Reprints of book reviews and various articles (from 2010)
2010
The Carrigdhoun Newspaper. 30 October, 2010
The Carrigdhoun Newspaper. 30 October, 2010
2011
The Irish Times. Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The Irish Times. Wednesday, July 6, 2011
British files reveal US envoys in plot to deport 'dangerous agitator' after Rising by Mark Hennessy
First published: July 6, 2011
DIARMUID LYNCH was said to have been the last man to leave the burning GPO during Easter week in 1916. A naturalised US citizen, he was eventually deported in 1918, but the British had long wanted rid of him before the Rising.
Files released by the British National Archives detail a conspiracy involving US diplomats in London to have Lynch deported to the US after embassy officials learned the state department in Washington was preparing to revoke his naturalisation papers.
The file on Lynch, who had left Granig, Kinsale, Co Cork, at 18 for the US, begins a year or so before the Rising, with the British authorities regarding him as “an undesirable” who had come “to unfavourable notice”.
Dublin Castle believed he was a leading anti-recruitment campaigner, but no more dangerous. In reality, however, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s military council and was chosen by Pádraig Pearse to identify a location in Kerry for Roger Casement to land arms.
References to his US citizenship abound. In 1915, Lynch was deemed to be an alien of a friendly nation and told to notify police of his movements. He was labelled as an enemy alien in January 1916 and subjected to tighter rules, which he ignored.
“There will probably be an Irish row about it, but nothing to what might be aroused by a deportation order, which, indeed, I don’t think the home secretary would be very ready to make in a case of a British-born person like Lynch, even though he has ceased to be a British subject,” the war office was told.
The British army, however, had wanted him deported long before the Rising, with the war office telling the home office in December 1915 that he was “a dangerous agitator, if nothing worse”. Deportation was “decidedly preferable”, it said.
Following his capture after the Rising, Lynch wrote to the US ambassador in London in October 1916, declaring that he was a prisoner of war “and not a criminal” and that he had “an international right to fight against England”, but the letter was blocked by the prison governor.
Released, Lynch went back to Dublin, where he was soon embroiled in a row with the Dublin Metropolitan Police over his claim that the enemy alien’s order made against him no longer stood because he had been released unconditionally.
Believing that he was about to leave voluntarily for the US, the British authorities did nothing. But Lynch, by now Sinn Féin’s “food controller”, was jailed again in February 1918 after he seized and slaughtered pigs being driven to Dublin’s North Wall for export to England.
In London a US embassy official was soon in touch with the home office to say the state department in Washington was “considering” revoking Lynch’s naturalisation papers because he had been out of the country for so long. The state department had earlier written to the embassy in London seeking details about Lynch in preparation for the withdrawal of his naturalisation. A US embassy official then tipped off the home office that it needed to move quickly if it wanted to deport Lynch. The US official “thought, however, that we might like first to have a chance of applying for his deportation”, the home office file reported, adding that the US official had agreed to delay a reply to Washington in the meantime.
Within days, a “rather truculent” Lynch was sent to Liverpool docks for deportation, and he became even more annoyed when he learned he had to pay the £10 9s 6d one-way fare. His bride, Kathleen Mary Quinn, was stopped from travelling with him. Sinn Féin had smuggled her into Dundalk Prison for the wedding, though the British said they were unsure if they had properly wed. The marital status of the couple vexed immigration officers, who believed they could not stop her joining Lynch if they were married. In the end she was prevented from going but joined him in the US afterwards.
In the US, he was elected in absentia to the House of Commons in 1918 and later to the first Dáil. He played a role in influencing the House of Representatives’ call for Ireland to be represented at the Versailles talks.
Five years later, Lynch and his wife returned after a British official in New York, filling in for a sick colleague, failed to spot that he was on the suspects’ list when he applied for a visa to sail. Refused permission to land, he was eventually allowed to travel to Ireland after the Dublin government described him as “a friend of the Irish Free State”.
2013
The Irish Examiner. Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Irish Examiner. Saturday, June 15, 2013
Tracton’s Irish hero
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Review: T. Ryle Dwyer
Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot
Eileen McGough
Mercier Press, €14.99
Born near Tracton Abbey in southern Cork, in 1878, Diarmuid Lynch immigrated to the United States as a teenager and spent 11 years there.
During that time he took out American citizenship. He was very active in Irish-American circles and formed lifelong friendship with John Devoy and Daniel Cohalan of Clan na Gael, before returning to Ireland in 1907. Back home he became involved in both the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Gaelic League.
In 1915 he became Secretary of the IRB, following the arrest of Seán Mac Diarmada. Lynch fought in the General Post Office during the Easter Rebellion and was the last man to evacuate the building. As the IRB was responsible for the Rising, Lynch was unquestionably the most senior figure to survive the executions. He was sentenced to death, but his life was spared because of his American citizenship.
In this valuable contribution to Irish historiography Eileen McGough sets out to identify his place in history and explain why he has essentially been forgotten. In his own writings about the period, Lynch’s aim was to write truthfully and accurately, not to entertain. True to that spirit, the author just tells Lynch’s story, allowing readers to make up their own minds.
Between the lines there is the inescapable conclusion that Lynch was forgotten because his story tended to outshine Éamon de Valera, the man who was often credited with being the last commandant to surrender and the only commandant to survive the executions. In fact, he was neither. Tomás Ashe also survived and he was the last commandant to surrender.
Lynch had worked closely with Ashe prior to the Rebellion, and he was one of those responsible for selecting young Michael Collins to deliver to oration at Ashe’s funeral in 1917. The following year when the leaders were rounded up in the wake of the supposed German Plot, Lynch was deported to the United States, because of his American citizenship.
He became one of the main organisers of the Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF), which was the most powerful Irish organisation in the United States. The author concludes that Lynch was “probably the most influential member of the FOIF”.
It was the pressure from America that the British feared most, not Irish rebels, but de Valera undermined FOIF in 1920. Lynch, who was elected to the first Dáil, resigned his seat in an effort to highlight de Valera’s disastrous policies. Therein may be the explanation for his subsequent obscurity.
There is no escaping the conclusion that Diarmuid Lynch’s valuable historical contributions became obscured in a long vindictive shadow.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Review: T. Ryle Dwyer
Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot
Eileen McGough
Mercier Press, €14.99
Born near Tracton Abbey in southern Cork, in 1878, Diarmuid Lynch immigrated to the United States as a teenager and spent 11 years there.
During that time he took out American citizenship. He was very active in Irish-American circles and formed lifelong friendship with John Devoy and Daniel Cohalan of Clan na Gael, before returning to Ireland in 1907. Back home he became involved in both the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Gaelic League.
In 1915 he became Secretary of the IRB, following the arrest of Seán Mac Diarmada. Lynch fought in the General Post Office during the Easter Rebellion and was the last man to evacuate the building. As the IRB was responsible for the Rising, Lynch was unquestionably the most senior figure to survive the executions. He was sentenced to death, but his life was spared because of his American citizenship.
In this valuable contribution to Irish historiography Eileen McGough sets out to identify his place in history and explain why he has essentially been forgotten. In his own writings about the period, Lynch’s aim was to write truthfully and accurately, not to entertain. True to that spirit, the author just tells Lynch’s story, allowing readers to make up their own minds.
Between the lines there is the inescapable conclusion that Lynch was forgotten because his story tended to outshine Éamon de Valera, the man who was often credited with being the last commandant to surrender and the only commandant to survive the executions. In fact, he was neither. Tomás Ashe also survived and he was the last commandant to surrender.
Lynch had worked closely with Ashe prior to the Rebellion, and he was one of those responsible for selecting young Michael Collins to deliver to oration at Ashe’s funeral in 1917. The following year when the leaders were rounded up in the wake of the supposed German Plot, Lynch was deported to the United States, because of his American citizenship.
He became one of the main organisers of the Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF), which was the most powerful Irish organisation in the United States. The author concludes that Lynch was “probably the most influential member of the FOIF”.
It was the pressure from America that the British feared most, not Irish rebels, but de Valera undermined FOIF in 1920. Lynch, who was elected to the first Dáil, resigned his seat in an effort to highlight de Valera’s disastrous policies. Therein may be the explanation for his subsequent obscurity.
There is no escaping the conclusion that Diarmuid Lynch’s valuable historical contributions became obscured in a long vindictive shadow.
2013
An Phobhlacht. Sunday June 30, 2013
An Phobhlacht. Sunday June 30, 2013
Diarmuid Lynch: A forgotten Irish patriot
By Eileen McGough
Mercier Press
Price: €14.99
Review by Michael Mannion
IT’S HARD to understand how a man who was a member of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the person chosen to select the best landing spot for Casement’s arms shipment, Connolly’s aide-de-camp during the Rising, and the last man to leave the GPO could be so unrecognised by many – Eileen McGough’s meticulously-researched biography attempts to change that.
After the Rising, Lynch was spared execution and deported to America due to his having acquired US citizenship during a youthful period of emigration. On returning to America he dedicated himself to the creation of a unified Irish caucus to support the struggle at home. His undoubted organisational skills resulted in an expansion from 33 branches and affiliates tenfold to 333 within two years. And then came the inevitable split.
Tensions between those who wished to place an American agenda of lobbying ahead of a support role for the struggle now underway in Ireland erupted in outright hostility with the advent of De Valera on the American scene. De Valera, Joseph McGarrity and Liam Mellows were of the view that activities in America were subordinate to the situation in Ireland; Lynch, Daniel Cohalan and John Devoy felt that the needs of the American political system needed to be accommodated in order to be most effective.
The very public falling out between the two groups caused a virtual collapse of the previously unified organisation. Lynch and his associates became isolated and increasingly irrelevant.
Whilst this book is perhaps a little too uncritical of Lynch’s failings, it nevertheless fills a gap in our knowledge that most of us didn’t realise existed.
History is often written by the winning side and so Diarmuid Lynch has been relegated to obscurity. Perhaps this book will rectify that.
By Eileen McGough
Mercier Press
Price: €14.99
Review by Michael Mannion
IT’S HARD to understand how a man who was a member of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the person chosen to select the best landing spot for Casement’s arms shipment, Connolly’s aide-de-camp during the Rising, and the last man to leave the GPO could be so unrecognised by many – Eileen McGough’s meticulously-researched biography attempts to change that.
After the Rising, Lynch was spared execution and deported to America due to his having acquired US citizenship during a youthful period of emigration. On returning to America he dedicated himself to the creation of a unified Irish caucus to support the struggle at home. His undoubted organisational skills resulted in an expansion from 33 branches and affiliates tenfold to 333 within two years. And then came the inevitable split.
Tensions between those who wished to place an American agenda of lobbying ahead of a support role for the struggle now underway in Ireland erupted in outright hostility with the advent of De Valera on the American scene. De Valera, Joseph McGarrity and Liam Mellows were of the view that activities in America were subordinate to the situation in Ireland; Lynch, Daniel Cohalan and John Devoy felt that the needs of the American political system needed to be accommodated in order to be most effective.
The very public falling out between the two groups caused a virtual collapse of the previously unified organisation. Lynch and his associates became isolated and increasingly irrelevant.
Whilst this book is perhaps a little too uncritical of Lynch’s failings, it nevertheless fills a gap in our knowledge that most of us didn’t realise existed.
History is often written by the winning side and so Diarmuid Lynch has been relegated to obscurity. Perhaps this book will rectify that.
2013
Irish Echo, New York. July 1, 2013
Irish Echo, New York. July 1, 2013
Requiem for an overlooked patriot - text to follow at a future date
2013
Enniscorthy Echo, Co. Wexford. Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Enniscorthy Echo, Co. Wexford. Tuesday, July 2, 2013
New book records life of patriot Diarmuid Lynch
PUBLISHED 02/07/2013
DIARMUID Lynch, a 'forgotten Irish patriot,' was celebrated in story and song on Thursday evening, June 20, at Zozimus Bookshop, in the Book Café, 86 Main St, Gorey.
A large crowd attended the Leinster launch of the first ever full biography of Lynch, who was the last man to leave the GPO in 1916.
After an introduction by John Wyse Jackson, owner of Zozimus Bookshop, the book's author, Eileen McGough, spoke about her experiences researching and writing the biography. She had driven up from West Cork for the launch, where she and her husband, Michael Collins, live at Tracton, Lynch's native townland.
The author told how a meeting of five men had sparked off the Easter Rising at a meeting on Easter Saturday - Lynch was one; the other names were, she said, more familiar to us today: Pearse, Plunkett, MacDiarmada and MacDonagh.
A lively and witty speech followed from Gorey's own Dolores Lynch, a niece of Diarmuid, who is and shared warm memories of her uncle with the company.
The evening was further enlivened by tunes from a local group of traditional musicians, playing under the name 'Agus Arís'. They also accompanied the tenor, David O'Connor, in a number of moving songs. Incidentally, David's beautiful voice is about to be heard further afield, as he will soon be off on an extended trip to America, where a busy schedule of engagements has been arranged by his agent.
So, what with the music, the songs, the wise and witty speeches, the wine (generously supplied by French's Pub), and the beautiful evening of sunshine outside, many interested readers and listeners thoroughly enjoyed the event. A limited number of signed copies of the biography can be bought from Zozimus Bookshop for € 15 each.
PUBLISHED 02/07/2013
DIARMUID Lynch, a 'forgotten Irish patriot,' was celebrated in story and song on Thursday evening, June 20, at Zozimus Bookshop, in the Book Café, 86 Main St, Gorey.
A large crowd attended the Leinster launch of the first ever full biography of Lynch, who was the last man to leave the GPO in 1916.
After an introduction by John Wyse Jackson, owner of Zozimus Bookshop, the book's author, Eileen McGough, spoke about her experiences researching and writing the biography. She had driven up from West Cork for the launch, where she and her husband, Michael Collins, live at Tracton, Lynch's native townland.
The author told how a meeting of five men had sparked off the Easter Rising at a meeting on Easter Saturday - Lynch was one; the other names were, she said, more familiar to us today: Pearse, Plunkett, MacDiarmada and MacDonagh.
A lively and witty speech followed from Gorey's own Dolores Lynch, a niece of Diarmuid, who is and shared warm memories of her uncle with the company.
The evening was further enlivened by tunes from a local group of traditional musicians, playing under the name 'Agus Arís'. They also accompanied the tenor, David O'Connor, in a number of moving songs. Incidentally, David's beautiful voice is about to be heard further afield, as he will soon be off on an extended trip to America, where a busy schedule of engagements has been arranged by his agent.
So, what with the music, the songs, the wise and witty speeches, the wine (generously supplied by French's Pub), and the beautiful evening of sunshine outside, many interested readers and listeners thoroughly enjoyed the event. A limited number of signed copies of the biography can be bought from Zozimus Bookshop for € 15 each.
2013
Co. Kildare Online Electronic History Journal. Friday, November 22, 2013
Co. Kildare Online Electronic History Journal. Friday, November 22, 2013
2015
The Irish Times. Friday, September 25, 2015
The Irish Times. Friday, September 25, 2015
2016
The Irish Examiner. Monday, February 29, 2016
The Irish Examiner. Monday, February 29, 2016
Letter reveals insight into Diarmuid Lynch's incarceration first published 29 February 2016
Like many other prisoners after the Rising, Diarmuid Lynch had to have correspondence to family and loved ones smuggled out of prisons and military barracks.
Like many other prisoners after the Rising, Diarmuid Lynch had to have correspondence to family and loved ones smuggled out of prisons and military barracks.
The words pictured here are the first section of a long note he wrote on a fragment of paper bag two days after his court martial on May 19, 1916. He had previously got five other despatches out from Richmond Barracks, where he was initially held before being identified and court-martialled.
It is one of many such documents in the possession of Bríd Duggan, daughter of the recipients — Diarmuid’s half-brother Denis Lynch, a distillery manager in Dublin, and his wife Alice.
As well as his own situation, Lynch refers to his brother Michael, or ‘Mick’, who had been active in the Irish Volunteers in their native Tracton near Kinsale, Co Cork.
On Easter Sunday, 1916, he travelled Co Cork on a motorcycle whose sidecar was laden with explosives, fuse coils and detonators, hand grenades, while armed himself with a rifle and two revolvers. He too was an active IRB member, and was in charge of the group of Volunteers amassed in Bweeng, between Blarney and Mallow until Cork Brigade commander Tomás MacCurtain’s ordered that the mobilisation be cancelled.
Another man mentioned in Diarmuid Lynch’s letter is Dublin councilor William Partridge, who had been up and down to Kerry to organise the intended landing of German guns over Easter weekend at Fenit. The location was identified by Lynch to the IRB in 1915 as the most suitable place for the landing.
On one side of the paper bag, a note was added by Lynch:
“Don’t let it be known that you got a note from me under this date!”
“Kilmainham Sunday May 21.16. My dear Denis and Alice, I dare say you know of the visit I had here of Mary and Nora. I got my sentence last night, perhaps it is in today’s papers — death commuted to 10 years. I expected something like that from the attitude of the ‘Court’ at my trial.
I requested that the American Consul should be present thereat, but they would not wait.
They sent for him and allowed him to look over the summary of the evidence as made out by the presiding officer.I did not attempt to deny the main point against me — that I held the rank of captain in the GPO.
Lieut EL King, whom I released from the cellar when they were in great danger from fire and explosions, was the only witness produced to show that I participated actively in the fight. I rubbed in that fact, but told them I asked for no leniency because of it and did not make it on personal grounds.
Enjoyed this? Then check out our dedicated micro-site, developed in collaboration with UCC, to mark the revolutionary period HERE
Partridge T.C. got 15 years (less five) though little or nothing was proved against him.
Colm O’Gaora of Cong Co Mayo got 15, less 5, though he had no part in the fight. Simply because when arrested at his home — a week after we started in Dublin — he had a revolver in his possession and on the oath of two policemen, the charge was made that he attempted to shoot the sergeant which he claims to be an absolute falsehood.
Oh well, thank God, all this will have no effect.
The consul asked me if he could do anything for me and I said NO.
Now, however, he can do something if he will.
My friends in America will put up a fight when they get details. Anyway I’m game — even if I have to put in the full time.
I’ m sure Tim will be home soon.
As for Mick, I dare say they will trump up some special charge against him and give him some time in gaol. Let him get a solicitor.
I refused to get any ?— I knew it would be no use. In fact if I had said nothing in court, it may have been better for me, though I suppose they would have had their ‘pound of flesh.’ I believe I go to Mountjoy from here and then to somewhere in.....? (Diarmuid’s question mark). Had I expected to be here so long I would have sent for clean underclothes. I gave some of the tablets to Mick and left .....? in my room at Richmond so must depend on the doctor.
Hope D(Denis) got my letter ----? at Ship Street. The £1 Alice gave me is now held here in Kilmainham.”
Lynch signed off with a note about his possessions:
“They have £1 and my pipe. Love to you both, Slan libh, Diarmuid.”
It is one of many such documents in the possession of Bríd Duggan, daughter of the recipients — Diarmuid’s half-brother Denis Lynch, a distillery manager in Dublin, and his wife Alice.
As well as his own situation, Lynch refers to his brother Michael, or ‘Mick’, who had been active in the Irish Volunteers in their native Tracton near Kinsale, Co Cork.
On Easter Sunday, 1916, he travelled Co Cork on a motorcycle whose sidecar was laden with explosives, fuse coils and detonators, hand grenades, while armed himself with a rifle and two revolvers. He too was an active IRB member, and was in charge of the group of Volunteers amassed in Bweeng, between Blarney and Mallow until Cork Brigade commander Tomás MacCurtain’s ordered that the mobilisation be cancelled.
Another man mentioned in Diarmuid Lynch’s letter is Dublin councilor William Partridge, who had been up and down to Kerry to organise the intended landing of German guns over Easter weekend at Fenit. The location was identified by Lynch to the IRB in 1915 as the most suitable place for the landing.
On one side of the paper bag, a note was added by Lynch:
“Don’t let it be known that you got a note from me under this date!”
“Kilmainham Sunday May 21.16. My dear Denis and Alice, I dare say you know of the visit I had here of Mary and Nora. I got my sentence last night, perhaps it is in today’s papers — death commuted to 10 years. I expected something like that from the attitude of the ‘Court’ at my trial.
I requested that the American Consul should be present thereat, but they would not wait.
They sent for him and allowed him to look over the summary of the evidence as made out by the presiding officer.I did not attempt to deny the main point against me — that I held the rank of captain in the GPO.
Lieut EL King, whom I released from the cellar when they were in great danger from fire and explosions, was the only witness produced to show that I participated actively in the fight. I rubbed in that fact, but told them I asked for no leniency because of it and did not make it on personal grounds.
Enjoyed this? Then check out our dedicated micro-site, developed in collaboration with UCC, to mark the revolutionary period HERE
Partridge T.C. got 15 years (less five) though little or nothing was proved against him.
Colm O’Gaora of Cong Co Mayo got 15, less 5, though he had no part in the fight. Simply because when arrested at his home — a week after we started in Dublin — he had a revolver in his possession and on the oath of two policemen, the charge was made that he attempted to shoot the sergeant which he claims to be an absolute falsehood.
Oh well, thank God, all this will have no effect.
The consul asked me if he could do anything for me and I said NO.
Now, however, he can do something if he will.
My friends in America will put up a fight when they get details. Anyway I’m game — even if I have to put in the full time.
I’ m sure Tim will be home soon.
As for Mick, I dare say they will trump up some special charge against him and give him some time in gaol. Let him get a solicitor.
I refused to get any ?— I knew it would be no use. In fact if I had said nothing in court, it may have been better for me, though I suppose they would have had their ‘pound of flesh.’ I believe I go to Mountjoy from here and then to somewhere in.....? (Diarmuid’s question mark). Had I expected to be here so long I would have sent for clean underclothes. I gave some of the tablets to Mick and left .....? in my room at Richmond so must depend on the doctor.
Hope D(Denis) got my letter ----? at Ship Street. The £1 Alice gave me is now held here in Kilmainham.”
Lynch signed off with a note about his possessions:
“They have £1 and my pipe. Love to you both, Slan libh, Diarmuid.”
The man who pioneered 1916 participants' testimony
(above) Diarmuid Lynch's 1937 Easter Week questionnaire
Diarmuid Lynch’s succinct report, compiled in 1936/37, gives the briefest description of his activities during Easter Week of 1916. It was Lynch who, in 1935, proposed recording the experiences of the GPO survivors.
He coordinated and reviewed those reports and, with the consensus of all survivors, the completed, 44-page report was lodged with the National Library of Ireland. This invaluable document was created a decade before the Bureau of Military History began a similar task, in 1947, but more survivors had died by then.
(above) Diarmuid Lynch's 1937 Easter Week questionnaire
Diarmuid Lynch’s succinct report, compiled in 1936/37, gives the briefest description of his activities during Easter Week of 1916. It was Lynch who, in 1935, proposed recording the experiences of the GPO survivors.
He coordinated and reviewed those reports and, with the consensus of all survivors, the completed, 44-page report was lodged with the National Library of Ireland. This invaluable document was created a decade before the Bureau of Military History began a similar task, in 1947, but more survivors had died by then.
2018
The Argus, Dundalk. April 14, 2018
The Argus, Dundalk. April 14, 2018