Lynch, Arthur Alfred, 1864-1934.

Arthur Alfred Lynch was born at Smythesdale near Ballarat, Victoria, in 1861. His father, a civil engineer who had fought at the Eureka Stockade, was Irish, his mother was Scottish. He was educated at Grenville College, Ballarat, and the University of Melbourne (B.A. in 1885 and M.A. in 1887). He also qualified as a civil engineer and practised this profession for a short period in Melbourne. About 1890 he went to Berlin, 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. In 1899 he was Paris correspondent for a London daily paper and he decided to go to South Africa, as a war correspondent and Boer sympathizer. He organized a troop of Irishmen, Cape colonists and others, whose sympathies were opposed to the British. He was given the rank of colonel and saw much active service. He then went to the United States, and returning to Paris, stood for Galway in November 1901 as a nationalist candidate and was elected in his absence. On going to London he was arrested, held in gaol for eight months, 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 penal servitude for life, and a year later Lynch was released on licence by the Balfour government. In July 1907 he was given a free pardon, and in 1909 was elected a member of the House of Commons for West Clare, Ireland. He held this seat until 1918, and during the war did good service for the British government. After losing his seat in 1918 Lynch, who had qualified as a physician many years before, practised in London at Haverstock Hill. He died in London on 25 March 1934. He married in 1895 Annie daughter of the Rev. John D. Powell. He had no children. (Taken from the Dictionary of Australian Biography.)s released on lic.

From the description of Passport [manuscript]. 1922. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 224565575

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