Clodagh Finn: Lynn diaries reveal private life of a very public woman
![Clodagh Finn: Lynn diaries reveal private life of a very public woman Clodagh Finn: Lynn diaries reveal private life of a very public woman](/cms_media/module_img/7681/3840964_8_articlesmall_8824_1_.jpg)
Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen with infants at St Ultan’s Hospital in Dublin, in 1920.
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![A portrait of Kathleen Lynn by Lily Williams. Lynn paid a heavy price for her participation in the Easter Rising. Picture: Courtesy of Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
A portrait of Kathleen Lynn by Lily Williams. Lynn paid a heavy price for her participation in the Easter Rising. Picture: Courtesy of Royal College of Physicians of Ireland](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7681/3840958_8_articleinline_LYNN_K_1.jpg)
Yet, the latter half of 1916 was an exceptionally difficult time for Kathleen Lynn. She paid a very heavy price for her participation in the Rising. Her father and sister visited her in jail on “a very black Friday… so reproachful, they wouldn’t listen to me & looked as if they would cast me off for ever.”
![Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen on holidays in Glencormack, Co Wicklow. Picture: courtesy of the Military Archives, Ireland Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen on holidays in Glencormack, Co Wicklow. Picture: courtesy of the Military Archives, Ireland](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7681/3840961_8_articleinline_IE_MA_1.jpg)
Finally, a note on the herculean work that went into producing this singular book. The first bow must be taken by archivist Margaret Connolly who transcribed all 900,000 words of Dr Lynn’s diaries, donated by the Wynnes to the Royal College of Physicians in 1997. It was akin to unpicking stitches in knitting, untangling one stitch at a time, she said. Co-editors Dr Mary McAuliffe and Harriet Wheelock then sifted through that vast body of work to bring us a readable representation which, as they put it, allows “us a window into the private life of a very public woman”.