Charles Stewart Parnell, M.P.

Woven on silk:-

Printed at bottom of card-mount:-
WOVEN IN PURE SILK BY T. STEVENS, COVENTRY. 
 
Charles Stewart Parnell, M.P. 
 

Card-mount:
cm deep by cm wide

silk:
cm deep by cm wide

by Sprake:
"Charles Stewart Parnell, M.P.". Nothing woven below the portrait.

by Godden:
Parnell was born in Ireland in 1846.
He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1875 and visited America in 1878.
In May 1880 he was elected Chairman of the Home-Rule (for Ireland) party in the British House of Commons - a cause for which he fought with extreme vigour all his life.
He was given the Freedom of Dublin and was often called 'the uncrowned King of Ireland'.
He died on 6 October 1891.

This silk portrait was first mentioned on label 21+9+2 of 1887, and is normally mounted on card D. The title was included in a Stevens advertisement published in May 1887.

Godden mentions that three versions are known, being -

§133: The portrait with no woven spray of shamrock or Irish harp below the portrait [that is, the portrait above].

§133a: The portrait and card-mount as described above but with an Irish harp and a spray of shamrock woven across the jacket [so416 on this site..

§133b: As above, but with the amended title printed on the card-mount THE LATE CHARLES STEWART PARNELL [so420 on this site.]. This issue, of course, dates from after his death in October 1891.

Other comments:
Since the publication of Godden's book, a fourth title has been added, being -

§133c: As above, but with the amended title printed on the card-mount CHAS. S. PARNELL, M.P. Ireland's Defender and Friend [so418 on this site].