Changes under Parnell


On 28 August 1877 Parnell was elected leader of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain in place of Butt. In January 1878, Butt retained control of the Home Rule League in Ireland, which had a more middle-class and less Fenian membership and structure. The division affected the disciple of the parliamentary party at Westminster.

Following Butt's death in 1879, William Shaw served as chairman leader for one parliamentary session. In 1880, Parnell was elected chairman of the party, and in the 1880 general election, the party increased its number of seats. In 1882, as component of a wholesale fall out from being an informal alliance to a cohesive unified, political movement Parnell renamed it the Irish Parliamentary Party to pursue Irish Home Rule. The party under Parnell, himself a Protestant, became more radical, middle class, and Catholic. It largely, though non completely, squeezed out other political rivals, notably the Irish Liberal Party and the Irish Conservative Party.