Time Line

IT is hard to believe that somebody could have such a far-reaching influence on the history of a country which they probably never visited, as the effect Katherine Wood had on Ireland.
Born in Essex in 1845 to a large wealthy landed family, Clare figures prominently in any account of her life. The two men in her life were introduced to one another by The O’Gorman Mahon in Carmody’s Hotel, which stood in Ennis where now you find the entrance to the Abbey Street car park and her first husband was MP for this county. Katherine Wood became Mrs Willie O’Shea and later Mrs Charles Stuart Parnell but will forever be known as Kitty O’Shea. The “Kitty” was probably first used as a derogatory name as it was also used at the time to describe a prostitute. Nevertheless, the name rings down through the years of Irish history although nowadays, if you Google it, you will get more hits for worldwide Oirish pubs than you will for the real Kitty.
At 22, she married Captain William O’Shea. They settled in Brighton and the marriage seemed to be successful. A son and two daughters were born. O’Shea became involved in politics, was elected MP for Clare and the family moved to London. It was there that he introduced his wife to Parnell. He was unmarried and fell in love with Kitty and she with him. O’Shea’s marriage was, at this time, coming to an end and it is said that O’Shea connived at the affair to help his political career. He was involved in settling the Kilmainham Treaty when Parnell and the other leaders of the Land League were jailed but he soon faded from prominence. He is said to have ignored the affair because, even though he had separated from his wife, he hoped to benefit from her aunt’s will. Parnell and Kitty set up home together and they had three children.
Through the 1800s, the affair continued, seemingly ignored by O’Shea. Others in the political world, including the Prime Minister, Gladstone, also knew but it was not discussed. In 1889 O’Shea, out of the blue, filed for divorce. Parnell was named as co-respondent and the scandal broke. Nobody knows why O’Shea acted when he did but there have been suggestions that the will of Kitty’s aunt did not turn out as beneficial as he had hoped. Whatever the reason, the situation could no longer be ignored. It split the Irish Parliamentary Party and it took it years to recover.
Gladstone is said to have sent Parnell a telegram with the advice, “Resign, marry, return” which Parnell ignored. He chose to fight the issue within the party and lost.
Following the divorce, Parnell and Kitty married in a registry office in June 1891 – no local clergy would agree to officiate. Suffering from ill health, Parnell died four months later. Kitty left Brighton and moved to Littlehampton, where she lived until her death in 1921. Captain O’Shea had died in 1905.
Kitty O’Shea, a woman who outlived both her husbands and, while she may be remembered more by a younger generation for giving her name to Irish pubs, a woman whose affair and marriage had a profound effect on Irish history was born on January 30, 1845 – 165 years ago this week.