Parnell's disposition?

bobbyss

Does anyone know the precise nature of Parnell's 'disposition' at university? FSL Lyons talks about a nervous disposition and this is put forward as one reason he left university. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks

jonniebgood1

Parnell suffered from somnambulism during school and college according to 'The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell 1846-1891' by R. Barry O'Brien. This is an old book, from 1898 about Parnells life. He does not attribute Parnell leaving college to this condition, rather to an episode on a night out. Parnell was given a suspension from college following conviction for assault and did not return, O'Brien described his sentencing as follows:

The judge held that, the assault being admitted,
the damages should be substantial. The jury, after
some consideration, found damages for twenty guineas.

'On May 26 a college meeting was convened, at
which it was resolved to send down Parnell for the
remainder of the term in consequence of the mis-
conduct proved against him. There being only two
weeks before the end of the term, the actual punish-
ment was not a severe one, and, had Pamell wished it,
there was nothing to prevent his resuming residence in
the following term. He did not, however, return to
Cambridge.' (pg 43)

I have read elsewhere that matters at his home were a reason for not returning to college.

slowburner

Parnell's father John Henry, wanted Charles to follow in his footsteps at Cambridge.
His wish was for Charles to study law, but Charles had no interest in being called to the bar, and left university without graduating within two years.
His reason for leaving was most likely a lack of interest in what was expected of him, rather than any nervous disposition.
Parnell suffered a bout of Yellow Fever when he was six and was always considered to be a delicate child.
He could be viewed as compensating for this perceived delicacy by developing an ability to win any argument and he certainly seems to have been in fine argumentative form at Cambridge.

CDfm

I seem to remember reading something about Parnell not starting out as a nationalist but

Ireland, at that time, was full of Fenians from America. These men had fought in the Civil War, and, remembering their nationality when it was over, decided to declare war on England, so that they might set Ireland free. Some of them made an abortive raid into Canada; others enlisted in Irish regiments quartered in Ireland and tried to convert their comrades to sedition (in which they were so successful that the alarmed authorities transferred the troops to England and to India); others took part in dynamite conspiracies to blow up the Houses of Parliament and public buildings in England; and some were merely spongers on the movement. These last, for the most part, and a few that were honest, discovered that Mrs. Parnell would open her purse and home to them, and it soon became common for a procession of dishevelled men, professing the highest patriotism and the most noble sentiments, to call at 14, Upper Temple Street for nourishment and money. The sight was obnoxious to the authorities who noted in their dossiers the singular fact that a lady of the land-owning class was toying with treason; but it was still more obnoxious to the lady’s second son, Charles Steward Parnell, a young militia officer, who bluntly asserted that the patriots were tramps. His disgust with them was such that he used to lie in wait for them behind the hall door, and, directly it was open, make a rush for them and kick them down the steps.URL="http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/Historical_Documents/Parnell_Family.html#1"]1[/URL His dislike of the Fenians was as strong as his sister’s affection for them, and since his temper was quick and fierce and sometimes uncontrollable, he caused dismay among the patriots who thronged about his mother’s door. This house was so divided against itself that the Fenians had to be careful how they approached it in search of sustenance and charity.

http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/Historical_Documents/Parnell_Family.html

And his sister described the family as Anglo Irish Tories

http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume7/issue1/features/?id=204

Did he have a child in America as well ?

slowburner

CDfm wrote: »

I seem to remember reading something about Parnell not starting out as a nationalist but

And his sister described the family as Anglo Irish Tories

http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume7/issue1/features/?id=204

Did he have a child in America as well ?

The maternal side of Parnell's family included Admiral Charles Stewart in the US.
Parnell's brother, John Howard, owned a farm in Alabama - could either of these be what you are thinking of?

There is no doubt that there was a parental desire to Anglicise Parnell in his formative years, and he didn't resist.
This could have created the impression that he was non-nationalist.
He was completely uninterested in Irish politics to begin with, but was renowned for advocating the Tory position - just to rise an argument out of his family.
A bit of a troll, I suppose.

CDfm

slowburner wrote: »

A bit of a troll, I suppose.

A bit of a misogynist if his treatment of his sisters Ladies Land League was any indication.

I haven't read his sisters or brothers memoirs.

Here is a reference to the other daughter



http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30008261?uid=3738232&uid=2&uid=4&sid=55891260683

CDfm

Here is a link to Parnell's brothers memoir on his life published in 1916

http://www.archive.org/details/charlesstewartpa00parn

Here is a review of Anna Parnell's posthumously published the Great Sham

http://puesoccurrences.com/2009/10/14/book-review-petticoat-rebellion-the-anna-parnell-story-by-patricia-groves/

Here are some excerpts

In 1881 she was prevailed upon to organise the Ladies Land League (LLL) in Ireland. She took on the task with some reluctance. After the proscription by the Gladstone government of the Land League in 1881 the LLL, financed by Land League funds mostly channelled from the USA via Paris, took on the task of supporting hundreds of prisoners jailed without trial under English coercion legislation and It was also left in the invidious position of having to honour political cheques signed by the Land League leadership when the ‘No Rent Manifesto’ was issued after the incarceration of Parnell, Dillon and (separately) Davitt. This task included the erection of wooden huts on the farms of evictees whose dwellings had been destroyed by bailiffs and police.
She was considerably more radical and compassionate than her brother. Her sister Emily described her as ‘generous to a fault . . . she never could bear to witness suffering without trying to relieve it.’ Both her generosity and her radicalism were factors in her falling-out with her brother. She viewed the 1882 Parnell-Gladstone rapprochement (the co-called ‘Kilmainham Treaty’) as a betrayal of the agrarian cause. Parnell, focussed more on parliamentary politics than popular agitation after his release from Kilmainham, refused to continue financing the activities of the LLL. It was dissolved in August 1882 and he and his sister never spoke again. She died in a swimming accident in 1911, surviving her brother by twenty years.

Anna may have felt Charles never lost his inner tory.

Some people take issue with the description highlighted because the Ladoes Land League was successful in its own right.

I sort of think so a bit too that his early arrogance let him down and was more accentuated as he got older.

slowburner

Misogyny is one thing you'll not be accused of

CDfm

slowburner wrote: »

Misogyny is one thing you'll not be accused of

Oh the shame, what will people think :eek:

Anna clocked in at #3 in my women in Irish history & I like her better than her brother.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056265715

I sort of trashed Parnell on a Mr Kitty O'Shea thread.:o

When I saw Professor Ferriter cite Clair Wills in the IT recently as an authority I was delighted as I loved her book on neutrality. Some damn fine women historians out there.

I shall, I fear , never be PC.