The Ballad of Roger Casement

Turn up the volume as Sinn Fein Senator Fintan Warfield sings this amazing rendition of the Ballad of Roger Casement. Then scroll down and learn the story behind the legend.

On this day in 1916 Sir Roger Casement was captured by the British while he was trying to land a shipment of rifles from a German submarine on the Banna Strand, in County Kerry to support the Easter Rising. The mission went awry and Roger was arrested and was sent to the Tower of London.

Born in Dublin to an Anglo-Irish Protestant family, Roger had a career in the British Foreign Service, and was even knighted for his humanitarian work. Roger for his part was wary of the knighthood which we would attempt to return and soon rejected the British empire when he saw firsthand its brutalities. Roger realized the importance of a free Ireland and joined Sinn Féin while still in the foreign service. Roger later travelled to Canada and the United States to raise money in the lead up to the Easter Rising.

Roger Casement with fenian John Devoy in New York City in 1914

Roger was sentenced to death and hung for his actions that day on the Banna Strand. They called it treason. Rogers' last wish was to be buried in his beloved Antrim but it was denied by the British government who instead buried him in quicklime at Pentonville Prison in England.

Roger was finally returned home in March of 1965 and rests today at Glasnevin Cemetery outside Dublin.

'The wild waves sing his requiem on the lonely banna strand.'