Roger Casement
| Roger Casement | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born |
Roger David Casement 1 September 1864 Sandycove, Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 3 August 1916 (aged 51) Pentonville Prison, London, England, UK |
| Monuments | Casement Monument at Banna Strand |
| Organisation | Irish Volunteers, British Foreign Office |
| Movement |
Irish nationalism Anti-Imperialism |
Roger David Casement (1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), formerly known as Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his knighthood and other honours, was an Irish-born civil servant who worked for the British Foreign Office as a diplomat, and later became a humanitarian activist, Irish nationalist, and poet. Described as the "father of twentieth-century human rights investigations", he was honoured in 1905 for the Casement Report on the Congo and knighted in 1911 for his important investigations of human rights abuses in Peru. He then made efforts during World War I to gain German military aid for the 1916 Easter Rising that sought to gain Irish independence.
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, a profession he followed for more than 20 years. Influenced by the Boer War and his investigation into colonial atrocities against indigenous peoples, Casement grew to distrust imperialism. After retiring from consular service in 1913, he became more involved with Irish republicanism and other separatist movements. He sought to obtain German support and weapons for an armed rebellion in Ireland against British rule during World War I.
He was arrested, convicted and executed for treason. Before the trial, the British government circulated excerpts said to be from his private journals, known as the Black Diaries, which detailed homosexual activities. Given prevailing views and existing laws on homosexuality, this material undermined support for clemency for Casement. Debates have continued about these diaries: a handwriting comparison study in 2002 concluded Casement had written the diaries but this was still contested by some.
Casement was born in Dublin to an Anglo-Irish family, living in very early childhood at Doyle's Cottage, Lawson Terrace, Sandycove. His father, Captain Roger Casement of the (The King’s Own) Regiment of Dragoons, was the son of a bankrupt Belfast shipping merchant, Hugh Casement, who later moved to Australia. Captain Casement had served in the 1842 Afghan campaign. He traveled to Europe to fight as a volunteer in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 but arrived after the Surrender at Világos.
...
Wikipedia