It was heartbreak time for Parnell. He’d spent eleven years in parliament, leading to the emergence of a powerful Irish Parliamentary Party that eventual won the balance of power. That put Home Rule, the restoration of a Dublin parliament, apparently within his grasp. Yet all that culminated in defeat and disappointment when Gladstone’s bill was thrown out.

The loss led to the fall of Gladstone’s third government and the formation of Salisbury’s second. In turn, that was the start of a long period of Conservative dominance over British politics, lasting for nineteen years. Or, in my view, more like 137 years right up to the present day.

But to get that well launched, Salisbury had to deal with one great thorn in his side. That was Randolph Churchill. And he sorted that problem with his customary skill.

Illustration: Gladstone, Hartington and Chamberlain: political allies but not for much longer. Caricature by Théobald Chartran for 'Vanity Fair', 1880. Public Domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.