Parnell, Anna

Parnell, Anna (1852–1911), nationalist and founder of the Ladies' Land League. Anna's political beliefs, like those of her brother Charles and her sister Fanny, came partly from their Irish‐American mother, who also introduced the young Parnells to American anti‐slavery and women's rights activism. The Parnell women were active in Irish‐American political circles in the 1860s and 1870s. Michael Davitt asked Anna to come back to Ireland to head a Ladies' Land League early in 1881. Anna proved a fearless leader, travelling the country to hold public meetings, resist evictions, and organize accommodation for the evicted. The Tale of a Great Sham, written in 1907 but published only in 1986, reflected her later disillusionment with what she saw as the Land League's attempts to placate the larger tenants while making empty promises of land redistribution to the smaller ones. She was drowned while swimming in Devon in 1911.

Caitriona Clear