Abstract

From an episode in the life of Louis Kossuth which took place in 1849, Hungarian history and historiography knows about "Roger Casement". But contemporary writers (like Kossuth and his circle) and later historians took him to be an "Englishman". He was, in fact, an Irishman and the father of the wellknown Irish nationalist, Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916), famous for his humanitarian activities in defence of indigenous peoples, and executed for his part in the 1916 Rising. The understandable missidentification of Casement Sr. (1819-77) as an Englishman was also applied to other Irishmen active in Continental Europe, if for no other reason than that they all had British passports.