Charles Stewart Parnell
6 Oct 1891: Charles Stewart Parnell died of pneumonia at the age of 45 at Hove, East Sussex, England.
Born at Avondale, Co. Wicklow, Parnell was of Anglo-Irish gentry stock, making him a somewhat unlikely nationalist. Nevertheless, as an outspoken proponent of Home Rule, he took his seat in the British House of Commons in 1875 representing Meath. He quickly rose to prominence, effectively using obstruction of the legislative process as means to force land reform in Ireland.
Parnell would serve as MP for Meath from 1875-1880 and Cork City from 1880-1891. He led the Home Rule League from 1880-1882 and then the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1882-1891. But his career lacked neither controversy nor scandal.
He was imprisoned in Kilmainham in 1881 on "reasonable suspicion" of supporting the violence that accompanied land agitation. In connection with what would become known as the "Kilmainham Treaty" Prime Minister Gladstone agreed to Parnell's release in May 1882 with the understanding that Parnell would use his influence to quell further violence. But the grisly Pheonix Park Murders took place shortly after his release and for a time he was under suspicion of involvement. Ultimately, the documents tying him to those events proved to be forgeries and Parnell was exonerated.
His release from Kilmainham had been negotiated largely by a colleague on the outside, William O'Shea, formerly a Captain with the 18th Royal Hussars and at the time MP for Clare with a nationalist agenda.
But Parnell's personal and political lives were closely intertwined. And his political downfall stemmed from the 1889 divorce petition of the very same Captain William O'Shea, on grounds of adultery. Captain O'Shea had long been aware of Parnell's decade long affair with his own estranged wife Katherine, but only moved forward with the divorce when an inheritance he'd expected to come Katherine's way fell through. Parnell, for his dalliances, was named as a co-respondent in the divorce proceedings.
When the story broke, the press and Parnell's enemies would brand Katherine as "Kitty", a slang term for harlot at the time. And unfortunately for Katherine, it was a moniker that has lasted well beyond her lifetime.
As a result of the scandal, Parnell lost much support he'd rightly earned from Ireland's political and relgious establishment, rendering his political future quite bleak.
Nonetheless, the divorce was granted and Parnell married Ms. O'Shea in June 1891 - just a few months before his death. No doubt, the stress of the preceding years and the rigorous schedule he kept in pursuit of political resurrection contributed to his early demise.
Regardless of his faults and the political downfall which punctuated a career in public service, his legacy, words and aspirations live on.
"No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country - thus far shalt thou go and no further."
--- Charles Stewart Parnell, Co. Cork, 21 Jan 1885