Thread by @ireland

On this #InternationalWomensDay I would like to bring attention to a woman who has been lambasted by history, and horribly misrepresented. I’m talking about Katherine Parnell, and I would like to explain why you should never call her “Kitty” O’Shea. 1/15

Katherine (née Wood) married young, becoming Katherine O’ Shea. O’Shea was handsome, a go-getter and military man, though he never fought in more than one war and never on the front lines. Captain O’Shea became an MP for the Irish Parliamentary Party. 2/18

To advance his own political aspirations he employed his wife to act as host at parties for potential allies, their marriage of young love quickly fell into a marriage of convenience. Gradually, O’Shea’s treatment of his wife would deteriorate to a mutual hatred. 3/18

O’Shea particularly wanted to court Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of his party and the Home Rule Movement in Ireland. Katherine initially struggled to make contact with Parnell. She arrived unannounced at parliament and greatly impressed Parnell. 4/18

O’Shea lived separately from his wife, his constant affairs had brought shame and embarrassment on Katherine. O’Shea realised Parnell had a genuine attraction to his wife, he encouraged Katherine to woo him with “whatever means necessary”... 5/18

O’Shea had never gone this far before and Katherine refused. But O’Shea insisted forcefully and they became permanently estranged from one another. 6/18

Katherine found herself drawn to Parnell, and they began a secret friendship, which then developed into a deep romantic love. Katherine like Parnell, was ruthless in her ambitions. 7/18

But the issue was complicated further by her inheritance. And a straight-forward divorce from the husband she despised was therefore out of the question. O’Shea became aware of the affair, but kept it quiet to further his own position. 8/18

Essentially Katherine had done what he wanted anyway. However, when he found out that the couple were truly in LOVE, he became jealous, and resented Parnell. A resentment that would eventually bring about the leader’s downfall. 9/18

Parnell and Katherine lived together as if man and wife for a number of years in secret. Eventually political machinations saw fit to bring Captian O’Shea against the pair, and when O’Shea sued his wife for divorce, he cited Parnell as the reason. Scandal ensued 10/18

The predominantly Catholic Ireland was divided by this revelation, and smear campaign was initiated by a man named Tim Healy, a former friend of Parnell now turned bitter enemy, it was he who first named Katherine: “Kitty” O’Shea. 11/18

Kitty O’Shea was a clever attack. As “Kitty”, while being a nickname for Katherine, was also a slur, and a “kitty” in Victorian times also meant prostitute. Healy was publicly calling Katherine a prostitute, and every time a history book cites this as her name they do so as well.

Parnell and Katherine were eventually married, but not until the Irish Parliamentary Party was fractured, created the term #Parnellite for those who stood by the leader. Just six months after their marriage Parnell passed away from poor health which had haunted him all his life.

Katherine had, at this point, given birth to two of Parnell’s children, but they both had been named O’Shea for appearances sake. Parnell named the children in his living will. Acknowledging them as his own. 14/18

But, his will had become void upon his change of circumstance by marrying Katherine, and the children, now, quite precariously, were in the custody of O’Shea. 15/18

With Parnell gone O’Shea proceeded to blackmail his ex-wife, using the children as leverage, gaining a large portion of her own estate. Following this Katherine would invest her money in a failed Ponzi-like scheme and end up nearly destitute. 16/18

She and the rightful Parnell children, two daughters; Claire and Katherine, each died alone and Katherine herself died calling out for her lost love. 17/18

I want to take this opportunity on #InternationalWomensDay to tell this story. To change the way people perceive the woman who is thought of as the bane of Parnell, to reinstate her as the great love of his life. A powerful woman who deserves more respect than she receives. 18/18