The first in our Spotlight series begins with one of the key figures in the early stages of the Congo reform movement – Roger Casement, also known as Sir Roger Casement CMG, who died 98 years ago this month in disgrace after being exposed as a ‘traitor’ due to his involvement in the Easter Rising of 1916; only five years before had Casement knelt before King George V to receive a knighthood for his humanitarian work.

Early Life

Casement was born on 1st September 1864 in Sandycove, County Dublin, to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. Despite being baptised in secret by his mother at the age of four[1], Casement, for most of his life, thought himself as a Protestant, only formally converting to Catholicism during his time in prison, weeks before his death. An unsettled childhood saw Casement orphaned by the age of thirteen and, along with his sister Agnes and their two brothers, Tom and Charlie, eventually moved in to the Casement family farm with their Uncle John near Ballymena. It was at Ballymena High School where Casement would receive his education, spending his holidays with his mother’s sister Grace, who lived in Stanley, Liverpool. Casement’s uncle was Edward Bannister, a serving British Consul and would describe experiences of Africa to a young Casement, arguably sowing the seeds for his later humanitarian concerns for the people of the continent.

After leaving school, Casement soon found work with the Elder Dempster shipping company in Liverpool before moving on to work as a purser on board the SS Bonny, an African trading vessel, and later gaining employment with the International Association, which was controlled directly by Leopold, in 1884, on the eve of the Berlin Conference. This was the beginning of Casement’s African career and ironic in that it was with the very regime that he would ultimately expose almost twenty years later. However, this experience of the inner working practices of the International Association would put Casement in great stead when writing his later report on the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State[2]. It was also during his time in Africa that Casement became acquainted with Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, or Joseph Conrad as he would later be known, author of the novella Heart of Darkness, which described the life of an ivory transporter down the Congo river in Central Africa and was inspired by the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State[3].

The Casement Report and Humanitarian Efforts

In May 1903 the British House of Commons passed a critical resolution on the Congo. They resolved that the British government, ‘in order to abate the evils prevalent in that state’ must confer with the other powers who were signatories of the Berlin General Act to ‘abate the evils prevalent in that State'[4], and Casement, then British Consul at Boma, was instructed to investigate the reported atrocities there. The subsequent report, which ran for forty pages of the Parliamentary Papers, and contains another twenty pages of individual statements gathered by Casement, including several detailing the kidnapping, assault, mutilation and murder of men, women and children, was a damning exposure of the exploitation taking place in the Congo Free State. Using interviews with missionaries, natives, riverboat captains and railroad workers to substantiate his claims, Casement had gathered the evidence required that allowed the British government to expose Leopold’s maladministration in the Congo Free State and, by providing detailed examples of ‘wholesale oppression and shocking mismanagement’ in the Congo, Casement had enabled the Foreign Office to take a decisive stand against Leopold and his regime in the Congo Free State[5].

Casement, however, was not convinced that action taken by the British government would help redress the wrongs of Leopold’s exploitation of the Congo. Instead, Casement believed, a humanitarian effort was needed in order to bring Leopold’s evil regime to an end and along with Edmund Dene Morel, founded the Congo Reform Association, whose aim was to pressure the British and American governments, as well as the other signatories of the Berlin Act and Leopold himself, to bring about reform in the Congo Free State and end the rampant exploitation of the Congolese people and their natural resources.

The publication of Casement’s report had enormous repercussions in parliament itself, as well as in the press, the political class and public opinion. He was now invited to speak at public meetings and private clubs, as well as being interviewed by the press. Leaflets and articles appeared regularly, generously praising the Report and Casement’s obvious commitment to the cause of justice and freedom; the resulting attacks aimed at him through official publications in Belgium and by gossip columnists in England who were propagandists for Leopold, only strengthened the image of Casement as a great humanitarian and campaigner for justice[6].

Casement would later produce the Putumayo Report in 1911, which exposed the cruel and exploitative treatment of indigenous people working in the rubber industry by the British-registered Peruvian Amazon Company in the Putumayo region of Peru. This, as well as his previous humanitarian efforts, earned Casement a knighthood on his return to Britain. However, during the First World War, Casement was found guilty of treason for his attempts to raise troops for a potential uprising in Ireland. After travelling to Germany to try recruit Irish soldiers who had fought for Britain but had been captured by Germany, Casement soon realised that his efforts were not successful, that an attempted uprising would be futile, and returned to Ireland. However, after being dropped off in County Kerry by a German U-boat, Casement was arrested by the British authorities and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Shortly afterwards, he was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. Attempts at securing a reprieve for Casement, a campaign which was supported by such figures as W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw, proved to be futile. One reason for the failure of the reprieve campaign was the discovery of Casement’s ‘black diaries’, which revealed that he was a homosexual and, due to the explicit sexual nature of the diaries, support for Casement’s cause dwindled and prevented the chance of a reprieve; he was duly stripped of his knighthood and executed on 3rd August, 1916[7].

Legacy

Casement’s legacy is still being debated by historians. Angus Mitchell has stated that: “the great paradox in Casement’s life is that he is both a traitor and a hero. He continues to live in this no man’s land of history, claimed by no one”[8], and indeed, it seems a life full of contradictions has meant that Casement’s legacy is still being assessed. Within the unionist community in Ireland, as well as in Britain, he is primarily remembered for what they perceive to be his treachery and considered a traitor. Casement is also not universally accepted within the nationalist community in Ireland either, which Mitchell puts down to his work for the British consular service as well as his homosexuality. However, in other parts of the world, Casement’s humanitarian work is developing a growing respect and appreciation, such as in the Congo and Peru, where he was arguably the most successful in his campaigning efforts. Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian Nobel Laureate, declared that: “Roger Casement was not perfect. I think he was a tragic figure. But he should be regarded as a pioneer in the fight against colonialism, racism and prejudice.”[9]

For some, Casement was a traitor who turned his back on Britain at a crucial time during the First World War to support a rebellion in Ireland. For others, he was an Irish patriot who was also one of the great humanitarian campaigners, able to help bring about the end of oppressive, brutal treatment for native workers in both the Congo and Peru and who was also a staunch anti-imperialist. Casement’s anti-imperialist sentiment was evident in the speech he made after his conviction of treason: “Self-government is our right, a thing born in us at birth, a thing no more to be doled out to us, or withheld from us, by another people than the right to life itself”[10]. The debate on Casement’s legacy will no doubt rage on. One thing is for certain though, he was one of the most influential figures in the movement for Congo reform and, without whom, the entire campaign may have been over before it had even begun.

Notes

[1] Angus Mitchell, Casement, (London: Haus Publishing Ltd, 2003), pp.10-11.
[2] Ibid, p.19.
[3] Ibid, pp.21-22.
[4] Congo Free State. HC Deb 20 May 1903 vol. 122 cc1289-332, accessed 13th August, 2014
[5] William Roger Louis, Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006), p.127.
[6] Mario Vargas Llosa and Edith Grossman, The Dream of the Celt, (London: Faber, 2012), p.101.
[7] Peter Crutchley, “Roger Casement: How did a hero come to be considered a traitor?”, BBC Knowledge & Learning, accessed 13th August 2014,
[8] Ibid
[9] Ibid
[10] “Roger Casement’s Speech from the Dock”, New Statesman, accessed 13th August 2014