Life
1914-1998 [Sybil Mary Joan Lynam; fam. Joan; pen-name Shevawn Lynam]; b. Dublin, of Galway parents who separated, her father getting custody and accounting for her support - a decorated wartime Army engineer and later chief engineer in the Iraq Petroleum Co.; raised in Connemara and Brittany by her paternal grand-mother Agnes Lynam; ed. English [Sacred Heart, Weymouth, and St. Mary’s, Ascot]; worked as an au pair in Madrid, 1931-32 and Cottbus, Germany, 1932-33;
studied in Historical Centre, Madrid, returned to London in 1933 and lived with her uncle and aunt; attended secretarial course in Mayfair; worked as private secretary successively for Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Donat; returned to Spain at outbreak of Civil War; contracted TB and moved to Switzerland for treatment in Arosa, 1938-39; returning home, she acted as Spanish specialist with the BBC and the Ministry of Information during the War World II; posted as secretary to John Betjeman [q.v.] in Dublin; reported on Spanish Civil War for The Irish Times;
had her own radio programme on RTE in post-war years (Hither and Yon); moved to Paris and worked for Marshall Plan and UNESCO, 1950; wrote Spirit and the Clay (1954), on Basque resistance to Franco’s Fascists; barred from Spain in response; translated into several languages; ed. the Nato Letter [monthly review], 1958-63, also in Paris; returned to work for Irish Tourist Board [Bord Fáilte] as Editorial Publicity Officer, Dublin, 1963-71; left to write Humanity Dick (1975), her authoritative life of Richard Martin [q.v.];
settled in a restored cottage nr. Ashford, Co. Wicklow; made a living with guided tours in German and Spanish, working with Historic Irish Tourist Houses and Gardens Assoc., 1971- ; suffered a broken hip in a fall while working; debilitated by health and finance problems; d. in St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin; received mention in John Betjeman’s autobiography (Summoned by Bells); loved animals and had a horse called Killola and many cats; bur. in Shanganagh Cemetery [Shankill], Co. Dublin]. DIW
[There is an unsigned memoir of Joan Lynam in The Irish Times, 19 Nov. 1998 commending her independence and courage - available online; see also the entry on her by Patrick Long in the Dictionary of Irish Biography [online] and Wikipedia article [online]. Her cottage at Ashford has been renovated and made available for rental - view at Booking.com online or as attached. 10.09.2023. ]
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