10 Jan Kitty O’Shea…..Dublins First Lady ??
Kitty O’Shea was born in 1845 ….and died in 1921
If you are on tours of Ireland and in Dublin you can visit a pub named after her and hear the name continuosly.
Famously she was the mistress and later wife of Charles Stewart Parnell.
She was originally born in Essex and married Captain William Henry O’Shea in 1867. The marriage failed and in 1880 her relationship with Parnell began.
Captain O’Shea remained quiet about the affair , hoping to gain from an inheritance that Kitty expected from her wealthy aunt , Mrs Benjamin Woods. However , when the aunt died in May 1889 , the inheritance was contested and Kitty was unable to give Captain O’Shea his settlement of £20,000.
He duly filed for divorce , and in November 1890 , Parnell was named as a co-respondent.
The scandal that followed ruined his political career and split the Home Rule party.
Kitty married Parnell in June 1891. He died the same year and four months after his death she disappeared from public life.
On any tours of Ireland dont miss the history…it is so colourful and scandalous !!