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During the Irish war of independence the British military commenced the internment of known Irish nationalists at Ballykinlar. The camp was located at Abercorn Barracks in present day Northern Ireland.
There were two internment camps at Ballykinlar, Camp I and Camp II, which were located right beside each other
At its peak the internment camp was home to several thousand internees. The camp was rather like a POW camp in that it had a certain autonomy over its own internal affairs. One of the manifestations of this was the issue of tokens by the internees for use as currency inside the camp, and also likely for publicity purposes. It is quite likely that the English guards, and even their officers were unable to read the text in Irish on the tokens.
There were several attempts at running a currency system inside the camp. The final version of the camp tokens were the circular tokens pictured below.
The production of these 'coins' was organised by the internees with the agreement of the camp authorities. The coins were printed free of charge by O'Loughlan, Murphy and Boland printers in Dublin. The Camp Treasurer, Martin Ryan organised and adminitered the camp curency. After the release of the internees £165 remained in the coffers of the Treasurer.
Many of the coins were retained by the internees after the general relaease in December 1921.
1d; 3d; 6d; 1 Shilling; 5 Shillings; 10 Shillings; One Pound.
The tokens are written in Irish in so-called 'old script' on the obverse, which translates as: 'Irish imprisoned in Ballykinlar'. 'Camp Two' across the centre.
On the reverse is an advertisement, in English, of the printers of the tokens.
The lower four denominations were of the same size, and had a similar reverse, shown with the 1 Shilling token, below.
Dimensions. The diameters of the tokens were approximately 56mm for the four lower denominations; 65mm for the 5 Shilling; and 75mm for the One Pound.
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for One Penny, 56mm diameter
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for Three Pence, 56mm diameter
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for Six Pence, 56mm diameter
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for One Shilling, with reverse, 56mm diameter
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for Five Shillings, with reverse, 65mm diameter
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for Ten Shillings, 65mm diameter
NOTE: The 10 Shilling token has been confirmed to be the same size as the 5 Shilling token
Ballykinlar Internment Camp token for One Pound, with reverse, 75mm diameter
Pictures are actual size, and are shown to scale.
A 2/6 Shilling token has been rumoured to exist, but no examples or images have been seen as yet.
Working version, under revision. Not to be quoted. Last update 02.10.22.
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