Captain John Neilson Gladstone, RN (18 January 1807 – 7 February 1863) was a British Conservative Party politician and an officer in the Royal Navy.
A brother of politician William Ewart Gladstone, later British Prime Minister, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for most of the years 1841 to 1863.
He was the fourth child of Sir John Gladstone, a Scottish-born businessman who settled in Liverpool and made a large fortune initially from trading in corn with the United States and cotton with Brazil, and later through sugar plantations in Jamaica.
No longer able to get a ship at sea with the Royal Navy, he stood as a Conservative and won the seat of Walsall in a by-election on 4 February 1841; the general election in June of that year obscured the raising of a petition against him for corrupt electoral practices.
The accusation from J B Smith was flatly denied, both that his family had anything to do with a West India slavery plantation, until after its abolition, and that the rumours of compensation were much exaggerated.
[8] John Neilson left seven daughters and a son without parents, orphans, making William wholly responsible for the funeral arrangements.