Arthur Alfred Lynch

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

Australian years

Lynch was born at Smythesdale near Ballarat, Victoria, the fourth of 14 children. His father, John Lynch, was Irish and his mother was Scottish. John Lynch, a civil engineer, was a founder and first president of the Ballarat School of Mines, and a close associate of Peter Lalor — both fought at the Eureka Stockade rebellion (1854) and John Lynch wrote a book about it.

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. He qualified as a civil engineer and practised this profession for a short period in Melbourne.

Europe and Ireland

In about 1890, Lynch went to Berlin, where he studied scientific subjects and psychology, and going on to London took up journalism. In 1892, he contested Galway as a Parnellite candidate, but was defeated.

Lynch married Annie Powell, daughter of the Rev. John D. Powell in 1895. They were to have no children. In Lynch's words, the marriage "never lost its happiness" ("My Life Story", p. 85).

In 1899, he was Paris correspondent for a London daily newspaper.

Boer brigade

When the Boer War broke out, he 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, [ Wilcox, Craig. (2002) Chapter 13, 'Interloper Arthur Lynch, Irish Australian Boer', in "Australia's Boer War: The War in South Africa, 1899-1902" Oxford,pp. 262-268)] 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...".. [Wilcox cited a source describing the Second Irish brigade's "uitlanders" as, " fifty or sixty soreheads, greasers, halfbreeds and dagos...the laughing stock and contempt of every commando in the neighbourhood" ] 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".

Politics in ways

From South Africa, Lynch went to the United States, 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 remanded for eight months. He 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 pardoned, and in 1909 he was again elected Member of Parliament, this time for West Clare, in Ireland.

Munster battalion

During World War I, 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.

Lynch lost his seat in 1918, and as 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 Einstein'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:
*"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)

Notes

References

*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Arthur Alfred|Last=Lynch|Link= [http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogL.html#lynch1 Dictionary of Australian Biography L ] at gutenberg.net.au
*Geoffrey Serle, ' [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100173b.htm Lynch, Arthur Alfred (1861 - 1934)] ', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 176-177.
*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 fictional 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)