Early in July 1916 some Volunteers from both North and South Camps were taken under escort to a nearby railway station. About 10.30 am some one hundred men were boarded, bound for London.
There they were lodged in Wormwood Scrubs Prison, awaiting trial by a commission appointed by the English Government.
All this was a farce – apart from being a waste of time and money. The six commissioners could more easily and cheaply have been brought to Wales for the show trial!
After several days in London, we were examined in a few questions, or tried. Then we were returned to Wales by train.
After some time in Frongach, I with several others was released.
I arrived back in Newry about the end of August 1916.
End
(Rankin, of course, like the great majority of detainees immediately immersed himself right back in the freedom struggle. But that’s a story for another day!).
Read Rankin’s Memoirs from the start ?