Charles Stewart Parnell
| Charles Stewart Parnell | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party | |
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In office 1882–1891 |
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| Succeeded by | John Redmond |
| Leader of the Home Rule League | |
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In office 1880–1882 |
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| Preceded by | William Shaw |
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Member of Parliament for Cork City |
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In office 5 April 1880 – 6 October 1891 |
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| Preceded by | Nicholas Daniel Murphy |
| Succeeded by | Martin Flavin |
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Member of Parliament for Meath |
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In office 21 April 1875 – 5 April 1880 |
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| Preceded by | John Martin |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Martin Sullivan |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
27 June 1846 Avondale, County Wicklow, Ireland |
| Died | 6 October 1891 (aged 45) Hove, England |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party |
Irish Parliamentary Party (1882-1891) Home Rule League (1880-1882) |
| Spouse(s) | Katharine O'Shea |
| Children | Claude Sophie Claire Katharine |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University |
| Religion | Church of Ireland |
Charles Stewart Parnell (Irish: Cathal Stiúbhard Parnell; 27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician and one of the most powerful figures in the British House of Commons in the 1880s.
Born into a wealthy and powerful Anglo-Irish Protestant landowning family, he entered the House of Commons in 1875. He was a land reform agitator, and became leader of the Home Rule League in 1880, insisting on operating independently of the Liberals, and winning great influence by his balancing of constitutional, radical, and economic issues, and by his skillful use of parliamentary procedure. He was imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol in 1882 but, a very capable negotiator, was released when he renounced violent extra-Parliamentary action. That same year he reformed the Home Rule League as the Irish Parliamentary Party, which he controlled minutely as Britain's first disciplined democratic party.
The hung Parliament of 1885 saw him hold the balance of power between William Gladstone's Liberals and Lord Salisbury's Conservatives. His power was one factor in Gladstone's adoption of Home Rule as the central tenet of the Liberal Party. His reputation peaked in 1889-90 when letters published in The Times linking him to the Phoenix Park murders of 1882 were shown to have been forged by Richard Pigott. However, the Irish Parliamentary Party split in 1890 after the revelation of Parnell's long adulterous love affair, causing many English Liberals (many of them nonconformists) to refuse to work with him, and strong opposition from Catholic bishops. He headed a small minority faction until his death in 1891.
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