Daniel Lynch

 

He disappeared and was executed by the IRA as a spy. It is difficult to understand exacty who is who here, so many were being shot as spies.

No death certificate exists for Daniel Lynch, nor is there a British Inquiry. The IRA sttements indicate the the bodies of both "spies" they shot in the 20 to 25 Jan 1921 period , were left on the road - so there should be death certs. In additon there are no press reports

1920 Nov 5. Ex-Soldier Daniel Lynch aged 25 kidnapped at Kilpatrick, Innishannon. (Irish Times 13 November 1920)

 

1921 Jan 21. Shot in Cork

The Irish Revolution. Perhaps the youngest of the sons of John Lynch of Callatrim, Daniel Lynch was one of a series of suspected spies killed by the IRA in West Cork at about the same time. He was executed by the Timoleague Company of the First Battalion of the Cork No. 3 Brigade. He was secretly buried close to the quarry at Killeady (local memory supplied by John Desmond of Bandon). According to Desmond, Lynch is said to have given information to British forces concerning the Brinny ambush of late August 1920, which had resulted in the first fatality (Volunteer Timothy Fitzgerald of Gaggan) among members of the Cork No. 3 Brigade.

IRA Witness Statement Sometime about the 20th or 22nd January; we were going to a place called Castletownkenneigh and in the early hours of the morning we held up a spy on the road. We took him along with us and the following morning he was tried by court-martial and shot and left on the road labelled. We lay there in ambush all day. Neither military nor police turned up. That evening we retreated from there. I think it was that day Liam Deasy and Sean Lorden and another questioned a passer-by on the road. This man thought they were Auxillary officers and gave them a certain amount of information. He thought they were enemy troops. We took him along with us that night and he was tried by courtmartial and shot in the early hours of the morning by his own confession, that he was an informer

IRA Witness Statement Spy named Lynch courtmartialled and shot.Seems to be 20 Jan and same night hs they shot Bradfield

IRA Witness Statement January 22nd 1920. Although we remained in position all day, the expected enemy convoy did not arrive. All members of the column were armed with rifles and about fifty rounds per man.I should have mentioned that on this occasion the body of an ex-British soldier who had been shot as a spy that morning, was placed on the roadside in the hope that the enemy forces would come out from Bandon to collect the body. As there was no appearance by the enemy, the column withdrew to billets in the area. Early on the morning of January 23rd 1921 the column moved into a position at Laragh within about three and a half miles of Bandon on the Newcestown road. Another spy was shot on this occasion . His body was labelled to indicate that he was as py, and again left on the roadside.Word was sent in to Bandon that there was a man dead on the roadside, but although we waited all day the enemy did not come out to examine the position.

Florry Begley to Ernie O’Malley: ‘Another spy, Lynch, was noticed going around, and we noticed that the people he talked to were bitter and, we suspected, active enemies of ours in Bandon. One day he came to a lad and he said he had heard there was to be a raid that night and not to sleep at home. The lad passed on the word, but the other fellows mentioned in Bandon did not change their houses that night and were captured in the raids. This young lad did not sleep at home and so escaped. That was enough for us. The spy was court-martialled and was shot. Why did he pass on the word [about the raids]? Maybe to make friends with this young lad, for he [Lynch] had been going around with younger Volunteers and had promised them revolvers, and he had been anxious to make contacts with young Volunteers.’

 

Shot by IRA as British spies