AND WARDS. MEMORIAL TO LIEUT. GLADSTONE. LORD BRYCE'S VISIT. AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS. An ophthalmic theatre and two wards at the Chester Royal Infirmary were dedicated on Saturday as a memorial to Lieut. W. G. C. Gladstone, and a memorial tablet was unveiled by Viscount Bryce, O.M. The new building will form an important adjunct to the Infirmary and be of lasting benefit to the suffering poor. The ceremony was largely attended, the proceedings taking place in the new building itself, and the feature was an address by Lord Bryce, the distinguished scholar and former British Ambassador at Washington, on whose staff as an attache the young Squire of Hawarden served. His lordship with warm affection had written the inscription for the tablet. The attendance included the Hon. Mrs. W. H. Gladstone (mother), the Misses Evelyn and Constance Gladstone (sisters), the Rev. Stephen and Mrs, Gladstone, Miss Helen Gladstone, Mr. H. N. Gladstone (Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire), and the Hon. Mrs. H. N. Gladstone, the Rev. the Hon A V. Lyttelton, the Right Hon. Herbert Lewis, M.P., the Lord Bishop of Chester...' [Having listed the rest of the prominent attendees, the report stated that the tablet's inscription read: "To commemorate a gallant soldier, William Glynne Charles Gladstone, lieutenant, Royal Welch Fusiliers, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Flint, Member of Parliament. These wards were given by his tenants and many friends from far and near in token of their love for the young Squire of Hawarden, who wrote in words and wrought in deeds in the trenches in France his own best motto, ‘It is not the length of existence that counts, but what is achieved during that existence, however short'. He left the love and peace of his home and the prospect of a brilliant public career to give his life for his friends and his country. He fell near Laventie, April 13, 1915. He was a yeray parfit gentil knyghte. God rest his soule.' The report also quoted the eulogies given by the Bishop of Chester and Lord Bryce]. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000157/19160422/091/0004

https://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/hawarden-memorial/hawarden-sodliers-2/william-glynne-charles-gladstone/

https://chesterwalls.info/infirmary.html

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~richardsonsmith/history/COCH%20History/chester-royal-infirmary.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14077500/william-glynne_charles-gladstone