State Papers: Roger Casement guns feared 'illegally exported' to 'naive' US collector

The weapons had been seized from Sir Roger Casement shortly before the Easter Rising in 1916.

The Government feared that pistols taken from Sir Roger Casement after he landed on Banna Strand in Co. Kerry from a German U-boat in 1916 were improperly sold in 1990 and possibly illegally exported.

Confidential files released by the National Archives show a US gun collector who had purchased the German weapons had asked for copies of material about the awards given to Sir Roger.

In 1990, the collector had purchased the German Luger 9mm firearms, which were believed to have been kept at a depot in Clancy Barracks in Islandbridge, Dublin, over the years. 

The weapons had been seized from Sir Roger, a nationalist leader and former diplomat with the British Foreign Office, shortly before the Easter Rising in 1916. The US collector said he had first become aware of the existence of the pistols in 1948.

“I recognised their immense historical value and since that time, at long last, was able to negotiate for them in 1990 and was in Dublin last January to conclude the matter and ship them there,” he wrote in a letter to the Genealogical Office in Dublin.

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The contents of the letter were subsequently notified to both the Department of the Taoiseach and the National Museum.

“It would seem that they were improperly obtained at some stage and have, perhaps, been illegally exported,” observed Richard Stokes, an assistant secretary at the Department of the Taoiseach, in March 1990.

Mr Stokes said he did not think there could be any question of facilitating the US collector’s request given the circumstances.

Historical significance

The keeper of the National Museum, John Teahan, said the letter from the gun collector displayed “a certain naivety.” Mr Teahan said the question of the disposal of the weapons should be addressed with the Defence Forces and Clancy Barracks.

“If the pistols are of national historical significance, in the sense of being part of the consignment associated with Sir Roger Casement, they should either not have been exported at all or have been exported only on the grant of an export license,” said the museum official.

Mr Teahan added: “If they are not of historical significance, I presume a firearms license should have been necessary as part of the normal customs documentation.” The keeper said he presumed there were well-established procedures for the disposal or alienation of artifacts like weapons if they had been in the possession of Clancy Barracks.