Kathleen Lynn
Kathleen Florence Lynn was born in County Mayo, on 28 January 1874, the daughter of a Church of Ireland Rector, Robert Lynn. Her childhood was spent in Mayo and Longford. Kathleen was sent to school in Dublin, attending Alexandra College for girls. The school advocated the rights of women and introduced women to suffrage. Kathleen became an activist and joined groups that advocating Irishwomen’s Suffrage as well as becoming a member of the Local Government Association in 1903. She became a doctor when few women were in the profession. It was Helena Maloney who brought Dr Kathleen Lynn in touch with the national movement. At the time of the Lock Out of 1913, Kathleen became active in the relief efforts for workers and their families who had taken part in the strike and had been locked out by their employers. When the Irish Citizen Army was established for the protection of workers, she gave classes in first aid for members. In 1904 she became a GP practising from 9 Belgrave Road, Rathmines. She supported the Lock Out of 1913 and as a result joined the Irish Citizen Army. In the 1916 Rising she was Chief Medical Officer in the City Hall garrison, but when the Officer Commanding was shot, she, as next highest-ranking officer, took over the garrison.
She was active in the War of Independence, and was arrested in 1918 but was released to assist with the Flu Epidemic .In 1919 she established St Ultan’s Hospital with the help of her friend Madeleine French Mullen. At the outset, only women staffed the hospital. Kathleen pioneered the use of the BCG vaccination over ten years before it was in general use in Ireland. She promoted the work of Maria Montessori who visited St Ultan’s in 1934, and established a Montessori ward in the hospital.
She was elected to the Dáil, but having opposed the Treaty of 1921, she did not take her seat. By 1926 she distanced herself from politics and concentrated on her hospital.
She died on September 14th 1955, nurses lined the route as Dr Lynn’s coffin passed St Ultan’s Hospital in September 1955. She was buried with full military honours. The Irish Citizen Army provided a guard of honour for her, Members of the 7th Eastern Battalion fired three volleys over her grave, and a bugler sounded the Last Post,
The Lynn family are buried together in a plot in Deans grange Cemetery. The tombstone lists a number of this family including Dr Kathleen Lynn. It stated that she was a doctor, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, but it omits the fact that she was Commanding Officer at City Hall garrison in 1916
She was elected to the Dáil, but having opposed the Treaty of 1921, she did not take her seat. By 1926 she distanced herself from politics and concentrated on her hospital.
She died on September 14th 1955, nurses lined the route as Dr Lynn’s coffin passed St Ultan’s Hospital in September 1955. She was buried with full military honours. The Irish Citizen Army provided a guard of honour for her, Members of the 7th Eastern Battalion fired three volleys over her grave, and a bugler sounded the Last Post,
The Lynn family are buried together in a plot in Deans grange Cemetery. The tombstone lists a number of this family including Dr Kathleen Lynn. It stated that she was a doctor, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, but it omits the fact that she was Commanding Officer at City Hall garrison in 1916
