William was educated at Eton College and later studied law at Christ Church, Oxford, winning the Vinerian Scholarship in 1883.

In the ensuing Parliament the Liberal Unionist party was to support the ruling Conservative administration led by Lord Salisbury.

[4][5] He also took an interest in rail transport,[6] rural affairs[7] and in foreign affairs such as the Boxer Rebellion in China and the conduct of the Boer War[8] At the 1900 general election, held between 25 September and 24 October, Gull lost his Barnstaple seat to his Liberal opponent Ernest Joseph Soares.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 Birthday Honours[10] At the time of his death he was an alderman of Berkshire County Council.

The elder son, Francis William Lindley Gull, was born on 1 November 1889 and educated at Eton, leaving the school in 1908.

He served with the rank of Major in the Rifle Brigade, was wounded in France in the summer of 1916 and was eventually killed in action on 25 August 1918.