Phoenix Park murders, name given to the assassination on May 6, 1882, of Lord Frederick Cavendish, British secretary for Ireland, and Thomas Henry Burke, his undersecretary, in Phoenix Park, Dublin. They were stabbed to death by members of the "Invincibles," a terrorist splinter group of the Fenian movement Fenian movement (fē`nēən) or Fenians, secret revolutionary society organized c.
..... Click the link for more information. . Two of those arrested turned state's evidence, five were hanged, and three were sentenced to penal servitude. Charles Stewart Parnell Parnell, Charles Stewart (pär`nəl, pärnĕl`), 1846–91, Irish nationalist leader.
..... Click the link for more information. was alleged (1887) by his political enemies to have been personally involved in the plot. A parliamentary commission appointed to investigate the charges exonerated him (1890).

Phoenix Park murders

(May 6, 1882) Assassination in Dublin of British officials. The newly arrived chief secretary of Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his undersecretary, Thomas Burke, were walking in Dublin's Phoenix Park when they were stabbed to death by members of the Invincibles, a radical Irish nationalist secret society. The murders caused a revulsion against terrorism and enabled Charles Stewart Parnell to subordinate the Irish National League to the more moderate Home Rule Party in Parliament.