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EspañolCHARLES STEWART PARNELL
'Charles Stewart Parnell', the 'uncrowned King of Ireland'
Family background
Charles Stewart Parnell was born in Avondale, County Wicklow, of gentry stock. He was the third son and seventh child of John Henry Parnell (1811-1859), a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowner, and his American wife Delia Stewart (1816-1896; of Bordentown, New Jersey), daughter of the American naval hero, Commodore Charles Stewart (the stepson of one of George Washington's bodyguards). There were eleven children in all: five boys and six girls. 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. The Parnells of Avondale were descended from an English merchant family, which came to prominence in Congleton, Cheshire, early in the seventeenth century. Thus, from birth, Charles Stewart Parnell possessed an extraordinary number of links to many elements of society; he belonged to the established Church of Ireland (most of whose members were unionists), he was connected with the aristocracy through the Powerscourts, he was linked to the old Irish Parliamentary tradition via his great-grandfather, to the American War of Independence via his grandfather, to the War of 1812 (where his grandfather had been awarded a gold medal by the United States Congress for gallantry), and distantly connected to the Royal Family. Yet it was as a leader of Irish nationalism that Parnell established his fame.
Parnell's parents separated when he was six and the boy was sent to school in England, where he spent an unhappy youth. The young Parnell studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge (1865-9). In 1871 he joined his elder brother John Howard on an extended tour of the United States. Their travels took them mostly through the South and apparently the brothers neither spent much time in centres of Irish immigration nor sought out Irish-Americans. In 1874 he 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.
Member of Parliament
Charles Stewart Parnell was first elected to the House of Commons (The lower level of British legislature), as a Home Rule League MP for Meath, on April 21, 1875. He replaced the deceased 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 1874), Edmund Dwyer Gray (MP for Tipperary from 1877), F. H. O'Donnell (MP for Dungarvan from 1877) and John O'Connor Power (MP for County 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 staged a rebellion in 1867. The question of Parnell's closeness 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 Confederation 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]
Leader
Parnell was never a great speaker in the House but his organisational, analytical and tactical skills earned wide praise, enabling him to take on the British organisation's presidency. Butt died in 1879 and was replaced as chairman of the League by the Whig-orientated William Shaw. Shaw's victory was temporary, however. In the April 1880 general election twenty-seven supporters of Parnell's were returned as MPs, outnumbering the support base of Shaw. In May 1880 Parnell was elected chairman of the party. Though the elections were for each session of Parliament, he remained leader for over a decade.
New style, new party, new rules
Parnell fundamentally changed the Home Rule League. He restructured it from top to bottom, creating a well-organised grass roots structure and membership to replace the League's previous informal grouping, in which MPs regularly voted differently on issues or did not come to the House of Commons at all. 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, its efficient structure and control contrasting with the loose rules and flexible informality found in the main British parties, who came to model their party structures on the Parnellite model.
Candidate selection
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 bother 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 arduous) 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 IPP made it easier for Parnell to ensure the party voted as a block in the House of Commons.
Balance of power
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, Willie Redmond 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 1882, Parnell dissolved the Land League, and founded the National League to campaign on broader issues.
The Piggott forgeries
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 (i.e., 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. Below is the most important one. However, a Commission of Enquiry revealed in February 1889 that the letters were in fact a fabrication created by Richard Piggott, an anti-Parnellite journalist, who later committed suicide after the letter was showed to be a forgery by him with his characteristic mistakes. Parnell then took ''The Times'' to court and the newspaper paid him £5,000 damages in an out-of-court settlement. 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.
''Dear Sir, - I am not surprised at your friend's anger, but he and you should know that to denounce the murders was the only course open to us. To do that promptly was plainly our best policy. But you can tell him, and all others concerned, that, though I regret the accident of Lord Frederick Cavendish's death, I cannot refuse to admit that Burke got no more than his deserts. You are at liberty to show him this, and others whom you can trust also, but let not my address be known. He can write to House of Commons.
''Yours very truly,''
''Charles S. Parnell.''[6]
Mrs Katharine O'Shea
Parnell's grave in the predominantly Roman Catholic Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, alongside Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins and Daniel O'Connell.
Parnell was viewed as an Irish national hero, referred to in the media as the "Uncrowned King of Ireland", a term originally coined by journalists to describe Daniel O'Connell. However, Parnell's triumph was shortlived. It was soon '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 Katharine O'Shea, also known subsequently as ''Kitty''.[7] She was the wife of a fellow Galway MP, Captain Willie O'Shea, who had started divorce proceedings after failing to secure a large inheritance due to his wife. Captain O'Shea had stayed married to Katharine because her old and wealthy aunt liked him and was going to leave a large sum of money. The aunt lived for another 11 years; when she died Captain O'Shea gained less money than he expected and he initiated divorce proceedings. After the divorce Katharine married Parnell. Under pressure from politicians, newspapers and churches, Gladstone could not support the Irish Parliamentary Party while Parnell remained its leader.
Party divides
Divorce was forbidden under Catholic doctrine and most of Parnell's supporters were Roman Catholics. As co-respondent, Parnell was legally the cause of the divorce. He was also criticised by Nonconformists. Parnell's reputation was high but the scandal crippled this support. 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".
Parnell refused to resign. Not only did he refuse to resign but he exploited his position as party chairman to block any motion to remove him. After a meeting lasting two days the majority of those present walked out to found a new party so creating rival Parnellite and Anti-Parnellite parties. The minority who supported Parnell continued in the Irish National League under John Redmond, the vast majority of Anti-Parnellites forming the Irish National Federation, later led by John Dillon and supported by the Catholic Church. 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 humiliation: Healy had been one of Parnell's strongest supporters and had referred to Parnell as 'the Uncrowned King of Ireland'.[8]
See also: Diocese of Meath
Personal politics
Parnell's personal political views remained an enigma. He defended the radical republican and atheist Charles Bradlaugh yet associated with the Roman 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. The historian Andrew Roberts argues that he was sworn into the IRB in the old library at Trinity College Dublin in May 1882 and that this was concealed for 40 years.[9] 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, 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.[10]Historians believe that Parnell, and Tim Healy, shared that viewpoint.[11]
Death
The Grave of Parnell
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 Katharine on 25 June, 1891 in Steyning, West Sussex, on which day the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy issued a near-unanimous condemnation of his conduct (only Edward O'Dwyer of Limerick withheld his signature).[12] 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 in his wife's arms of a 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 of unhewn Wicklow granite, erected in 1940, [13] carries just one word in large lettering: PARNELL.
Overall assessment
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. His sudden death, and the sex scandal which preceded it, gave him a public appeal and interest that other contemporaries, 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 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 Parnell never faced, could hope to win.
Trivia
Parnell appeared on the Irish £100 note (1990 to 2002). This denomination was, however, rarely used.
★ Charles Stewart Parnell was played by a clean-shaven Clark Gable in ''Parnell'', 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; as Parnell's mother was American and his father was Anglo-Irish he probably did not use a strong brogue. This film became famous as Gable's biggest flop and occurred at the height of his career, when almost every other Gable movie was a smash hit.
★ Though generally called the "uncrowned king of Ireland", Parnell was in fact the second to be described as such. The same term was applied 30 years earlier to Daniel O'Connell.
Charles Stewart Parnell Glasnevin Cemetery. The Cemetery is currently being renovated, as are the graves.
★ 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 suffered from other phobias which regularly made him physically sick.
★ Parnell shares Glasnevin Cemetery with his bête noire 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.
★ Parnell is the subject of a disastrous Christmas dinner discussion in James Joyce's first chapter of ''Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'', and appears in several stories in ''Dubliners''.
★ Parnell is toasted in the famous poem by William Butler Yeats, "Come Gather Round Me, Parnellites" .
Footnotes
Additional reading and sources
★ Robert Kee, ''The Green Flag'' (Penguin, 1972–2000), ISBN 0-14-029165-2
★ Robert Kee, ''The Laurel and the Ivy'' (Penguin, 1994), ISBN 0-14-023962-6
★ 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
See also
★ List of people on stamps of Ireland
External links
★ , a 1937 film starring Clark Gable
★ Cork Multitext Project article on Parnell
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