Dr. Kathleen Florence Lynn (1874-1955) Humanitarian, Medical Doctor, Political & Social Activist, Veteran of the 1916 Easter Rising,
Kathleen Lynn was first and foremost a humanitarian of the highest order
who devoted her life in the service of the poor and downtrodden.
Self-freed from the prevailing social norms and class structure, she
became one of the most distinguished physicians in Ireland, a vocal
advocate for universal suffrage, for a free and just society, and for
Irish freedom. Believing that Ireland's woes were directly
attributable to British colonial rule, she joined in Ireland's fight for
freedom as a member of the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising
of 1916.
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 Kathleen
Lynn, the second of four children, was born to
Catherine Lynn (nee Wynne)
on January 28, 1874, in
Mullaghfarry, Co.
Mayo.
Lynn’s mother, Catherine Wynne, was a descendent of the Earl of
Hazelwood whose estate, located within a few miles of Sligo town, dated
back to the Cromwellian plantation in the 17th century.
Lynn’s father, Robert Lynn, was the Church of Ireland Rector in Killala.
By virtue of his Ecclesiastical standing within the Church he was, by
royal prerogative, a member of the Protestant Ascendency. The Ascendency
consisted of a cadre of birthright elitists from whose ranks where the
chosen ones who ruled Ireland at the bidding of the British Crown. Their
cruel despotic rule was enabled by the might of the British army.
In fairness to Robert Lynn, it’s worth noting that he held no government
post that wielded sway over the lives of the native Irish, whose lot was
no better than that of indentured servants. It would also be unfair to
suggest that all members of the Ascendency were uncaring louts who
delighted in the misery of the oppressed indigenous populace. There are
many documented cases of landlords caring for tenant farmers during bad
times.
The Lynn family and the Gore-Booth family of the Lissadell estate in
Sligo were related by marriage. The upshot of that family link was that
two women, Kathleen Lynn, and
Constance
Markievicz (nee Gore-Booth) who took part in the Easter Rising, were
distantly related and, as unlikely as it seems, rebel off-springs of the
Ascendency.
Lynn and her siblings had a comfortable upbringing moving in circles far
removed from the vast majority of Irish catholic children, many of whom
died in their infancy from hunger or disease. Despite her youth and
privileged upbringing, Lynn was aware of the misery and poverty that
existed all around her and, needless to say, was deeply disturbed by the
sight of suffering children similar in age to herself.
How Lynn and her siblings received their early education is academic;
suffice to say they were well equipped to embark on their secondary
education when that time came.
When Lynn was nine of age, the family moved to Shrule in Co. Longford
where her father took charge of the Ballymahon Parish. Four years
later they were reassigned to a parish in Cong in Co. Mayo that was
under the patronage of the Guinness family of Ashford Castle. After the
move to Cong, Lynn was sent to the Church of Ireland Alexandria Boarding
School in Dublin.
Despite her own good fortune, Lynn could not forget the misery she
witnessed during her childhood in Mayo and Longford. Driven by guilt and
compassion by what she witnessed, she decided at a young age, to become
a doctor in order to help the exploited and marginalized working class.
In pursuit of that quest, she continued her medical studies in
Manchester, Düsseldorf, and the Catholic University Medical School in
Dublin. In 1899, after sitting and passing the medical exam, she was
granted a medical degree from the Royal University of Ireland. In
addition to her degree, she was awarded
the prestigious Hudson Prize and a Silver Medal in recognition of her
high standing in her graduation class.
After graduating Lynn emigrated to the United States where she continued
her training and completed postgraduate studies. At that time most
medical graduates went to Europe to gain experience and complete
postgraduate studies; Lynn choose the United States because it offered
better opportunities for female doctors.
After returning home, circa 1909, Lynn was appointed
to the position of House Surgeon in the Adelaide Hospital but was unable
to take the position because male staff members refused to work with
her.
She found acceptance at other hospitals including Sir Patrick Dun's
Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital. From 1910 through 1916 she worked at
the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital; the first female resident
doctor to work there. She also set-up
her own practice at her home in Rathmines where she cared for poor
children to the consternation of her peers and Catholic church
authorities.
In 1909 she became a fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of
Ireland
Lynn grew up and came of age during
the apex of the Irish Literary Revival movement that spearheaded the
revival of Ireland's Gaelic heritage and the growth of Irish
nationalism. It was difficult for any young person to stay aloof from
the aura that the movement and its protagonists radiated. Lynn was not
the only non-Catholic caught in the movement’s web. Other contemporaries
of Lynn including Douglas Hyde,
Maud Gonne,
Alice Milligan,
Ella Young,
Constance Markievicz, William Butler Yeats,
Roger Casement
and others too numerous to name, were active and upfront
participants in the numerous organizations that the movement spawned
including the Home Rule movement, the Gaelic League, the Gaelic Athletic
Association, Inghinidhe na hÉireann, Cumann na mBan, The Irish
Volunteers and na Fianna Eireann.
Lynn joined the Gaelic League, founded by Douglas Hyde, during her
student years. She also joined the suffrage movement that was driven
towards militancy by the refusal of John Redmond and the Irish
Parliamentary Party to include women’s suffrage in the Irish Home Rule
bill being debated in London.
It
was during the 1913 Dublin lockout that Lynn entered another phase in
her life. When William Murphy, the owner of Cleary's Department store
and other business owners demanded that their employees revoke their
Irish Transport and General Workers Union
membership and sign a pledge of loyalty to their employers. Thousands
of workers refused, triggering the great Lockout of 1913, that lasted
eight months. The Lockout is still considered to be the most severe and
significant industrial dispute in Irish history.
Lynn supported the cause of the workers during the Lockout and spent
much of her time in the soup kitchens in Liberty Hall with Constance
Markievicz, Helena Molony,
Madeleine ffrench-Mullen,
and many other dedicated supporters. In addition to her work in the
soup kitchens she treated ailing workers and family members suffering
from malnutrition and many other poverty related diseases.
As the lockout progressed many of the volunteer activists suffered from
fatigue including Helena Molony. Markievicz asked Lynn to treat Molony
who was suffering from
chronic exhaustion brought about by her work on behalf of the striking
workers as well as her involvement with the suffrage movement and Irish
Nationalism. While under her care Lynn had Molony stay at her home in
Rathmines. While staying at Lynn’s home Molony, a persuasive
nationalist, won Lynn over to the nationalist cause. In describing
Molony’s influence on her conversion Lynn wrote the following:
‘We used to have long talks and she converted me to the national
movement. She was a very clever and attractive girl with a tremendous
power of making friends.’
In
November of 1913, during the Lockout,
Jim Larkin,
James Connolly, and Jack
White founded the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) to protect workers against
mercenaries hired by the employers and the Dublin Metropolitan
Police. Other prominent members of the ICA included Seán
'Casey, Constance Markievicz and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington.
Lynn joined the ICA because of her empathy for the workers and, perhaps
to a lesser extent, because the organization did not discriminate
against women. Both Connolly and Larkin were outspoken advocated for
gender equality including their right to bear arms. As a doctor, Lynn
did not participate in drilling and arms training, her focus was on
training ICA and Cumann na mBan members how to treat battlefield
wounds.
In the weeks leading up to the Easter Rising Lynn took part in ICA unit
deployment planning and transported weapons and ammunition from
Padraic Pearse’s St.
Enda’s School to Liberty Hall in her car. Her home in Rathmines was used
for secret meetings by the Rising planners.
On Easter Monday, at the onset of the Rising she was appointed Captain
of the Citizen Army and placed second-in-command to Sean Connolly at the
City Hall Garrison. Shortly after climbing over the gates and taking up
her post, Sean Connolly was shot dead by a sniper while attempting to
hoist the tricolor over City Hall. As the senior officer and second
-in-command she took command of the garrison and directed operations
until it fell.
City Hall is located close to Dublin Castle, the seat of the British
government in Ireland. That being so, it was immediately reinforced when
the Rising broke out. Heavy fighting continued in the vicinity of City
Hall throughout the afternoon. Shortly after 5.00 pm, a large force of
British soldiers arrived and immediately took up positions around the
City Hall garrison. At 7.30 pm they stormed the garrison where heavy
fighting continued until 9.30 pm when the garrison was forced to
surrender. As the officer in command,
it was Lynn’s duty to surrender the garrison to the British Army. Such a
scenario would not occur other than where the ICA’s gender equality
rules applied; in this instance --- a woman surrendering a garrison to a
British army officer.
After the surrender, Lynn and the other eight women manning the garrison
were held for a week in Ship Street Barracks under atrocious
conditions. After the other garrisons surrendered on April 28, they
were moved to Richmond Barracks before been transferred to Kilmainham
Goal where they heard the firing squads end the lives of some of the
leaders of the Rising.
On May 10, she was transferred to Mountjoy with Markievicz, Molony,
Madeleine ffrench-Mullen and the other women prisoners.
In early June Lynn was deported to England. Instead of been imprisoned;
she was sent to Bath in Somerset to help fill in for the shortage of
doctors due to the war. By the end of 1917 she was back at her home in
Dublin, working to re-establish her practice.
After returning home she was elected to the Sinn Féin Executive Council
and appointed its Director of Public Health. Sinn Fein was established
in 1905 by Author Griffith,
"to establish in Ireland's capital a national legislature endowed with
the moral authority of the Irish nation".
After the Rising, Sinn Fein became the umbrella organization for Irish
Republicans committed to the establishment of an Irish Republic.
At the onset of the War of Independence the leaders of Sinn Fein,
including Lynn, were rounded up and imprisoned. However, she did not
spend much time in prison as the Lord Mayor of Dublin intervened and had
her released as her medical skills were desperately needed during the
influenza pandemic of 1918. During the War of Independence, she took no
direct part in the fighting, concentrating instead on caring for wounded
and dying Republican Volunteers.
In 1919, together with her partner, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen and other
members of the League of Women Delegates, an offshoot of Sinn Fein,
founded
St. Ultan’s Hospital for Children.
The primary purpose of its founding was to provide medical care for the
neglected sick children of Dublin’s poorest families. Its founding would
also provide a venue for female doctors to shape and advance their own
medical careers free from the restraints inherent in Ireland’s
patriarchal society.
The existence of St. Ultan’s, a hospital founded and managed by women,
especially Protestant women, caused a great deal of anxiety to the
Catholic Hierarchy and Irish government officials who chafed at the
concept of female control over anything other than the kitchen. Over
the years, Ireland’s godfathers including such self-assuming luminaries
as De Valera and John Charles McQuaid, the Archbishop of Dublin, were
incensed at what they considered to be an affront to their primacy in
all matters relating to heaven and earth, an abomination in Catholic
Ireland.
Lynn, together with the vast majority of Republican women, opposed the
Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
She was on the losing side in the ensuing Treaty War. Because of her
involvement with St. Ultan’s Hospital she was able to avoid the
marginalization or banishment meted out to other activist Republican
women. The British-backed Free State government that had taken power was
misogynistic, anti-republican and opportunistic to its core. The
brutality directed at its opponents during the Treaty War, particularly
women, far exceeded that meted out by the British during the War of
Independence. There was no place in the dominion state for those who
fought for or supported the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916.
Lynn was elected to the Fourth Dail for Dublin County in August of
1923. Sinn Fein members including Lynn did not take their seats as
provisions of the Anglo-Irish Treaty required that they swear allegiance
to the English Monarch before taking their seats in what was touted to
be an Irish parliament.
In
1926, after de Valera, the president of Sinn Fein, lost a party vote to
take their seats in the Dail, he resigned from Sinn Fein and established
Fianna Fail. In the 1927 General Election, Fianna Fail won the majority
of previously held Sinn Fein seats. Lynn, who had run under the Sinn
Fein banner was one of the deputies who lost their seat.
In
1925, in furtherance of her commitment to the welfare of poor children,
Lynn and her partner Madeline French–Mullen visited the United States to
study infant hospital care and social programs to improve the lot of
sick children. They traveled extensively as far west as Oregon. Although
they could not implement all of what they learned on their return home,
due to the lack of money and official indifference, they, nonetheless,
had established an important benchmark in infant care and proven methods
to adopt going forward.
By
1927, de Valera was fully committed to the policies and stances of the
pro-Treaty party in power, while at the same time, lamely, maintaining
that he was a republican committed to the Proclamation of 1916.
Disillusioned by de Valera’s and his follower’s capitulation, coupled
with their refusal to champion social reform and health care as a core
value, she abandoned politics and concentrated her efforts on St.
Ultan’s, and her clinics until her death in 1955. Despite her disgust
with national politics, she continued to serve on Rathmines Urban
Council to 1930.
Kathleen Lynn’s life and times was much more complex than this biography
recounts. Her pioneering work and lifelong commitment on behalf of poor
children was the essence of her life work – her legacy. Her other
pursuits were motivated by a belief that a gender equal, classless
society within the framework of a secular Irish Republic as envisioned
in the Proclamation of 1916 would better serve the Irish people.
Dr. Kathleen Florence Lynn died on September 14, 1955, in Ballsbridge
in Dublin. She was buried with full military honors in the family plot
in Deansgrange Cemetery in Dublin.
Contributor: Tomás Ó Coısdealbha
CEMETERY Name: Deansgrange Cemetery ADDRESS: Grange Rd, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
GRAVE 
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