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Roger David Casement (; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement,
CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and
Irish nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
executed by the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
for treason during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. He worked for the
British Foreign Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom.
The office was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign an ...
as a diplomat, becoming known as a humanitarian activist, and later as a poet and
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
leader. Described as the "father of twentieth-century human rights investigations", he was honoured in 1905 for the
Casement Report
The Casement Report was a 1904 document written at the behest of the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government by Roger Casement (1864–1916)—a British diplomat and future Irish War of Independence, Irish independence fighter—detai ...
on the
Congo and knighted in 1911 for his important investigations of human rights abuses in the rubber industry in
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
.
In Africa as a young man, Casement first worked for commercial interests before joining the British Colonial Service. In 1891 he was appointed as a British
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...
, a profession he followed for more than 20 years. Influenced by the
Boer War
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...
and his investigation into colonial atrocities against indigenous peoples, Casement grew to mistrust
imperialism
Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
. After retiring from consular service in 1913, he became more involved with
Irish republicanism
Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish Republic, Irish republic, void of any British rule in Ireland, British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously ...
and other separatist movements.
During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he made efforts to gain German military aid for the 1916
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
that sought to gain Irish independence.
He was arrested, convicted and executed for high treason. He was stripped of his knighthood and other honours. Before, during and after the trial, British security agents and police showed typescripts prepared by the Metropolitan police to influential persons. These were said to be official copies of his private journals which detailed
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
activities. Given prevailing views and existing laws on homosexuality, this material undermined support for clemency. Disputes have continued about these diaries; a private handwriting comparison study in 2002 concluded that Casement had written the diaries, but this was contested by several scholars.
Early life
Family and education
Casement was born in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
and lived in very early childhood at Doyle's Cottage, Lawson Terrace,
Sandycove
Sandycove () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is southeast of Dún Laoghaire and Glasthule, and northwest of Dalkey. It is a popular seaside resort and is well known for its bathing place, the Forty Foot, which in the past was reserved for m ...
, a terrace that no longer exists, but that was on Sandycove Road between what is now Fitzgerald's pub and The Butler's Pantry delicatessen.
His father, Captain Roger Casement of the
(King's Own) Regiment of Dragoons, was the son of Hugh Casement, a
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
shipping
Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...
merchant who went bankrupt and later moved to Australia. Captain Casement had served in the
1842 Afghan campaign. He travelled to Europe to fight as a volunteer in the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...
but arrived after the
Surrender at Világos
The Surrender at Világos (), which was the formal end of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, took place on 13 August 1849, at Világos (now Șiria, Romania). The terms were signed by General Artúr Görgey of the Hungarian Revolutionary Army on t ...
. After the family moved to England, Roger's mother, Anne Jephson (or Jepson), had him secretly baptised at the age of three as a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
in
Rhyl
Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd.
To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...
,
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. However, the priest who arranged his baptism in 1916 clearly stated that the baptism had been in
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...
, from Rhyl. Confusion over the location of his baptism can be explained by Casement mistaking the placename after 48 years.
According to an 1892 letter, Casement believed his mother was descended from the
Jephson family
Jephson (also spelt Gestson) may refer to various members of, or estates belonging to, a landed family chiefly seated in the England, English county of Hampshire and the Irish county Cork.
The Gestson surname suggests this family were of Scandi ...
of
Mallow, County Cork
Mallow (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland, approximately thirty-five kilometres north of Cork (city), Cork City. Mallow is in a townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of the same name, in the Fermoy (barony), barony of Fermoy. ...
but the Jephson family's historian provides no evidence of this. The family lived in England in genteel poverty; Roger's mother died when he was nine. His father took the family back to Ireland to
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
to live near paternal relatives. When Casement was 13 years old, his father died in
Ballymena
Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...
, and he was left dependent on the charity of relatives, the Youngs and the Casements. He was educated at the Diocesan School, Ballymena (later the
Ballymena Academy
Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender, voluntary Grammar schools in the United Kingdom, grammar school in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the tow ...
). He left school at 16 and went to England to work as a clerk with
Elder Dempster
Elder Dempster Lines was a UK shipping company that traded from 1932 to 2000, but had its origins in the mid-19th century.
Founders
Alexander Elder
Alexander Elder was born in Glasgow in 1834. He was the son of David Elder, who for many ye ...
, a
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
shipping company headed by
Alfred Lewis Jones
Sir Alfred Lewis Jones (24 February 1845 – 13 December 1909) was a Welsh businessman and ship-owner. Described by W. T. Stead as "The Uncrowned King of West Africa", Jones was a pre-eminent figure in the colonial shipping trade who amassed ...
.
[Séamas Ó Síocháin, ''Roger Casement, Imperialist, Rebel, Revolutionary'', Lilliput Press, 2008, p. 15; ]
Roger Casement's brother, Thomas Hugh Jephson Casement (1863–1939), had a roving life at sea and as a soldier, and later helped establish the
Irish Coastguard Service.
He was the inspiration for a character in
Denis Johnston
(William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901 – 8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work on c ...
's play ''The Moon in the Yellow River''. He drowned in
Dublin's Grand Canal on 6 March 1939, having threatened suicide.
Observations of Casement
In a 1938 comment on Casement, which may have been coloured by knowledge of his subsequent fate, and timed to follow Maloney’s allegations of forgery, diplomat Ernest Hambloch, who knew Casement for three weeks in 1910, describes an "unexpected" figure: tall, ungainly; "elaborately courteous" but with "a good deal of pose about him, as though he was afraid of being caught off his guard". "An easy talker and a fluent writer", he could "expound a case, but not argue it". “His greatest charm was his voice, which was very musical". The eyes were "kindly", but not given to laughter: "a sense of humour might have saved him from many things". The reference to his voice as ‘musical’ is an allusion to vocal peculiarities of intonation and frequency parameters found in the speech of some homosexual men.
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
's first impressions of Casement, from an encounter in the Congo in 1890 he judged "a positive piece of good luck", was "thinks, speaks, well, most intelligent and very sympathetic". Later, ''after'' Casement's arrest and trial, Conrad, by then a naturalized British subject: revoked and contradicted his original judgment of a quarter century earlier; "Already in Africa, I judged he was a man, properly speaking, of no mind at all. I don't mean stupid. I mean that he was all emotion. By emotional force (Putumayo, Congo report etc) he made his way, and sheer temperament—a truly tragic figure."
British diplomat and human rights investigator
The Congo and the Casement Report
Casement worked in the Congo for
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...
and the
African International Association
The International African Association (in full, "International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of Central Africa"; in French ''Association Internationale Africaine,'' and in full ''Association Internationale pour l'Exploration et ...
from 1884; this association became known as a front for King
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.
Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leo ...
in his takeover of what became the so-called
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...
.
Casement worked on a survey to improve communication and recruited and supervised workmen in building a railroad to bypass the lower of the
Congo River
The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...
, which is made unnavigable by cataracts, in order to improve transportation and trade to the Upper Congo. During his commercial work, he learned African languages.

In 1890 Casement met
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
, who had come to the Congo to pilot a merchant ship, ('
King of the Belgians
The monarchy of Belgium is the Constitutional monarchy, constitutional and Inheritance, hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/quee ...
'). Both were inspired by the idea that "European colonisation would bring moral and social progress to the continent and free its inhabitants 'from slavery, paganism and other barbarities.' Each would soon learn the gravity of his error." Conrad published his short novel ''
Heart of Darkness
''Heart of Darkness'' is an 1899 novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgium, Belgian company in the African interior. Th ...
'' in 1899, exploring the colonial ills. Casement later exposed the conditions he found in the Congo during an official investigation for the British government. In these formative years, he also met
Herbert Ward
Herbert may refer to:
People
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, Northern Territory ...
, and they became longtime friends. Ward left Africa in 1889, and devoted his time to becoming an artist, and his experience there strongly influenced his work.
Casement joined the
Colonial Service
The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...
, under the authority of the
Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...
, first serving overseas as a clerk in
British West Africa
British West Africa was the collective name for British settlements in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was ...
.
In August 1901 he transferred to the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United ...
service as British consul in the eastern part of the
French Congo
The French Congo (), also known as Middle Congo (), was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo and parts of Gabon, and the Central African Republic. In 1910, it was made part of the larger ...
. In 1903 the
Balfour Government commissioned Casement, then its consul at
Boma in the
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...
, to investigate the human rights situation in that colony of the Belgian king,
Leopold II. Setting up a private army known as the , Leopold had squeezed revenue out of the people of the territory through
a reign of terror in the harvesting and export of rubber and other resources. In trade, Belgium shipped guns and other materials to the Congo, used chiefly to suppress the local people.

Casement travelled for weeks in the upper
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin () is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the larg ...
to interview people throughout the region, including workers, overseers and mercenaries. He delivered a long, detailed eyewitness report to
the Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
that exposed abuses: "the enslavement, mutilation, and torture of natives on the rubber plantations".
It became known as the ''
Casement Report
The Casement Report was a 1904 document written at the behest of the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government by Roger Casement (1864–1916)—a British diplomat and future Irish War of Independence, Irish independence fighter—detai ...
'' of 1904. King Leopold had held the Congo Free State since 1885, when the
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin, of European powers and the United States effectively gave him free rein in the area.
Leopold had exploited the territory's natural resources (mostly rubber) as a private entrepreneur, not as king of the Belgians. Using violence and murder against men and their families, Leopold's private had decimated many native villages in the course of forcing the men to gather rubber and abusing them to increase productivity. Casement's report provoked controversy, and some companies with a business interest in the Congo rejected its findings, as did Casement's former boss, Alfred Lewis Jones.
When the report was made public, opponents of Congolese conditions formed interest groups, such as the
Congo Reform Association
The Congo Reform Association (CRA) was a political and humanitarian activist group that sought to promote reform of the Congo Free State, a private territory in Central Africa under the absolute sovereignty of King Leopold II. Active from 19 ...
, founded by
E. D. Morel
Edmund Dene Morel (born Georges Edmond Pierre Achille Morel Deville; 10 July 1873 – 12 November 1924) was a French-born British journalist, author, pacifist and politician.
As a young official at the shipping company Elder Dempster, Morel ob ...
with Casement's support, and demanded action to relieve the situation of the Congolese. Other European nations followed suit, as did the United States. The British Parliament demanded a meeting of the 14 signatory powers to review the 1885 Berlin Agreement defining interests in Africa. The Belgian Parliament, pushed by Socialist leader
Emile Vandervelde
Emile Vandervelde (25 January 1866 – 27 December 1938) was a Belgium, Belgian socialist politician. Nicknamed "the boss" (''le patron''), Vandervelde was a leading figure in the Belgian Labour Party (POB–BWP) and in international socialism.
C ...
and other critics of the king's Congolese policy, forced Léopold to set up an independent commission of inquiry. In 1905, despite Leopold's efforts, it confirmed the essentials of Casement's report. On 15 November 1908, the parliament of Belgium took over the Congo Free State from Leopold and organised its administration as the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
.
Portugal
In July 1904 Casement was appointed as Consul in Lisbon. This was seen in London as a comfortable and better paid promotion after his arduous service in Africa. Casement had responded that while he would take up the assignment, "it might relieve the Foreign Office of some embarrassment were I to resign from the Service".
In the event Casement found the undemanding and routine nature of consular work in a European capital to lack the challenge and satisfaction of his earlier postings. Poor health gave grounds for his returning to Britain after only a few months.
Peru: Abuses against the Putumayo Indians
In 1906 the Foreign Office sent Casement to Brazil: first as consul in
Santos, then transferred to
Pará
Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...
, and lastly promoted to consul-general in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
. He was attached as a consular representative to a commission investigating reports about an enslaved workforce collecting rubber for the
Peruvian Amazon Company
The Peruvian Amazon Company, also known as the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Co., was a rubber boom company that operated in Peru during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Headquartered in Iquitos, it gained notoriety for its harsh treatment of In ...
(PAC), which had been registered in Britain in 1907 and had a British board of directors and numerous stockholders. In September 1909, a journalist named Sidney Paternoster wrote in ''Truth'', a British magazine, of abuses against PAC workers as well as Peruvians competing against Colombians in the disputed region of the
Peruvian Amazon
Peruvian Amazonia (), informally known locally as the Peruvian jungle () or just the jungle (), is the area of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, east of the Andes and Peru's borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Bolivia. Peru has the second-l ...
. The article was titled "The Devil's Paradise: A British-Owned Congo".
In addition, the British consul at
Iquitos
Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province, Peru, Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the List of cities in Peru, ninth-most populous city in Peru ...
had said that
Barbadians
Barbadians, more commonly known as Bajans (pronounced ), are people who are identified with the country of Barbados, by being citizens or their descendants in the Bajan diaspora. The connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultu ...
, considered British subjects as part of the empire, had been ill-treated while working for PAC, which gave the government a reason to intervene (ordinarily it could not investigate the internal affairs of another country). These Barbadians were exploited into indebtedness to the Company, and used as enforcers against the Company's enslaved indigenous workforce. American civil engineer Walter Hardenburg had told Paternoster of witnessing a joint PAC and Peruvian military action against a Colombian rubber station, which they destroyed, stealing the rubber. He also saw Peruvian Indians whose backs were marked by severe whipping, in a pattern called the "Mark of Arana" (the head of the rubber company), and reported other abuses.
PAC, with its operational headquarters in Iquitos, dominated the city and the region. The area was separated from the main population of Peru by the Andes, and it was from the Amazon's mouth at Pará. The British-registered company was effectively controlled by the archetypal
rubber baron Julio César Arana
Julio César Arana del Águila, (April 12, 1864 – September 7, 1952) was a Peruvian entrepreneur and politician who committed crimes against humanity such as slavery, torture and genocide.
A major figure in the rubber industry in the upper ...
and his brother. Born in
Rioja, Arana had climbed out of poverty to own and operate a company harvesting great quantities of rubber in the
Peruvian Amazon
Peruvian Amazonia (), informally known locally as the Peruvian jungle () or just the jungle (), is the area of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, east of the Andes and Peru's borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Bolivia. Peru has the second-l ...
, which was much in demand on the world market. The rubber boom had led to expansion in
Iquitos
Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province, Peru, Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the List of cities in Peru, ninth-most populous city in Peru ...
as a trading centre, as all the company rubber was shipped down the Amazon River from there to the Atlantic port. Numerous foreigners had flocked to the area seeking their fortunes in the rubber boom, or at least some piece of the business. The rough frontier city, including both respectable businesses and the vice district, was highly influenced by the PAC and Arana.
Casement travelled to the
Putumayo District
Putumayo District is one of four districts of the Putumayo Province in Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the so ...
, where the rubber was harvested deep in the Amazon Basin, and explored the treatment of the local
Indians of
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. The isolated area was outside the reach of the national government and near the border with Colombia, which periodically made incursions in competition for the rubber. For years, the Indians had been forced into unpaid labour by field staff of the PAC, who exerted absolute power over them and subjected them to near starvation, severe physical abuse, rape of women and girls by the managers and overseers, terrorization and casual murder. Casement found conditions as inhumane as those in the
Congo. On 23 October 1910, regarding those conditions, he wrote that "It far exceeds in depravity and demoralisation the Congo regime at its worst". With "the only redeeming feature" he could identify with being that the Putumayo genocide affected thousands, whereas Leopold's state affected millions.
Casement made two lengthy visits to the region, first in 1910 with a commission of commercial investigators. During his first journey in the Putumayo, he met several people connected to the company's most infamous actions, including
Armando Normand and
Victor Macedo. Casement wrote in his journal that Normand and Macedo actively tried to discredit his investigation and bribe the Barbadian employees. Casement believed that Macedo and Normand would do anything to save themselves and thought that they might have the Barbadians arrested in Iquitos for libel. Casement even speculated that if he went to Matanzas alone, which was Normand's station, he might have "died of fever" and no one would have known. This alludes to previous suggestions that if Casement had not come to the Putumayo on an official mission, he might have been murdered. On his return to Iquitos, a French trader Casement had previously met, told Casement that if he hadn’t come in an official manner, the Company "would have got away with" him up there and his death would be blamed on the Natives. Casement interviewed both (some of) the Putumayo natives and men who had abused them, including thirty Barbadians, three of whom had also suffered from inhumane conditions imposed by the company. When the report was publicised, there was public outrage in Britain over the abuses.
Casement's report has been described as a "brilliant piece of journalism", as he wove together first-person accounts by both "victims and perpetrators of atrocities ... Never before had distant colonial subjects been given such personal voices in an official document."
After his report was made to the British government, some wealthy board members of the PAC were horrified by what they learned. Arana and the Peruvian government promised to make changes. In 1911, the British government asked Casement to return to Iquitos and Putumayo to see if promised changes in treatment had occurred. In a report to the British foreign secretary, dated 17 March 1911, Casement detailed the rubber company's continued use of
pillories
The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...
to punish the Indians:
Men, women, and children were confined in them for days, weeks, and often months. ... Whole families ... were imprisoned—fathers, mothers, and children, and many cases were reported of parents dying thus, either from starvation or from wounds caused by flogging, while their offspring were attached alongside them to watch in misery themselves the dying agonies of their parents.
Some of the company men exposed as killers in his 1910 report were charged by Peru, while most fled the region and were never captured. In 1911, Casement tried to have one man in particular arrested,
Andrés O'Donnell
Andrés O'Donnell (1886–?) was an agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company of Irish–Peruvian descent, employed in the Putumayo River basin between 1903 and 1910. He managed the Entre Rios station for the Company, which collected rubber from local ...
, after he was discovered living comfortably in Barbados. O'Donnell had worked for Arana as the manager of Entre Rios for seven years, and hundreds of natives died under his administration. Casement noted that he was the "least criminal of the chief agents" and "I don't think he killed Indians for pleasure or sport—but only to terrorize for rubber". An extradition order was issued by Peru however it was found to be faulty, so O'Donnell was released on a legal technicality. He later escaped to Panama, and then the United States. Others, such as Armando Normand and
Augusto Jiménez Seminario, were arrested but escaped from jail before the conclusion of trials in court.
Between September and November 1911, Casement attempted to secure the arrest of
Alfredo Montt and
José Inocente Fonseca, which Casement referred to as two of the "worst Criminals on the Putumayo". At the time, the pair were working for a Brazilian firm named
Edwards & Serra at the settlement of Santa Theresa, around 40 miles from
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...
on the
Javary River's confluence with the
Solimões River
Solimões () is the name often given to upper stretches of the Amazon River in Brazil from its confluence with the Rio Negro upstream to the border of Peru. The Solimões flows for about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) through a floodplain about 80 km ...
. They also had around ten Boras people with them, trafficked from the rubber station of La Sabana, part of La Chorrera's agency. Casement managed to get Brazilian authorities to issue an arrest warrant and order of expulsion from Brazilian territory; however, Casement wrote this was "not put into execution by the police officer dispatched for that purpose from Manaos". The instructions delivered to local authorities detailed that they would accompany Casement, detain Montt and Fonseca, then travel to the Peruvian port of Nazareth, located on Peru's border with Brazil, where Peruvian authorities could arrest the pair. Casement observed that on the day of his arrival at Benjamin Constant, the officer sent from Manaos, José P. de Campos, gathered with the commander of the local police and señor Serra of the Edwards & Serra firm. Casement became convinced that Serra bribed these two figures of authority, as Campos left four days after his arrival at Benjamin Constant instead of beginning his pursuit immediately while Montt and Fonseca were warned that authorities were actively seeking them. Montt and Fonseca managed to evade further attempts to secure their arrest by Peruvian and Brazilian authorities.
After his return to Britain, Casement repeated his extra-consular campaigning work by organising interventions by the
Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society
Anti-Slavery International, founded as the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1839, is an international non-governmental organization, international non-governmental organisation, registered charity and advocacy group, based in the Unit ...
and Catholic missions in the region. Some entrepreneurs had smuggled out cuttings from rubber plants and began cultivation in southeast Asia in colonies of the British Empire. The scandal of the PAC caused major losses in business to the company, and rubber demand began to be met by farmed rubber in other parts of the world. With the collapse of business for PAC, most foreigners left Iquitos and it quickly returned to its former status as an isolated backwater. For a period, the rubber patrons that depended on the Putumayo Indians for their workforce, were largely left alone. Arana was never prosecuted as head of the company. He lived in London for years, then returned to Peru. Despite the scandal associated with Casement's report and international pressure on the Peruvian government to change conditions, Arana later had a successful political career. He was elected a senator and died in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
, Peru in 1952, aged 88.
Casement wrote extensively both for his private record and for the Foreign Office and the anti-slavery cause. In 1910 he wrote a long and detailed personal account of his day-to-day experience in the Putumayo investigation. This is known today as "The Amazon Journal" as edited and published by Angus Mitchell The original manuscript is kept in the National Library of Ireland; it contains no sexual references whatsoever. The Black Diaries have seven conflicting versions of their provenance furnished by British officials. In 1911 Casement received a
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
for his efforts on behalf of the Amazonian Indians having been appointed
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1905 for his Congo work.
Irish revolutionary
Return to Ireland
In Ireland in 1904, on leave from Africa from that year until 1905, Casement joined the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...
, an organisation established in 1893 to preserve and revive the spoken and literary use of the
Irish language
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
. He met the leaders of the powerful
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...
(IPP) to lobby for his work in the Congo. He did not support those, like the IPP, who proposed
Home Rule
Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...
, as he believed that the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
would veto such efforts. Casement was more impressed by
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Joseph Griffith (; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Trea ...
's new
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
party (founded 1905), which called for an independent Ireland (through a non-violent series of strikes and boycotts). Its sole imperial tie would be a
dual monarchy between Britain and Ireland, modelled on the policy example of
Ferenc Deák in Hungary. Casement joined the party in 1905.
In a letter to Mrs. J. R. Green, (the Irish historian Alice Stopford Green) dated 20 April 1906 Casement reflected on his conversion to the national cause as someone who had "accepted imperialism" and had been close to an "ideal" Englishman:
It is a mistake for an Irishman to mix himself up with the English. He is bound to do one of two things—either to go to the wall if he remains Irish or to become an Englishman himself. You see I very nearly did become one once. At the Boer War time, I had been away from Ireland for years, out of touch with everything native to my heart and mind, trying hard to do my duty, and every fresh act of duty made me appreciably nearer the ideal of the Englishman. I had accepted Imperialism. British rule was to be accepted at all costs, because it was the best for everyone under the sun, and those who opposed that extension ought rightly to be 'smashed.' I was on the high road to being a regular Imperialist jingo—although at heart underneath all, and unsuspected almost by myself, I had remained an Irishman. Well, the war, the Boer War">Second_Boer_War.html" ;"title=".e., the Boer Wargave me qualms at the end—the Second Boer War concentration camps">concentration camps
A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...
bigger ones—and finally, when up in those lonely Congo forests where I found Leopold II of Belgium">Leopold
Leopold may refer to:
People
* Leopold (given name), including a list of people named Leopold or Léopold
* Leopold (surname)
Fictional characters
* Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons''
* Leopold B ...
I found also myself, the incorrigible Irishman''.''
Ulster
In the north, through his sister, Nina, in Portrush, and his close friends in London, Robert Wilson Lynd, Robert Lynd and Sylvia Lynd, Sylvia Dryhurst, Casement was drawn into the orbit of Francis Joseph Bigger.
[O'Toole, Tina (2016)]
"The New Women of the Glens Writers and Revolutionaries"
in ''Women Writing War: Ireland 1980–1922,'' Tina O'Toole'','' Gillean McIntosh and Muireann Ó'Cinnéide eds., University College Dublin Press, pp. 67–84 8–70 A wealthy Presbyterian solicitor, at his house on the northern shore of Belfast Lough, , Bigger hosted not only the poets and writers of the "Northern Revival"'','' but also, and critically for Casement,
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
Protestants committed to taking the case for an Irish Ireland to their co-religionists. These included Ada McNeil, with whom Casement helped organise the first ('Festival of the Glens') at
Waterfoot (
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
) in 1904,
Bulmer Hobson
John Bulmer Hobson (14 January 1883 – 8 August 1969) was an Irish republican. He was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) before the Easter Rising in 1916.D.J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty, ''A New D ...
(later of the IRB), the Nationalist MP
Stephen Gwynn
Stephen Lucius Gwynn (13 February 1864 – 11 June 1950) was an Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet and Protestant Nationalist politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he represented Galway city as its Member of Parliamen ...
, and the Gaelic League activist
Alice Milligan
Alice Letitia Milligan 'pseud.'' Iris Olkyrn(4 September 1865 – 13 April 1953) was an Irish writer and activist in Ireland's Celtic Revival; an advocate for the political and cultural participation of women; and a Protestant Irish nation ...
.
On the Irish interplay between religious factions and independence, Casement wrote to Bulmer Hobson in 1909: "The Irish Catholic, man for man, is a poor crawling coward as a rule. Afraid of his miserable soul and fearing the priest like the Devil". Freedom could come to Ireland ".. only through Irish Protestants, because they are not afraid of any Bogey".
Casement retired from the British consular service in the summer of 1913. In October he spoke at a Protestant assembly at
Ballymoney
Ballymoney ( , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated ...
Town Hall organised by Captain
Jack White
John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
(who, in the midst of the
Dublin lock-out
The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Dublin, Ireland. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often viewed as the most severe and s ...
, with
James Connolly
James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...
had begun organising a workers' militia, the
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a paramilitary group first formed in Dublin to defend the picket lines and street demonstrations of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) against the police during the Great Dublin Lock ...
).
On a platform with Ada McNeill, the historian
Alice Stopford Green
Alice Stopford Green (30 May 1847 – 28 May 1929) was an Irish historian, nationalist, and member of the first Seanad Éireann.
Early life
She was born Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford in Kells, County Meath. Her father Edward Adderley Stopford ...
, and the veteran
tenant-right
Tenant-right is a term in the common law system expressing the right to compensation which a tenant has, either by custom or by law, against his landlord for increment at the termination of his tenancy.
In England, it was governed for most part b ...
activist
J. B. Armour, he spoke to the motion disputing the claim of
Edward Carson
Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire), King's Counsel, KC (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician ...
and his unionists "to represent the Protestant community of North East Ulster", and condemning the prospect of "lawless resistance" to Home Rule.
Enthused by the meeting, which had been covered by all the London and Irish papers, Casement resolved to replicate the Ballymoney meeting across Ulster, starting with
Coleraine
Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...
. But the Unionist-controlled council refused to allow the group access to the local Town Hall, and nothing came of it.
Meanwhile an anti-Home Rule meeting addressed by Carson's lieutenant
Sir James Craig, then organising the
Ulster Volunteers
The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the ...
, not only filled the Ballymoney Town Hall but had the crowd spilling out into the surrounding streets. In the event, the Ballymoney Protestant "Protest Against the Lawles Policy of Carsonism" proved to be the only meeting of its kind held anywhere in Ulster.
Already in November 1913, Casement had begun focussing on responding to "Carsonism" in kind: he became a Gaelic League member of the Provisional Committee of the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...
launched at a meeting in the
Rotunda in Dublin.
At the same time White and Connolly at the ITGWU formed the
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a paramilitary group first formed in Dublin to defend the picket lines and street demonstrations of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) against the police during the Great Dublin Lock ...
. In April 1914, he had been together with Alice Milligan in
Larne
Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)[Larne/Latharna]
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...
shortly after Craig had had
German guns run through the port, a feat Casement told her nationalists would have to match.
America and Germany
In July 1914, Casement journeyed to the United States to promote and raise money for the Volunteers among the large and numerous Irish communities there. Through his friendship with men such as
Bulmer Hobson
John Bulmer Hobson (14 January 1883 – 8 August 1969) was an Irish republican. He was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) before the Easter Rising in 1916.D.J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty, ''A New D ...
, a member both of the Volunteers and of the secret
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
(IRB), Casement established connections with exiled Irish nationalists, particularly .
Elements of the suspicious ''Clan'' did not trust Casement completely, as he was not a member of the IRB and held views that they considered too moderate but others, such as
John Quinn, regarded him as extreme. Devoy, initially hostile to Casement for his part in conceding control of the Irish Volunteers to
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalism, Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader ...
, was won over in June, and
Joseph McGarrity
Joseph McGarrity (28 March 1874 – 4 September 1940) was an Irish-American political activist best known for his leadership in Clan na Gael in America and his support of Irish Republicanism back in Ireland.
Early years
McGarrity was born in ...
, another leader, became devoted to Casement and remained so from then on. The
Howth gun-running
The Howth gun-running ( ) was the smuggling of 1,500 Mauser rifles to Howth harbour for the Irish Volunteers, an Irish nationalist paramilitary force, on 26 July 1914. The unloading of guns from a private yacht during daylight hours attracted a ...
in late July 1914, which Casement had helped to organise and (with a loan from Alice Stopford Green) finance, further enhanced his reputation.
In August 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Casement and John Devoy arranged a meeting in New York with the western hemisphere's top-ranking German diplomat,
Count Bernstorff, to propose a mutually beneficial plan: if Germany would sell guns to the Irish revolutionaries and provide military leaders, the Irish would revolt against England, diverting troops and attention from the war with Germany. Bernstorff appeared sympathetic. Casement and Devoy sent an envoy, president
John Kenny, to present their plan personally. Kenny, while unable to meet the
German Emperor
The German Emperor (, ) was the official title of the head of state and Hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the abdicati ...
, did receive a warm reception from the German ambassador to Italy
Hans von Flotow
Hans Ludwig Carl Theodor von Flotow (10 September 1862 - 19 December 1935) was a high-level diplomat for the German Empire and ''Gutsherr'' (Lord of the manor).
Life Education and early career
Born at the family estate of Felsenhagen near Pritzwal ...
, and from
Prince von Bülow.
In October 1914, Casement sailed from New York for Germany via Norway, travelling in disguise with a false passport and seeing himself as an ambassador of the Irish people. While the journey was his idea, financed the expedition. Casement was carrying a large sum of money and sensitive documents. As a precaution he was accompanied by Adler Christensen, a young Norwegian immigrant returning to visit his family. The ship was boarded by the Royal Navy, detained and searched during which time Christensen concealed the money and documents entrusted to him. Casement was undetected. During their brief stop in
Christiania, Adler Christensen, was taken to the British legation, where he was questioned about his travelling companion. He gave no information. Later he made a second visit this time on Casement’s instructions and was informed that he would be rewarded if Casement were "knocked on the head". British diplomat
Mansfeldt Findlay
Sir Mansfeldt de Cardonnel Findlay (7 April 1861 – 31 December 1932) was a British diplomat who had the difficult task of envoy to Norway during World War I.
Career
Findlay was educated at Harrow School and joined the Her Majesty's Diplomatic ...
, sent a top secret memorandum to the Foreign Office alleging that Christensen had intimated a homosexual relationship with Casement. He continued to advise London that Christensen had, "implied that their relations were of an unnatural nature and that consequently he had great power over this man". On Casement’s instructions, Christensen set about the entrapment of Findlay which he finally achieved in December 1914 when Findlay handwrote the authorized bribe of £5,000 on official notepaper (equivalent to £606,100 in 2023) also guaranteeing immunity and free passage to the US in return for information leading to the capture of Roger Casement. Christensen returned to Berlin soon after with the original document which he delivered to a German official.

Findlay's handwritten letter of 1914 is kept in
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
, and is viewable online.
In November 1914, Casement negotiated a declaration by Germany which stated:
The Imperial Government formally declares that under no circumstances would Germany invade Ireland with a view to its conquest or the overthrow of any native institutions in that country. Should the fortune of this Great War, which was not of Germany's seeking, ever bring in its course German troops to the shores of Ireland, they would land there not as an army of invaders to pillage and destroy but as the forces of a Government that is inspired by goodwill towards a country and people for whom Germany desires only national prosperity and national freedom.
Casement spent most of his time in Germany seeking to recruit an
Irish Brigade from among more than 2,000 Irish
prisoners-of-war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
taken in the early months of the war and held in the prison camp of
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn (, ; officially abbreviated ''Limburg a. d. Lahn'') is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn.
The t ...
. His plan was that they would be trained to fight against Britain in the cause of Irish independence. Fifty-two of the 2,000 prisoners volunteered for the Brigade. Contrary to German promises, they received no training in the use of machine guns, which at the time were relatively new and unfamiliar weapons. An anonymous but detailed account of Casement's unwelcoming reception at the camp appears in ''The Literary Digest''. American Ambassador to Germany
James W. Gerard
James Watson Gerard III (August 25, 1867 – September 6, 1951) was a United States lawyer, diplomat, and justice of the New York Supreme Court.
Early life
Gerard was born in Geneseo, New York. His father, James Watson Gerard Jr., was a law ...
mentioned the effort in his memoir "Four Years in Germany":
The Germans collected all the soldier prisoners of Irish nationality in one camp at Limburg not far from Frankfurt a M in There efforts were made to induce them to join the German army. The men were well treated and were often visited by Sir Roger Casement who, working with the German authorities, tried to get these Irishmen to desert their flag and join the Germans. A few weaklings were persuaded by Sir Roger who finally discontinued his visits, after obtaining about thirty recruits, because the remaining Irishmen chased him out of the camp.
On 27 December 1914, Casement signed an agreement in Berlin with
Arthur Zimmermann
Arthur Zimmermann (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1940) was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire from 22 November 1916 until his resignation on 6 August 1917. His name is associated with the Zimmermann Telegram during World War ...
in the German Foreign Office, renouncing all his titles in a letter to the British Foreign Secretary dated 1 February 1915.
During World War I, Casement is known to have been involved in the German-backed plan by Indians to win their freedom from the
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
, the "
Hindu–German Conspiracy
The Hindu–German Conspiracy (Note on the name) were a series of attempts between 1914 and 1917 by Indian nationalist groups to create a pan-Indian rebellion against the British Empire during World War I. This rebellion was formulated betw ...
", recommending Joseph McGarrity to
Franz von Papen
Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and army officer. A national conservative, he served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932, and then as Vice-Chancell ...
as an intermediary. The Indian nationalists may also have followed Casement's strategy of trying to recruit prisoners of war to fight for Indian independence.
[Plowman, Matthew Erin. "Irish Republicans and the Indo–German Conspiracy of World War I", ''New Hibernia Review'' 7.3 (2003), pp. 81–105.]
Both efforts proved unsuccessful. In addition to finding it difficult to ally with the Germans while held as prisoners, potential recruits to Casement's brigade knew they would be liable to the death penalty as traitors if Britain won the war. In April 1916, Germany offered the Irish 20,000
Mosin–Nagant
The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, Bolt action, bolt-action, Magazine (firearms), internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891, in Russia and the former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle (, ISO 9: ) and inform ...
1891 rifles, ten
machine guns and accompanying ammunition, but no German officers; it was a fraction of the quantity of the arms Casement had hoped for, with no military expertise on offer.
The German weapons never reached Ireland. The British had intercepted German communications coming from Washington and suspected that there was going to be an attempt to land arms at Ireland, although they were not aware of the precise location. The ship transporting the arms—the German cargo vessel ''
Libau'', disguised as a Norwegian vessel, , under Captain
Karl Spindler—was apprehended by
HMS ''Bluebell'' on the late afternoon of Good Friday. About to be escorted into Queenstown (present-day
Cobh
Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. With a population of 14,148 inhabitants at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, Cobh is on the south si ...
),
County Cork
County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...
, on the morning of 22 April, Captain Spindler scuttled the ship by pre-set explosive charges. All of the crew were German sailors, though their clothes and effects, plus charts and books, were Norwegian, and the surviving crew became prisoners of war.
As
John Devoy
John Devoy (, ; 3 September 1842 – 29 September 1928) was an Irish republican Rebellion, rebel and journalist who owned and edited ''The Gaelic American'', a New York weekly newspaper, from 1903 to 1928.
Devoy dedicated over 60 year ...
had either misunderstood or disobeyed Pearse's instructions that the arms were under no circumstances to land before Easter Sunday, the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) members set to unload the arms under the command of
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a paramilitary group first formed in Dublin to defend the picket lines and street demonstrations of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) against the police during the Great Dublin Lock ...
officer and trade unionist
William Partridge were not ready. The IRB men sent to meet the boat drove off a pier and drowned.
Landing and capture

Casement confided his personal papers to Dr Charles Curry, with whom he had stayed at
Riederau on the
Ammersee
Ammersee (; English: Lake Ammer) is a '' Zungenbecken'' lake in Upper Bavaria, Germany, southwest of Munich between the towns of Herrsching and Dießen am Ammersee. With a surface area of approximately , it is the sixth largest lake in Germany ...
, before he left Germany. He departed with Robert Monteith and Sergeant Daniel Beverley (Bailey) of the Irish Brigade in a
submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
, initially the , which developed engine trouble, and then the , shortly after the ''Aud'' sailed. According to Monteith, Casement believed the Germans were toying with him from the start and providing inadequate aid that would doom a rising to failure.
Casement did not learn about the
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
until after the plan had been fully developed. He wanted to reach Ireland before the shipment of arms and convince
Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill (; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of D ...
(who he believed was still in control) to cancel the rising. Casement sent John McGoey, a recently arrived Irish-American, through Denmark to Dublin, ostensibly to advise what military aid was coming from Germany and when, but with Casement's orders "to get the Heads in Ireland to call off the rising and merely try to land the arms and distribute them". McGoey did not reach Dublin, nor did his message. His fate was unknown until recently. Evidently abandoning the Irish Nationalist cause, he joined the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
in 1916, survived the war, and later returned to the United States, where he died in an accident on a building site in 1925.
In the early hours of 21 April 1916, three days before the rising began, the German submarine put Casement and his two companions ashore at
Banna Strand
Banna Strand (Irish language, Gaeilge: Trá na Beannaí), also known as Banna Beach, is a beach in North Kerry, Ireland. It is an Atlantic Ocean beach extending from the Smallrock (Roc Beag) and Blackrock in the North to Carrahane at its south ...
in
Tralee Bay
Tralee Bay () is located in on the west coast of County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is situated between Kerry Head on the north side and the Maharees on the west and extends eastwards as far as the bridge at Blennerville. Several ...
,
County Kerry
County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...
– the boat used is now in the
Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...
in London. Suffering from a recurrence of the malaria that had plagued him since his days in the Congo, and too weak to keep up with Monteith and Bailey, Casement was discovered by a sergeant of the
Royal Irish Constabulary
The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...
at McKenna's Fort, an ancient ring fort in
Rahoneen
Rahoneen ("Ráth Eoghainín") is a townland of Ardfert in County Kerry, Ireland.
It is notable as the location of an ancient Celtic ringfort; at one time this was known as McKenna's fort, but, after the capture and execution of Roger Casement ...
,
Ardfert
Ardfert () is a village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Kerry, Ireland. Historically a religious centre, the economy of the locality is driven by agriculture and its position as a dormitory town, being only from Tralee. T ...
now renamed
Casement's Fort. When three pistols were discovered hidden nearby, the RIC arrested Casement on a charge of illegally bringing weapons into the country.
Casement was eventually to face charges of
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...
,
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
and
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
against the Crown. He sent word to Dublin about the inadequate German assistance. The Kerry Brigade of the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...
might have tried to rescue him over the next three days, but its leadership in Dublin held that not a shot was to be fired in Ireland before the
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
was in train and therefore ordered the Brigade to "do nothing" – a subsequent internal inquiry attached "no blame whatsoever" to the local Volunteers for failing to attempt a rescue. "He was taken to
Brixton Prison
HM Prison Brixton is a Category C training establishment men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner- South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Before 2012, it was used as a loca ...
to be placed under special observation for fear of an attempt of suicide. There were no staff at the
Tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
f London
F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounc ...
to guard suicidal cases."
Trial and execution
Casement's
trial at bar A trial at bar is a trial before two or more judges. The procedure was often used in cases which raised novel points of law or for high-profile trials. Among famous trials at bar are the trials of Sir Roger Casement and Dr Leander Starr Jameson.
I ...
opened at the
Royal Courts of Justice
The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...
on 26 June 1916 before the
Lord Chief Justice
The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales.
Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...
(
Viscount Reading),
Mr Justice Avory, and
Mr Justice Horridge. The prosecution had trouble arguing its case. Casement's crimes had been carried out in Germany and the
Treason Act 1351
The Treason Act 1351 ( 25 Edw. 3 Stat. 5. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England where, according to William Blackstone, common law treason offences were enumerated and no new offences were created. It is one of the earliest English stat ...
seemed to apply only to activities carried out on English (or arguably British) soil. A close reading of the Act allowed for a broader interpretation: the court decided that a comma should be read into the unpunctuated original
Norman-French text, crucially altering the sense so that "in the realm or elsewhere" referred to where acts were done and not just to where the "King's enemies" might be. Afterwards, Casement himself wrote that he was to be "hanged on a comma", leading to the well-used
epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...
.
During his trial, the prosecution (F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, F. E. Smith), who had admired Casement's work while he was a British consul, informally suggested to the defence barrister (
A. M. Sullivan (barrister), A. M. Sullivan) that they should jointly offer the typescripts produced by the Metropolitan Police in evidence; these were said to be official copies of Casement’s secret diaries. The prosecution assumed that Sullivan hoped to save Casement’s life with a verdict of
"guilty but insane". However, Sullivan refused to agree and Casement was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Before, during and after the trial and appeal, British intelligence showed the police typescripts to the press and to influential persons. These portrayed Casement as a "sexual deviant" with numerous explicit accounts of homosexual activity. Scandalous rumours aroused public opinion against him and influenced those notables who might otherwise have tried to intervene. Given societal norms and the illegality of homosexuality at the time, support for Casement's reprieve declined in some quarters. The typescripts remained secret until published in 1959 as the ''Black Diaries.'' Bound diaries said to be the originals are kept in the British
National Archives
National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.
Conceptual development
From the Middle Ages i ...
, whilst most of the other exhibits from the trial are in the
Crime Museum
The Crime Museum is a collection of Crime, criminal memorabilia kept at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England. Known as the Black Museum until the early 21st century, the museum came into existen ...
in London.
Casement unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction and death sentence. Those who pleaded for clemency for Casement included
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
, who was acquainted with Casement through the work of the Congo Reform Association, poet
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
, and playwright
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...
.
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
could not forgive Casement, nor could Casement's longtime friend, the sculptor
Herbert Ward
Herbert may refer to:
People
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, Northern Territory ...
, whose son Charles had been killed on the Western Front that January, and who would change the name of Casement's godson, who had been named after him. Members of the Casement family in Antrim contributed discreetly to the defence fund, although they had sons in the British Army and Navy. A
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
appeal against the death sentence was rejected by the British cabinet on the insistence of prosecutor F. E. Smith, an opponent of Irish independence.
Casement's knighthood was forfeited on 29 June 1916.
On the day of his execution by
hanging
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
at
Pentonville Prison
HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...
, 3 August 1916, Casement was received into the Catholic Church at his request. He was attended by two Catholic priests, Dean Timothy Ring and Father James Carey, from the East London parish of
SS Mary and Michael. The latter, also known as James McCarroll, said of Casement that he was "a saint ... we should be praying to him
asementinstead of for him". At the time of his death he was 51 years old.
State funeral
Casement's body was buried in
quicklime
Calcium oxide (formula: Ca O), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term '' lime'' connotes calcium-containin ...
in the prison cemetery at the rear of Pentonville Prison, where he had been hanged, though his last wish was to be buried at
Murlough Bay
Murlough Bay () is a bay on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland between Fair Head and Torr Head. Known for its remote location, the area overlooks Rathlin Island and has views across the Irish Sea to the Mull of Kintyre, Islay ...
on the north coast of
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
, in present-day
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. During the decades after his execution, successive British governments refused many formal requests for repatriation of Casement's remains. For example, in September 1953,
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
, on a visit to
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
in Downing Street, requested the return of the remains.
['De Valera Rule, 1932–75' by David McCullagh; Gill Books 2018] Churchill said he was not personally opposed to the idea but would consult with his colleagues and take legal advice. He ultimately turned down the Irish request, citing "specific and binding" legal obligations that the remains of executed prisoners could not be exhumed. De Valera disputed the legal advice and responded:
De Valera received no reply.

Finally, in 1965, Casement's remains were repatriated to
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Despite the annulment, or withdrawal, of his knighthood in 1916, the 1965
UK Cabinet record of the repatriation decision refers to him as "Sir Roger Casement". Contrary to Casement's wishes, Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...
's government had released the remains only on condition that they could ''not'' be brought into Northern Ireland, as "the government feared that a reburial there could provoke Catholic celebrations and Protestant reactions."
Fintan O'Toole
Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is an Irish journalist, literary editor, and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. He was drama critic for the ''New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and is Advisin ...
"The Multiple Hero"
, ''The New Republic'', 2 August 2012; accessed 23 October 2014
Casement's remains lay in state at the Garrison Church, Arbour Hill (now
Arbour Hill Prison
Arbour Hill Prison () is a prison located in the Arbour Hill area near Heuston Station in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The prison is the national centre for male sex offenders.
Adjacent to the prison are the Church of the Sacred Heart (Dubl ...
) in Dublin city for five days, close to the graves of other leaders of the 1916
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
, but would not be buried beside them. After a
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
, the remains were buried with full military honours in the
Republican plot in
Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum.
Location
The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two part ...
in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, alongside other Irish republicans and nationalists. The
President of Ireland
The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...
, Éamon de Valera, who was then in his mid-eighties and the last surviving leader of the Easter Rising, attended the ceremony, along with an estimated 30,000 others.
The ''Black Diaries''
British officials have claimed that Casement kept the ''
Black Diaries
The ''Black Diaries'' are diaries purported to have been written by the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement, which contained accounts of homosexual liaisons with young men,mostly prostitutes. They cover the years 1903, 1910 and 1911 (two). There ...
'', a set of diaries covering the years 1903, 1910 and 1911 (twice).
Jeffrey Dudgeon
Jeffrey Edward Anthony Dudgeon MBE (born January 1946) is a Northern Irish politician, historian and gay political activist.
A member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Dudgeon was a Belfast City Councillor for the Balmoral DEA from 2014 to ...
, who published an edition of all the diaries said, "His homosexual life was almost entirely out of sight and disconnected from his career and political work".
If genuine, the diaries reveal Casement was a
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
who had many partners, had a fondness for young men and mostly paid for sex.
In 1916, before Casement's conviction for high treason, British intelligence showed police typescripts (alleged copies of Casement’s diaries allegedly in police possession) to influential individuals in a campaign to destroy his reputation and to undermine sympathy for him. At a time of strong conservatism, not least among Irish Catholics, publicising the typescripts and Casement's alleged homosexuality undermined support for him. The question of whether the diaries are genuine or forgeries has been much disputed. The diaries were declassified for limited inspection (by persons approved by the Home Office) in August 1959. The manuscript diaries which were not shown in 1916 may today be seen at the British
National Archives
National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.
Conceptual development
From the Middle Ages i ...
in
Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...
. Historians and biographers of Casement's life have taken opposing views. Roger McHugh (in 1976) and Angus Mitchell (since the 1990s) regard the diaries as forged. Mitchell has published several articles in the ''Field Day Review'' of the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
.
In 2019 Paul R. Hyde published Anatomy of a lie; Decoding Casement, a controversial investigation of the diaries which cited much official evidence and concluded that the bound diaries were forged after Casement’s death. Hyde’s central argument is that there is no independent witness evidence that the manuscript diaries physically existed in 1916. This argument has two sources; none of the studies and biographies pleading authenticity cite any names of independent persons who saw manuscript diaries in 1916; official UK government files also fail to cite such names but do verify that many named persons were shown the police typescripts.
The Giles Report
A private investigation of the ''Black Diaries'' was commissioned by Professor William J. McCormack of Goldsmiths College, jointly funded by the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and
RTÉ
(; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
, and carried out by Dr. Audrey Giles. The results of this handwriting investigation were announced by McCormack at a London press conference on March 12, 2002. He stated that the diaries were authentic "without any reason to suspect either forgery or interpolation by any other hand".
Two US document examiners independently reviewed the Giles Report; both were critical of it. James Horan stated, "As editor of the ''Journal of Forensic Sciences'' and ''The Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners'', I would NOT recommend publication of the Giles Report because the report does not show HOW its conclusion was reached." and "To the question, 'Is the writing Roger Casement's?' on the basis of the Giles Report as it stands, my answer would have to be I cannot tell."
Document examiner Marcel Matley wrote, "Even if every document examined were the authentic writing of Casement, this report does nothing to establish the fact".
The Giles investigation was not intended for legal purposes and does not comply with recognised forensic standards. Giles reputedly made two errors; the first was in accepting a biased instruction from McCormack that she verify the diaries as Casement's work and the second was in alleging that Michael Collins had authenticated the diaries. Almost certainly Giles was manipulated.
A very brief expert opinion in 1959 by a Home Office employee failed to identify Casement as the author of the diaries. This opinion is almost unknown and does not appear in the Casement literature. As late as July 2015 the UK National Archives ambiguously described the ''Black Diaries'' as "attributed to Roger Casement", while at the same time unambiguously declaring their satisfaction with the result of the private Giles Report.
Vargas Llosa and Dudgeon
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...
presented a mixed account of Casement's sexuality in his 2010 novel, ''
The Dream of the Celt
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'', suggesting that Casement wrote partially fictional diaries of what he wished had taken place in homosexual encounters. Dudgeon proclaimed in a 2013 article that Casement needed to be "sexless" to fit his role as a Catholic martyr in the nationalist movement of the time.
Dudgeon writes, "The evidence that Casement was a busy homosexual is in his own words and handwriting in the diaries, and is colossally convincing because of its detail and extent."
Legacy
Landmarks, buildings, and organisations

*
Casement Park
Casement Park () is the principal Gaelic games stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located in Andersonstown Road in the west of the city, and is named after the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement.
The stadium, which has been closed si ...
, the
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...
ground on Andersonstown Road in west
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
.
* Several
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...
clubs, for instance Roger Casements GAA Club (
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, England), Brampton Roger Casements GAC (
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Canada) and Roger Casements GAC (
Portglenone, Northern Ireland)
* Gaelscoil Mhic Easmainn (Irish for Casement) is an Irish-speaking national school in
Tralee
Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...
, County Kerry
* In
Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...
there is an estate named after him in Árd Easmuinn, Casement Heights.
*
Casement Aerodrome
Casement Aerodrome () or Baldonnel Aerodrome is a military airbase to the southwest of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland situated off the N7 road (Ireland), N7 main roads in Ireland, road route to the south and south west. It is the headquar ...
in
Baldonnel, the Irish Air Corps base near Dublin.
* Casement Rail and Bus Station in
Tralee
Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...
, near the site of Casement's landing on
Banna Strand
Banna Strand (Irish language, Gaeilge: Trá na Beannaí), also known as Banna Beach, is a beach in North Kerry, Ireland. It is an Atlantic Ocean beach extending from the Smallrock (Roc Beag) and Blackrock in the North to Carrahane at its south ...
. Operated by
Iarnród Éireann
Iarnród Éireann, () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national Rail transport in Ireland, railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal I ...
and
Córas Iompair Éireann
* In Cork, an estate is named Roger Casement Park after him in Glasheen, a western suburb of the city.
* In Clonakilty, County Cork, a street and adjacent estate is named in his honour.
* A monument at Banna Strand in Kerry is open to the public at all times.
* A statue of him is erected in Ballyheigue, County Kerry
* A statue of him stands at Dún Laoghaire Baths.
* Many streets are named for him, including Casement Road, Park, Drive and Grove in
Finglas
Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway (Ireland), M50 motorway, and the N2 road (Ireland), N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Du ...
,
County Dublin
County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...
.
* In Harryville,
Ballymena
Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...
,
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
, there is a Casement Street, named for his great-grandfather, who was a solicitor there.
Representation in culture
Casement has been the subject of ballads, poetry, novels, and TV series since his death, including:
* The ballad "
Lonely Banna Strand" tells the story of Casement's role in the prelude to the
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
, his arrest, and his execution.
*
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
used Casement as an inspiration for the character of
Lord John Roxton Lord John Roxton (a fictional title derived from the English parish of Roxton, Bedfordshire) is a supporting character in the Professor Challenger series of stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. He makes his initial appearance in the first entry of this s ...
in the 1912 novel, ''
The Lost World''.
*
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
wrote a poem, ''The Ghost of Roger Casement'', demanding the return of Casement's remains, with the refrain, "The ghost of Roger Casement/Is beating on the door"
* Roger Casement is featured in ''
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway () is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcano, volcanic fissure eruption, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province active in the region during the Paleogene period. ...
'' (1922) by
Pierre Benoit, who portrays him as a noble martyr.
*
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
refers to Casement and the 1916 Uprising in her 1941 novel ''
N or M?''
*
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely ackno ...
, in his
autobiographical novel
An autobiographical novel, also known as an autobiographical fiction, fictional autobiography, or autobiographical fiction novel, is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The ...
''
Borstal Boy
''Borstal Boy'' is a 1958 autobiography, autobiographical book by Brendan Behan. The story depicts a young, fervently idealistic Behan, who loses his naïveté over the three years of his sentence to a juvenile borstal, softening his radical Ir ...
'' (1958), speaks of the respect his family had for Casement.
* Casement is the subject of the play ''Prisoner of the Crown'', which was written by
Richard Herd
Richard Thomas Herd Jr. (September 26, 1932 – May 26, 2020) was an American actor appearing in numerous supporting, recurring, and guest roles in television series and occasional film roles from the 1970s to the 2010s. He was well known in the ...
and
Richard Stockton; it premiered at the
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...
in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
on 15 February 1972
* A German TV series, ''
Sir Roger Casement
Roger David Casement (; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during World War I. He worked for the Britis ...
'' (1968), was made about his time in Germany during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
* In 1973
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
aired a critically acclaimed radio play by
David Rudkin
James David Rudkin (born 29 June 1936) is an England, English playwright.
Early life
Rudkin was born in London. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, he was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Great ...
entitled ''
Cries from Casement as His Bones are Brought to Dublin''
* ''
The Dream of the Celt
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'' by
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...
(winner of the Nobel Prize for literature) is a historical novel based on Roger Casement's life, translated from the Spanish by
Edith Grossman
Edith Marion Grossman (née Dorph; March 22, 1936 – September 4, 2023) was an American literary translator. Known for her work translating Latin American literature, Latin American and Spanish literature to English, she translated the works o ...
and published in 2012.
* American Noise Rock band
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead released an instrumental entitled "The Betrayal of Roger Casement & the Irish Brigade" on their 2008 ''Festival Thyme'' EP
* ''Dying for Ireland'' (2012) is a biographical novel by Alan Lewis, which presents a "fictional reimagining" of Casement's prison memoirs, based on his writings, histories and biographies.
* A one-act play, ''Shall Roger Casement Hang?'', based mainly on his interrogation at Scotland Yard, was performed for the first time at the
Tron Theatre
The Tron Theatre is located in Glasgow, Scotland. The theatre was formerly known as the Tron Kirk. It began as the Collegiate Church of Our Lady and St. Anne.
The Tron Theatre building is home to the Tron Theatre Company and serves as a prod ...
in Glasgow in May 2016.
* ''The Trial of Roger Casement'' is a graphic novel by Fionnuala Doran
* Roger Casement is discussed in W. G. Sebald's novel ''
The Rings of Saturn
''The Rings of Saturn'' ( - An English Pilgrimage) is a 1995 novel by the German writer W. G. Sebald. Its first-person narrative arc is the account by a nameless narrator (who resembles the author in typical Sebaldian fashion) on a walking tour ...
''.
* ''Valiant Gentlemen'' is a historical novel based on Casement's friendship with
Herbert Ward
Herbert may refer to:
People
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, Northern Territory ...
and his wife Sarita Sanford, by
Sabina Murray
Sabina Murray (born 1968) is a Filipina-American screenwriter and novelist. She currently is a professor in the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Background and career
The daughter of an American fathe ...
, Grove/Atlantic, 2016.
* ''Roger Casement – Heart of Darkness'' (1992) is a documentary by
Kenneth Griffith
Kenneth Griffith (born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths, 12 October 1921 – 25 June 2006) was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker. His outspoken views made him a controversial figure, especially when presenting documentaries which have been ca ...
on the life of Roger Casement.
[Welsh film-maker fascinated by Irish history](_blank)
. (21 October 2006). The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
. Retrieved 20 June 2020[Vahimagi, Tise. (2014)]
Griffith, Kenneth (1921–2006)
. British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
. Screenonline
Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and tele ...
The name refers to
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
's
novel of that name, written after Conrad met Casement in Congo.
* ''The Ghost of Roger Casement'' (2002) is a documentary that investigates the authenticity of the forensic examination of the
Black Diaries
The ''Black Diaries'' are diaries purported to have been written by the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement, which contained accounts of homosexual liaisons with young men,mostly prostitutes. They cover the years 1903, 1910 and 1911 (two). There ...
.
[Roger Casement Diaries Authenticated (2002). ]RTÉ Archives
(; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...
. Retrieved 20 June 2020
Notes
References
Bibliography
By Roger Casement:
* 1910. ''Roger Casement's Diaries: 1910. The Black and the White''. Sawyer, Roger, ed. London: Pimlico.
*
* *
* 1914. ''The Crime against Ireland, and How the War May Right it''. Berlin: no publisher.
* 1914. ''Ireland, Germany and Freedom of the Seas: A Possible Outcome of the War of 1914''. New York & Philadelphia: The Irish Press Bureau. Reprinted 2005:
* 1914–16 'One Bold Deed of Open Treason: The Berlin Diary of Roger Casement', Mitchell, Angus ed., Merrion
* 1915. ''The Crime against Europe. The Causes of the War and the Foundations of Peace''. Berlin: The Continental Times.
* 1916. ''Gesammelte Schriften. Irland, Deutschland und die Freiheit der Meere und andere Aufsätze''. Diessen vor München: Joseph Huber Verlag. 2nd expanded edition, 1917.
* 1918. ''Some Poems''. London: The Talbot Press/T. Fisher Unwin.
*
''Secondary Literature, and other materials cited in this entry'':
* Daly, Mary E., ed. 2005. ''Roger Casement in Irish and World History,'' Dublin, Royal Irish Academy
* Doerries, Reinhard R., 2000. ''Prelude to the Easter Rising: Sir Roger Casement in Imperial Germany''. London & Portland. Frank Cass.
*
Dudgeon, Jeffrey, 2002. ''Roger Casement: The Black Diaries with a Study of his Background, Sexuality and Irish Political Life''. Belfast Press (includes first publication of 1911 diary); 2nd paperback and Kindle editions, 2016; 3rd paperback and Kindle editions, 2019, .
*
Dudgeon, Jeffrey, July 2016. ''Roger Casement's German Diary 1914–1916 including 'A Last Page' and associated correspondence''. Belfast Press, .
* Goodman, Jordan
''The Devil and Mr. Casement: One Man's Battle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness'' 2010. Farrar, Straus & Giroux;
* Harris, Brian, "Injustice", Sutton Publishing. 2006;
*
Hochschild, Adam, ''
King Leopold's Ghost
''King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa'' (1998) is a best-selling popular history book by Adam Hochschild that explores the exploitation of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of the Belgians betw ...
''.
* Hyde, H. Montgomery, 1960. ''Trial of Roger Casement''. London: William Hodge. Penguin edition 1964.
* Hyde, H. Montgomery, 1970. ''The Love That Dared not Speak its Name''. Boston: Little, Brown (in UK ''The Other Love'').
* Inglis, Brian, 1973. ''Roger Casement'', London: Hodder and Stoughton. Republished 1993 by Blackstaff Belfast and by Penguin 2002; .
* Lacey, Brian, 2008. ''Terrible Queer Creatures: Homosexuality in Irish History''. Dublin: Wordwell Books.
* MacColl, René, 1956. ''Roger Casement''. London, Hamish Hamilton.
* Mc Cormack, W. J., 2002. ''Roger Casement in Death or Haunting the Free State''. Dublin: UCD Press.
* Minta, Stephen, 1993. ''Aguirre: The Re-creation of a Sixteenth-Century Journey Across South America''. Henry Holt & Co. .
* Mitchell, Angus, 2003. ''Casement (Life & Times Series)''. Haus Publishing Limited; .
* Mitchell, Angus, 2013. ''Roger Casement''. Dublin: O'Brien Press; .
* Ó Síocháin, Séamas and Michael O’Sullivan, eds., 2004. ''The Eyes of Another Race: Roger Casement's Congo Report and 1903 Diary''. University College Dublin Press; .
* Ó Síocháin, Séamas, 2008. ''Roger Casement: Imperialist, Rebel, Revolutionary''. Dublin: Lilliput Press.
* Reid, B.L., 1987. ''The Lives of Roger Casement''. London: The Yale Press; .
* Sawyer, Roger, 1984. ''Casement: The Flawed Hero''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
* Singleton-Gates, Peter, & Maurice Girodias, 1959. ''The Black Diaries. An Account of Roger Casement's Life and Times with a Collection of His Diaries and Public Writings''. Paris: The Olympia Press. First edition of the Black Diaries.
* Thomson, Basil, 1922. ''Queer People'' (chapters 7–8), an account of the Easter Uprising and Casement's involvement from the head of Scotland Yard at the time. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
* Clayton, Xander: ''Aud'', Plymouth 2007.
* Wolf, Karin, 1972. ''Sir Roger Casement und die deutsch-irischen Beziehungen''. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot; .
* Eberspächer, Cord/Wiechmann, Gerhard. "Erfolg Revolution kann Krieg entscheiden". Der Einsatz von S.M.H. Libau im irischen Osteraufstand 1916 ("Success revolution may decide war". The use of S.M.H. Libau in the Easter Rising 1916), in: Schiff & Zeit, Nr. 67, Frühjahr 2008, S 2–16.
*
External links
"Ireland, Germany and Europe", From the Digital Library@Villanova University.* Séamas Ó’Síocháin
Casement, Roger, Sir in
*
Roger Casement's speech from the Dock at the end of his trial for treason.
''Report of the British Consul, Roger Casement, on the Administration of the Congo Free State'' John Jay School of Law, CUNY
Condolences and Funerals 2005 online exhibition by the
National Archives of Ireland
The National Archives of Ireland () is the official repository for the state records of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office (founded 1702) and the Publi ...
; covers Casement's 1965 reburial
Irish Military Archives : DOD/3/47020 : Funeral/burial Roger Casement and others digitised file of preparations for the state funeral
*
*
*
Boehm/Casement Papers. A UCD Digital Library Collection.*
Archive Roger Casement Royal museum for central Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casement, Roger
1864 births
1916 deaths
20th-century executions by England and Wales
20th-century executions for treason
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
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20th-century Roman Catholics
Activists against atrocities in the Congo Free State
People from Sandycove
Diplomats for the United Kingdom
Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery
Expatriates in the Congo Free State
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism
Executed participants in the Easter Rising
Indigenous rights activists
Irish nationalists
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Irish LGBTQ poets
LGBTQ Roman Catholics
People educated at Ballymena Academy
People stripped of a British Commonwealth honour
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Executed people from County Dublin
Putumayo genocide
People on Irish postage stamps