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Frances Isabelle Parnell
(1848-1882
Irish Patriot, Poet,
Writer, Human Rights Activist, Founder of the Ladies Land League in America
"That moral energy which inspires men with the ability and the desire to
oppose themselves to injustice, to protest against the abuse of power,
even when this injustice and this abuse do not directly affect them is
the virtue which is the guaranty of order, security and independence".
Montalembert, 'Monks in the West'
(quoted by Fanny Parnell in 'The Hovels of Ireland' to explain why her
land-owning family were Irish nationalists)
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Early Years
Fanny Isabelle
Parnell was born in Avondale, Co. Wicklow
on May 13, 1852,
the eight of
the eleven children born to John Henry Parnell
and his American-born wife, Delia Tudor Stewart, the
daughter of
Rear Admiral Charles Stewart, US Navy.
Fanny's parents came
from historically high profile families with
politically divergent backgrounds rooted in colonial bondage
and wars of national liberation. Their
respective Anglo-Irish and Anglo-American
backgrounds and underpinning loyalties fostered
within their respective domains a century of
bitterness and mistrust despite their
common Anglo-Saxon Protestant heritage. Outside
of the family unit, each of Anna's parents lived
their own high profile life according to the
value system inherited from their forebears.
Fanny's paternal
family lineage can be traced back to a Thomas
Parnell in Chersire, England in the early
years 17th century. The first Parnell to settled
in Ireland was a grandson of Thomas Parnell who
purchased land in Ireland circa 1660. Members
of successive generations became active in
politics, four of whom served as MP's in the Irish
Parliament. Two of them had distinguished
careers including Sir William Parnell MP
who vigorously opposed the Act of Union and advocated for Catholic
rights. His son Henry Parnell who served in both
the Irish and Westminster parliaments also opposed
the Union before and after it became a
lamentable actuality in 1801. As best as can be
determined, all of the landed Parnell's were
reasonable landlords who valued and treated their tenants
and farm workers with respect.
Fanny's grandfather on the maternal side of
the family, Rear Admiral Charles Stewart was commissioned a
lieutenant in the US Navy in March 1798. His first assignment as a fourth
lieutenant was aboard the frigate United States under the command
of
John
Barry. During his long and distinguished carrier,
Stewart served in the Quasi-War with France, in both the Barbary and
Mediterranean wars and in the War of 1812 with Britain. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1862.
Fanny's great grandfather, William Tudor, was the first Judge Advocate
General (JAC) of the US Army. He was appointed by George Washington in
July of 1775 at the age of 25. Williams father John, a wealthy
businessman, was born in England in 1708.
Delia Tudor Stewart, Fanny's mother, was
wary of the British establishment, a trait she
inherited from her distinguished ancestors. However
deep that feeling there is no doubt that it was exacerbated by
what she witnessed firsthand in Ireland, the dehumanization of the Irish
people by the same British colonial juggernaut that her ancestors
vanquished a century past. In hindsight it's evident that Delia's
convictions and sense of independence were passed on to Fanny and her
sisters. On the male side of the family the inclination was
weighted in favor of the pomp and perceived chivalry, the trappings of
the British Empire so closely linked to the Parnell's, albeit, not
always favorably.
As there is no information available regarding the children education
its assumed that they were coached by private tutors. Its obvious from
Fanny accomplishments during her short life that she was highly
intelligent having studied mathematics, chemistry, and astronomy and
mastered almost all the major European languages. She was also
accomplished in music and painting.
In 1859, following the death of her father, Fanny moved with her family
to Dalkey, Co Dublin and in 1860 moved from there to Dublin. Fanny took a great
interest in Irish politics and attended the trials of the Fenians. In
1864, under the pen name 'Aleria' she began publishing her poetry in the
Fenian Brotherhood's newspaper the Irish People founded in 1863 by John
O'Leary and others. When the newspaper was suppressed by the British in
1865 she contributed articles and poems to the Nation and
United Irishman newspapers.
In 1865 she moved with her mother to Paris and then in 1874 to
Bordentown in New Jersey, While in Paris she cared for wounded soldiers
in the four month long Siege of Paris (1870-1871) during the
Franco-Prussian War.
In 1880 Fanny founded the Ladies' Land League in America to raise money
for the Land League in Ireland. A pamphlet, The Hovels of Ireland
(1880), and a collection of poems, Land League Songs (1882),
were widely published. Her best known poem
Hold the Harvest was
described by
Michael Davitt, leader of the Land League, as the
'Marseillaise' of the Irish peasant. Most of her work was published in
the Boston Pilot, the leading Irish newspaper of the 19th
century in America.
Little is known of the amount of work that Fanny and
Anna, her sister,
put into the running of the Land League Committee. It was Fanny, the
Patriot Poet, who appealed to Irish-American women to form an relief
fund to help the Land League in Ireland. Anne, the most radical of the
sisters, was responsible for all the funds collected. She acknowledged
every contribution and saw to it that the money went to the right
quarter. The $60,000 collected for the relief fund came from poor Irish
immigrants in cities around America. The money went a long way in
averted another famine in Ireland in 1879 and 1880.
Fanny and Anna's work in support of the tenant farmers in Ireland did
not go unchallenged in America. On June 2, 1882, Bishop Gilmour of
Cleveland, Ohio issued a Card to the ladies of the Land League
threatening their excommunication unless they renounced all relations
thereto. They refused to comply and told him to mind his own business.
In response the bishop issued his Card which was read in all diocesan
churches. Despite his best efforts the women of the Ladies Land League
held their meeting as scheduled and went on to declare,
"we have done
nothing wrong against the Church as Irishwomen, we have organized a
society to aid Ireland. If that be heresy, then we are heretics".
Following her return to Dublin in 1880, Anne founded the Irish branch of
the Ladies Land League, which became a formidable force. When Michael
Davitt, Charles Stewart Parnell and other Land League leaders were
imprisoned in 1881 the Ladies' Land League took over their work. Other
than an office in Dublin very little else was provided in the line of
help or instructions. Nonetheless, the women were not daunted by the
task at hand, proceeding to hold public meetings encouraging tenants
to withhold rent, resist evictions and boycott landlords. They raised
funds to support prisoners and their families and built wooden huts to
shelter evicted tenant families. By 1882 they had five hundred branches,
thousands of women members and considerable publicity. Their meetings
were frequently broken up by police. Thirteen of their members were
imprisoned not as political prisoners like the men but as common
criminals. Considered the first modern Irish female agitator, Anne
became estranged from her brother after he withdrew support for her
movement.
The Parnell women were indeed in the forefront of the Women’s Liberation
movement and were passionate advocates for human rights. Together with
the thousands of other women activists they showed how the women of
Ireland could be just as tough as men when the need arose.
Fanny Parnell died on July 20, 1882 at age 34 in Bordentown, New Jersey.
The original plan was to have her remains sent back to Ireland for
burial, however, her brother Charles opposed that plan stating,
"Wherever you die you should be buried."
Parnell's posture regarding Fanny's final resting place was not based on
some unique family norm or known cultural trait as he had made no such
plans for his own demise. When he died in England in October of 1891 his
remains were brought back to Ireland for burial. The reason he did not
want Fanny remains returned was to prevent one of the largest display of
reverence ever seen in Ireland for a beloved and honored patriot. Fanny
and her sister Anna did more for the suffering tenant farmers and the
tenement dwellers in Ireland than the egotistical and misogynistic
Charles and his Irish Parliamentary Party cohorts ever did for Ireland
or its people. Such a display would be embarrassing for Charles after
having made a deal with Gladstone to disband the Ladies Land League in
Ireland in exchange for his release from prison.
Once Charles made his wishes known, plans for her funeral proceeded.
After a long funeral procession by train to Boston, by way of
Philadelphia and New York, the casket bearing her remains was open for
family and friends to view at Tudor home on Beacon Hill. After the
viewing her coffin was placed in the Tudor family vault at Mount Auburn
Cemetery in Boston.
On April 11, 2001, the Parnell Society of Dublin placed a granite marker
at the grave site, honoring her role as a patriot and poet of Ireland.
Chick
here for additional Funeral details.
Contributed by
Tomás Ó Coısdealbha
cemetery AND grave location
NAME: Mt. Auburn
Cemetery
ADDRESS: 580 Mt. Auburn Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138
HEADSTONE AND INSCRIPTION
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