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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Roger Casement
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(1864–1916, kt 1911) British consular official and Irish nationalist, hanged for treason. His career in the consular service was distinguished by a series of reports on atrocities by European colonial powers in Africa and South America, which brought him fame and his knighthood. He retired to Ireland in 1912 (he was of Protestant Irish stock) and became a passionate opponent of Irish participation in World War I.
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He travelled to Germany to organize an invasion of Ireland which he believed would bring independence. Failing in this, he returned to Ireland in 1916 hoping to postpone the imminent *Easter Rising. But his movements were known, and he was arrested after a German submarine had landed him near Tralee. Controversy over his execution was heightened by the private circulation of his diary, containing accounts of homosexual activities. Its authenticity was widely doubted at the time, but modern scholars tend to agree that the handwriting is his.
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