Roger Casement

Roger David Casement (1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916) was a British diplomat of Irish extraction, humanitarian activist, Irish nationalist, and poet. Described as the "father of twentieth-century human rights investigations", he was honored in 1905 for the Casement Report on the Congo and knighted in 1911 for his important investigations of human rights abuses in Peru. He then made efforts during World War I to gain German military aid for the 1916 Easter Rising which sought to gain Irish independence.

In Africa as a young man, Casement first worked for commercial interests before joining the British Colonial Service. In 1891 he was appointed as a British consul, a profession he followed for more than 20 years. Influenced by the Boer War and his investigation into colonial atrocities against indigenous peoples, Casement grew to distrust imperialism. After retiring from consular service in 1913, he became more involved with the Irish Republican and separatist movement. He sought to obtain German support and weapons for an armed rebellion in Ireland against British rule during World War I. He was arrested, convicted by a British court and executed for treason.