Charles Stewart Parnell memorial

Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish Anglican landowner, 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 Ireland and Great Britain and 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 is nevertheless revered by subsequent Irish parliamentary nationalists.