Names on the buses
882 Kitty O'Shea
842 Kitty O'Shea
Connections with Brighton and Hove : She was the lover of the charismatic Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell and their affair took place in Hove. On one occasion at her home in Medina Terrace, Parnell had paid a visit when her husband, Captain O'Shea, returned unexpectedly. Parnell rushed out and made his escape down a rope ladder, an event which delighted contemporary cartoonists. In 1889, Parnell and Kitty (Katie) O'Shea moved into a rented house at Walsingham Terrace just before open fields and the couple were blissfully happy. But in the following year, Captain O'Shea instituted divorce proceedings which led to Parnell's ruin. He lost all political credibility and with it the hope of winning from Prime Minister William Gladstone home rules for Ireland. The couple were married at Steyning in 1891, beating reporters to the ceremony. But four months later, Parnell died of inflammation of the lungs at Walsingham Terrace. He was only 45. Kitty O'Shea lived for another 30 years, lonely and unhappy, moving home many times. Captain O'Shea also stayed in the area and died in a nursing home in Lansdowne Place in 1905.
