Complex soul defies monochrome portrait of Roger Casement

On the centenary of Roger Casement’s death, Ryle Dwyer examines the background to his execution for trying to get German help for the Easter Rising that he later tried to call off    

The Aud

Roger Casement was hanged at Pentonville Prison in England for high treason on this day 100 years ago. Though remembered as a patriot in this country, mystery and controversy still surround his execution.

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. he travelled to Berlin to enlist German help for the forthcoming Irish rebellion. In much of the English-speaking world, especially in the US, the Germans were pilloried for their attack on tiny Belgium but, having been knighted for exposing the savage conditions of slavery in the Belgian Congo, Casement took a different view of the attack on Belgium.