Kathleen Lynn
One of the Rotunda Hospital’s alumni participated in the Rising. Kathleen Florence Lynn was born in Mullafarry, County Mayo in 1874. The family also lived in Longford before returning to live in Mayo. Educated in Alexandra College Dublin, as well as Germany and England, Kathleen decided to study medicine. She had witnessed terrible poverty and to her doctors were the source of ‘hope and help’. Kathleen received her medical degree from the Royal University (1899). Following additional training in the US and the Rotunda, she worked as a House Surgeon before becoming a General Practitioner in Rathmines, Dublin. In 1909 she became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
During the Lock Out (1913), she became active in the relief efforts for the strikers and their families. When the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) was established for the protection of workers, she gave classes in first aid. Later, she became the ICA’s Medical Officer. Dr Kathleen Lynn was ordered to join the City Hall Garrison. She described herself as ‘a red cross doctor and a belligerent.’ When she told the arresting officer, she was a doctor, but also belonged to the Irish Citizen Army, it surprised him very much. She was imprisoned and deported. She was permitted to work as a doctor, while still subject to house arrest until August 1916. As well as for her active political life she is best remembered for founding St Ultan’s, Ireland’s first infant hospital in 1919. She attended clinics in the hospital until the year of her death in 1955.
