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By the time he was 10 years old, both Roger Casement's parents has died. He was brought up in Co Antrim by his father's family. In 1881 he became purser on the Bonny, a ship trading with West Africa. Between 1884 and 1891 he was involved in the 'opening up' of Africa to European colonial exploitation. He was particularly involved in the Congo, which was recognised as the possession of the King of Belgians as the Congo Free State under the terms of the Treaty of Berlin (1885)

Fuair tuismitheoraí Ruairí Mac Easmainn bás nuair a bhí sé go hóg agus tógadh é i gCo Aontrama, tigh mhuintir a athar. Tar éis dó roinnt blianta a chaitheamh mar chléireach le Comhlucht Elder Dempster i Learphól (1881-3), d'imigh sé mar sparánaí ar an Bonny, long trádála go cósta iarthair na hAifrice. Idir 1884 agus 1891 bhí sé gafa le 'oscailt' na hAifrice. Bhí baint aige ach go háirithe le cúrsaí an Chongó, a chuireadh faoi sheilbh Rí na Beilge mar Saor Stát faoi Chonradh Bherlin (1885).

Between 1892 and 1913 Casement was employed by the British Foreign Office in the consular service in Africa and South America. The above picture was taken during the period (1900-1904) when Casement was British Consul at Boma in the Congo Free State. He is the third from left of the five people who are seated in chairs in the second row.

Ó 1892 go 1913 bhí Casement fostaithe ag Roinn Gnóthaí Eachtracha na Ríochta Aontaithe sa seirbhís chonsulachta san Aifric agus i Meiriceá Theas. Tógadh an pictiúr thuas nuair a bhí Mac Easmainn suite mar Chonsul na Ríochta Aontaithe i mBoma i Saor Stát an Chongó (1900-1904). Tá sé sa tarna shreath sa phictiúr agus is é an tríú dhuine ó chlé den chúigear atá ina suí ar chathaoireacha.

It was the pneumatic tyre (used for bicycles and then cars) which gave rise to the expansion of the rubber industry. Wild rubber was used until its was replaced by the product of cultivated plantations. However, between 1890 and 1910 an expanding market was dependent on wild rubber. It was through the brutal exploitation of the indigenous peoples in those areas where wild rubber was to be found, the rubber was extracted. In addition, the colonialists and exploiters used mercenaries from among the indigenous peoples to exploit their fellows and to carry out the regiemes of terror on which the extraction of wild rubber was based. In the above picture a native soldier of the Congo Free State guards a chain gang of indigenous rubber workers.

Bé an bonn aeir ach go háirithe a chuir le fás bhailiú an rubair. Rubar fiáin a bhí i gceist ar dtús sar a chuireadh na fáschoill rubair ar bun, ach idir 1890 agus 1910 bhíothas ag brath go mór ar am rubar fiáin. Is trí bhrú a chur ar dhúchasaigh na gceantaracha ina raibh an rubar fiáin le fáir, trí chos ar bholg agus géarleanúint a dhéanamh orthu, a bhailigh na hEorpaigh an rubar seo. Ní amháin sin, ach bhain lucht an chóilíneachais agus na himpiriúlachta úsáid as cuid de na dúchasaigh céanna mar amhais chun córas seo na sceimhle a chur i bhfeidhm ar a gcomhmhuintir. Sa phictiúr thuas feictear scata daoráin chuibhrithe de dhúchasaigh an Chongó agus saighdiúr Gorm de chuid an tSaoir Stáit ag faire orthu.

In 1903, Casement was appointed by the UK government to investigate the exploitation of the indigenous peoples who worked to extract wild rubber. His report was published in 1904 and the King of the Belgians was heavily criticised for presiding over such a regieme and, because of the widespread outcry which resulted, limited reforms were carried out. Casement was awarded the CMG for his work. The above picture of Casement (left) was taken at the time of his Congo investigation. He bcame widely known as a result of this investigation.

I 1903 chuir rialtas na Ríochta Aontaithe de dhualgas ar Mhac Easmainn fiosrúchán a dhéanamh faoin leatrom a bhí á dhéanamh ar lucht bhailithe an rubair sa Chongó. Foilsíodh an tuarascáil seo i 1904 agus cáineadh Rí na Beilge go forleathan as an méid a bhí ar siúl i Saor Stát an Chongó. De bharr na cáinte seo bhí ar Rí na Beilge leasú a dhéanamh ar an gcóras leatromach. Bronnadh an onóir CMG ar Mhac Easmainn as an méid a bhí déanta aige. Glacadh an pictiúr de Mhac Easmainn (ar chlé) nuair a bhí an fiosrúchán seo ar bun aige. Bhain sé clú agus cáil amach de bharr na hoibre seo.

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 to the ideal of the Englishman. I had accepted Imperialism - British rule was to be extended at all costs, because it was the best for everyone under the sun, and those who exposed that extension ought right to be "smashed". I was on the high road to being a regular Imperialist jingo - altho' at heart, underneath all and unsuspected almost by myself, I had remained an Irishman. Well the [Boer] war gave me qualms at the end - the concentration camps bigger ones - and finally when up in those lonely Congo forests where I found Leopold [II of Belgium] - I found myself - the incorrigible Irishman. I was remonstrated there by British highly respectable and religious missionaries. "Why make such a bother", they said - "the state represents law and order - and after all these people are savages and must be repressed with a firm hand." Every fresh discovery I made of the hellishness of the Leopold system threw me back on myself alone for guidance. I knew that the F[oreign] O[ffice] wouldn't understand the thing - or if they did they would take no action, for, I realised then that I was looking at this tragedy with the eyes of another race - of a people once hunted themselves, whose hearts were based on affection as the root principle of contact with their fellow men and whose estimate of life was not of something eternally to be appraised at its 'market' price... - From a letter of Roger Casement to his friend Alice Stopford Green, 1907.

Casement had lived outside Ireland since his youth. In 1904, he took an extended holiday in Ireland. The Irish cultural revival was in full flow at this time and Casement was attracted to this movement, which he bgan to support. From this point onwards, his interest in Ireland increased. The above picture was taken at the Irish-language College at Cloghanealy (Casement is seated on the right), to which he provided financial support. From 1906 onwards, his consular postings were to South America.

Bhí a shaol caite ag Mac Easmainn taobh amuigh d'Éirinn ó bhí sé an-óg. I 1904 chaith sé saoire fada in Éirinn. Bhí athbheochain cultúrtha faoi lán seol san tír agus chuir sé spéis sa ghluaiseacht sin. D'aithnigh sé gur Éireannach a bhí ann agus thosaigh sé ag tabhairt tacaíochta don ghluaiseacht sin. Ó 1904 amach mhéadaigh a chuid spéise in imeachtaí na hÉireann de réir a chéile. Sa phictiúr thuas tá Mac Easmainn (ina shuí ar dheis) ag freastal ar an gColáiste Gaeilge ag Cloch Chionnfhaolaidh ar thug sé tacaíocht airgidh dó. Ó 1906 amach bhí postanna aige i Meiriceá Theas.

In 1910, when he was Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Casement was asked to investigate the mistreatment of the Indian people of the Putumayo (a forested area of the Amazon basin, the possession of which was claimed by both Peru and Columbia) to compel them to labour extracting wild rubber. In the Putumayo the exploiters used Black people and Indians to control this forced-labour force. The above picture shows a Barbadian supervisor and two armed Huitoto Indian 'muchachos' or mercenaries. In the picture below three Indians are secured with chains.

I 1910, nuair a bhí sé ina Ardchonsal i Rio de Janeiro, hiarradh ar Mhac Easmainn fiosrú a dhéanamh faoin géarleanúint a bhí á dhéanamh ar dhúchasaigh an Phutumayo (ceantar foraoiseach in abhantrach an Amazon a raibh Peiriú agus an Cholóimbe i gconspóid faoi) chun a thabhairt orthu an rubar a bhailiú. Sa Phutumayo freisin bhain an lucht ceannais úsáid as an gcine Gorm agus as dúchasaigh an cheanntair chun smacht a chur ar a gcomhmhuintir. Sa phictiúr thuas tá maor ón Barbados (ar chúl) agus beirt 'muchachos' (amhas) ármtha den treabh Indianach Huitoto. Sa phictiúr thíos tá triúr Indiach ceangailte le slabhraí.

He [the Indian] is compelled by brutal and wholly uncontrolled force - by being hunted and caught - by floggings, by chaining up, by long periods of imprisonment and starvation, to agree to "work" for the [Peruvian Amazon] Company and then when released from this taming process and this 5/- (5p) worth of absolute trash given to him he is hunted and hounded and guarded and flogged and his food robbed and his womenfolk ravished until he brings in from 200 to perhaps 300 times the value of the good he has been forced to accept.
If he attempts to escape from this commercial obligation, he and his family as defaulting debtors are hunted for days and weeks, the frontier of a neighbouring state being no protection and when founf are lucky if they escape with life. The least he can expect is to be flogged until raw, to be again chained up and starved, to be confined in the stocks, in a position of torture for days, weeks and even months....
When he has acquitted himself of the commercial obligation and has carried in at great fatigue and physical deprivation of many kinds the quantity of rubber assessed upon his unhappy shoulders there is no escape. An enormous load of this, often, as I have seen, in excess of 50 kilos, has to be carried for distances of 40 to 70 miles to the nearest "port" on the Igara-paraná, over roads that even a mule cannot traverse...and this without food save such as his wife and children can bring along with the heavy loads of rubber laid upon them also. Death on the road often attends them - death from hunger, from exposure, from fever and from sheer physical and mental break up.
All that was once his has been taken away from him - his forest home, his domestic affections even - nothing that God and Nature gave him is indeed left to him, save his fine, healthy body capable of supporting terrible fatigue, his shapely limbs and fair, clear skin - marred by the lash and execrable blows.
His manhood has been lashed and branded out of him. I look at the big, soft-eyed faces, averted and downcast and I wonder where that Heavenly Power can be that for so long allowed these beautiful images of Himself to be thus defaced and shamed. One looks then at the oppressors - vile cut-throat faces; grim, cruel lips and sensual mouths, bulging eyes and lustful - men incapable of good, more useless than the sloth for all the work they do - and it is this handful of murderers who, in the name of civilisation and of a great association of English gentlemen [the Peruvian Amazon Company], are the possessors of so much gentler and better flesh and blood.
Roger Casement, 'How civilisation tames the Indian', from Angus Mitchell (ed), The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement (Anaconda, London 1997), pp 334-5.

Roger Casement (right) and the members of the Commission set up by the Peruvian Amazon Company (which was registered in London) to reform its affairs. Casement was carrying out his own investigation for the British Foreign Office, but one of his objectives was to prevent the Commissioners ignoring disgusting realities concerning the acts of its agents. Throughout most of their time in the Putumayo, Casement stuck close to the Commissioners and placed considerable pressure upon them. Casement was knighted for the work he did in the Putumayo and for the report which he produced. In the case of both the Congo and the Putumayo, Casement not only produced influential reports - he also took an active part in campaigns to secure their implimentation. He had little respect for the traditionally neutral stance of the British civil servant.

Ruairí Mac Easmainn (ar dheis) agus na baill den Chomisiún a cheap an Comhlucht féin chun imeachtaí an Peruvian Amazon Company, a bhí cláraithe i Londain, a iniúchadh. Bhí fiosrúchán dá chuid féin ar siúl ag Mac Easmainn, ach bhí sé mar aidhm aige freisin gan ligint don Chomisiún seo éaló ón bhfírinne agus choinnigh sé brú láidir orthu ar feadh an ama a chaith siad le chéile amuigh faoin tír. Bronnadh ridireacht ar Mhac Easmainn as an obair a rinne sé sa Phutumayo agus as an tuarascáil a chuir sé ar fáil don rialtas. I gcás an Chongó agus an Phutumayo ní amháin gur chuir Mac Easmainn tuarascála tábhachtacha ar fáil ach chuidigh sé leis an bhfeachtas poiblí chun na tuarascála a chuir i bhfeidhm - ar an mbealach sin níor chloigh sé ar chor ar bith leis an neodracht is dual don státsheirbhíseach Sasanach.

Casement retired from the consular service in 1913. At this time the issue of Home Rule was a bruning question in Ireland. Both the Nationalists and the Unionists set up paramilitary forces to lend greater weight to their arguments for and against Home Rule. Casement was a member of the Committee of the Nationalist Irish Volunteers. Following the outbreak of the World War in 1914, the Volunteers split when John Redmond MP, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, urged the Volunteers to fight for Britain. Only a minority rejected Redmond's advice, and among that minority were a further minority who planned to stage an insurrection during the war to achieve Irish independence.

D'éirigh Mac Easmainn amach ar pinsean i 1913. Ag an uair seo bhí ceist Féin Rialtas a bhronnadh ar Éirinn go mór chun tosaigh. Bhunaigh na Náisiúnaithe agus na hAontachtaithe araon fórsaí paramíleatacha chun treisiú lena neart mar bhrúghrúpaí. Bhí Mac Easmainn ina bhall de choiste Óglaigh na hÉireann, an fórsa Náisiúnach. Nuair a bhris an Cogadh Domhanda amach i ndeire 1914 agus a dúirt Seán Réamonn, ceannaire an Pháirtí Éireannach i nDáil na Ríochta Aontaithe, gur cóir do na hÓglaigh troid ar shon Sasana, tháinig scoilt sna hÓglaigh. Mionlucht de na hÓglaigh a dhiúltaigh do chomhairle an Réamonnaigh, agus ina measc siúd bhí mionlucht ar theastaigh uatha éirí amach a chur ar siúl chun saoirse na hÉireann a bhaint amach.

In 1914 Casement went to the USA to seek support for the Volunteers, and following the outbreak of war he went to Germany to seek German support for an Irish insurrection. He also attempted - unsuccessfully - to recruit an Irish Brigade from among Irish prisoners of war who had been fighting as members of the British army. In 1916, on the ever of the Easter Rising, Casement returned to Ireland in a German submarine, and was captured shortly after landing. He was taken to London and charged with high treason. (This picture shows Casement trying to recruit an Irish Brigade from among the Irish prisoners of war in Germany.)

I 1914 d'imigh Mac Easmainn chuig na Stáit Aontaithe agus ina dhiaidh sin don Ghearmáin ag lorg tacaíochta do na hÓglaigh, agus chun tacaíocht na Gearmáine a fháil don éirí amach a bhí beartaithe. Chuigh sé sna campaí ina raibh na Éireannaigh a throid in arm na Breataine Móire i ngéibheann, agus rinne sé iarracht - nár éirigh leis - Briogáid Éireannach de na saighdiúraí seo a chur ar bun chun troid ar son saoirse na hÉireann. Agus Éirí Amach na Cásca ar tí a bhriseadh amach, d'fhill sé ar Éirinn i 1916 i bhfomhuireán Gearmánach. Gabhadh é. Tugadh go Londain é agus cuireadh ar a thriall é ansin mar mheirleach. (Sa phictiúr seo feictear Mac Easmainn i mbun earcaíochta i measc na bpríosúnach Éireannacha sa Ghearmáin, agus é ag iarraidh Briogáid Éireannach a bhunú.)

Because of Casement's reputation as a humanitarian, even in England at a time of war there were many people who asked for the death penalty to be commuted when Casement was sentenced to death for high treason. Among these people were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Arnold Bennett, G K Chesterton, Sir James G Fraser, John Masefield, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, C P Scott (editor of the Manchester Guardian), the Rev Thomas Phillips (President of the Baptist Union), and the Bishop of Winchester. To quell these, and other appeals for clemancy, the government mounted a propaganda campaign, using extracts from the 'Black Diaries' which they attributed to Casement and which described homosexual adventures and acts. The controversy about the authorship of the 'Black Diaries' continues, and some believe they were forged to destroy Casement's reputation. However that may be, it is fairly clear that Casement was homosexual in his sexual orientation.

I saw that Roger Casement
Did what he had to do.
He died upon the gallows,
But that is nothing new.

Afraid they might be beaten
Before the bench of Time,
They turned a trick by forgery
And blackened his good name.

A perjurer stood ready
To prove their forgery true;
They gave it out to all the world,
And that is something new.

Come Tom and Dick, come all the troop
That cried it far and wide,
Come from the forger and his desk,
Desert the perjurer's side:

Come speak your bit in public
That some amends be made
To this most gallant gentleman
That is in quicklime laid.

- W B Yeats

Mar gheall ar an clú a bhí ar Mac Easmainn mar gheall ar an obair a bhí déanta aige sa Chongó agus sa Phutumayo, bhí alán daoine (fiú i Sasana agus fiú agus an cogadh faoi lán seoil) a d'iarr ar an rialtas breith an bháis a chur ar cheal nuair a dhaoradh chun báis é as an tréas a chuireadh ina a leith: i mease na ndaoine seo bhí An Ridire Arthur Conan Doyle, Arnold Bennett, G K Chesterton, An Ridire James G Fraser, John Masefield, Beatrice & Sidney Webb, C P Scott (eagarthóir an Manchester Guardian), An t-Urramhach Thomas Phillips (Uachtarán an Baptist Union) agus Easbog Winchester. Chun na héilimh seo agus éilimh eile a chur ar neamhní chuir an rialtas feachtas bolscoireachta ar siúl. Bhain siad úsáid as 'Dialanna Dubha' a chuir siad i leith Mhic Easmainn ina raibh cur síos ar eachtraí homaighnéasacha. Maireann conspóid i gcónaí agus ceapann roinnt gur ceapadh iad mar chuid d'fheachtas an rialtais chun clú Mhic Easmainn a scriosadh. Ach pé fíor bréagach é sin, tá cuma ar an scéal gur fear aerach a bhí ann.