DOCUMENTS IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES KEW SELECTED AS BEING IMPORTANT
TO SEE ON CASEMENT, ADLER CHRISTENSEN, FJ BIGGER AND EDWARD BANNISTER
AND RESEARCH GUIDE (below)
* = seen
Two sub-files (1636/65 & 1637/184) were withheld in October 1995 as well as 14 other
documents which were part-blanked within seven other files (see letter from Bruno
Derrick): 1636/3A (eight blanks), 1636/44 & 51 & 139 & 182 & 194a & piece 23425
(one blank each = six items). This is the 'Kilbracken' release of 1998.
The five Black Diaries/notebooks are HO 161/1-5: All page numbering in pencil
throughout is by PRO, HO or New Scotland Yard.
*HO/45/10772/276022 Herbert Ward 1915+ changing son's name
*HO/144/1636/311643/3A - Police reports of arrest & interrogation ca.
60 pages (8 blanks).
*HO/144/1636/311643/17 - MF Doyle allowed to see RDC - never in private.
*HO/144/1636/40 Medical opinions on homosexuality - 3 sheets received.
*HO/144/1636/44 - Thomson: Casement a British agent? (one blank).
*HO/144/1636/49 Archbishop of Canterbury comments on Casement's
character, letter from, and interview with, Mr Harris, missionary all sheets now received.
*HO/144/1636/51 - Eva Gore Booth & Lord Bryce (one blank).
*HO/144/1636/58 - CMG badge can't be found.
*HO/144/1636/65 - July 1916; Michael Doyle letters - 19 pages rec'd,
whole file was withheld until 1998.
*HO/144/1637/139 - inc. Sawyer ref 20261 re motor bike: Copies of
entries from the diaries and corroboration by official records;
includes 1911 Special Branch diary typescript; (one blank being Millar Gordon letter by
Frank Hall) - 106 sheets received.
*HO/144/1637/140 - Sawyer ref 2026. Report of Casement's homosexual
activities in Norway; diary shown to US Ambassador - 20 sheets rec'd.
*HO/144/1637/141 Post-mortem examination of Casement's body; evidence of alleged
homosexual activities - 3 sheets received.
*HO/144/1637/176 - Gavan Duffy to collect papers etc after execution.
*HO/144/1637/178 - August 1916 property list at Scotland Yard - 9
sheets received.
*HO/144/1637/182 - Agnes O'Farrelly letter/Frank Hall, (one blank) - 9
sheets received.
*HO/144/1637/184 - September 1917; Alice's intercepted letter; 4
sheets received. Whole file was withheld until 1998.
*HO/144/1637/194 - Tom Casement & RC's letter - Blackwell destroyed.
*HO/144/1637/194A - 1919; Casement's letters to Count Wedel handed in
by Bluchers re also Ponsonby Staples & McGoey, (one blank): [Many pages received;
lengthy.]
*HO/144/1637/195 - Tom Casement and return of remains 1920.
From HO/144/23414 to 23509:-
*23420 - Tom Casement 1924 seems also to be 1637/204.
*23422 - Nina's complaint about American press; February 1927.
*23423 - Nina to Arthur Henderson June 1924 - 2 sheets received.
*23425 - 1925 HO blocks S-G publication of material, (one blank).
*23429 - Nina's 'stolen' letters (by Customs at Harwich).
*23466 - 1956 Spectator article - Official Secrets Act.
*23462 & 23486 & 23508; 1958-59 Hyde's 1911 diary publication etc.
*23493 - 1959 solicitors for Parry legatees.
*23497 - 1959 Gavan Duffy ownership claim, surviving executor.
From PCOM 9/2314-2340:
*PCOM 9/2318 - smoking
*PCOM 9/2322 - suicide attempts; 2331 - execution; 2332 Nina's visit
*CAB 128/39: (CC 1/65) Casement's remains returning to Ireland - 3
sheets on microfilm (only three relevant sheets).
*CO 537/540/38767 Chinese Coolies report 1906, 322 sheets – no substance to
allegations.
CO 537/542 Native miners & unnatural vice 1907 report, 131 sheets.
*CO 903/16 Intelligence notes 1910-11 (not 1918) - nothing
*CO 903/19 Annual RIC Intelligence reports 1915-19.
*CO 904/94 not 1916 Arrest as Kew letter says
*CO 904/99 actual 1916 arrest of RDC etc
*CO 904/100 Dublin Castle records 1916 May - August: Dull.
*CO 904/117 July 1905 RIC reports on FJB.
*CO 904/194/46 Photograph in Germany? (with 5 men), & FJB.
*CO 904/195 1913+
CO 904/220 & 221 Irish Crown Jewels.
*CO 904/193 Ash-Bra Personalities [no FJ Bigger but Ernest Blythe).
*CO 904/203 Cor-Hor do
[no Bulmer Hobson or Frank Hall].
*CO 904/209
[no Denis McCullough].
*CSC 11/47 Civil service personnel file - Actually eponymous Cronroe cousin - corrected.
DO 35/7978 Diaries correspondence re authenticity (1960-61) – [at FO in November
2000].
*DO 161/168 (1960-1963 remains of Casement - Frank Aiken pressing).
*FO 2/64 (General Consular correspondence) letters from Casement of 4
July & 24 November 1894 to Sir Claude MacDonald [19 pages received.]
*FO 10/644 H P Anderson memorandum, 31 July 1895 (removal of
2
Bannister) [2 pages received.]
*FO 10/730 no. 14 Africa, Bannister to Pickersgill 24 January 1894
enclosed in Pickersgill to Rosebery 16 March 1894 - 7 pages received.
*FO 10/730, Bannister to FO 17 June 1894, enclosed in Pickersgill to
Rosebery, no. 1 (looks like 5 or 8), Africa. Not 10/731 says Kew but
10/730 - 35 pages received.
*FO 10/731 Kimberley, minute, 13 February 1895 (not trusting
Bannister) - one page.
*FO 10/731 Bannister to Colonial Secretary, Accra, 13 October 1894,
enclosed in CO to FO of 11 February 1895. Received.
*FO 10/731, Bannister to Pickersgill, 28 December 1894 enclosed in
Pickersgill to Kimberley, 21 January 1895, no. 7 Africa. Kew has
reference E/637 - 10 pages received.
*FO 10/731 No. 12 Africa FO to Casement 22 December 1899 [Gold Coast
approval, Hodgson & Chamberlain 9 October 1899 & others most dull.
*FO 10/739 FO to Casement 20 August 1900 re appt. to Boma.
FO 95/776 Seen again. 1911-1916 (mostly 1914/5) Casement on run in Europe inc.
Bryan Kelly (320 pages). One telegram re Adler in Philadelphia in 1916.
*FO 337/107 Irish conspirators in Europe; Casement's Norway movements and other
intelligence items - permission needed to see. 191 numbered sheets 250 sheets [first
fifty bought (all Findlay October to December 1914]
*FO 369/198 Casement to Dufferin, Aug. 1909 (Barry) - 11 sheets rec'd.
FO 371/TURKEY/1912 or 1913 Macedonian governorship - Could not find.
*FO 403/304 Casement to Gosselin 30/4/1900 from SA, enc. Congo letter.
*FO 403/305, no. 21, Africa, confidential 7948 (1902) Casement to
Lansdowne 28 June & 26 July 1901 - 18 sheets received.
*FO 811/55 1903 Lost basket - 17 sheets received.
(There are many other Foreign Office consular files in which Edward Bannister is
mentioned, some on microfilm. They relate to Portuguese language territories where he
was consul. FO 13/748 & 761 (1895 & 1896) and 63/1170 (1885) seen)
*WO 100/299 SA medal and will cutting - one sheet received.
WO 339/54110 Maloney war record
M.I.5 Release January 1999 (five files - some items retained/redacted.)
*KV2/6 Bank accounts, POW statements.
*KV2/7 London activity after arrest inc. Allisons trunk statement.
*KV2/8 Mrs Panter Downes; POW statements; (name retained: Mrs PopeHennessy or Lady Margaret Jenkins née Norbury??)
*KV2/9 Cuttings and pamphlets; poem and Frank Hall note.
*KV2/10 1921 Jun 19-1921 Jul 11, Irish Brigade, Wedel (13 pages retained by MI5).
HL2522 20 Apr 2009: Column WA367
Roger Casement: Review of Records
3
Question asked by Lord Laird
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the decision made in January 1999 to withhold 13
pages of documents on Roger Casement's Irish Brigade from file KV2/10 and to redact a name in file KV2/8
when they were passed to the National Archives at Kew. [HL2522]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): On examination of the file,
KV2/10 it appears that there are no pages missing from 1921, the period covered by the file. A retention note at
the front of the file states that 13 pages have been retained but it does not describe the pages. It is possible that
these pages relate to a later assessment of whether the historic content of the file should be retained or released.
The Security Service has no record of the 13 pages referred to and, in the circumstances, further review is not
possible. The Security Service has released its files on Roger Casement subject only to limited redactions which
are still necessary on national security grounds; this includes redaction in file KV2/8. [name retained]
KV 2/24-27 Spy Josef Jakobs executed 15/8/41. Jewish/anti-Nazi?
KV 2/57-59 Duncan Croall Scott-Ford executed 3/11/42.
4
SCOTLAND YARD RELEASE JUNE 2001
The Scotland Yard MEPO material was partially released by Gill Bennett at the RIA
symposium 5/6 May 2000 (copies then obtained) and fully released in June 2001.
MEPO 2/10659
Manuscript index to Casement papers – v. detailed.
MEPO 2/10660
1914-1920
Activities of Casement in years preceding his arrest: includes map of Limerick and
Shannon and official report on treatment of natives in Putumayo, Colombia.
Letters from Military Attaché, The Hague, Jan 1920.
Contains photographs and transcripts of letter written by Casement before his trip to
Ireland. Claims letters show whole plan originated and was instigated by Devoy in
America, that the Germans pressed it upon Casement and although he realized futility of
the enterprise felt himself constrained to embark upon it. The suggestion that his letter
might be used in the prosecution of Devoy was raised but the reply was that this would
endanger the undertaking given by the Military Attaché that the letters would not be
published. On the letters is written that they belong to Ireland. Deposited by Casement
with a 3rd person before leaving Berlin. Letters contain explanation and his justification
of what he was about to do. They had been loaned to the British Legation for a day and
so they had arranged to have them photographed.
Contains signed statement of Casement’s presence in Christiana in 1914 and report of
him being found in a hotel in a ‘suggestive position’
File contains a letter saying an informant (later identified as Adler Christensen) had
come to British Legation claiming he’d had improper relationship with an Englishman
involved in German/Irish affairs. Informer said he’d steamed open and copied letters
this man (Casement) had given to him to carry. Copies of the letter and cipher are also
included.
Map showing places RC had visited in Ireland.
Statement made by Mr Hoy saying he’d like to infiltrate Irish group
Reports on Casement’s activities in Galway.
MEPO 2/10661
1914-15
Enquiries to trace Casement and reports of his movements.
5
Includes many photos, copies of cheques he’d written
Request for information from Ireland (including letter from Pinkerton’s National
Detective Agency in USA.)
Statement saying Christiansen had copied the letters Casement had given him to carry.
MEPO 2/10662
1915-1919
Attempts by Casement and others to form an Irish Brigade from Irish POWs in Germany
to fight for the independence of Ireland.
Newspaper cuttings, witness statements
10663
Aug1915 – May 1916
Correspondence on individuals connected with Casement.
Instructions for C’s sister to be searched 1915. Is she in contact with her brother? She
carries documents in her corsets.
Reference to RC’s influence over Richard Morten – the memo says Morten is “more fool
than knave but is foolish and weak enough to become a knave unwittingly,”
MEPO 2/10664
May-July 1916
Sinn Fein activities; enquiries and press publicity
Contains manifesto making reference to Casement as a leader of the Sinn Fein
movement. Pamphlet of the Irish Volunteers General Council and Central Executive
1914-15
Letter by John Quinn to George Moore commenting on American attitude to Casement.
Extract from a letter from the Naval Attaché in New York about his ‘handling’ of the
Diaries which are “as good as a play” (22 August 1916)
MEPO 2/10665
1916-1920
Casement’s involvement in German attempts to smuggle arms into Ireland for use by
rebels.
Photographs of letter written by Casement when in jail in defence of MacNeill who was
being tried by Court Martial and giving details of connections with Eskine Childers.
Photographs of codes and other papers found when C was captured.
Letter to Sir Basil Thomson saying C had told his lawyer he meant to commit suicide.
Statements from crew members of the “Libau” (the German ship carrying arms).
6
MEPO 2/10666
April-November 1916
Trial, conviction and execution: press publicity.
Met police telegram confirming C’s execution.
Reports on management of Mr Doyle (American pleader for C) expressing concern about
Doyle spreading false rumours.
Copy of secret letters to Mrs Green and Eoin MacNeill about attitude of German
government.
Notes taken at the interrogation of Casement – detailed Q&A.
Threat that if Sir Roger is condemned to die the British Ambassador at Washington will
be shot within 48 hours.
MEPO 2/10667
1916-1919
Trial: statements by witnesses; arrangements for witnesses during and after the trial.
Telegrams re progress of enquiries and taking of statements.
Statements made by former POWs about C’s activities in POW camps
Copies of subpoenas issued.
MEPO 2/10668
1916-1918
Daniel Julian Bailey, arrested with Casement and charged with high treason but no
evidence offered: enquiries and antecedents.
MEPO 2/10669
1916-1921
Enquiries to trace Robert Monteith associate of Casement, wanted for high treason, who
had traveled with Casement to Ireland.
Letters from public e.g. anonymous reader of the Daily Express, ads in paper. Reports
from different sources saying they had seen someone fitting the description.
MEPO 2/10670
April – July 1916
Domestic affairs of Casement whilst in custody.
Letter from an American to Casement congratulating him on the uprising and his work
in South America.
Application from s/o wanting to have one of the revolvers Casement used.
7
Copy of letter sent to Casement by his cousin May begins “Dear Roddie”
Cablegram from Julio Arana asking Casement to admit to guilt (of fabrication?) of
Putomayo reports
Request to forward a bunch of flowers to Casement in prison.
MEPO 2/10671
1916-17
Payment of police expenses incurred by the trial and arrest
Requests for payment of expenses relating to the case against RC
Requests for money for information about C
Losses incurred by a farmer attending the trial.
MEPO 2/10672
List of addresses RC had lived in between 1906-1914. Includes mention of 3 diaries and
a ledger, an address book and memorandum book brought to New Scotland yard by Mr
Germain (with whom they’d been left) on 25 April 1916. Statement of receipt of diaries
in New Scotland Yard.
Copies of entries in cash ledger and diary 1911
Transcript of letter from Mr Dryhurst anxious that American journalists had been shown
the diaries. Correspondence between Sir Sydney Oliver and Sir Basil Thomson regarding
concerns that British and American journalists may have seen the diaries: Thomson
asserts that this is ‘absolutely untrue’ (5-7 July 1916.
Letter from Mr Gasalee (Foreign Office Librarian) to Lt Col J C Carter at New Scotland
Yard asking if they still had the ‘original diary about which we were in correspondence
with your department at the end of July and the beginning of August 1916…”..
Response written on the letter…” spoke to Gaselee and told him I had made exhaustive
enquiries and everything pointed to the Diary being here, but that it has probably been
put away very carefully and it could not at present be traced.” 7 December 1921
Inspector Parker’s report of taking the Diaries to Sir Ernley Blackwell ‘to show to a
native of the Congo’ 18 July 1916. He had declared to Sir Ernley that Casement was
morally clean and Sir Ernley wanted to convince him that this was not the case. Sir
Ernley’s object in doing this was that his caller had influence over the natives in the
Congo and might attempt to create a rising amongst the natives in the event of RC
“paying the extreme penalty of the law”
List of R.Cs property (includes diaries and ledger). Prisoner’s Property Voucher and
description of ‘property in possession of the Police in relation to the case of Roger
Casement who was sentenced to death at High Courts on the 29th day of June 1916 for
High Treason. Has note on receipt indicating 3 diaries, address book and ledger were not
taken into Police storage.
MEP0 2/10673
8
Extract from article on British secret service published in Kolnische Zeitung of 4 May
1916, forwarded in translation to Special Branch and thence to Lt Col. Vernon Kell of
MI5. German press praising the British Secret Service.
“The arrest of Sir Roger Casement has again furnished a proof of the excellent
organization of the British political Secret Service”.
“ ….. no other country has a political espionage service of anything like the same extent
or perfect organization and technical skill as the English. Possibly Russia might compete
with England to some extent” goes on to say though that Russians too busy with internal
work to pay attention to foreign activities. Article goes on to give details of type of
people recruited as agents, how much they get aid and how they operate.
Also says British Government applies to secret service “huge sums, of which no account
is given, and the amount of which is absolutely unknown. .. No English Parliamentarian
has ever dared to oppose the voting of these. All parties agreed that they were well
spent.
File also includes information about a doctor McHugh, known to be pro-German,
supporter of Casement and a sympathizer of the Irish cause. Includes a request for more
info on the doctor “could you arrange for J.W to go there as a patient. If not, I can send a man”. Request for
keeping an eye on him and note on file from MI5 saying they will place a check on his
correspondence. Letter from Mr Gregory to Basil Thomson saying “I candidly cannot
make out McHugh, unless he is a very deep and an exceptionally clever man.”
Reports of things McHugh has said eg. “German Victory would be the salvation of
Ireland.”
MEPO 2/10674
Press clippings
9
KEW
Research Guides
Ireland: Roger Casement
Overseas Records Information 15
1. Africa and South America
Roger Casement was born 1864 near Dublin, Ireland. As a young man he worked and
travelled in Africa. In 1892 he became an employee of the Consular service and
joined it formally in 1895. He served at Lourenco Marques, Mozambique, and St Paul
de Loanda in Portuguese West Africa. In 1899 he was on "special service" during the
South African War and was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal. He wrote an
official report in 1903 on the appalling working conditions imposed on local workers
in the Belgian Congo's rubber industry FO 629/10 and Sessional Papers, House of
Commons, Cd 1933, 1904, LXII, 357. In 1908 he was appointed Consul-General to Rio
de Janeiro. He investigated atrocities against Amerindians in the Putumayo River
region of Peru FO 881/9818 and Sessional Papers, House of Commons, Cd 6266,
1912-13, LXVIII, 819. Sessional Papers can be viewed at online at the House of
Commons Parliamentary Papers , available free of charge at The National Archives
and by subscription at libraries and universities etc. He was knighted for this
humanitarian work in 1911 and became something of a British hero. He resigned
from the Consular Service in 1913.
2. Ireland and Germany
Casement had become increasingly interested in Irish nationalism (CO 904/195 ). In
1913 he became treasurer of the Irish Volunteers, an Irish nationalist organisation.
He assisted in gun-running for them in 1914. After the outbreak of the First World
War he travelled to Germany. There he tried, with very little success, to raise an Irish
Brigade from among Irish prisoners of war in Limburg camp (KV 2/6 ). He returned
to Ireland in 1916 landing from a German submarine on the eve of the nationalist
Easter Rising (See the Research Guide Ireland: The Easter Rising 1916 ). He was then
arrested and taken to London.
3. Trial and execution.
Casement was charged with treason. His trial took place against the background of
the First World War, in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Rising. He was found
guilty and hanged in Pentonville Jail on 3 August 1916. Many prominent figures
including writers G.B. Shaw and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle joined in appeals for
clemency (HO 144/1636/311643/45). Behind the scenes, Scotland Yard circulated
excerpts from his diaries (HO 144/1637/311643/140). These excerpts were
intended to show him as a profligate homosexual. The authenticity of the diaries has
been the subject of some controversy. His remains were transferred to Ireland in
1965.
4. The Diaries at The National Archives (HO 161/1 )
10
The Casement Diaries at the National Archives consist of three private diaries, a
notebook and a ledger. The Diaries relate to Casement's time as consul in the Congo
and Rio de Janeiro, as well as some time spent in the United Kingdom and France.
The diary entries are not continuous and there are large gaps between entries in
some places.
The entries include details of his investigations into the mistreatment of native
peoples in the Congo. They also contain descriptions of sexual activities. The
Metropolitan Police acquired the diaries from Casement's former lodgings. They
were passed to the Home Office in 1925. They were transferred to the Public Record
Office in 1959 and made publicly available in 1994.
5. Home Office: Criminal Department 1782-1980: HO 161
Catalogue reference
Date(s)
Description
HO 161/1
1901-1902
Army Note Book 153, containing notes and sketches relating to
Casement's service in the Congo.
HO 161/2
1903
Private diary.
HO 161/3
1910
Private diary
HO 161/4
1911
Private diary
HO 161/5
1910-1911
Ledger containing accounts of expenditure and notes
Please note that there many documents relating to Roger Casement and his career in
the collections of The National Archives. You can find these by using the Catalogue.
6. Sources not held at The National Archives
There is a significant collection of correspondence, diaries and papers at the National
Library of Ireland. Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Details of further collections at other archives can be found on the National Register
of Archives.
Additional references to Roger Casement at archives within England and Wales can
be found using the Access to Archives (a2a) . A2A aims to bring records held at
record offices, libraries and universities together in a single database. Contact details
of local county record offices can be found using ARCHON , an online list of archives
and repositories in the United Kingdom.
11
Two portraits of Roger Casement are available online at the National Portrait Gallery
7. Bibliography.
R.P. Doerries, Prelude to the Easter Rising: Sir Roger Casement in Imperial Germany,
Frank Cass, 2000.
R.F. Foster, Modern Ireland, Penguin, 1988.
B. Inglis, Roger Casement, Blackstaff, 1993.
F X Martin, ed. Leaders and Men of the 1916 Rising, Methuen, 1967
A. Mitchell, The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement's, Anaconda, 1997
R. Sawyer, Roger Casement's Diaries, Pimlico, 1997
J Dudgeon, Roger Casement: The Black Diaries - With a Study of his Background,
Sexuality, and the Irish Political Life, Belfast Press, 2002.
12