Ireland's OWN: History
Charles Stewart Parnell
(1846-1891)
Charles S. Parnell is best known for his support of the Land League, fighting to lessen the grip of the land-lords on their impoverished tenants.
Parnell was the son of a wealthy, land owning Protestant family. His father believed in the views of Irish nationalists and his mother was an American.
Sparked by the execution of three fenians known as the "Manchester Martyrs", Parnell at age 29, entered the political arena in support of the Irish Home Rule in 1878. Within two years of being elected MP for Co Dublin, he was made chairperson of the Irish Political Party in Westminister.
3 September 2000Parnell was Victim of Dirty Tricks by British
—excerpt from The Irish NewsIrish nationalist icon Charles Stewart Parnell was the target of a dirty tricks campaign by Britain more than a century ago, according to new evidence from the Public Records Office.
The newly released files show government agents collected material on the 19th century nationalist leader to smear him in a bid to split his Irish Home Rule movement and discredit his parliamentary party.
The documents reveal that the then Irish secretary, Arthur Balfour, secretly undermined Parnell through Nicholas Goslyn, a special agent who ran a web of paid informers to gain information and smear the nationalist leader.
Charles Stewart Parnell came to prominence in the 1880s during a conflict between Irish tenant farmers and their English landlords.
The Land League introduced the word boycott to the English language in 1880 when its supporters, encouraged by Parnell, refused to harvest the potato crop of Co Mayo land agent Captain Boycott.
The protests led to Prime Minister William Gladstone's second Land Act of 1881 giving tenants greater rights. However, Parnell continued to argue it was not enough and was imprisoned.
On his release, Parnell's standing in nationalism grew with his Irish Parliament Party performing strongly in the 1885 general election. With its 86 seats in the House of Commons, the party held the balance of power and in return for supporting Gladstone's Liberal government, Parnell won support for Home Rule.
Parnell, however, had a spectacular political fall when he was cited in a divorce case in 1890 involving his long-time lover, Kitty O'Shea. The revelation that he was involved with a married woman divided nationalist opinion in Ireland, split his party and he was deposed as leader. He died in 1891.
Page updated 17 Aug 2008
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