Dominion of Ireland? WI Parnell hadn't had a fling?

Dominion of Ireland? WI Parnell hadn't had a fling?


Charles Stewart Parnell was a highly influential politician in the 1880s and 1890s. His Irish Parliamentary Party came perilously close to securing home rule for Ireland.

Parnell was a respected parliamentarian, of whom Gladstone - to name but one - thought very highly.

Ultimately, one Captain O'Shea was to be his undoing. O'Shea cited Parnell as the reason behind his divorce and claimed Parnell was the father of several of his wife's children.

Parnell never recovered from this, losing support from the Liberals and control of his own party.

By the time Home Rule re-emerged, the Unionists were organised politically, and they were armed.

Parnell is now regarded by some as a great 'lost leader'


So, my question is as follows:

What if Parnell had kept it inside his trousers? How would the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth have developed?
 
Dominion of Ireland? WI Parnell hadn't had a fling?
So, my question is as follows:

What if Parnell had kept it inside his trousers? How would the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth have developed?

Well, before the divorce revelations, the First Home Rule Bill failed. Not a bad thing in my view as it prevented Irish MPs from sitting at Westminster. Seeing that Westminster would have retained a lot of powers that would be undemocratic. There was a lot of 'Orange' opposition behind the scenes.

Now, the Second Home Rule Bill was better, but there were serious financial flaws in it. This was due to the secretive way it was drawn up, much like the first bill. An active Parnell might have been able to make a difference here - but how could he get the bill past the Conservative dominated House of Lords?

Of course, having Parnell on the scene might change things enormously. He should be able to keep Home Rule in the spotlight - not buried until 1914. This might mitigate against the rise of Republicanism.

I have a feeling that what might arise is an earlier version of the 1920 Home Rule Act.

There will be a Northern Ireland, or Ulster. There may be a Southern Ireland - or there may be Provincial Assemblies. Either way there'll be a lot of latitude for Ulster, but an Irish Parliament in Dublin.

Less agitation in Ireland as a whole, a UK more focused on the Empire - and retaining some of its best soldiers.

As for the Commonwealth who knows?

Starviking
 
There will be a Northern Ireland, or Ulster. There may be a Southern Ireland - or there may be Provincial Assemblies. Either way there'll be a lot of latitude for Ulster, but an Irish Parliament in Dublin.

The provincial assemblies I can see make a whole lot of sense. A little bit more easier to handle. Who knows, maybe even thanks to the provincial assemblies, we might have some experimentation with federalism?
 

Thande

Donor
The provincial assemblies I can see make a whole lot of sense. A little bit more easier to handle. Who knows, maybe even thanks to the provincial assemblies, we might have some experimentation with federalism?
I don't know. I don't think Munster or Connaught would be exactly as worked up about the idea of being ruled from Dublin as Ulster would be. Although I suppose it could be done just for the sake of not appearing to give special exceptionalism to Ulster.

Has interesting consequences for Great Britain as well; OTL, the Scots got their celebrated independent control over education and health in 1913. In TTL, I wonder if the Irish example would lead to a similar situation in other British regions, such as Wales?

I may be reading too much into that, but it's an interesting possibility.
 
I don't know. I don't think Munster or Connaught would be exactly as worked up about the idea of being ruled from Dublin as Ulster would be. Although I suppose it could be done just for the sake of not appearing to give special exceptionalism to Ulster.

The real advantage you have in having some kind of reform go on with Parnell and the Irish Parliementry Party on the scene is that the debate hasn't yet devolved into a Protestant v Catholic, Unionist v Republican. Parnell may be able to successfully lead a united Ireland into Home Rule, with the end result that Ireland remains a part of the British Empire until the modern day.

Will this have any large effects on other Home Rule bills, or colonial administration in other areas? I would think that if Home Rule were decided upon in the 19th century, then your going to have small but probably important ripples as far as how colonial problems are thought about and treated.

[/quote]Has interesting consequences for Great Britain as well; OTL, the Scots got their celebrated independent control over education and health in 1913. In TTL, I wonder if the Irish example would lead to a similar situation in other British regions, such as Wales?

I may be reading too much into that, but it's an interesting possibility.[/quote]

Very cool. I love the idea of early devolution, with a peaceful Ireland being able to have limited control over its own territory. Unfortunately, I think that the idea of Ireland as a colony was rather deep-seated in British thought, but this is AH right?
 
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