Charles Stewart Parnell

Parnell’s personal life remained dubious until 1889. It was only when Captain O’Shea filed for a case of adultery against his wife Katherine O’Shea with Parnell that people were exposed to his private life. Parnell not just was in a love affair with Katherine, but fathered three of her children as well.

Following her divorce with Captain O’Shea, Parnell married his long-term sweetheart on June 25, 1891 in Steyning Register Office after the Church refused a church wedding.

Towards the end, Parnell’s health gradually deteriorated. However, despite ill-health, he refused to let go off his political life completely. It was later revealed that he suffered from stomach cancer and a serious kidney disease. He breathed his last on October 6, 1891 due to pneumonia.

Charles Stewart Parnell was the seventh of the eleven children born to John Henry Parnell and Delia Tudor Stewart on June 27, 1846 in County Wicklow, Ireland. His father was a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowner and had a distant relationship with British Royal family.

Young Parnell grew amidst notable figures in his family who played a dominant role in the literary and political circle of the country. Though he belonged to the Church of England, he gradually moved away from it.

Following separation of his parents when he was barely six, Parnell spent much of his early years at different schools in England. His father’s untimely death in 1859 made him inherit the Avondale Estate.

Academically, Parnell attended Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1865–69. However, he could not complete his degree due to the troubled financial state of his estate.

In 1873, a new political group, Home Rule League was established to campaign for moderate degree of self-government. Parnell rendered his complete support to the home rule movement. In 1874, he became High Sheriff of Wicklow.

In 1875, he was first elected as the Home Rule League Member of the Parliament for County Meath in the House of Commons. In his first year, Parnell was a silent spectator. He observed keenly parliamentary proceedings.

Within two years as an MP of Home Rule League, Parnell gained a reputation for himself as obstructionist. He played a leading role in the policy of obstructionism and forced the House to pay more attention to the Irish issues,which had been ignored until then.

Despite being a restrained speaker in the house, he was popular for his organisational, analytical and tactical skills which gained him a seat on the British organisation’s presidency.

In 1877, Parnell conducted a number of private meetings with important Fenian leaders, who impressed by Parnell’s leadership skills granted him their complete support in Irish struggle for self-government.

In 1879, he was elected as the President of the Irish National Land League. As the President of the organisation, he actively opposed the Irish land laws and campaigned for land reform. He believed that the reform would be the first step in the Home Rule Movement.