Politician. He was an Irish nationalist politician. He was a campaigner for Irish Home Rule, and a Member of Parliament for Meath starting in April of 1875. In September of 1877 the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain elected him as president. Although he was the son of Anglo-Irish Protestant landowning parents, he became the president of the National Land League in 1879, giving him great influence during the "land war" of 1879 to 1882. Even though he was never an excellent student, he was given the opportunity of a formal education at Cambridge University but was suspended for behavioral problems and decided not to return. After making speeches using inappropriate language, he was arrested on October 13, 1881, becoming the subject of journalist Richard Pigott's forgery of evidence, and released in 1882 at the instigation of British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone, whom he eventually persuaded of the justice of Irish Home Rule. However, Parnell's home Rule Bill was defeated in 1886. He was accused and completely acquitted of support of Irish terrorism between 1887 to 1889. At this point, when he was virtually "uncrowned King of Ireland," his influence suddenly collapsed when he was cited as co-respondent in the divorce case of Captain William O'Shea's wife Katherine, siting long-standing adultery, which produced the birth of three children. He married Katherine "Kitty" O'Shea in June of 1891. With Roman Catholic church, his political leadership was questioned. He never recovered his grip on the Home Rule movement which was soon riven by dissension. At the age of 42, he died of pneumonia in the arms of Kitty O'Shea, five months after marrying her. Although a large granite stone simply states "Parnell" on his grave, he has a huge monument in Dublin, which includes a larger-than-life statue of him.