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Roger Casement became a household name in Britain and Ireland in the early 20th century. But his childhood gives no hint of what is to come.
Born in Dublin on 1st September 1864, his early life is a hand to mouth existence. His father is a retired army Captain which qualifies him to be seen as a ‘gentleman’ - but he has little income and the family move many times to avoid creditors.
After the death of his parents when he is 12, Roger is taken in by his Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte in Magherintemple, near Ballycastle, County Antrim. This is a stable and supportive home but he knows he must go out into the world to make something of himself. Roger leaves school at 15 and is soon working in the office of a shipping line in Liverpool, then as a purser on one of their ships transporting goods to and from the Congo River in West Africa. He has found a place where he can advance himself and, over the next ten years, moves through a succession of jobs in the region with both commercial companies and missionary groups. In 1892, a job with the British government’s Consular Service (part of the Foreign Office) signals that he has indeed made something of himself.
Yet, Casement cannot ignore the terrible treatment of local people in the Congo by the Europeans who have come to exploit the rich resources there. In 1903, he is asked to produce a report into atrocities committed against local people by the rubber industry in a region controlled by the Belgian king, Leopold II. His Congo report breaks new ground in giving a voice to those people in the corridors of power in London and he is still revered today as a pioneering humanitarian campaigner.
But for Roger Casement, this is just the beginning of his political activism.