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In Fermoy, Ireland |
 Liam Lynch
Liam Lynch was born William Fanaghan Lynch on 9th November, 1893 in the townland
of Barnagurraha, under the Galtee Mountains, north of Mitchelstown on the Cork/
Limerick border. His parents were Jeremiah and Mary Kelly Lynch.
During his first 12 years of schooling he attended the Anglesboro School. At the
age of 9 he left school for a short while because his eyesight was failing. He
went to Cork and got glasses which he wore for the rest of his life. In spite of
his poor eyesight he became an avid reader of Irish history.
  Barry's Timber Merchants, Fermoy where Liam Lynch worked. In 1910 at the age of 17 he started an apprenticeship in the hardware trade of Mr. P. O'Neill in Mitchelstown. Later he worked at Barry's Timber Merchants in Fermoy. In Mitchelstown he joined the Gaelic League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The nearby town of Fermoy was a large garrison town holding more British troups than any other place in Ireland, because of its ideal position in Cork. Many young men joined the British army having been told that they were fighting for the freedom of small nations, including their own. Many however, like Liam Lynch questioned the validity of a Military Power who occupied his own country. Since he was naturally a shy retiring person, who did not fully recognise his leadership abilities, he might have gone along with the status quo, had it not been for witnessing subsequent local events following the 1916 Easter Week Rising. There were 46 organised Companies of Volunteers in Cork ready to heed the call of Michael Collins that Easter of 1916. However, they were instructed by MacNeill to cancel all parades that Easter and not participate. One notable family involved in the Volunteers was the Kent family of Bawnard House. On the 1st May, the armed police went out to arrest the Kent brothers, shooting two of them, David and Richard, and arrested the family.
 Thomas aka Edmond Kent being marched across Fermoy Bridge with present day plaque on the Bridge at the right
Liam Lynch was standing on Fermoy Bridge that morning when he saw Thomas Kent, William and his mother being marched along between armed British soldiers followed by a horse-drawn cart carrying the mortally wounded Richard and the other wounded brother, David. Two days later Richard died in custody. Thomas aka Edmond Kent was executed by a British firing squad in Cork Detention Barracks. It stirred the young Liam Lynch into a course that was to mark the rest of his life. He vowed that he "would atone as far as possible to dedicate his life for the sacrifices of the martyred dead". He now had only one allegiance, believing that independence could only be gained through force. The dye was cast. The year 1916 was the year of the Fermoy Flood, but a greater flood of patriotism was to sweep the heart of Liam Lynch.  Fermoy Flood, August 1916
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