Charles Stewart Parnell
"The Uncrowned King of Ireland," who led the Land War and the Home Rule movement.
Life
Protestant landowner
Parnell was a Protestant landowner from County Wicklow, elected to Parliament in 1875. Working with Michael Davitt, he led the Land League, fighting for tenant farmers' rights through rent strikes and boycotts (the Land War), and forced the government to pass a series of land acts.
Land War
He organized the Irish members into a tightly disciplined parliamentary party that held the balance in the House of Commons, forcing Gladstone's Liberal Party to embrace Home Rule. In 1886 the First Home Rule Bill was introduced in Parliament; though it was defeated, Home Rule became a central issue in British politics, and Parnell was called "the Uncrowned King of Ireland."
The Uncrowned King
In 1889 his relationship with a married woman, Katharine O'Shea, was exposed in divorce proceedings; both the Catholic Church and the Liberal Party broke with him, and his party split as a result. He died in 1891, a few months after marrying Katharine.
Legacy
Parnell nearly won Home Rule for Ireland; his downfall split the Irish national movement for years and pushed the younger generation toward a more radical path.
Did you know? Joyce's fiction repeatedly depicts scenes of people quarreling over Parnell.
Key dates
- 1875Elected to Parliament
- 1879Leads the Land League
- 1886First Home Rule Bill
- 1890Divorce case exposed; the party splits
- 1891Died