Liam Lynch

William Fanaghan Lynch (; 20 November 1892 – 10 April 1923) was an officer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence of 1919–1921. During much of the Irish Civil War, he was chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army. On 10 April 1923, Lynch was killed whilst trying to escape an encirclement by Free State troops in south Tipperary. Early life Lynch was born in the townland of Baurnagurrahy, Anglesboro, County Limerick, near Mitchelstown, County Cork, on 20 November 1892. His father was Jeremiah Lynch and his mother was Mary Lynch (née Kelly), both of whom are buried in Brigown graveyard, Mitchelstown. During his first twelve years of schooling he attended Anglesboro National School. Lynch was living with his parents in Baurnagurrahy for the 1901 and 1911 censuses. In 1909, at the age of 17, he started an apprenticeship in O'Neill's hardware shop in Mitchelstown, where he joined the Gaelic League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Later he worked at J. Barry & Sons, Hardware Merchants Fermoy. In the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising, he witnessed David and Thomas Kent of Bawnard House being taken through Fermoy after their arrest by the Royal Irish Constabulary. After this, he determined to dedicate his life to Irish republicanism. In 1917 he was elected First Lieutenant of the Irish Volunteer Company, based in Fermoy. War of Independence