Charles Stewart Parnell

Charles Stewart Parnell (June 27 1846 – October 6 1891) was an Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom; William Ewart Gladstone thought him the most remarkable person he had ever met. A future Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, described him as one of the three or four greatest men of the nineteenth century, while Lord Haldane described him as the strongest man the British House of Commons had seen in 150 years.

Death

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 Catherine on 25 June, 1891 in Steyning, West Sussex, on which day the Catholic hierarchy issued a condemnation of his conduct, only Edward O'Dwyer of Limerick withholding his signature. He lost the support of the Freeman's Journal. On the difficult campaign trail he had quicklime thrown at his eyes by 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. He addressed a crowd in pouring rain at Creggs on the Galway–Roscommon border and contracted pneumonia, 27 September.

Related Topics:
Fenian - 25 June - 1891 - Steyning - West Sussex - Catholic hierarchy - Limerick - Quicklime - County Kilkenny - Galway - Roscommon - 27 September

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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 of pneumonia, near midnight, 6 October in his and Catherine'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 carries just one word in large lettering: PARNELL.

Related Topics:
Brighton - 30 September - 6 October - Anglican - Roman Catholic - Glasnevin - Gravestone

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