Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish politician. He was born in 1846 in Avondale, County Wicklow, and educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He entered the parliament as M.P. for Meath in 1875, and two years later became involved in the "obstruction" campaign along with Fenian Joseph Biggar. He quickly adopted the obstructionist tactics taught to him by his fellow MP, his objectives were to delay schedule with long speeches and force the government to attend to Irish grievances. Even British stamps disagreed to home rule for Ireland.
He gradually excelled the standards of Isaac Butt and possessed better politic qualities than him and managed to win the place as leader in his Home Rule Party in 1880. This was one of his big achievements in life.
At the general election of 1885, he nominated every Home Rule candidate, and therefore won over an alliance with the followers of William Gladstone. The 1885 Election was a huge success for the party. The Liberals had 335 seats and the Conservatives had 249 seats. The Home Rule Party had 86 seats, which was the difference between the two. This was important because if Parnell’s party joined with the Conservatives the Conservatives would have had the same seats as the Liberals. If he joined the Liberals they would have won outright. Parnell’s party held “the balance of power” and therefore gave them the choice to put the Conservatives or Liberals into Government. He chose the Liberals but made a conditioned deal with Gladstone. This was that; Gladstone had to support the Home Rule party and try to introduce a Home Rule bill for them. And so Gladstone converted to Home Rule, forming an alliance with the 86 Home Rulers. The First Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1886 and was rejected by the House of Commons due to a split in the Liberals, which was a fault on Parnell’s behalf as he had humiliated a dominant member of the liberals, Joseph Chamberlain. Parnell’s hopes were dashed yet he did not give up. The Conservatives were in power from June 1885 until January 1886 as a result of the split in the Liberals. The two parties prepared for a general election. This election was to be a decisive turning point for the Irish Parliamentary Party.
