User:Slynch05

Sean Lynch, A.K.A. Captain Jack, was one of the creators and Captain of an Irish volunteer army group for the fight for Irish Independence. He was able to promote money and weapons for the group by his successful entrepreneurship in farming from his dairy cattle and bogland. The fight for Irish Independence (Southern Ireland) has a great amount of history about how Irish citizens volunteered for freedom against the British Rule. The most well-known people for this movement are Michael Collins and other I.R.A. members. What many people don’t know are the people and groups that were made before or during Collins and the I.R.A.; the people who first inspired Irish citizens to battle against the British Rule. Sean Patrick Lynch (Captain Jack) is one of those main people that’s hardly heard of outside of Ireland, although a very important figure in Irish Independence, and an inspiration for other fights for freedom.

Early Years

Sean Patrick Lynch was born in the city of Cork, Ireland in 1882. Even though he was born in a city, Cork was a rural area with farming being the main source of making a living. He had 12 siblings who were all raised by his mother and father. His father, Dennis Lynch, owned farmland on the mountains for dairy cattle called “Beal A’ Ghleanna,” which in English translates to “The Mouth of the Glen.” This farmland kept all 12 siblings busy with each of them having specific tasks to run. Sean Lynch was always bigger than pretty much everyone in his age group. He was always the one doing the big manual labor for the farmland.

Entrepreneurship in Farming

Founding of the Farm

When Sean Lynch became 20 Years old, his father passed on the dairy cattle farmland to him. He continued to live in the home that he was raised in, and even expanded it. Right after two years of owning the farm, there became a story passing along the grapevine of Cork, Ireland.

Rumor on the Farm

The story takes place at Sean’s home at around midnight. There was an non-wealthy man who decided to try and break in Sean’s home. Back then doors were easier to figure out how to unlock it from the outside. Sean then wakes up to go downstairs to get a glass of water to help him go back to sleep. Once he goes in the kitchen, he notices a man who is going through and taking all of his food and drinks in the fridge, and putting them in a basket to go. Being the 6’6 giant that he is, Sean Lynch was able to grab him and hurl him to the wall. The man became unconscious for a little bit, and then looked up at Sean Lynch standing above him, with all of the food out of the thief’s basket and back in the fridge. It was then said that Lynch told this man to honestly explain why he did this action, and to try to communicate about the issue at hand. If the thief agreed to these terms, then he would receive a glass of milk and a plate of leftover chicken from Sean to bring back home. The thief agreed, they went over the dilemma at hand, and the non-wealthy man then received his glass of milk and a plate of chicken as promised. The story isn’t officially proven since no one retrieved the name of the thief from Sean, or anyone else. There’s rumors that Sean didn’t want to give out a name so that it wouldn’t give a bad reputation to a man who learned his lesson. There’s also rumors that the story got passed on by the robber himself, because the one valuable thing he could give back to continue to receive from others was the wisdom of the story.

Lynch's Success in Farming

In around 1908, Sean Lynch had enough profit from his dairy work to buy some bogland to expand his farm; It is found in flat, wet areas. It’s formed from decaying wild weather and vegetation over hundreds of years, and can be used for heating homes. It was cheap to buy at the time, because everyone in the early 1900s started using coal as the main source of heat. But Sean Lynch, knowing supply and demand, was able to realize that there eventually can be a shortage of coal if everyone is using it. The substitute would then be bogland. This became a very profitable buy, and became even better when WWII broke out. The reason being was because coal became very scarce when the increase in demand for heat for weapons and tanks skyrocketed. He had people now not just from Ireland buying from him, but also from the neighboring countries around him that need heat and are short of coal and boglands.

Involvement in Fighting for Irish Independence

Persuasive Speeches

In 1913, Sean Lynch became passionate and persuasive for being against the British Rule that was surrounding Ireland. He and his future wife, Margaret Lynch, started addressing to others in speeches about how British Rule was unnecessary and unfair to the Irish citizens. Sean was able to explain how his farming business was doing very well without British Rule prancing on it. He explained how he was able to manage his business and his home without British Rule. This then helped explain how other Irish citizens can manage making a nation by themselves, without British Rule. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch then explained how British Rule was unfair by explaining the unfair tax increases on the low waged Irish working class, while Britain’s taxes weren’t increased. They then went over how Ireland’s police officers controlled by the British would react slowly to emergencies for Irish civilians, but would react quickly to punishing the Irish for not paying off the increased taxes.

WWII Involvement

In 1914, The British didn’t accept these speeches, and decided that for WWII the Irish civilians would have to be forced to be drafted by the British to fight for the British. This was the tip of the iceberg for most of the Irish. This is what is believed to create the Company of Irish Volunteers. A group called The Company of National Volunteers was the first volunteer army group formed. It was formed by Pierce Beazley and grew rapidly to a strength of about 100 men; it unfortunatly also began to dissolve rapidly and became obsolete in a short amount of time. Sean Lynch then formed his group and then recruited some of the previous members. He was able to supply money and weapons for the organization by using the profits from his farming and the heat for the weapons from his bog lands. He and his group organized training of the weapons for a future war.

Before starting a war, being the gentle giant that Sean Lynch is, he made some more speeches about the British Rule. He stated that the British being in WWII was good for what was being fought for the Allied Powers, but also stated that the Irish shouldn’t be forced to fight for the British, rather or not the war is a good fight. He reviewed his past speeches and explained how those actions still continue, and that there has to be a change. He said that the Irish first had to argue their ruling using words and logic, and come to an agreement with the British. Then he says that since the British aren’t listening, explaining their actions to the Irish citizens, and not negotiating the dilemma at hand, The Irish would have to fight for their freedom. He stated that fighting for their freedom at this time didn’t mean to attack the British, but to fight back and attack the British when it’s on Ireland's home ground.

That’s what Sean Lynch and his group eventually did; they fought to protect the civilians in Ireland. Sean Lynch and his group helped form the Easter Rising, and this Rising was the essential catalyst for the War of Independence.

First Ambush

On July 7th, 1918, The very first noted ambush in the War of Independence took place. The location of the ambush was on Lynch’s farmland, “Beal A’ Ghleanna.” Sean Lynch noticed that his Company of Irish Volunteers now had some pretty poor weapons. He then figured to take the weapons from the British Police, since they were invading Ireland’s freedom. He begin to calculate the battle. Six men, three on either side, would hide behind the protruding rocks midway in the narrow defile of Beal A Ghleanna. After that everything would depend on timing, and the laxity of the policemen after a day of work. It would be broad daylight when the police will arrive, so they wore half-face masks of banditti and blackened their faces inside the handkerchiefs. Through the pass of the mountain region his standing order was for no shooting. If there would be a need he himself would lead off the shooting. A few minutes later the jaunting-cars with two policemen, named James Butler and Bennett. Each of the two cars were in sight lurching crazily as expected. As they got out of the car, Lynch and the six volunteers attacked the policemen. The two policemen weren’t killed, but Butler ran away from the scene after getting shot in the neck, and dragging his partner along who was knocked unconscious. The policemen though did have to give up their police jackets, hats weapons, and car and car keys, leaving them with just their under shirts and pants. Three of the six volunteers were then ordered by Lynch to go back home, while Lynch and the rest planned to change into the officers uniforms and drive to the police station. If there were too many guards around the police station, they’d just walk in and out casually. Luckily for them there were only a couple of guards, and they were able to continue their plan. That plan was to attack the guards with the weapons they got from the previous policemen, and then to use the keys from the policemen and guards to open up more weapons, and to even free the men in the jail cell ruled by the British. It was understood that the vast majority, if not all of the prisoners, were there because they were against British rule. They then drove the cop car that they stole back to the pass of the mountain region, stored the weapons at their base, burned the cop clothes that the members wore, and returned home. A couple hours later, sirens were heard and cops were everywhere around the mountain. By that time though, it was to late to find Sean Lynch and the other volunteers at the exact spot.

Anglo Irish Treaty

Sean Lynch finished his duties in his volunteer army group after the Anglo Irish Treaty (6 December 1921). He stated that the Irish had to fight against the British because they were given no land of freedom. Now that they do, Sean Lynch feels that Irish citizens should make the best out of their land, and that those actions would be the actions that can persuade Northern Ireland from turning towards being independent under British Rule.

Life After the War

After the war, Sean Lynch had more time with his farming businesses, and for his family. He raised seven daughters and four sons. With the exception of Humphrey and Cait who eventually moved to Chicago, IL, all of the couple’s children are based in Ireland.

Sean Patrick Lynch died on March 14, 1966. He gave a lot for his country during his life, and continues to give in his “afterlife” through his history and wisdom passed on from generation to generation.