John Redmond served the cause of Ireland for thirty‐seven years in the British House of Commons. He used his eloquence and the strategy of bloc voting to gain concessions for Ireland. Yet, his major Home Rule Bill, passed by Parliament in 1914, was never implemented. Among the obstacles to implementation were the outbreak of World War I, the Irish Rising of 1916, and the failure of the Dublin Convention to reach an agreement on an Anglo‐Irish settlement. Redmond's life illustrates the limitations of reform by parliamentary agitation, even when such a reform movement is led by a talented parliamentary speaker and tactician.