In 1850 Gladstone was appointed Lecturer in Chemistry to St. Thomas's Hospital, a post which he held for two years, and in June 1853, at the unusually young age of 26, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1864 he lost his wife, their eldest daughter and only son. This, however, seems to have been followed by only temporary suspense of activity, social and scientific. In 1863–64 and again in 1866–68 he served on the Council of the Royal Society, and having been a member of the Royal Commission on Lighthouses, Buoys, and Beacons from 1859 to 1862, he became a member of the Gun Cotton Committee in 1864–68. In politics Gladstone was a Liberal, and on more than one occasion he was tempted to enter Parliament. In 1868 he unsuccessfully contested the borough of York. In 1869 he married Margaret Thompson King, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. David King, and niece of Lord Kelvin. This lady died in 1870, leaving one daughter.