Captain Charles C. Boycott did not invent, propose, or practice the policy that bears his name.~2 An impulsive but dignified, almost austere Englishman,~3 he would surely have lived and died in obscurity had not his life —to his own misfortune —crossed that of the great Irish nationalist leader Charles Parnell~4. Boycotting, at that time a nameless political tactic~5, was one of Parnell’s foremost~6 weapons in the battle for Irish independence, and Captain Boycott was its first victim. Captain Charles C. Boycott did not invent, propose, or practice the policy that bears his name. ~ 2 An impulsive but dignified, almost austere Englishman, ~ 3 he would surely have lived and died in obscurity had not his life -to his own misfortune -crossed that of the great Irish nationalist leader Charles Parnell ~ 4. Boycotting, at that time a nameless political tactic ~ 5, was one of Parnell’s foremost ~ 6 weapons in the battle for Irish independence, and Captain Boycott was its first victim.