Parnell Commission

The Parnell Commission, officially the Commissioners under the Special Commission Act 1888, was a judicial commission of inquiry from 1888 to 1890 into allegations made in articles in The Times in 1887, and a resulting libel trial in 1888, that members of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) had condoned or were complicit in criminal acts associated with the Land War or the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The most serious allegation was a putative letter by IPP leader Charles Stewart Parnell condoning the 1882 Phoenix Park Murders; in his 1889 testimony to the commission, Richard Pigott admitted to having forged the letter. The commission was largely seen as vindication for Parnell, although its report substantiated some of the lesser allegations against IPP members.