Patricio Lynch

Patricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar (Valparaíso 18 December 1825 – 13 May 1886) was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a Rear Admiral in the Chilean Navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of the Pacific. He has been nicknamed the "Last Viceroy of Peru" and the Chinese slave-labourers he liberated from the Peruvian haciendas, called him the "Red Prince" because of his red-hair.

Lynch was born in the port of Valparaíso, Chile, the son of Estanislao Lynch y Roo, a wealthy merchant resident in Chile who was a descendant of Patrick Lynch, and of Carmen Solo de Zaldívar y Rivera. His father, a former Colonel in the Army of the Andes, had settled in Chile from Argentina and was a grandson of Patrick Lynch, an emigrant from Galway to Buenos Aires in the 1740s. His connection to Patrick Lynch makes him a distant relative of Che Guevara.

Entering the navy in 1837, at the age of 12, he took part in the Battle of Socabaya (1838), during the War of the Confederation that led to the fall of Marshal Andrés de Santa Cruz. Next, he sought a wider field, and saw active service in the First Opium War on board the British frigate HMS Calliope (1837) and HMS Blenheim (1813). He was mentioned in despatches for bravery, and received the grade of midshipman in the Royal Navy.

Returning to Chile in 1847, he became a lieutenant. Seven years later he received the command of a frigate, but was later relieved of his command for refusing to allow arrested political suspects on board. The Chincha Islands War saw him again employed, and he was successively maritime Prefect of Valparaiso, colonel of National Guards, and finally captain and minister of marine in 1872.

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