Catherine Lynch, nee Catherine Driscoll, known as Kate Driscoll, was a petty criminal from Swansea, Wales.
16 Facts About Catherine Lynch
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Catherine Lynch rapidly descended into crime and alcoholism, and over the next few years was regularly convicted of prostitution, theft, and alcohol-related public order offences.
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Catherine Lynch married in 1906, becoming Catherine Lynch, and although her criminal activity appears to have fallen somewhat following her marriage, she continued drinking heavily.
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Catherine Lynch was critical of her husband John Lynch for having continued to support her despite her alcoholism, instead of having taken the opportunity to have her incarcerated.
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Catherine Lynch married Mary Ellen Sheehan in Swansea in 1876; Catherine was born in Swansea in 1880, the third of the Driscolls' eight children.
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Catherine Lynch was immediately taken to hospital but died shortly afterwards.
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Catherine Lynch's injuries were described as "hopeless from the first", and the coroner's jury ruled that his death was purely accidental.
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Catherine Lynch soon turned to crime; she first appeared in court charged with indecency in May 1903.
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John and Catherine Lynch subsequently moved to 6 Michael's Row in the Greenhill district of central Swansea.
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Catherine Lynch was washing her face and hands in her Michael's Row home, when she went to sit on the stairs.
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John Catherine Lynch tried to give her a drink of water but she was unable to drink it; he carried her upstairs to bed, and summoned a doctor.
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At the coroner's inquest, John Lynch testified that Catherine had been drunk at the time.
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Mr Leeder, the coroner, challenged John Catherine Lynch, advising him that he should have contacted the police and have her "put away", stating that this would have been "cheaper than allowing her to ruin the home".
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Leeder was unsympathetic to Catherine Lynch, describing her as "one of a class who were a nuisance to themselves, their husbands and everybody else".
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Catherine Lynch considered Lynch's death as part of a pattern of increasing drunkenness among women in Swansea, observing that "one woman led others to drink, for she would not drink by herself" and "when one of these women went wrong she dragged six others with her".
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Catherine Lynch was buried in Danygraig Cemetery on 23 October 1908.