General Liam Lynch – a true Irish Hero

General Liam Lynch, one of the key figures in the War of Independence and the Civil War.

Born at Barnagurraha near Mitchelstown, he is credited with playing a pivotal role in helping to organise the Irish Volunteers in Cork, serving as Commandant of the Cork No2 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence.

Liam Lynch

Born 9 November 1893
Barnagurraha,

County Limerick,

Died on 10 April 1923 aged 29 Clonmel, County Tipperary following an engagement with Free State soldiers in the Knockmealdown Mountains.

Liam Lynch was vehemently opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, famously saying “We have declared for an Irish Republic, and will not live under any other law.”

After initially opposing the seizure of the Four Courts in 1922, Lynch joined the garrison and was arrested by Free State forces and later released on the understanding that he would try to halt the fighting.

Instead he set about reorganising resistance, even planning the establishment of a ‘Munster Republic’, which he believed would hamper the development of the Free State.

Lynch was fatally wounded during a skirmish with Free State forces in the Knockmealdown Mountains on April 10, 1923 and laid to rest in Kilcrumper cemetery two days later. Buried in the Republican Plot in Kilcrumper Old Cemetery, he rests alongside fallen comrades: Michael Fitzgerald (Fermoy) Daniel Shinnick from Castletownroche, Michael Rouse from Ballindangan and Denis O’Brien from Kilworth.

His death shocked the nation and was widely regarded as one of the key motivations behind the decision by army Chief of Staff, Fran Aiken to declare a ceasefire on April 30, 1923.

Additional information.

1. Kilcrumper cemetery is situated about one mile north of Fermoy, Co Cork.
2. The Good Friday Agreement, which ended The Troubles in Northern Ireland, was signed on the 75th anniversary of Lynch’s death, on 10 April 1998.
3. When the enemy finally came across a wounded Lynch they initially believed him to be Eamon de Valera but he reportedly informed them – “I am Liam Lynch, Chief-of-Staff of the Irish Republican Army. Get me a priest and doctor, I`m dying.” He was carried on an improvised stretcher manufactured from guns to “Nugent’s” pub in Newcastle at the foot of the mountains. He was later brought to the hospital in Clonmel and died that evening at 8p.m.