Charles Stewart Parnell

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Charles Stewart Parnell^[1] (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom; William Ewart Gladstone described him as the most remarkable person he had ever met.^[2] A future Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, described him as one of the three or four greatest men of the nineteenth century, while Lord Haldane described him as the strongest man the British House of Commons had seen in 150 years.

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Charles Stewart Parnell was born in County Wicklow, of gentry stock. He was the third son and seventh child of John Henry Parnell, a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowner, and his American wife Delia Stewart, daughter of the famous American naval hero, Commodore Charles Stewart (the stepson of one of George Washington's bodyguards). Commodore Stewart's mother, Parnell's great-grandmother, belonged to the Tudor family and so could claim a distant relationship with the British Royal Family. John Henry Parnell himself was a cousin of one of Ireland's leading aristocrats, Lord Powerscourt, and also the grandson of a Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Irish House of Commons, Sir John Parnell. Thus, from birth, Charles Stewart Parnell possessed an extraordinary number of links with a whole variety of elements of society; from the established Church of Ireland to which he belonged (and most of whose members were unionists) and the aristocracy through his cousins, the Powerscourts, to the old Irish Parliamentary tradition through his great-grandfather, the American War of Independence and the War of 1812 (where his grandfather had been awarded a gold medal by the United States Congress for gallantry) right to a distant link with the Royal Family. Yet it was as a leader of Irish nationalism that Parnell established his fame.

The young Parnell studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge and in 1874 became high sheriff of his home county of Wicklow. The following year he entered parliament as member for County Meath, supporting the Home Rule party. He sat for the constituency of Cork City from 1880 until 1891.

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Charles Stewart Parnell was first elected to the House of Commons, as a Home Rule League MP, in 1875. He replaced the retiring League MP, veteran Young Irelander John Martin. Parnell soon associated with the more radical wing of the party, which included Joseph Biggar (MP for Cavan from 1974), Edmund Dwyer Gray (MP for Tipperary from 1877), F. H. O'Donnell (MP for Dungarvan from 1877) and John O'Connor Power (MP for Mayo from 1874) and engaged in a policy of obstructionism (i.e., the use of technical procedures to disrupt the House of Commons's ability to function, to force the House to pay more attention to Irish issues, which had heretofore been ignored). This behaviour was opposed by the less aggressive chairman (leader) of the Home Rule League, Isaac Butt. Biggar and O'Connor Power also had links with the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a physical force Irish organisation that had mounted a disastrously inept attempted rebellion in 1865. The question of Parnell's closeness or otherwise to the IRB, and whether indeed he ever joined the organisation, has been a matter of academic debate for a century. The evidence suggests that later, following the signing of the Kilmainham Treaty, Parnell did take the IRB oath, possibly for tactical reasons.^[3]

What is known is that IRB involvement in the League's sister organisation, the Home Rule Conferation of Great Britain, led to the moderate Butt's overthrow from its presidency (even though he had founded the organisation) in 1877 and the election of Parnell in his place.^[4]

Parnell was never a great speaker in the House but his organisational, analytical and tactical skills earned wide praise, helping to take on the British organisation's presidency. Butt died in 1879 and was replaced by a Whig-orentated member of the League, William Shaw as the chairman of the League. Shaw's victory was temporary, however. In the April 1880 general election twenty-seven supporters of Parnell's were returned as MPs, more than the support base of Shaw. In May 1880 Parnell was elected chairman, in effect leader, of the party. Though the election was for each session, he was destined to remain leader for over a decade.

Parnell fundamentally changed the Home Rule League. Previously a rather informal grouping, in which MPs regularly voted on different issues or never bothered to come to the House of Commons at all, Parnell restructured it from top to bottom, creating a well-organised grass roots structure and membership. In 1882 he changed its name to the Irish Parliamentary Party and in 1884 imposed a strict party oath obliging its MPs to vote en bloc. The creation of a strict party whip and formal party structure was unique in politics. The Irish Parliamentary Party is generally seen as the first modern British political party, with its efficient structures and control contrasting with the loose rules and informality found in the main British parties. In time they were to model their party structures on the Parnellite model.

A central aspect of Parnell's reforms was to ensure that professional selection of candidates took place. Previously candidates had often emerged in ad hoc arrangements, had little commitment to the party and either didn't both to go to the House of Commons at all (some citing expense, given that MPs were unpaid and the journey to Westminster was both costly and ardous) or if they did, regularly voted against their own party.^[5] Parnell's new selection procedure, and the party oath, ensured that the party ran candidates who were committed to taking the seats and voting with their party on all occasions.

The changes impacted on the nature of candidates chosen. Under Butt, the party's MPs were a mixture of Catholic and Protestant, landlord and others, Whig, Liberal and Tory, often leading to disagreements in policy that meant that MPs split in votes. Under Parnell, the number of Protestant and landlord MPs dwindled, as did the number of Tories seeking election. The parliamentary party became much more Catholic and middle class, with a large number of journalists such as Timothy Michael Healy being elected. The disappearance of Protestant landowners and Tories from the IIP made it easier for Parnell to ensure the party voted as a block in the House of Commons.

Parnell's unified Irish block came to dominate British politics, making and unmaking Liberal and Conservative governments in the mid-1880s as it fought for home rule (internal self government within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) for Ireland. In the mid 1880s, Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone committed his party to support for the cause of Irish Home Rule, introducing the First Home Rule Bill in 1886. However the measure failed to pass the British House of Commons, following a split between pro- and anti-home rulers within the Liberal Party.

Though home rule was a central demand of the Irish Parliamentary Party, it also campaigned for Irish land reform. In its campaign, some of its members worked closely with an organisation known as the Irish National Land League.

Parnell was elected president of the Land League on 21 October, 1879. In January, 1880, together with John Dillon, he visited the United States to raise funds and awareness for the Land League. On 2 February, 1880 he addressed the House of Representatives on the state of Ireland.

The association with the Land League led various members, including John Dillon, Tim Healy, William O'Brien and Parnell himself to serve periods in prison. The agitation led to the passing of a series of Land Acts that over three decades changed the face of Irish land ownership, replacing large Anglo-Irish estates with tenant ownership.

In March 1887, Parnell found himself accused by the British newspaper The Times of support for the murders of the Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish, and the Permanent Under-Secretary for Ireland, T.H. Burke and of the general involvement of his movement with crime (ie, with illegal organisations such as the IRB). Burke and Cavendish had been brutally stabbed to death on 6 May 1882 in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Letters were published which suggested Parnell was complicit in the murders. However a Commission of Enquiry, set up to destroy Parnell, revealed in February 1889 that the letters were in fact a fabrication created by Richard Piggott, an anti-Parnellite journalist who committed suicide subsequently. Parnell then took The Times to court for libel and in an out of court settlement they paid him £5,000 in damages. When Parnell entered parliament, after he was vindicated, he received a standing ovation from his fellow MPs led by Gladstone. The 35 volume report did not clear Parnell's movement of criminal involvement, however.

Parnell was viewed as an Irish national hero, referred to as the Uncrowned King of Ireland, a term originally coined to describe Daniel O'Connell. However Parnell's triumph was shortlived, when it was 'revealed' (though it had been widely known among politicians at Westminster) that Parnell had been the long term partner, and father of three of the children, of Katherine O'Shea, also known subsequently as Kitty.^[6] She was the wife of a fellow Galway MP, Captain Willie O'Shea, who had initiated divorce proceedings after failing to secure a large inheritance due to his wife. Captain O'Shea had stayed married to Katherine O'Shea as his old wealthy aunt liked Katherine and was going to leave a large sum of money to her in her last will and testament. The aunt lived for another 11 years; when she finally died Captain O'Shea gained less money than he expected and he initiated divorce proceedings. After the divorce Katherine became Parnell's wife, Mrs. Katherine Parnell. Under pressure from the religious wing of the Liberal Party, Gladstone reluctantly indicated that he could not support the Irish Parliamentary party as long as Charles Stewart Parnell remained its leader.

Divorce was frowned upon heavily in the Catholic religion; and since he was co-respondent, Parnell was seen to be the cause of the divorce. He was also criticised by Nonconformists. Parnell's reputation was high but the scandal crippled this support. It would have been far easier for Parnell if it had happened a few years earlier. As a direct consequence of the O'Shea divorce the Unionist movement in Ulster gained strength, as they espoused puritan values and they began to see the Home Rule movement as 'morally wrong'. Therefore it made it appear that Unionism was the morally correct, and only viable option.

Parnell refused to resign, leading to a wholesale party split between Parnellites and Anti-Parnellites. At a party meeting, Parnell challenged Gladstone's intervention with the question, "Who is the master of the party?"; Tim Healy, a notoriously waspish MP, responded with the legendary "Who is the mistress of the party?" putdown. The fact that it was Tim Healy who so vehemently opposed Parnell was seen as the ultimate betrayal. This was because Healy had been one of Parnell's strongest supporters and had referred to Parnell as 'the Uncrowned King of Ireland'.^[7]

See also: Diocese of Meath

Parnell's personal political views remained an enigma. He defended the radical republican and atheist Charles Bradlaugh yet associated with the Catholic Church. He was linked both with aristocracy and with the Irish Republican Brotherhood, with speculation in the 1990s that he may have even joined the latter organisation. Socially he was a conservative, leading some historians to speculate that personally he would have been closer to the Conservative Party than the Liberals but for political needs. Andrew Kettle MP, Parnell's right hand man, who shared a lot of his opinions, wrote of his own views:

I confess that I felt [in 1885], and still feel, a greater leaning towards the British Tory party than I ever could have towards the so-called Liberals.^[8]

Historians believe that Parnell, and Tim Healy, shared that viewpoint.^[9]

Parnell was deposed as leader and fought a long and bitter campaign for re-instatement. He conducted a political tour of Ireland to regain popular support, attracting Fenian "hillside men" to his side. He married Katherine on 25 June, 1891 in Steyning, West Sussex[1], on which day the Catholic hierarchy issued a near-unanimous condemnation of his conduct (only Edward O'Dwyer of Limerick withheld his signature). He lost the support of the Freeman's Journal. On the difficult campaign trail he had quicklime thrown at his eyes by a hostile crowd in Castlecomer, County Kilkenny. Fr. PJ Ryan, a Land League protagonist, immediately called in medical aid, which was given him by his brother, Dr Valentine Ryan of Carlow Town, a Home Rule sympathiser. On 27 September Parnell addressed a crowd in pouring rain at Creggs on the Galway–Roscommon border and contracted pneumonia.

He returned to Dublin, thence to Brighton, departing by the mail boat, 30 September. ("I shall be all right. I shall be back next Saturday week"); He died of heart attack brought on by rheumatic fever, near midnight, 6 October in his and Katherine's home in Brighton. Though an Anglican, he was buried in Dublin's largest Roman Catholic cemetery, Glasnevin. Such was his reputation that his gravestone carries just one word in large lettering: PARNELL.

Charles Stewart Parnell is regarded as one of the most extraordinary figures in Irish and British politics. He single-handedly invented the modern political party with its whip, while having the power to make and unmake governments in the United Kingdom.

Over a century after his death he is still surrounded by public interest. That in part is a product of his sudden death at such a young age. High profile figures who die young, whether rebel leader Michael Collins, actors James Dean or prominent royal Diana, Princess of Wales, are forever surrounded by "what if?" speculation, wondering what the rest of their lives would have been lived had they lived to a normal old age. In Parnell's case his sudden death, and the sex scandal which preceded it, gave him a public appeal and interest that other contempories, such as Tim Healy or John Dillon, could not match. Historians speculate as to whether, had Parnell lived, home rule would have been achieved a decade earlier, and whether the granting of home rule earlier would have meant that there would have been no Easter Rising, no Irish War of Independence and no independent Ireland. Or perhaps the achievement of independence would have flowed from a home rule settlement rather than by revolution.

The scale of Parnell's impact can be seen in the fact that parties from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have tried to claim him as "one of their own", as more recently have some in Sinn Féin. The uniqueness of his appeal was shown when, in the early 1890s two visiting members of the British Royal Family, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), paid a private visit to Glasnevin Cemetery to see the grave of the "uncrowned king of Ireland".

Ultimately what is clear is that the O'Shea divorce scandal and Parnell's death changed the shape of late nineteenth century politics. Just how much was changed by his death can be but speculated. For generations of Irish people Parnell, like Michael Collins later, came to be seen as the "lost leader", against whose mythical reputation no later leader who lived a normal lifespan and who faced the practicalities of governance that never faced Parnell, could hope to win.

• Charles Stewart Parnell was played by a clean-shaven Clark Gable in a 1937 MGM movie about the Irish leader. The movie, which bore only a passing resemblance to the true story of Parnell, bombed at the box-office and was notoriously miscast with Gable not even bothering to try to use an Irish accent.

• Though generally called the "uncrowned king of Ireland", Parnell was in fact the second to be described as such. The same term was applied thirty years earlier to Daniel O'Connell.

• Though Parnell was the biological father of some of Mrs O'Shea's children, there are no living descendants of the Irish leader. None of his children produced family lines which survived.

• Though the colour used by Irish nationalism was green, Parnell himself possessed a phobia about the colour and could not stand wearing the colour or standing on platforms decorated by the colour. Parnell also other notorious phobias which regularly made him physically sick.

• Parnell shares Glasnevin Cemetery with his bete noir, Tim Healy, who died in 1931, the other "uncrowned king of Ireland" Daniel O'Connell, Éamon de Valera, and the other Irish "lost leader", Michael Collins.

• Robert Kee, The Green Flag (Penguin, 1972–2000), ISBN 0140291652
• Robert Kee, The Laurel and the Ivy (Penguin, 1994), ISBN 0140239626
• Claude Berube and John Rodgaard, "A Call to the Sea: Captain Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution" (Potomac Books Inc, 2005), ISBN 1-57488-518-9

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

• Parnell at IMDb, a 1937 film starring Clark Gable
• Cork Multitext Project article on Parnell