Charles Stewart Parnell

@Leader of the Irish Home Rule League, Family and Childhood

Charles Parnell was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Irish Home Rule League

Jun 27, 1846

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: June 27, 1846
  • Died on: October 6, 1891
  • Nationality: British
  • Famous: Leader of the Irish Home Rule League, Leaders, Political Leaders
  • Siblings: Anna Catherine Parnell, Fanny Parnell, John Howard Parnell
  • Known as: Парнелл, Чарльз Стюарт
  • Universities:
    • 1869 - Magdalene College
    • Cambridge
    • University of Cambridge

Charles Stewart Parnell born at

County Wicklow

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Birth Place

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.

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Personal Life

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.

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Personal Life

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.

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Personal Life

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.

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Childhood & Early Life

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.

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Childhood & Early Life

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.

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Childhood & Early Life

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.

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Childhood & Early Life

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.

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Childhood & Early Life

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.

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Later Life

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.

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Later Life

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.

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Later Life

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.

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Later Life

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.

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Later Life