Beschreibung:

Diarmuid Lynch (IRB, 1878-1950) An important file of 45 pp typescript notes with a further 10 pp of covering letters to Louis Le Roux, May 1935 - Oct. 1936 (nine separate T.L.S.), commenting in great detail on an initial draft of Le Roux' biography of Tom Clarke, one of the letters (19 August 1936) including Lynch's report of an important interview with Prof. Eoin Mac Neill about the sequence of events in Holy Week 1916 in relation to orders for the Rising. The letter of 5 October 1936 contains details obtained first-hand of the transmission of final orders for the Rising to the three Galway commands. The notes are in two sections, numbered 1-20 (lacking p. 12, but probably nothing missing), 1-26. They include corrections of syntax and minor details, but also some very significant material. On p. 4 (first section) he recounts a conversation on Good Friday about MacNeill's countermanding order with Connolly, who said 'It's that damn fellow Hobson', and a later conversation with Thomas MacDonagh who says 'It's all right' and explains his breakfast discussion with MacNeill and Mac Diarmada; on p. 6 he gives details of Hobson's detention later that day. 'While lunching with Sean [Mac Diarmada] at the Red Bank, Sean .. told me that an order was out for Hobson's arrest but that he could not be found. I left the Red Bank somewhere about 2.30 pm to keep an appointment with MacDonagh at the Princess Restaurant in Grafton Street and give him a sketch of his area .. When crossing College St. I saw Hobson passing into Great Brunswick St.; I went back to the Red Bank and reported to MacDiarmada. I heard nothing further about Hobson until late that evening. In fact I was in the house wherein he was detained under guard .. The house was not on the North Circular Road.' There is a detailed account of events at Liberty Hall on Easter Sunday, where the decision was made to rise on Monday in spite of MacNeill's actions, and of events in and around the GPO during Easter Week, Lynch's role in the recall of outlying sections etc. Part 2 of the notes includes much about Redmond's demands to the Volunteers, the Howth gun-running, much about the IRB's attitude to the Gaelic League circa 1915, American funds for the Volunteers, Devoy and Casement, Casement's associate Brogan ('If you have evidence that Brogan was a British agent, its citation would be of interest'), the circumstances of Connolly's 'disappearance' in 1916 ('the distinct impression I gained from Sean MacDiarmada at the time was that the why and wherefore of it were known to him .. I was convinced that a situation had arisen which had to be handled ''without gloves'' .. I believe that Connolly's release resulted from .. a frank declaration to him that the Military Committee (or Council) had definitely decided on a Rising to commence on Easter Sunday .. [and] a firm understanding that he would work in unison with those men and cease threatening separate action by the I.C.A.'), MacDonagh's co-option to the Military Council ('The impression I gained was that his co-option took place during the week prior to Easter Week'), dealings over German aid, the failure of the planned Irish Brigade in Germany, etc. etc. * Born in Co. Cork, Diarmuid Lynch went to the United States in 1896, where he joined the Gaelic League and other Irish groups. Rerturning home in 1907, he joined the IRB and was a member of its Supreme Council 1911-1916. In September 1915 he was sent to Kerry by Pearse to select a suitable landing place for a German arms shipment. He fought in the GPO during the Rising, was imprisoned in England afterward, and later went to the United States where he was national secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom 1918-32. He returned to Ireland 1932, and interviewed many survivors of the Rising for his important book 'The IRB and the 1916 Insurrection', edited by Florence O'Donoghue and published posthumously in 1957. Diarmuid Lynch (IRB, 1878-1950) An important file of 45 pp typescript note