Diarmuid Lynch

Diarmuid Lynch (10 January 1878 – 9 November 1950) was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Sinn Féin member of the First Dáil.

Lynch, initially named Jeremiah, was born in Granig, Tracton, County Cork. His mother died while he was young and his father, who had remarried, died when Diarmuid was thirteen years of age.

In his autobiography, Lynch recalls being taken to a political meeting in Cork city by his father in 1886 which was addressed by Charles Stewart Parnell. He also describes attending a monster Land League rally at Minane Bridge which was addressed by William O'Brien and Dr. Charles Tanner MP. He was politically influenced by his teachers, particularly Michael McCarthy, head master at Knocknamana National School.

Like other ambitious rural Irishmen of his generation, such as Michael Collins and J.J. Walsh, Lynch found employment in the Postal service. He began working as a sorting clerk in the Cork GPO and studied at Skerry's College for entrance to the Civil Service. In an open competitive examination he secured a place as a "Boy Clerk" at the Mount Pleasant money order office, London. Mount Pleasant would play a very significant part in the growth of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), because it was here that individuals such as Collins, Sam Maguire and others first became acquainted. Lynch himself would become a member of the IRB Supreme Council. While in London he played hurling with the London Gaels.

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