National Library of Ireland releases prison letters written by Roger Casement in 1916

New cache of material sheds light on Casement’s final days

The National Library of Ireland has released a cache of previously unreleased documents penned by Roger Casement while he was awaiting his execution at Pentonville Prison in London in 1916.

Despite being a British councillor, Casement is revered as an Irish nationalist around the time of the Irish Revolution. Casement was born in Dublin in 1864, was baptized a Catholic at the age of three, and was later raised by Protestant relatives in Ballymena following the death of his parents. 

His profession as a British consul led him to examine the atrocities taking place in the Congo, ultimately leading him to formulate an anti-imperialistic and pro-Irish republican standpoint.

Upon returning from Germany to Ireland in 1916, only shortly before the Easter Uprising, he was arrested upon arrival and charged with treason. Casement was subsequently convicted, and was hanged in Pentonville Prison on August 3, 1916 when he was 51 years old. 

The documents recently released by the National Library of Ireland now shed light on Casement’s final days awaiting his death in London.

Included in the documents are:

Letters on prison-regulated paper from Casement to his cousins about his imprisonment and impending death, in which he thanks them for their “brave, faithful, loving hearts to me in these last horrible days.”

A letter to his cousins outlining his final wishes, including his hopes for Ireland.

His final letter to his cousins Gertrude and Elizabeth Bannister on the eve of his execution, in which Casement writes: “And if I die, as I think is fated, tomorrow morning, I shall die with my sins forgiven …If it be said I shed tears – remember tears come not from cowardice, but from sorrow.”

An envelope with the inscription: “This little book was used by Roger Casement at the hour of his death and was brought by me that morning by the priest who attended him on the scaffold.” (Casement was received into the Catholic Church while awaiting execution.)

The Notice of Result of Final Appeal, dated 20 July 1916, with Roger Casement’s handwritten observations on his trial and the judgment handed down. 

Typed copies of official papers and the Royal Ordinance stripping Casement of his knighthood and other honours. Casement’s handwritten notes on these papers include the comment: “These Letters Patent are Letters of Nobility in the peerage of Ireland! They are further Letters of Proof of British Falsehood and Hypocrisy.”

The documents had been housed in a box that read ‘Not for Consultation,’ which tends to prohibit items going public until a certain time period has passed, or those involved are deceased.

The newly released materials join an extensive collection that the National Library of Ireland had already acquired through either donation or purchase.

Fiona Ross, Director of the National Library of Ireland said, “As of today, citizens of Ireland as well as citizens of the world can read some of Roger Casement’s final letters online and form their own views on one of the most controversial figures in Irish history as he faced execution.”

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Nster.com