Born
James McNally in
Newry,
County Down, Ireland on 6 February 1832. He joined the
British Army at the age of 17 (enlisting under a false name) to avoid arrest for the battery of a police officer. He served in India before returning to Ireland, where he became a
Fenian, being sworn into the
Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1864. The following year, he deserted, along with
Martin Hogan, from the British Army in anticipation of an expected Fenian uprising. On 10 February 1866, he was arrested by the police who discovered him hiding in a safe house in
Dublin. They had been betrayed by an informant, Patrick Curran.
, 17 January 1868, announcing the arrival of the Hougoumont'' in
Fremantle Wilson, along with other military Fenians, was tried, found guilty of
desertion and
mutinous conduct, and sentenced to death. However, this sentence was later commuted to
penal servitude for life, and they were transported to
Western Australia. In October 1867, Wilson and sixty-one other Fenians began the long sea voyage on board the
Hougoumont. Life in
Fremantle was hard. Wilson had been sentenced to
penal servitude, and found the monotony and work involved so hard that he wrote to a
New York City journalist,
John Devoy entitling his letter,
A Voice From the Tomb. Devoy was moved enough by Wilson's description of the conditions under which he and his colleagues laboured to begin collecting money from the American-Irish community to organise their rescue. When enough money had been collected and a whaling ship, the
Catalpa, had been purchased,
George Anthony was hired to captain the ship. In 1876, the
Catalpa sailed to Western Australia and rescued Wilson and five other Fenian prisoners. Initially two British ships sought to stop the progress of the
Catalpa and recapture the men, but after receiving a
warning shot, Anthony raised the American flag. After this, the two ships did not fire upon them again and the ship sailed unimpeded to
New York, the journey taking some four months. Wilson settled in
Rhode Island, where he married and lived out the rest of his life. In 1920, Wilson met
Éamon de Valera who was touring the United States, trying to gain support for his
Irish Republic. Wilson died on 6 November 1921; his remains are buried in the cemetery on the grounds of
St. Mary's Church in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island. ==See also==