The Forgotten Gay Civil Servant

[PeterRS]

Thanks to the movie, we all know how Alan Turing suffered and then took his own life after admitting he was homosexual. And thanks to years of campaigning, he was been given one of the extremely rare official royal pardons in 2023. He is admired today for his code-breaking skills which helped shorten WWII. His photo adorns the back of the UK's £50 notes.

In today's Guardian/Observer, there is another somewhat similar, but very different, historical case of a civil servant being hounded to death. But this case remains an open sore. Sir Roger Casement was knighted by the King for distinguished Imperial Service in 1911. As was discovered in his diaries after his capture, he was also homosexual and proud of it. As the Guardian article points out, Casement remains a taboo subject, "A can containing too many worms."

Born in what is now Northern Ireland, the British were adamant that Ireland as a whole remained part of its Empire. Learning of an impending rebellion in Dublin against British rule, Casement returned to the country in an attempt to get the organisers to call it off. He had reckoned without the British Head of Admiralty Intelligence, an eccentric and ruthless Reginald "Blinker" Hall. Casement grew to abhor Britain's imperial rule and eventually earned a distinguished record of service exposing atrocities in the Congo and Peru. He was eventually to be described as the "father of twentieth-century human rights investigations."

But he was also an Irish patriot and nationalist. After resigniing from the Foreign Office in 1913, he gave his time to fostering Irish Independence which set Hall against him. He travelled to Germany to win support and gain military aid, mostly by recruiting Irish prisoners of the Germans. He heard about an Easter Uprising against British rule due to take place over the Easter weekend in Ireland in 1916. He was deeply opposed. A cache of arms was sent from Germany but Casement set out at the same time to persuade the leaders of the Uprising to call it off. Landed by a German submarine in Ireland in avdance, Casement was suffering from a recurrance of malaria and too ill to meet the leaders. He could have been rescued but these leaders had insisted that not a shot be fired in advance of the Uprising in case it was discovered by the British. The Uprising took place. It was mercilously crushed by the British.

Captured, Casement was accused of high treason, sabotage and espionage. During the trial, excerpts from his diaries were released to various sources alleging that Casement was also a "sexual deviant, fond of young men, especially teenagers, and usually paid for sex." Found guilty, he was hanged on 3 August 1916. Several investigations during the rest of the century came to the conclusion that the diaries may have been forged after his death. Yet that has never been proved. As Turing is regarded as a gay martyr in Britain, so Casement is being considered the Irish Turing. Yet Ireland is less willing to reopen the Caement issue, that diary being its main reason. Turing was convicted for having sex with one adult man. That Casement may have lured teenagers into his bed is not acceptable in Ireland. 

Was Casement a rebel or a traitor? We really do not know. All we do know is that he was gay and may have been officially murdered for that reason.