Recitation of PARNELL by Roger Casement (Dublin, Ireland, 1864-1916, London, UK)

Roger David Casement (Irish: Ruairí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864, Dublin – 3 August 1916), was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary and nationalist.

Casement was the son of Captain Roger Casement, of the 3rd Battalion of Dragoon Guards in the British Army, and Anne Jephson, who secretly baptized him into the Catholic Church; however, he was brought up as a Protestant, which was his father's belief. He studied at Ballymena Diocesan School and, when he finished school, held various jobs in public administration, including missions in Africa. From 1895 he was British consul in several African countries, and in the Congo he was authorized by the British government to investigate and report on human rights abuses perpetrated against locals. For his report, he received the honor of Companion of the Order of São Miguel and São Jorge in 1905. He was later consul in Santos, Pará and Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, and also in the Putumayo basin, in Peru, where he again denounced the abuses of human rights by rubber extraction companies. His report on this matter was published by the British Parliament and gave him international recognition as a humanist and the title of Knight (Sir).[1]

However, Casement was a member of the Gaelic League and, when he left consular service in 1911, he became involved in founding the Irish Volunteers which sought the breakup of Ireland from the British Empire. When World War I broke out in 1914, Casement thought that Germany might be an ally of Ireland and visited that country to try to get support in arms and officers for an armed insurrection. When the Easter Revolt took place, in 1916, Casement was arrested, tried for treason, convicted and executed, having, at that time, lost the honor of knight of the Order of São Miguel and São Jorge.[2]

In 2010, the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa published the book O Sonho do Celta, a fictionalized biography of Roger Casement.

(Fonte: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement)