 He began his career in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), but after the party split of 1916 joined the Nationalist Party and later the United Australia Party (UAP).Lynch was born in Skearke, County Meath, Ireland and educated at Cormeen National School and Bailieborough Model School, County Cavan.He migrated to Queensland in 1886 and cut railway sleepers near Charleville and then travelled to the Croydon goldfields.