Parnell in Steyning

Charles Stewart Parnell was the son of a Protestant Irish landowner and his American wife. Influenced by his mother's political views, Parnell was elected as a Member of Parliament for County Meath in 1875, representing the Home Rule League.

At Westminster, he used tactics which outraged English MPs but gave Irish politics a voice which nobody could ignore. His obstinate intervention in parliamentary proceedings brought government to the point of collapse unless it was prepared to bargain for his co-operation.

The eviction of tenant farmers in Ireland due to crop failure, plus the devastating impact of famine and poverty, prompted Parnell to form the Land League with Michael Davitt. In 1880, Gladstone's Liberal government responded to the Irish crisis with brutal measures. Repression only prompted rebellion and support for Parnell began to unite Irish people as never before. In this same year Parnell became the leader of his party, met the English wife of Captain William O'Shea and fell in love.

In 1881 Parnell was imprisoned in Kilmainham jail. He was accused of masterminding the land agitation in Ireland but he had by this time become a national hero and the unrest in Ireland increased. On May 2nd, 1882 the Land War was brought to an end with the 'Kilmainham Treaty' and Parnell was released. Parnell's shrewd manipulation of English politics won several concessions advantageous to his cause. In the elections of 1885 Parnell's party gained a run away success and enabled him, now holding the balance of power, to seize the initiative at Westminster. At last, an Irish Home Rule Bill was under serious debate.

In 1890, when the achievement of Parnell's political dreams seemed within sight, Captain O'Shea sued for divorce. Parnell had been living near London in Eltham with Mrs O'Shea, supported by her rich aunt. Three of Katherine's children were fathered by her lover. Captain O'Shea had benefited from his wife's 'hush money' but when the aunt died and left Katherine a large fortune, Captain O'Shea demanded more than his wife could pay. The will was being contested by Katherine's relatives. O'Shea carried out his threat to make matters public in the divorce courts and the inevitable scandal erupted. Both churches of Ireland, which had lost their political pre-eminence with the rise of Parnell, poured scorn on him and his shameless Kitty (then a colloquial term for prostitute and not her familiar name).

Parnell's party, the Home Rule cause and Irish political unity were shattered. He campaigned doggedly to retrieve lost ground, attracting violence and abuse wherever he appeared. Having married Katherine in Steyning on June 25, 1891, Parnell died on October 6th of the same year at the age of only 45. Remarkably, Prime Minister Gladstone had become a convert to Irish Home Rule but the moment had passed. His 1893 Irish Home Rule Bill was defeated.

THE TIMES, FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1891.

MARRIAGE OF MR. PARNELL.
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Mr. Parnell and Mrs. O'Shea were married between 9 and 12 yesterday morning, at the office of the Superintendent Registrar of the Steyning Union registration district at Steyning, near Brighton. The event was kept a close secret, and late in the day the superintendent registrar refused to state absolutely that the wedding had taken place. But there is not the slightest doubt the ceremony was performed, and that the circumstances were substantially as follows:-

Walsingham-terrace, where Mrs. O'Shea and Mr. Parnell have for some months past resided next door to each other, is in the parish of Aldrington, which is part of the Steyning Union. On Tuesday Mr. Parnell visited Steyning and obtained a special licence, which set forth that a marriage would take place in a registrar's office at Steyning by licence within three months between "Charles Stewart Parnell, bachelor. member of Parliament, 44, of Avondale, Rathdrum, Ireland, but now of England, and Katherine O'Shea, formerly Wood, spinster, the divorced wife of William Henry O'Shea, of 9, Walsingham-terrace, Aldrington."

At 6.30 yesterday morning Mr. Parnell and Mrs. O'Shea, left Aldrington, and drove together to Steyning, while two witnesses travelled by train. The four reached Steyning almost simultaneously, and the wedding took place in the presence of the superintendent registrar and the registrar of the district. After the ceremony they drove back to Walsingham-terrace.
Our Brighton Correspondent learns that the following written statement was handed by Mrs. O'Shea last evening to a newspaper representative who called at her residence:- "Mr. Parnell was married to Mrs. O'Shea this morning at 9 o'clock at Steyning, in the presence of the registrar and the superintendent registrar of the district. The marriage will be solemnised later on at a London church, there having been some delay and difficulty in obtaining a licence for the purpose."

The Central News states that after the ceremony the pair immediately drove away in the direction of Bramber, Mrs. Parnell, as on the journey out, taking the whip and reins. No news as to their whereabouts last evening was obtainable in Steyning, but it was believed in Brighton that they had returned to Walsingham-terrace. The Registrar, Mr. Spearing, returned to Brighton by train, taking with him his books, which he has since declined to submit to examination. The Superintendent Registrar, Mr. E. Cripps, of Steyning, when proffered the customary fee for the examination of his books, said they had been taken away by Mr. Spearing, and consequently he could not show them. Yielding to great pressure, he consented to show a representative of the Central News the only book he had which contained a reference to the marriage. This was the notice book, in which the description of the contracting parties is identical with that already given. Mr. Cripps stated that when Mr. Parnell gave notice on Tuesday he endeavoured to bind him to secrecy, saying, "No one ought to know of the wedding, that he wished no one to know of it, and that the books in which the notice was entered ought not to be shown to any one." Mr. Cripps told him it was impossible to prevent publicity, but he would do his best to keep the matter quiet. A messenger who, after some hours' search, found Mr. Spearing states that he refused to show the books.

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The Times was suspected of a smear campaign against Parnell, particularly after the newspaper published letters linking him to two notorious political murders in Phoenix Park, Dublin. The letters were proved to be forgeries and The Times paid Parnell damages of £5,000. The story of his affair with Katherine was at first doubted as another Times slur. The truth of it soon became all too apparent during the divorce case. On the day of their wedding, Parnell and his bride obviously didn't want to endure the press scrums and public abuse which had plagued them for months. The Times insinuated that the marriage was indecently clandestine and certainly not a step towards respectability or the revival of Parnell's politcal fortunes. The romance of the event was lost on his political opponents. Margaret Bradey Book

Margery Brady's romantic account of the relationship is more in keeping with the modern view. Her little paperback entitled The Love Story of Parnell and Katherine O'Shea is held in Steyning Museum.

Parnell's story had all the elements of heroic tragedy. The Irish literary movement of his time was quick to recognise it.

James Joyce wrote in his essay The Shade of Parnell:

"In his final desperate appeal to his countrymen, he begged them not to throw him as a sop to the English wolves howling around them. It redounds to their honour that they did not fail this appeal. They did not throw him to the English wolves; they tore him to pieces themselves."

Marriage Certificate A copy of the marriage certificate, showing the Superintendent Registrar as Edward Cripps. Cripps Lane in Steyning took its name from his family.

Charles Stewart Parnell and Katherine O'Shea Married at Steyning on June 25th, 1891 (A selection of views and reports of the event)

Charles Stewart Parnell and Katherine O'Shea
Married at Steyning on June 25th, 1891
(A selection of views and reports of the event)