Rome ruler?: John Redmond and Westminster's Catholic interest, 1900-1918

Abstract

This project aims to explore the relationship between John Redmond, the chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900, and the Catholic Church in both Ireland and Britain. Redmond was the political heir of Charles Stewart Parnell and the leader of the Parnellite faction that stood in defiance of the clerical wing of the Home Rule party after the bitter saga of Parnell's divorce scandal, political demise, and death between 1889 and 1891. Following the turbulent and divisive 1890s, Redmond re-emerged as the leader of a party held together by compromise and a will to once more hold the balance at Westminster. This project shows how Redmond quickly redeemed the favour of the Catholic Church and how he and his party repeatedly represented the interests and concerns of the Catholic hierarchy, on both sides of the Irish Sea, in Westminster between 1900 and Redmond's death in 1918.