Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish landlord, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He was one of the most important figures in 19th century Great Britain and Ireland, and was described by Prime Minister William Gladstone as the most remarkable person he had ever met.
Parnell led the Irish Parliamentary Party as Member of Parliament (MP) through the period of Parliamentary nationalism in Ireland between 1875 and his death in 1891. Future Liberal Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, described him as one of the three or four greatest men of the 19th century, while Lord Haldane described him as the strongest man the British House of Commons had seen in 150 years. The Irish Parliamentary Party split during 1890, following revelations of Parnell's private life intruding on his political career. He has nevertheless been revered by subsequent Irish parliamentary republicans and nationalists.
Read more about Charles Stewart Parnell: Family Background, Member of Parliament, New Departure, Land League Leader, Kilmainham Crossroads, Party Restructured, Towards Home Rule, Pigott Forgeries, Pinnacle of Power, Divorce Crisis, Party Divides, Undaunted Defiance, Death, Personal Politics, Overall Assessment, Portrayal in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words charles, stewart and/or parnell:
“I have seen in this revolution a circular motion of the sovereign power through two usurpers, father and son, to the late King to this his son. For ... it moved from King Charles I to the Long Parliament; from thence to the Rump; from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell; and then back again from Richard Cromwell to the Rump; then to the Long Parliament; and thence to King Charles, where long may it remain.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“It is harder to kill a whisper than even a shouted calumny.”
—Mary Stewart (b. 1916)
“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 (1846–1891)