Parnell Commission
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The Parnell Commission was a judicial inquiry in the late 1880's into allegations of crimes by Irish parliamentarian Charles Stewart Parnell which resulted in his vindication.
On 6 May 1882 two leading members of the British Government in Ireland, Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish, and the Permanent Under-Secretary for Ireland, T.H. Burke.were stabbed to death in Phoenix Park, Dublin by the Irish National Invincibles.
In March 1887, The Times published a series of articles, "Parnellism and Crime", in which Home Rule League leaders were accused of being involved in murder and outrage during the land war. The Times produced a number of facsimile letters, allegedly bearing Parnell’s signature and in one of the letters Parnell had excused and condoned the murder of T.H. Burke in the Phoenix Park
Parnell immediately declared the letter a forgery and the government set up a Special Commission to investigate the charges made against Parnell and the Home Rule party. The commission sat for nearly two years. In February 1889, one of the witnesses, Richard Piggott, admitted to having forged the letters; he then fled to Madrid, where he shot himself. Parnell’s name was fully cleared and the Times paid a large sum of money by way of compensation after bringing a libel action.
In an out-of-court settlement Parnell accepted £5,000 in damages. When Parnell re-entered parliament after he was vindicated, he received a standing ovation from his fellow MPs.
