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THE NATIONAL LIBRARY of Ireland (NLI) has released a number of letters written by British diplomat Roger Casement while awaiting his execution for treason at Pentonville Prison in 1916.
Casement was one of the most controversial figures in Irish history and was a well known poet, human rights campaigner and Irish nationalist. He was born in Dublin in 1864, was bapttised a Catholic at the age of three and was later raised by Protestant relatives in Ballymena following the death of his parents.
A British consul by profession, he became famous for his reports and activities against human rights abuses in the Congo and Peru. His investigations into atrocities in the Congo let him to develop anti-Imperialistic opinions and ultimately a pro-Irish Republican stance.
Returning from Germany shortly before the Easter Rising in 1916, he was arrested on arrival in Ireland and charged with treason. He was subsequently convicted, and was hanged in Pentonville Prison on 3 August 1916 at the age of 51.
Documents
Included in the group of materials released by the NLI are a number of letters written to his family from prison before his execution, a hymn and prayer book given to him by an Irish friend during his incarceration, photographs and documents relating to the ‘degradation’ of his knighthood.
The papers had been housed in a small box marked “Not for Consultation” which the library said usually means the donors wish for the contents to be withheld from the public until all parties cited in the documents are deceased.
Among the most interesting items are letters on prison-regulated paper from Casement to his cousins about his imprisonment and impending death, thanking them for their “brave, faithful, loving hearts to me in these last horrible days”. Another letter outlines his final wishes including his hopes for Ireland and naming people to whom he wishes to be rememberd.
In his final letter to his cousins Gertrude and Elizabeth Banniser in the eve of his execution he 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.”
(View larger version here)
The collection includes 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.”
(View larger version here)
(View larger version here)
A prayer book, given to Casement by an Irish friend during his incarceration at Pentonville before his execution was also included in the documents released by the NLI.
(View the larger version here)
In 1965, Casement’s body was repatriated to Ireland. During the five days while he lay in state at Arbour Hill, an estimated 500,000 people filed past his coffin. He was buried with full military honours in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
President Éamon de Valera, then in his mid-eighties and the last surviving leader of the Easter Rising, defied the advice of his doctors and attended the ceremony, along with an estimated 30,000 Irish citizens.
All of the recently released Casement material has been catalogued and key items can be viewed online today through the NLI catalogue.
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It’s all well and good until Stevie starts humping the microwave during the night
@DarkHorse: That’s a silly comment . This is very serious but the article doesn’t tell us how to access , so its a useless article.
@rory conway: I mean not really, as they haven’t been on sale yet. They’re flying to the States later this month, where a care home will be trialing the beta version.
Can he make a good cup of tae though? Or boil an egg? Or put a few sods of turf on the fire?
As long as it’s used to complement human interaction and not replace it, it’s a good idea. Having spent summers at college working as a home help, i am aware that i was the only person many elderly people spoke to during the day. My being there for a chat was at times more important than my ability to light the fire
@Anne Marie Devlin:
Very good point.
May I be the first to welcome our new robot overlords.
Seriously though, cool bit of tech.
Japan, the US and other places are vastly more developed in the technologies required to implement practical autonomous robotic supports.
It’s a good idea but only if Trinity College collaborates with the best abroad.
As matters now stand, one small country does not have the embedded knowledge base, the centre of expertise, the resources and the funding required to make a massive project of this nature anything more than a prototype.
@Fiona deFreyne: Do you just put everything down? Ireland has produced leading technologies in the past beating those with more resources and been at it longer. They could easily develop key components for the future of all robot via software or hardware.
@Kal Ipers: it is a matter of scale, accumulated expertise, level of previous investment in R &D, historically, accumulated IPR, the legacy knowledge and expertise not to have to reinvent any wheels and the large numbers of highly quality researchers required to develop cutting edge technologies in areas off deep machine learning. The scale of investment required for success is truly huge.
We have talent here but it is fair to say that we have had a brain flow to the US and to Cambridge in the UK in relevant disciplines. There are many reasons for this.
Trinity can’t play a valuable role as an adjunct to leading research elsewhere.
Honda has already achieved much techological success in Japan with robots dedicated to health care for the elderly. I don’t know if there can be technology sharing and cooperation arrangements.
Knowing the scale of the problem is a first step. I would not select Ireland a a base for developing new generation rockets for outer space exploration or other areas of resource intensive projects. Robotics and autonomous intelligence devices is one of the mist resource intensive areas that could be selected.
@Fiona deFreyne: None of that has anything to do with your constant putting down everything. Again I reject your view and that is mostly because it is always negative.
They should really get in touch with the Japanese on this subject. They have been pouring money on this subject for decades and a trip to them could shave years off the project.
Also, the arms are way too short and lack any function. Infact, the whole robot cannot do more than a smartphone. I feel like someone is laughing right now.
Ye it would be if the likes of rich politicians didn’t want to force the elderly out of their home
Sounds like a great idea. I thought they’d need to be a lot stronger though. And have a hoist, or arms, to help them in and out in the bathroom? But they’d never get bored listening to people, I suppose, there’s that.
All the wiley aul fellas will be figuring out how to bypass him so they can slip off to the pub and bookies
Can it make a good cup of tae though? Boil an egg or throw a few sods of turf on the fire?
I assume he meant Kryten from Red Dwarf not Croydon from Deep Space Nine lol
Fck that, sophia the robot destroys stevie
If you want to watch a creepy interview with a robot check this out.. http://uk.businessinsider.com/interview-with-sophia-ai-robot-hanson-said-it-would-destroy-humans-2017-11
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: True, it doesn’t have much to say for itself. It wouldn’t pass the Turing test; you can tell it’s a bot. But there’s always the ELIZA effect. Sure the robot carers are meant primarily for people with no one to listen to them all day. I think there’s a huge market for them considering that retired people are living so much longer.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: scary stuff! I’d say cults will purchase loads of these and put them out there in homes and such like to brainwash everyone!!
Daughter got a Furbie one year for Christmas thing turned seriously nasty and using bad language and had to be re-set… A Furbie!!! Yup dangerous road ahead…
@Lydia McLoughlin: Maybe they’ll persuade a few people that bus fares aren’t tuppence any more. Mind you, the bad language can’t have been that bad if you understood it.
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