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Frances Isabelle Parnell (1848-1882)
In 1859, following the death of her father, Fanny moved with her family to Dalkey and in 1860 moved from there to Dublin. Fanny took a great interest in Irish politics and attended the trials of the Fenians. In 1864, under the pen name Aleria' she began publishing her poetry in the 'Irish People' in Dublin, the newspaper of the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1865 she moved with her mother to Paris and then in 1874 to Bordentown in New Jersey, While in Paris she cared for wounded soldiers in the three month long Siege of Paris. In 1880 Fanny founded the Ladies' Land League to raise money in America for the Land League in Ireland. A pamphlet, 'The Hovels of Ireland' (1880), and a collection of poems, 'Land League Songs' (1882), were widely published. Her best known poem 'Hold the Harvest', was described by Michael Davitt, leader of the Land League, as the "Marseillaise of the Irish peasant". Most of her work was published in the Boston Pilot, the leading Irish newspaper of the 19th century in America. Little is known of the amount of work that Fanny and Anna, her sister, put into the running of the Land League Committee. It was Fanny, known as the Patriot Poet, who appealed to Irish-American women to form an relief fund to help the Land League in Ireland. Anne, who was the more radical by far, was responsible for all the funds collected. She acknowledged every contribution and saw to it that the money went to the right quarter. The $60,000, or so, collected by the relief fund came from poor Irish immigrants in cities around America. The money went a long way in averted another famine in Ireland in 1879 and 1880. Following her return to Dublin in 1880, Anne founded the Ladies Land League, which became a formidable force. When Michael Davitt, Charles Stewart Parnell and other Land League leaders were imprisoned in 1881 the Ladies' Land League took over their work. Other than an office in Dublin very little else was provided in the line of help or instructions. Nonetheless, the women were not daunted by the task at hand, proceeding to hold public meetings encouraging tenants to withhold rent, resist evictions and boycott landlords. They raised funds to support prisoners and their families and built wooden huts to shelter evicted tenant families. By 1882 they had five hundred branches, thousands of women members and considerable publicity. Their meetings were frequently broken up by police. Thirteen of their members were imprisoned - not as political prisoners like the men but as common criminals. Considered the first modern Irish female agitator, Anne became estranged from her brother after he withdrew support for her movement. The Parnell women were indeed in the forefront of the Women’s Liberation movement and were passionate advocates for human rights. Together with the thousands of other women activists they showed how the women of Ireland could be just as tough as men when the need arose. Fanny Parnell died on July 20, 1882 at age 34 in Bordentown, New Jersey. Her body was taken by train to Boston. The casket bearing her remains was open for family and friends to view at Tudor home on Beacon Hill before being buried at the Tudor family plot at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. On April 11, 2001, the Parnell Society of Dublin placed a granite marker at the grave site, honoring Ms. Parnell's role as a patriot and poet of Ireland. cemetery AND grave location Name: Mt. Auburn Cemetery PHONE NO. (617) 547-7105 ADDRESS: 580 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 GRAVE LOCATION: N/A HEADSTONE AND INSCRIPTION POEM BY FANNY PARNELL
After DeathShall mine eyes behold thy glory, oh, my country? Shall mine eyes behold thy glory? Or shall the darkness close around them ere the sun-blaze Break at last upon thy story? When the nations ope for thee their queenly circle, As sweet new sister hail thee, Shall these lips be sealed in callous death and silence, That have known but to bewail thee? |
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(back to index page) Posted 12/05/07 |
Frances
(Fanny)
Isabelle
Parnell
was
born
in
Avondale,
County
Wicklow,
Ireland
on
September
4,
1848
the
second
of
four
daughters
and
three
sons
to
John
Henry
Parnell
and
Delia
Tudor
Stewart,
the
American-born
daughter
of
Admiral
Charles
Stewart,
commander
of
the
U.S.
Frigate
Constitution.
Fanny
was
a
child
of
the
Protestant
ascendancy.
Her
American-born
mother
was
fiercely
anti-English
and
passed
a
lot
of
that
sentiment
on
to
her
children.
Fanny
brother,
Charles
Stewart
Parnell,
was
the
leader
of
the
Home
Rule
movement
and
president
of
the
National
Land
League.