Leslie Alexander Montgomery (5 October 1873 - 13 August 1961), better known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Lynn C. Doyle, was an Irish humourist and playwright. Montgomery was born in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...

, Co. Down. He wrote about his early rural life in ''An Ulster Childhood'' (1921). He was sent away to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

, Co. Louth. He left school at 16 to work at the Northern Banking Company in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and transferred as manager to

Skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland *Skerries, County Armagh, a List of townlands in County Armagh#S, townland in Coun ...

, Co. Dublin, where he worked for 28 years. Montgomery took his pen name ‘Lynn C. Doyle’ from a bottle of

linseed oil Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colorless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...

he saw in a grocer's shop. His first volume of stories, ''Ballygullion,'' a humorous caricature of Ulster life set in a fictional town, was published in 1908. This proved popular and ran into several volumes. Montgomery was also a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. His comedy, ''Love and Land'' was produced in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and other plays were performed by the

Ulster Literary Theatre The Ulster Literary Theatre was a theatre company in Ulster (Ireland, now also Northern Ireland) from 1904 to 1934. It had a differently named precursor in 1902, and by 1915 it was named just the Ulster Theatre. It was founded by Bulmer Hobson an ...

. A sculpture group on Scotch Street, Downpatrick, contains a dog which represents ''The Silent Dog'', one of Montgomery's short stories. Top of Scotch Street

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dole, Lynn 1873 births 1961 deaths Irish humorists Irish male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish male writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers