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Divine Right? the Parnell Split in Meath
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By: David Lawlor
Publisher: Cork University Press
Published: June 2008
Pages: 286
Categories: Humanities
Language: English
Available as: Paperback
On sale at:
ISBN-13: 9781859184448
ASIN: 1859184448

Offers an account of the dramatic events of the Parnell split in Meath challenges the accepted view that Irish priests could lead their people only in the political direction that they wished to go. This unique account of the dramatic events of the Parnell split in Meath challenges the accepted view that Irish priests could lead their people only in the political direction that they wished to go. Meath people were devoted to Charles Stewart Parnell, who had entered Westminster as their MP in 1875. The loyalty of many of them was unaffected by the divorce court revelation in 1890 of his adultery with Katharine O'Shea, which caused the split that continued even after his death in 1891. However, Bishop Thomas Nulty preached that no Parnellite voter could 'continue a Catholic' but then claimed election results as political victories. David Lawlor's research shows how Dr Nulty broke the power of local Parnellites over their refusal to vote for a nun as matron of Navan workhouse. The bishop then nominated Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League, to unseat North Meath's Parnellite MP, Pierce Mahony (who is commemorated in the name of Navan's GAA club).While the Parnellites successfully petitioned the courts to have Davitt's election - and that of Patrick Fulham, his colleague in South Meath - annulled because of 'undue clerical influence', new anti-Parnellite candidates narrowly won the ensuing by-elections. However, clerical interference in Meath politics provided damaging evidence of 'Rome rule' to Tories and Unionists opposing Gladstone's second Home Rule bill, which was lost in the Lords in 1893. "A valuable study of the Parnell split at grassroots level "The Irish Catholic David Lawlor is a native of Navan, from where his family's bakery business traded throughout Meath for generations up to 1970. He is great-grandson, grandson and grand-nephew, respectively, of William, Daniel and James Lawlor who appear in this book.

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