Arthur Alfred Lynch
Encyclopedia
Arthur Alfred Lynch was an Irish Australian
civil engineer
, physician
, journalist
, author
, soldier, anti-imperialist
and polymath
. He served as MP
in the House of Commons
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party
, and represented Galway Borough
from 1901 to 1902, subsequently West Clare
from 1909 to 1918. Unlike most of his compatriots, Lynch fought on the Boer
side during the Boer War
, in South Africa
and raised his own Irish battalion towards the end of World War I
.
near Ballarat, Victoria
, the fourth of 14 children. His father, John Lynch, was an Irish
Catholic surveyor and civil engineer and his mother Isabella (née MacGregor) was Scottish
. John Lynch was a founder and first president of the Ballarat School of Mines
, and a captain of Peter Lalor
at the Eureka Stockade
rebellion (1854) and John Lynch wrote a book, Austral Light (1893–94), about it – later republished as The Story of the Eureka Stockade.
Arthur Lynch was educated at Grenville College, Ballarat, (where he was "entranced" by differential calculus
) and the University of Melbourne
, where he took the degrees of BA
in 1885 and MA
in 1887. Lynch qualified as a civil engineer and practised this profession for a short period in Melbourne
.
, where he studied physics, physiology and psychology at the University of Berlin in 1888-89. he had a particular respect for Hermann von Helmholtz
. Moving to London
, Lynch took up journalism. In 1892, he contested Galway
as a Parnellite candidate, but was defeated.
Lynch met Annie Powell (daughter of the Rev. John D. Powell) in Berlin and they were married in 1895. They were to have no children. In Lynch's words, the marriage "never lost its happiness" (My Life Story, p. 85).
In 1898, he was Paris
correspondent for the London Daily Mail
.
broke out, Lynch was sympathetic to the Boers and decided to go to South Africa as a war correspondent. In Pretoria
, he met General Louis Botha
, and decided to join the Boer side. Lynch raised the Second Irish Brigade
, which consisted of Irishmen, Cape colonists and others opposed to the British. He was given the rank of Colonel and saw limited active service. In his comprehensive history on the Australia's Boer War, Wilcox said, it was misleading to call the seventy or so men in the Irish unit raised by Lynch "a brigade", rather he suggested that "the publicity that comes from spectacular gestures..." made Lynch appear "a romantic warrior" and that his actions "flattered many Irishmen and women...". In contrast, O'Brien's fictional Bye-Bye Dolly Gray, is kinder to Lynch's showy South African exploits and his uitlanders. Michael Davitt
who travelled to South Africa has photos of Lynch with his brigade on the veldt, in, The Boer Fight for Freedom.
, and then returned to Paris, from where he again stood for Galway Borough in November 1901, and was elected in his absence
as MP. On going to London, Lynch was arrested because of his pro-Boer activities and remand
ed for eight months. Lynch was tried for treason
, before three judges, and on 23 January 1903 was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged
. This sentence was immediately commuted to a life sentence, and a year later Lynch was released "on licence
" by the Balfour government
.
In July 1907, Lynch was pardon
ed, and in 1909 he was again elected Member of Parliament, this time for West Clare
, in Ireland.
, Lynch volunteered for the New British Army
. He raised a private 10th Batt. Royal Munster Fusiliers and was given the rank of Colonel, although he and his unit never saw active front service.
At the end of the war, Lynch chose to stand as a Labour candidate in newly created Battersea South for the 1918 General election. He finished second to the Unionist.
He had qualified as a physician many years earlier, began to practise medicine in London, at Haverstock Hill. He died in London on 25 March 1934.
's theory of relativity
. His verse was clever and satirically Byronic, and his essays and studies show much reading and acuteness of mind. E. Morris Miller
, himself a professor of philosophy, mentions Lynch's "high reputation as a critical and philosophical writer especially for his contributions to psychology and ethics" (Australian Literature, p. 273). His publications include:
Irish Australian
Irish Australians have played a long and enduring part in Australia's history. Many came to Australia in the eighteenth century as settlers or as convicts, and contributed to Australia's development in many different areas....
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, soldier, anti-imperialist
Anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism. Anti-imperialism includes opposition to wars of conquest, particularly of non-contiguous territory or people with a different language or culture; it also includes...
and polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
. He served as MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
, and represented Galway Borough
Galway Borough (UK Parliament constituency)
Galway Borough was a United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland. It returned one MP 1801–1832, two MPs 1832–1885 and one thereafter. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.-Boundaries:This...
from 1901 to 1902, subsequently West Clare
West Clare (UK Parliament constituency)
West Clare was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1922.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 the area was part of the Clare constituency. From 1922 it was not represented in the UK Parliament....
from 1909 to 1918. Unlike most of his compatriots, Lynch fought on the Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
side during the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
, in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and raised his own Irish battalion towards the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Australian years
Lynch was born at SmythesdaleSmythesdale, Victoria
Smythesdale is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Glenelg Highway in the Golden Plains Shire Local Government Area, west of Ballarat and west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Smythesdale had a population of 280....
near Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
, the fourth of 14 children. His father, John Lynch, was an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Catholic surveyor and civil engineer and his mother Isabella (née MacGregor) was Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. John Lynch was a founder and first president of the Ballarat School of Mines
University of Ballarat
The University of Ballarat is a dual-sector university in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It was formed by the passage of an Act of the Victorian Parliament in 1994, from the Ballarat College of Advanced Education...
, and a captain of Peter Lalor
Peter Lalor
Peter Fintan Lalor was an activist turned politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event controversially identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia.- Early life and migration to Australia :...
at the Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
rebellion (1854) and John Lynch wrote a book, Austral Light (1893–94), about it – later republished as The Story of the Eureka Stockade.
Arthur Lynch was educated at Grenville College, Ballarat, (where he was "entranced" by differential calculus
Differential calculus
In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus concerned with the study of the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus....
) and the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, where he took the degrees of BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1885 and MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1887. Lynch qualified as a civil engineer and practised this profession for a short period in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Europe and Ireland
Lynch left Australia and went to BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where he studied physics, physiology and psychology at the University of Berlin in 1888-89. he had a particular respect for Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
. Moving to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Lynch took up journalism. In 1892, he contested Galway
Galway Borough (UK Parliament constituency)
Galway Borough was a United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland. It returned one MP 1801–1832, two MPs 1832–1885 and one thereafter. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.-Boundaries:This...
as a Parnellite candidate, but was defeated.
Lynch met Annie Powell (daughter of the Rev. John D. Powell) in Berlin and they were married in 1895. They were to have no children. In Lynch's words, the marriage "never lost its happiness" (My Life Story, p. 85).
In 1898, he was Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
correspondent for the London Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
.
Boer brigade
When the Second Boer WarSecond Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
broke out, Lynch was sympathetic to the Boers and decided to go to South Africa as a war correspondent. In Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, he met General Louis Botha
Louis Botha
Louis Botha was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state...
, and decided to join the Boer side. Lynch raised the Second Irish Brigade
Irish commandos
Two units of Irish commandos fought alongside the Boers against the British forces during the Second Boer War -Irish Transvaal Brigade:John MacBride, a friend of Arthur Griffith's, organised the Irish Transvaal Brigade...
, which consisted of Irishmen, Cape colonists and others opposed to the British. He was given the rank of Colonel and saw limited active service. In his comprehensive history on the Australia's Boer War, Wilcox said, it was misleading to call the seventy or so men in the Irish unit raised by Lynch "a brigade", rather he suggested that "the publicity that comes from spectacular gestures..." made Lynch appear "a romantic warrior" and that his actions "flattered many Irishmen and women...". In contrast, O'Brien's fictional Bye-Bye Dolly Gray, is kinder to Lynch's showy South African exploits and his uitlanders. Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt was an Irish republican and nationalist agrarian agitator, a social campaigner, labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician and Member of Parliament , who founded the Irish National Land League.- Early years :Michael Davitt was born in Straide, County Mayo,...
who travelled to South Africa has photos of Lynch with his brigade on the veldt, in, The Boer Fight for Freedom.
Politics in ways
From South Africa, Lynch went to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and then returned to Paris, from where he again stood for Galway Borough in November 1901, and was elected in his absence
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
as MP. On going to London, Lynch was arrested because of his pro-Boer activities and remand
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...
ed for eight months. Lynch was tried for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, before three judges, and on 23 January 1903 was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. This sentence was immediately commuted to a life sentence, and a year later Lynch was released "on licence
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
" by the Balfour government
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
.
In July 1907, Lynch was pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
ed, and in 1909 he was again elected Member of Parliament, this time for West Clare
West Clare (UK Parliament constituency)
West Clare was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1922.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 the area was part of the Clare constituency. From 1922 it was not represented in the UK Parliament....
, in Ireland.
Munster battalion
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Lynch volunteered for the New British Army
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
. He raised a private 10th Batt. Royal Munster Fusiliers and was given the rank of Colonel, although he and his unit never saw active front service.
At the end of the war, Lynch chose to stand as a Labour candidate in newly created Battersea South for the 1918 General election. He finished second to the Unionist.
He had qualified as a physician many years earlier, began to practise medicine in London, at Haverstock Hill. He died in London on 25 March 1934.
Publications
Lynch wrote and published a large number of books ranging from poetry, to a sophisticated attempt to refute Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
's theory of relativity
Theory of relativity
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
. His verse was clever and satirically Byronic, and his essays and studies show much reading and acuteness of mind. E. Morris Miller
E. Morris Miller
Edmund Morris Miller, CBE was an Australian author.Born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, Miller moved with his family to Melbourne in 1883. He was educated at University High School and Wesley College. In 1900 he began working at the State Library of Victoria. He enrolled at the University of Melbourne...
, himself a professor of philosophy, mentions Lynch's "high reputation as a critical and philosophical writer especially for his contributions to psychology and ethics" (Australian Literature, p. 273). His publications include:
- Modern Authors (1891)
- Approaches the Poor Scholar's Quest of a Mecca (1892)
- A Koran of Love (1894)
- Our Poets (1894)
- Religio Athletae (1895)
- Human Documents (1896)
- Prince Azreel (1911)
- Psychology; A New System (two vol.; 1912)
- Purpose and Evolution (1913)
- Sonnets of the Banner and the Star (1914)
- Ireland: Vital Hour (1915)
- Poppy Meadows, Roman Philosophique (1915)
- La Nouvelle Ethique (1917)
- L'Evolution dons ses Rapports avec l'ethique (1917)
- Moments of Genius (1919)
- The Immortal Caravel (1920)
- Moods of Life (1921)
- O'Rourke the Great (1921)
- Ethics, an Exposition of Principles (1922)
- Principles of Psychology (1923)
- Seraph Wings (1923)
- My Life Story (1924)
- Science, Leading and Misleading (1927)
- The Rosy Fingers (1929)
- The Case Against Einstein (1932)
Popular culture
- Antony O'Brien, Bye-Bye Dolly Gray, Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2006. (a novel includes several sympathetic scenes involving Lynch's exploits on the Colenso, Johannesburg and Transvaal front during 1899 and 1900)
At the Boer War
- Craig Wilcox. (2002), Australia's Boer War: The War in South Africa, 1899-1902, Oxford.( a blunt appraisal of A.A's action at the War)
- Michael Davitt. (1902) The Boer Fight For Freedom: From the Beginning of Hostilities to the Peace of Pretoria, Funk & Wagnalls, New York. (3rd Edition)