Patricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar (

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

18 December 1825 – 13 May 1886) was a lieutenant in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and a rear admiral in the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wars ...

, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

. He has been nicknamed the "Last Viceroy of Peru", and the Chinese slave-labourers he liberated from the Peruvian haciendas called him the "Red Prince" (; es, El Príncipe Rojo) because of his red hair.

Early years

Lynch was born in the port of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, the son of

Estanislao Lynch Estanislao José Antonio Lynch y Roo, was a Argentine naval officer and wealthy Argentine, the brother of the famous landowner of the "Rio de la Plata" captain Patricio Lynch and the grandson of an Irish immigrant, Patrick Lynch. Estanislao was t ...

y Roo, a wealthy

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

merchant resident in Chile who was a descendant of Patrick Lynch, and of Carmen Solo de Zaldívar y Rivera. His father, a former Colonel in the

Army of the Andes The Army of the Andes ( es, Ejército de los Andes) was a military force created by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Argentina) and mustered by general José de San Martín in his campaign to free Chile from the Spanish Empire. In 181 ...

, had settled in Chile from Argentina and was a grandson of Patrick Lynch, an emigrant from

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in the 1740s. His connection to Patrick Lynch makes him a distant relative of

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

. Entering the navy in 1837, at the age of 12, he took part in the

Battle of Socabaya A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

(1838), during the

War of the Confederation The War of the Confederation ( es, Guerra de la Confederación) was a military confrontation waged by Chile, along with Peruvian dissidents, and the Argentine Confederation against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation between 1836 and 1839. As ...

that led to the fall of Marshal

Andrés de Santa Cruz Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana (; 30 November 1792 – 25 September 1865) was a Bolivian general and politician who served as interim president of Peru in 1827, the interim president of Peru from 1836 to 1838 and the sixth president of B ...

. Next, he sought a wider field, and saw active service in the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

on board the British

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

HMS ''Calliope'' and the third rate ship of the line HMS ''Blenheim''. He was mentioned in despatches for bravery, and received the grade of

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in the

. He would stay after the Opium War for five years and learnt to speak fluent Chinese, which became useful for his future adventure. Returning to Chile in 1847, he became a lieutenant. Seven years later he received the command of a frigate, but was later relieved of his command for refusing to allow arrested political suspects on board. The

Chincha Islands War The Chincha Islands War, also known as Spanish–South American War ( es, Guerra hispano-sudamericana), was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia from 1865 to 1879. The ...

saw him again employed, and he was successively maritime Prefect of Valparaiso, colonel of National Guards, and finally captain and minister of marine in 1872.

War years

At the beginning of the

, Lynch was a Naval

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

. He asked for a position in the navy, but was refused due to the opposition of his fellow officers. He retaliated by asking for a position in the Army, but instead was named as Commander General of Transports, where he was able to show his great abilities as an organizer. In early September 1880, he led a raid against northern Peru to gather ransom payments from business and sugar plantation owners, that has become known as the "

Lynch Expedition The Lynch Expedition ( es, Expedición Lynch) was a series of raids during the War of the Pacific on the Peruvian coast north of Lima. It was conducted by Patricio Lynch, Captain of the Navy of Chile. Beginning on 4 September 1880 and continuing f ...

". "Many Chinese saw the Chilean liberation as an opportunity to avenge years of abuse from the plantation owners; in Pacasmayo 600 to 800 Chinese forced labourers looted the sugar estates and this scene was repeated in the Chicama, Lambayeque and Cañete Valleys. The Chinese also fought alongside the Chileans in the battles of San Juan-Chorrillis and Miraflores, and there was also rioting and looting by non-Chinese workers in the coastal cities. As Heraclio Bonilla has observed; oligarchs soon came to fear the popular clashes more than the Chileans, and this was an important reason why they sued for peace". ource: "From chattel slaves to wage slaves: dynamics of labour bargaining in the Americas", by Mary Turner. During the "Lynch Expedition", he recruited Chinese peons who worked in the

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...

s, and was able to convince them to join the army as an auxiliary force, his success in convincing the Chinese to join up was made possible by the Chinese language he had learned in the Opium War. In the final campaign that led to the capture of Lima, he participated in the battles of Chorrillos and Miraflores (January 1881), in which he led first a brigade (as colonel) and afterwards a division under General Baquedano. His services at the battle of Chorrillos led to his appointment as Supreme Military and Political Commandant of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

in 1881. During the time he was Commander of the Army of Occupation, his action in deporting the acting Peruvian president

Francisco García Calderón Francisco García Calderón Landa (April 2, 1834 – September 21, 1905) was a lawyer and Provisional President of the Republic of Peru for a short seven-month period in 1881, during the War of the Pacific. García Calderón was a key figure ...

to Chile, excited considerable comment by many Peruvian aristocrats, and the active opposition of the US government that almost led to a military conflict with that country. He returned to his own country in 1883 after the

Treaty of Ancón The Treaty of Ancón was a peace treaty signed by Chile and Peru on 20 October 1883, in Ancón District, Ancón, near Lima. It was intended to settle the two nations' remaining territorial differences at the conclusion of their involvement in the ...

was signed.

Later years

Promoted to rear-admiral, in 1884 he was designated as Chilean minister plenipotentiary (ambassador) to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. His mission was to negotiate a definitive peace treaty with Spain to end the

. Taking sick, he asked for leave to return to Chile. He died at sea on the return trip, off the

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

coast, on 13 May 1886.

In popular culture

A movie about him, '' The Red Prince'', which will be coproduced by China and Chile, is scheduled to release in 15 February 2023 in honour of Patricio Lynch.

References

External links