There was comedy, joy and tragedy within a few short months in the life of Irish nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell.

Leader of the Irish Party, he seemed destined to achieve his aim of home rule against the wishes of Prime Minister William Gladstone.

But Parnell was secretly in love with Kitty O’Shea, who lived in Hove. In 1890, Captain O’Shea brought a divorce action which named the Irish leader as his wife’s lover.

There was a sensation during the divorce action thanks to evidence given by the cook, Catherine Pethers, at the O’Shea household in Medina Terrace, Hove.

She said that on one occasion when Parnell was at the house, Captain O’Shea returned home unexpectedly. Parnell rushed on to the balcony and made his escape by climbing down a rope ladder.

Parnell and Kitty both said later that there was no such fire escape at the house but the damage had been done.

The idea of Parnell clambering down the latter was meat and drink to cartoonists and comedians in the music halls. Historian Judy Middleton says in her Encyclopaedia of Hove that there were even toys created with Parnell on the ladder.

Parnell and Kitty moved to Walsingham Terrace and once the divorce was made absolute in 1891, newspapers were convinced they were going to marry.

In those days Walsingham Terrace was part of Aldrington and the register office was nine miles away in Steyning.

Reporters laid siege to the house and Parnell let it be known one day that the couple would leave for Steyning in a carriage at 11.30am.

But the crafty couple instead set off at 6am driven by Kitty in a phaeton pulled by a strong horse named Dictator.

Reporters hired their own transport and were catching the couple up when Parnell spotted them and said to Kitty: “Let Dictator go.”

The horse went so fast that Parnell and Kitty were driving back home as newlyweds when the first of the reporters arrived.

Parnell loved the house in Hove which then commanded sweeping views of the sea and nearby fields. But he did not enjoy it for long.

He was worn out by the strain of the divorce and by his travels to Ireland. Less than four months after the wedding, aged 45, he died from a fever in Hove. His last words were: “Let my love be conveyed to my colleagues and to the Irish people.”

His body was taken back to Ireland for burial and 160,000 people followed the coffin. There is a memorial stone to him in Dublin.

Kitty lived for another 30 years, moving house frequently and suffering from mental illness. Captain O’Shea, rather surprisingly, stayed in Hove and died in Lansdowne Place in 1905.

The divorce ended Parnell’s political career and made him a figure of ridicule to many people. Meanwhile Ireland had to wait until the next century before achieving home rule.