O
NAUGUSTTHIRD, 1916,RogerCasement,
a retired British consul and renowned hu-
manitarian,was executedby theBritishgov-
ernment for treason.Thiswasadeathpenalty
offense, but hemight well have been sent to
prison or even pardoned (as some were be-
fore him) if his “Black Diaries” had not been discovered by
British agents. These diaries from 1903, 1910, and 1911
recorded, amongmore ordinary events, his affairs withmen
and gay cruising. His tragic story is still the focus of contro-
versy today, featuringbogus forgery theories, angrymud-sling-
ing, and also tireless research. Periodic conferences,
symposiums, books, andarticlesattest to the fact that, formany
people, Casement’s is an “unquiet grave.”
His story is so littleknownhere that a short biography is in
order. Roger Casement was born near Dublin in 1864. His
mother, Catholic by conversion, and his Protestant father died
a few years apart and the four orphaned Casement children
went to live with relatives in Northern Ireland. Roger left
school at sixteenwhen a relative offeredhima clerk’s job in a
shippingcompany inEngland.Hebegan traveling toAfrica as
apurser oncompanyboats. Eventually, as a
result of his knowledge of Africa, he was
sent to various countries as consul by the
Britishgovernment.Hewas named toKing
Leopold’s Congo in 1903. He was tasked
with investigating the rubber industry,
which was rumored to be abusing native
workers.Hisgraphicandshocking report of
1904 stirred public opinion and led to
Leopold giving up the Congo as a private fiefdom. In 1906,
Casementwas sent toBrazil,where his final appointmentwas
toRio. In 1910, the British government sent him to the Putu-
mayo region (shared between Peru and Colombia) to investi-
gate, onceagain, reportsof abuseof native rubberworkers.His
1911 report documented a culture of vicious brutality used
against nativeworkers.Hewasknighted later in theyear forhis
work.
Casement, in trips back to Ireland,was agenerous contrib-
utor to local cultural institutions and the teachingofGaelic.He
was a fervent believer in Ireland’s independence fromEngland
and joinedSinnFein in1905. He retired fromhis consular ca-
reer in 1913 and traveled toGermany in late 1914 in hopes of
negotiating the releaseof IrishPOWswhowouldpromise tore-
turn home to fight against theEnglish in their homeland. This
was a failure, aswas the small-arms shipment destined for Ire-
land that he arranged. He landed on the west coast of Ireland
viaGerman submarine inApril 1916.Hewas quickly arrested
ESSAY
WhyRogerCasement StillHauntsUs
J
EFFREY
P
ANCIERA
JeffreyPanciera is awriter based inSeattle.
by the British and spirited away to London to stand trial for
treason. Hewas convicted and sentenced todeathbyhanging.
Because of Casement’s stature as a humanitarian (as well as
the acknowledged weakness of the British case against him),
therewas considerable popular pressure to set aside the death
penalty. To counter this, agents of the Crownmade copies of
pages of the “Black Diaries” and circulated them among his
supporters; demands for clemency soon faded away. When
pageswere shown toKingGeorgeV, hewithdrewCasement’s
knighthood. Casement was hanged at Pentonville Prison and
his bodywas thrown intoquicklime. Finally, in1965, after re-
peated requests through the years from the Irish government,
his remainswere repatriated. Hewas given a state funeral and
buried with full military honors in the republican section of
GlasnevinCemetery, Dublin.
T
HE
‘B
LACK
D
IARIES
’
When ColmTóibín wrote in
The New York Review of Books
(May 27, 2004) of the difficulty heterosexuals would have in
understanding the“BlackDiaries,”hewasprobably thinkingof
the tendency to confuse behavior and identity. Roger Case-
ment’s identity, emotionally and sexually,
wasentirelyhomosexual.However, hegrew
up in a country where the penalty for ho-
mosexuality until the 1830s was death by
hanging. During the later Victorian period,
since there was a long list of topics that
were never spoken of in polite company,
gaymen likeRoger Casement were able to
lead relatively happy lives so long as ab-
solute secrecy was maintained. The social context was still
quite hostile; defiant homosexuals such as OscarWilde were
not tolerated. By the end of the 19th century, gay men who
could afford it sometimes chose to reside part of the year on
the Continent to avoid the social hostility and legal jeopardy
they faced inEngland. Inaddition toexplaining the secrecyof
Casement’s private life, I hope to show a perfectly coherent
linkbetweenbothareasof his lifeandexplain theco-existence
of the humanitarian and the closeted homosexual.
RogerCasement dutifullydocumentedhisofficial govern-
ment work, but he also kept a separate set of diaries for ex-
penses, ordinary daily activities—and his sex life. These
“BlackDiaries” of 1903 and 1910 yield some interesting de-
tails about the latter topic. In the1903 (Congo) diary, thereare
36 entries I have characterized as “cruising but no contact.”
There are, for the sameyear,what appear tobe25“completed
sexual acts.” In the 1910 (Putumayo) diary, there are 39 en-
tries under “Cruising but No Contact” and 42 “Completed
SexualActs.”To clarify the first term, “CruisingbutNoCon-
tact” covers a spectrumof circumstances: 1) simply admiring
SirRoger kept aseparate
setofdiaries for expenses,
ordinarydailyactivities—
andhis sex life: theso-
called“BlackDiaries.”
16
TheGay&LesbianReview
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WORLDWIDE
