This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Turlough O’Riordan. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Born: Unknown, Ireland (assumed)
Died: 1794
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Elizabeth Lynch
Watts (Lynch), Elizabeth (d. 1794), printer, stationer, and ‘bookseller to the courts of law’, whose origins are unknown, succeeded her first husband Richard Watts (d. November 1762) printer and bookseller, with whom she had four sons and a daughter. She married secondly (14 February 1768) the Rev. Stewart Lynch (d. June 1788), curate of St Werburgh’s, Dublin, and bookseller in his own right.
Adopting the name Lynch, she continued her bookselling and lending business (her first husband founded a circulating library) from her premises, 6 Skinner Row, alongside retaining the sole rights from 1762 to run a bookstall in the hall of the Four Courts. Focusing on the sale of books of legal interest, among others she had an edition of Blackstone’s Law tracts printed (1767) and thereafter continued to sell a range of Irish and English legal texts, largely after 1778 in partnership with Daniel Graisberry.
Her interest in selling imported stationery from France and the Netherlands led her to sign a memorial (November 1773) to the Irish house of commons against additional duties on foreign paper. After her death (January 1794) her business was continued by her son Henry Watts, who had been in effective control since 1790, until his death in September 1794.