The Real Chief - Liam Lynch

by Meda Ryan

  Young Liam Lynch learned that the family farm had been acquired through great sacrifice. This understanding of his back­ground would one day cause him to lead the men and women of south Munster in a fight which would finally destroy the last remnants of the plantation and so give the Irish people control over their own destiny.

  At the age of nine, investigations re­vealed that he had de­fective eyesight, consequently he had to leave school for a short time to have treatment in Cork and had to wear glasses for the remainder of his life. Being particularly attracted to deeds of bravery, as a child, Liam on one occasion climbed, with some of his school companions, to the top of the Galtymore Mountains pointing northwards to Ballyneety. He spontaneously rendered an accurate account of Patrick Sarsfield’s famous night ride and destruction of the Williamite siege train. Years later he referred to this again in a letter to his brother Tom.2

  In 1910 at the age of seventeen the shy retiring Liam left home and entered upon a three years apprenticeship term at the hardware trade of Mr P. O’Neill. During this time he acquired a great taste for reading and especially for books of Irish historical interest. In Mitchelstown he joined the Gaelic League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians and continued his education by joining a technical class. Every Sunday, he returned to his parents’ home at Barnagurraha. In 1914 his father Jeremiah died. Liam was just twenty-one.

  Fermoy was a garrison town. It held a larger concentration of British troops than any other town in the county. Kilworth and Moorepark camps contained strong elements of British-Union units. Union Jacks, khaki and recruiting oratory for the British army were very much in evidence. Many young men joined the British army, believing as they had been told, that they were fighting for the freedom of small nations including their own; however, many also questioned this military regime and some, like Liam Lynch, questioned the military strength of a foreign power whose troops occupied his own country. Liam was an avid reader of newspapers, and keenly interested in events abroad. Friends said of him ‘he watched everything and every­body to see where was truth and where was sincerity’. He might have remained an observer were it not for an event subsequent to the 1916 Easter Week Rising which caused him to change his life.

  Forty-six organised companies in Cork city and county, though poorly armed, believed that they were denied participa­tion in the 1916 events when they accepted MacNeill’s can­cel­lation of all parades that Easter. Because of participation in the volun­teers, some families or individuals were singled out for harass­ment. The Kents of Fermoy who had been active in the volun­teers were the first family to receive a backlash. Thomas, David, Richard and William Kent had not been sleeping at home since the Easter Rising, but on 1 May returned to spend their first night at home.

  Early the following morning, the house was surrounded by armed police who said they had orders to arrest the entire family. The Kents armed with a rifle and three shotguns decided to re­sist. An open conflict ensued when the police opened fire and continued until the defenders had exhausted their ammunition; by this time the police had called in military reinforcements. When the family surrendered, David was seriously wounded, Thomas was immediately handcuffed and not allowed put on his boots, whilst Richard, an athlete, made a bid to escape, but in doing so was mortally wounded.

  Liam Lynch was standing on Fermoy bridge that morning when he saw the Kent family having been arrested by British soldiers. Young Thomas was in his bare feet, William and their mother were prisoners and a horse was drawing a cart on which Richard and David lay wounded. Richard was to die two days later at the hands of his captors and Thomas would, within a week face the British firing squad in Cork. It was a scene, which cut to Liam’s very heart, and he associated it with the horror of the executions in Dublin about which he had read. That night he made a resolution that he ‘would atone as far as possible to dedicate his life for the sacrifices of the martyred dead’: he was determined that he would make the Irish Republic a reality; he was now a man of ‘one allegiance only’, believing that the only way to achieve freedom was by force, that it was in arms and only in arms that Ireland would achieve liberty.3

  From then on, he did not deviate from his aim, which he pursued with single-minded tenacity and devotion. For this tall, sturdy, agile young man, the action taken by the volunteers in the GPO during Easter Week was a spark which lit the flame to his future. He saw the history of the long struggle of the Irish people for liberty with a new vision. With his brother Tom, who was then a clerical student in Thurles, he would often talk with pride about the events of Easter Week and would speak of the men who fought for Ireland’s freedom. In their intimate conversations he would discuss methods of achieving this freedom for the Irish nation.

  As time progressed Liam talked not of dying for Ireland but of living and working for Ireland. His was a logical mind; as a young boy he was an excellent draughts player, quick to see the weakness in an opponent’s position and equally he quickly avail­ed of the advantage. Similar characteristics were evident in his sub­se­quent task of commanding the volunteer force. He was a deep thinker and in the volunteers he saw the raw material which could, if properly forged, become a powerful weapon. Knowing that loyalty and idealism were not enough, he favoured cool, cal­culated planning coupled with an organised approach to the military problem. In the aftermath of Easter Week, following the arrest of leaders who were deported to internment camps in Eng­land, the volunteer organisation disintegrated in many parts of the country. Upon the release of internees at Christmas, and of sentenced prisoners in June 1917, the country was ready for vigo­rous organisations.

  Like many a young man at the time, Liam Lynch took a keen interest in these developments. He had want­ed to meet some­body who had taken part in the 1916 Rising and hear the exact details. An occasion presented itself when a farmer from the Gal­tees told him that he had one of the men who took part in the Rising staying with him. Liam made arrangements to meet the man who was ‘on the run’. He was both surprised and de­light­ed to learn that it was another Galtee man, a neighbour, Donal O’Han­­nigan. Liam immediately brought him home to his mother at Barnagurraha where he stayed for some time. Liam, still working in Fermoy, visited them frequently and when his brother Tom re­turned from college, the three met and talked about Ireland’s future. Like many an Irish­man, he hoped that the peace con­ference due to take place at the end of the war would give Ire­land’s claim for independence a favourable hearing, yet he was not prepared to rely on the possibility. He wrote to his brother in October 1917, ‘I as well as thousands of others are pre­paring hard to mount whatever breach is allotted to us ... If we do not get what is our own at the peace conference we will have to fight for it. In a few months we will be able to marshal an army.’4

  By this time the organisation of that army had begun on a country-wide basis. Companies were being formed, officers elected and elementary training in voluntary discipline was being organ­ised. When the Irish Volunteer Company at Fermoy was re-or­gan­ised in early 1917 Liam Lynch was elected first lieutenant.

  1 Other members (seven children): Jeremiah who was accidentally drowned in London in 1904; James – died aged 39 of a clot after an operation; Martin – Christian brother died in Kilrush 1964; John remained on the home farm; Tom – priest went to Aus­tralia – Very Rev. Dean Lynch PP of Bega, New South Wales, died in Sydney 28 March, 1950; Margaret married locally.

  2 ‘I always thought Sarsfield made a daring ride ... Yes, but he burned the guns’ – letter to his brother, Tom 15/11/1919 (Lynch private family papers).

  3 Lynch private family papers.

  4 Letter to his brother, Tom, 10/10/1917 (Lynch private family papers).

  3. Declaration for an Irish Republic

  When De Valera was returned in the Clare election of June 1917 with an overwhelming majority it was a clear indication of the mood of the people and their endorsement of the aims of the 1916 men. At the October Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 1,200 Cumann throughout the cou
ntry unanimously adopted a constitution, the preamble to which declared:

  Sinn Féin aims at securing the international recognition of Ireland as an Independent Irish Republic. Having achieved that status the Irish people may by referendum freely choose their own form of government.

  At this Ard Fheis, Éamon de Valera was elected president and at the volunteer convention on 27 October, he was also elected pre­sident of that body. By being president of the two prin­cipal or­ganisations it seemed as if the nation had found a leader; the way was open for the great national movement.

  British proclamations of 1 August 1917 pro­hibited the wear­ing of military uniform or the carrying of hurleys. On 15 August that same year volunteers were arrested on a large scale through­out the country. This was fol­lowed by a hunger-strike. Among the hunger-strikers was Thomas Ashe, who was forcibly fed and died on 25 September 1917. This created disquiet among the volunteers, so the volun­teer Executive decided to challenge the British prohibition and ordered parades in uniform to be held throughout the country on Sunday 21 October.

  On that day Liam Lynch in volunteer uniform was second in command of the sixty-seven men of Fermoy company who marched out to meet the RIC. Happy with the challenge, Liam wrote to his brother of the two hours drilling: ‘We are to keep drilling until the last man is gone. We mean to break the law of illegal drilling.’ He also warned his brother who was in Thurles College that he was to write on ‘friendly matters’ only as his letters were being read in the post office. He thought that he might be arrested – judging by a letter to his brother on 1 Novem­ber, he appears to have been disappointed that he was not arrested. His brother however, advised ‘that though it was honourable and good to go to gaol it would be better for the lads to stay out, work harder and give England something livelier than gaol work.’ From then on he was not anxious for imprisonment but he did warn his brother, ‘I am only doing my duty to God and my coun­try.’

  Liam O’Denn, the company captain was arrested and Liam was given his place in command of the company. Each Sunday, parades continued and generally when a company captain was arrested another was ready to take his place. Liam Lynch’s philo­sophy is well expressed in one of his letters:

  We have declared for an Irish Republic and will not live under any other law.1

  As far as he was concerned Britain could not defeat them except by interning the whole volunteer force. He told his brother in a letter on 9 November: ‘Our parade was not prevented last Sun­day but we had made arrangements to carry on elsewhere if such happened. We marched to Ballyhooley with about 100 volun­teers where we met Glanworth, Glenville, Rathcormac and Bally­­­hooley volunteers – in all about 300, and I had the honour to be at their head.’2

  One of his principal aims now was to get military training. He even had the mistaken impression that prisoners in Cork jails were getting some form of military training. In a letter to his brother he wrote: ‘I would want to go there at least for a few weeks’ training.’3 He tried to lay his hands on any books that might help him to study military drilling and leadership. He even studied the guerrilla tactics of the Boars in the South African war. He was, however, aware of the surrounding problems in the heavily garrisoned town of Fermoy and he was also aware that, apart from the military parades which they held on Sundays, his group was practically unarmed; they were untrained, had no military assets except a sturdy manhood and a glowing faith in the justice of their cause.

  In mid December, when Éamon de Valera came to speak at a public meeting in Fermoy, Liam, dressed in uniform, paraded at the head of the local company to welcome him.

  The Fermoy battalion was the sixth of the brigade’s twenty battalions at that time.4 (Battalion commandant was Martin O’Keefe; vice commandant, Michael Fitzgerald; adjutant, Liam Lynch; quarter-master, George Power.) Being elected battalion adjutant gave Liam a wider scope for his activities. A diligent worker, by setting a standard in his own work, he showed what could be achieved. He made it his business to visit one company each week and to study their problems – he urged perfection and impressed on his comrades the importance of the acquisition of arms.

  The threat of conscription to the British army hardened the temper of the people against British rule; it also meant that the volunteer movement gained more support from the population. Volunteering had become respectable. Because of the threat of conscription Liam left his place of employment in April 1918. With Michael Fitzgerald, Larry Condon and George Power he devoted himself full time to preparing for active service. By the summer of 1918 he had the first mobilisation unit in active operation.

  The British authorities now invented a mythical German plot to justify large-scale arrests of volunteers and Sinn Féin leaders. Apparently, the idea was to deprive the people of leader­ship, which would, in turn, weaken the national morale. Arrests were made on 17 and 18 May 1918 when seventy-three people were de­­ported to England. As Liam had already left his place of em­ploy­ment he escaped arrest.

  He now decided that more arms should be secured for his battalion. Upon receipt of information that, on a certain date, a train, carrying arms, would travel from Mallow to Fermoy, Liam, with the aid of Liam Tobin, mobilised about fifty men between Ballyhooley and Castletownroche to ambush the train. Nothing was left to chance. Wires were cut, cars were mobilised to re­move the expected arms captured and the arrangements for their safe disposal was organised. The train was held up and searched, but contained no arms. Nevertheless, as far as Liam was con­cerned, the effort gave the battalion valuable experience.

  Following this episode, Tomás MacCurtain, lord mayor of Cork, visited the battalion and gave Liam instructions which were to be implemented in the event of any enforcement of con­scription. Any local problems or any difficulties which might arise in each area were to be dealt with by the brigade and bat­talion officers. In the Cork brigade it was visualised that the en­tire force might be called out on active duty, consequently de­tailed instruction on discipline and on problems of billeting and feeding were issued. Liam outlined a list of activities: cyclist-dis­patch riders to man a communication system were established and tested.

  An editorial in An tÓglach, September 1918 read, ‘The un­animous decision of the Executive of the Irish volunteers is to re­sist conscription to the death with all the military force and war­like resources at our command.’5How could a group of men re­­sist force without ammunition and without trained leaders? Head­quarters were unable to help. In the absence of arms and am­mu­nition the only immediate advice Liam could give the men was to use pitch forks or whatever was available in the face of aggres­sion; other means could afterwards be pursued.

  Liam realised what the task of feeding, clothing and finding shelter for a volunteer force would involve. He also realised that such a force could become an unruly mob, therefore it was im­portant that morale be sustained and that communications be kept at a high level. Now, more that ever, he realised that the ac­quisition of arms was of paramount importance. Given arms other difficulties could be overcome.

  The war in Europe ended on 11 November 1918 and with it the threat of conscription. A young volunteer army had stood together and had won a significant and bloodless victory. Since February, the carrying of arms had been prohibited, and from June onwards a series of proclamations was designed by the aut­ho­rities to destroy national organisations. Arrests were nume­rous, creating problems for many units of the volunteers. There was continuous resistance by hunger-strikers in the jails. In addi­tion GHQ issued a policy of resistance on 20 August 1918 order­ing the volunteers, when brought to trial, to refuse to recognise the jurisdiction of the court.

  Cork County had, by mid 1918, re-organised under the direc­tion of the vigorous Tomás MacCurtain, the brigade com­man­dant.6All GHQ could do was issue general directions and allow each area under their commanders to shape their army. Many who had joined because of the threat of conscription be­gan to drop out and because there were more men available a
nd willing to fight than there were weapons to arm them, morale began to drop. However, Liam continued to drill the men every Sunday and on certain weekdays. He kept impressing on the Fermoy bat­talion that their objective was ‘a military victory’ and that if the volunteer army did not stick together now and fight, all hope of attaining a Republic would be lost to their genera­tion.

  A turning point in Irish history came about through the results of a general election in December 1918. The result, which became available on 28 December showed that, of 105 seats in the whole country, Republicans had captured 73. This was seen as an endorsement of the 1916 men’s action and it strengthened the morale of the volunteers. The Irish people, it seemed, had de­­clared themselves for an Irish Republic, consequently the way was opened to them for further action if the need arose. Liam Lynch, like many other officers, realised that the organisation could not be kept going indefinitely without activity and neither could they be properly trained without the use of arms.

  Home Rule, which looked imminent before the Great War, had been suspended for its duration, but it was not honoured when the war ended.