Charles Stewart Parnell’s Sex Scandal (1889)

‍For nearly nine years, Parnell had an intimate relationship with Katharine O’Shea, a married Englishwoman. In 1889, Mrs. O’Shea’s husband, Captain O’Shea filed for divorce citing the period from 1886—a year in which O’Shea, who had long been aware of the affair, had demanded his wife terminate her relationship with Parnell. Letters were produced in court, and the affair became the topic of public gossip. Though Parnell’s own party supported his leadership, Gladstone was forced to oppose Parnell, as it became clear to him that his supporters in the country were disgusted by Parnell’s affair.[1] Gladstone issued an ultimatum: either Parnell is ousted as leader of the IPP, or Gladstone’s alliance with the party in the cause of Home Rule will end. Parnell’s leadership was terminated. His sudden death on 10 October 1891 marked the death of the chances of Home Rule for the next twenty years.[2] Home Rule continued to be the ideal for the majority of Irish people, but the IPP lacked the political leadership it needed to continue to pressure Parliament.[3]

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[1] Robert Kee, The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism (Penguin Books, 1972), 409

[2] Kee, The Green Flag, 411.

[3] Kee, The Green Flag, 412.

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