Anna Parnell was a fervent Irish nationalist who left her mark on her era. A convinced feminist, she distinguished herself through her fight for Irish independence. Sister of the great Charles Stewart Parnell, she too advocated with force and conviction the idea of an Ireland free from British colonialism. A project she has championed all her life! Long overshadowed by her famous brother Charles, a nationalist leader, she is now recognized as a major figure in 19th-century Irish feminism and nationalism.
Anna Parnell was born at Avondale House near Dublin, one of 11 siblings. His father, John Parnell, was a wealthy landowner fiercely opposed to the British presence in Ireland.
For his family strongly disapproved of British actions on Irish soil. They witness injustice and anti-Catholic discrimination, and are convinced that a free Ireland is still possible.
Anna grew up alongside two brothers, John and Charles, who were also committed nationalists, the latter becoming leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster.
Cradled since childhood in an environment imbued with patriotic ideals, it was only natural that Anna gradually chose this path.
A brilliant student, polyglot, talented painter and musician, she could have led a comfortable life as an artist. But in 19th-century Victorian Ireland, where the role of women was confined to the domestic sphere, young Anna soon felt the need to fight for the financial and social independence of her female compatriots.
At 24, abandoning her artistic career and marriage, she and her sister Fanny set up the Ladies Land League to defend the rights of Irish peasant women exploited by English landowners. She organizes meetings and fundraisers, while standing up to her male detractors with aplomb. Her talents as an orator and leader of men emerged, making her an increasingly popular figure.
When her brother Charles was imprisoned by the British in 1881, Anna took over the leadership of the Land League to continue the nationalist struggle, raising funds and organizing peasant resistance against land evictions. Now a respected figure in the nationalist movement alongside Michael Davitt, she travels the country galvanizing crowds at rallies.
But when Charles was released in 1882, she was asked to hand over the reins, relegating her to the shadows despite her unwavering commitment. Deeply bitter, Anna continued the fight, founding the National League of Irish Women two years later. Her calls to revolt were so virulent that she was in turn imprisoned for a year in London in 1887, alongside her sister Fanny.
On her release from prison, exhausted and her ideals flouted, Anna sank into a nervous breakdown, aggravated by the death of her brother Charles in 1891. Having become an alcoholic, ostracized by her family, she gradually sank into poverty, wandering from dingy boarding house to precarious shelter across England and Ireland. She died in near-total anonymity in Ilfracombe in 1911, far from the nationalist struggles to which she had dedicated her life.
Forgotten for almost a century, it wasn’t until the 1970s that Anna Parnell was truly recognized in Ireland as a pioneer of women’s emancipation and the fight for independence, stepping out of her brother’s shadow. In 1980, an Irish stamp bearing his effigy was issued to pay tribute to him. Since then, her figure has gradually been rehabilitated and her major contribution to Irish history brought to light, even if the general public still knows little about her.
And so ends the story of Anna Parnell’s extraordinary destiny. An exceptional woman who sacrificed her life to nationalist ideals and the cause of women in 19th-century Ireland, corseted by tradition. A symbol of resilience, she is still regarded as a great historical figure in Ireland. Progressive, it embodied a wide range of values, challenging social and political principles that were indestructible at the time.
