Catherine Lynch | |
|---|---|
 Catherine Driscoll (later Catherine Lynch) on admission to Swansea Prison, 18 November 1905, aged 25 | |
| Born | Catherine Driscoll 1880 Swansea, Wales |
| Died | 19 October 1908 (aged 27–28) Swansea, Wales |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Other names | Kate Driscoll |
| Occupation(s) | Petty criminal, prostitute |
| Spouse | John Lynch (m.1906) |
Catherine Lynch (1880 – 19 October 1908), née Catherine Driscoll, also known as Kate Driscoll, was a petty criminal from Swansea, Wales. Following the death of her father in an industrial accident in 1900, Driscoll took up employment as a domestic servant to a local publican's family. She rapidly descended into crime and alcoholism, and over the next few years was regularly convicted of prostitution, theft, and alcohol-related public order offences. She married in 1906, becoming Catherine Lynch, and although her criminal activity appears to have fallen somewhat following her marriage, she continued drinking heavily.
In October 1908, at the age of 28, she collapsed and died at home while preparing to go out for the evening. A subsequent inquest attributed her death to a syncope induced by alcohol. The presiding coroner was harshly critical of her, describing her as "one of a class who were a nuisance to themselves, their husbands and everybody else" and as symptomatic of an increase in drunkenness among Swansea's women. He was also 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.
In her lifetime, Lynch attracted little notice beyond official records and local newspaper accounts. Her life was examined by local historian Elizabeth Belcham in her book Swansea's 'Bad Girls': Crime and Prostitution 1870s–1914.