Dr. Kathleen Florence Lynn (1874 -1955)
Census 1911 Address: 9, Belgrave Road (Rathmines & Rathgar East, Dublin)1
Kathleen was living in Rathmines in Dublin at the time of the 1911 Census and her occupation was recorded as a General Practitioner and her place of birth as Mayo. There were two other women living in the same house. Frances Margaret Coohe, aged 44, was a boarder in the house and was born in Waterford. Bridget Cuffe, aged 45, was a domestic servant and was born in Wexford. Kathleen Lynn and Frances Coohe are both recorded in the 1911 Census as Church of Ireland, while Margaret Coohe was Roman Catholic.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000135034/
Photo: Group photo including Dr. Kathleen Lynn, Madeline Ffrench Mullen and Countess Markievicz
Kathleen Lynn came from a comfortable background and she qualified as a doctor. Born in Mayo, she dedicated her life to the suffragette movement, social justice and national liberation. In 1904 she became a GP practising from 9, Belgrave Road, Rathmines. The dreadful conditions in which her patients lived and died had a deep impact on her, especially the very high infant mortality rate. (See Table 3.3 on Infant Mortality Rates in 1916 and 2014 in this publication.) She became involved in the women’s suffrage movement, making friends with other Irish feminists such as Countess Markievicz, Maud Gonne McBride, Madeleine Ffrench Mullen and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, with whom she remained life-long friends. During the 1913 Lock-Out she ran a soup kitchen with Countess Markievicz, (a distant cousin), and gave freely of her time and energy to provide medical services to the sick during this struggle.
Dr. Lynn held the rank of Captain in the Irish Citizen Army (I.C.A.), and in her capacity as the Chief Medical Officer, she organised the collection of medical supplies and gave lessons in first aid.
She played a prominent role in the hostilities of Easter week. James Connolly chose Kathleen Lynn to carry The Plough and the Stars, (the official Flag of I.C.A.), from Liberty Hall to the GPO because she was a woman, a doctor, a protestant and a suffragette and she embodied the type of Republic Connolly envisaged - egalitarian, non-sectarian and one based on gender-equality.
Dr. Lynn served in City Hall during the Easter Rising to attend the wounded. After the shooting of Seán Connolly she acted as Senior Officer and presented the surrender when ordered to do so. She was imprisoned in Ship Street and then Kilmainham Gaol, sharing a cell with Madeleine Ffrench Mullen and Helena Molony, until she was sent to prison in England. She was allowed take up medical duties instead of being incarcerated as there was a scarcity of doctors due to World War I.
She returned to Ireland in 1918 but went “on the run” but was arrested towards the end of the year. She was sentenced to be deported but was allowed to stay as there was an influenza outbreak and doctors were very scarce. She and her friends acquired an old derelict house at 37, Charlemont Street. The women of the Irish Citizen Army cleaned it up and Countess Markievicz and Countess Plunkett brought bedding. In this house they treated patients suffering from flu using vaccines which Kathleen obtained. Among those treated were Michael Stains and Caitlín, the wife of Cathal Brugha.
Once the epidemic was over, Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine Ffrench Mullen founded St. Ultan’s Hospital in 1919 in the same premises and this was the first hospital for the treatment of infants in Dublin.
Dr. Lynn was elected to the Dáil in the 1923 elections but did not take her seat. She died in 1955 and was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin with full military honours.
Photo: Election poster for Dr. Kathleen Lynn
Source:
References:
Bureau of Military History: Witness Statement Dr. Kathleen Lynn http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0357.pdf
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=31644911
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=4&MemberID=659&ConstID=77
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