Arthur Alfred Lynch (16 October 1861 – 25 March 1934) was an

Irish Australian Irish Australians ( ga, Gael-Astrálaigh) are an ethnic group of Australians, Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the Ireland, island of Ireland. Irish Australians ...

civil engineer,

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, soldier,

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

and

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

. He served as MP in the UK House of Commons as member of the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

, representing Galway Borough from 1901 to 1902, and later West Clare from 1909 to 1918. Lynch fought on the

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

side during the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

in South Africa, for which he was sentenced to death but later pardoned. He supported the British war effort in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, raising his own Irish battalion in Munster towards the end of the war.

Australian years

Lynch was born at

Smythesdale Smythesdale is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Glenelg Highway. Most of the town is located in the Golden Plains Shire local government area; however, a small section lies in the Shire of Pyrenees. Smythesdale is west ...

near Ballarat, Victoria, the fourth of 14 children. His father, John Lynch, was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Catholic surveyor and civil engineer and his mother Isabella (''née'' MacGregor) was Scottish.Geoffrey Serle,
Lynch, Arthur Alfred (1861–1934)
', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 176–177. Retrieved 23 September 2009 John Lynch was a founder and first president of the Ballarat School of Mines, and a captain of

Peter Lalor Peter Fintan Lalor (; 5 February 1827 – 9 February 1889) was an Irish-Australian rebel and, later, politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia. ...

at the

Eureka Stockade The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which ...

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 The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

, 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 Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Europe and Ireland

Lynch left Australia and went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, where he studied physics, physiology and psychology at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

in 1888–1889. He had a particular respect for

Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Associatio ...

. Moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Lynch took up journalism. In 1892, he contested

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

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 () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

correspondent for the London Daily Mail.

Boer brigade

When the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

broke out, Lynch was sympathetic to the Boers and decided to go to South Africa as a war correspondent. In

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, he met General

Louis Botha Louis Botha (; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa – the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer War, ...

, 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 70 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 (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...

who travelled to South Africa has photos of Lynch with his brigade on the veldt in ''The Boer Fight for Freedom''.

Conviction and pardon

From South Africa, Lynch went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, 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 for his pro-Boer activities and on remand for eight months. Lynch was tried for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

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 pardoned, and in 1909 he was again elected Member of Parliament, this time for West Clare, in Ireland.

Munster battalion

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Lynch volunteered for the New British Army. He raised a private 10th Battalion, 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

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

candidate. He had qualified as a physician many years earlier, and 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 Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...

. 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: *''Modern Authors'' (1891) *''Approaches the Poor Scholar's Quest of a Mecca'' (1892) *''A Koran of Love'' (1894) *''Our Poets'' (1894) *''Religio Athletae'' (1895)This is considered one of the sources for the ideology of modern Olympism, see Arnd Krüger: The Origins of Pierre de Coubertin's Religio Athletae. ''Olympika'' 2(1993), pp. 91–102; http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/Olympika/Olympika_1993/olympika0201g.pdf *''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)

Notes

References

* *John Lynch, ''The Story of the Eureka Stockade: Epic Days of the Early Fifties at Ballarat'', (1895). Republished 1947(?) and later by Ballarat Heritage Services, Ballarat, 1999.

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 in 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 ed.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Arthur Alfred 1861 births 1934 deaths University of Melbourne alumni Australian non-fiction writers Australian poets Royal Munster Fusiliers officers Irish Parliamentary Party MPs UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Australian prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by England and Wales People convicted of treason against the United Kingdom Boer military personnel of the Second Boer War Australian civil engineers Recipients of British royal pardons Relativity critics People from Smythesdale, Victoria Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Galway constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Clare constituencies (1801–1922) Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates