[Notes by me inside this piece - JD]

A note on private expenses & Millar Gordon

Tim O’Sullivan

10 August 2014

Within the extensive Casement archive held by the National Library of Ireland there is a small pencil written note which appears to have been written by him around the time in 1911 he is meant to have purchased the motor cycle. It is an impromptu list of expenses paid out and their cumulative sum without appropriate dates or detailed explanations in which the motor cycle transaction features. A great deal of Casement’s personal papers were in the hands of the Crown authorities during his incarceration, trial and afterwards. They were later released to his cousin, Gertrude Bannister who in turn passed them on to the library. Thus the authorities were in a position, if they so wished, to influence the contents of the collection so as to present a picture in line with their interests, by way of addition, withdrawal or modification. As the key details are written in pencil the mechanics of erasure and interpolation would not present difficulty. [A] 

The last three items in the tot and the total raise questions. 

£25 for his brother Tom to cover the rent of a farm in South Africa is recorded by the name “Tom” followed by the amount. But the pencilled outline of the name “Tom” displays clear indications of erasure and rewriting. It is as if the name “Tom” was written, then there was an attempt to erase it, then a change of mind set in and the name was written again over the original attempt.

Underneath we find “Putumayo” followed by a squiggle which trails off into illegibility. This squiggle could possibly be interpreted as “inquiry” and to the right is “10.0.0”, i.e. £10. However, the typing of the Putumayo report Casement had finished in late June did not cost him £10 but rather 10/-, that is 10 shillings; one half of £1. This 10/- is recorded twice in the cash book. 

[25 July 1911 Ledger: ‘Putumayo typing at City meeting 6 July 1.18.4.’ A Queen Anne’s Typewriting Office invoice for this amount is dated 24 July - NLI 15138/1/32. No 10/- for typing recorded (by me).

NLI 15138/1/12, 2 p. - This list looks like one of personal expenditure and gifts in 1911 up to July. £105 to Nina is three portions of her annual allowance. He records £35 being sent in April and October 1911 in the Ledger and the cheque stub image you sent me is for £35 plus £1 in January 1911. What the Putumayo £10 was for remains a mystery but might be 17 February 1911 (Ledger) ‘Cheque sent to Father Smythe at Barbados for Boys 10.0.0.’ . 6 April 1911 Ledger ‘Sent Father Smith £20 for Indians’. The word does end in a y. Expenditure of £230 on the Indian Boys ‘Ricudo &c’ is added. 

13 July 1911 Ledger ‘£80 To Charlie in Melbourne’.

30 April 1911 Ledger ‘The usual monthly tot follows. There is a list of “Cheques out” (totalling £117.2.0) including £10 for Sinn Féin, and the £15 for “Rex O’Doherty & Rathlin.” Late mention is made of £10 “Lent to Mrs McCullagh of Belfast.” She is described as “Caroline Bloxham (Mrs McCullagh)” on the cheque stub and under her Bloxham name became a member of the Provisional Cumann na mBan executive in 1914. The April total comes to the startling figure of £163.9.3 despite many nights of free hospitality.’ See cheque stub in NLI 15138/4.

12 January 1911 Ledger ‘In house all day writing & getting ready for the typist tomorrow – wrote letters and got my a/c in shape. My expenditure all told in Putumayo £508 odd of which only £239 is personal for 164 days. It is less than 30/- a day – wonderfully cheap for a journey to heart of S. America of such a kind – yet the F.O. kicks!’
The last inscribed page, numbered 106, relates to the official costs of his journeying to Iquitos which reveals that a total of £131.19.0 had been spent. This amount covered Casement from leaving London in August 1911 until his arrival in Iquitos via Barbados, Pará and Manaos and details fares, hotels, landing fees, porters, stewards’ tips, wine bills etc. It would be reclaimed from the Foreign Office although the costs for the two boys were removed from Casement’s letter to Sir Edward Grey giving the actual amount of his disbursements. Sent from Iquitos, it was dated 23 October 1911 (NLI 13081/2). The total amount claimed came to £90.4.6.] 

Given the array of matters preoccupying Casement at this time, when he was in London, it is hard to imagine what Putumayo connected expense there could have been which made such a large claim on his resources. £10 approximates to $1,200 in terms of the current value of money. [B]   

The last item in the tot reads “Millar” and to the right and downwards is “25.0.0”. In such notes written by Casement the monetary figure is normally on the same level and even a little upwards from the corresponding item description. Thus the word “Millar” looks somewhat odd and out of place, especially for something which Casement is meant to have written.  

The total is written as “£224.5.0”. This is incorrect. The figures as given total to £214.5.0. The discrepancy of £10, as explained above, is a lot of money when account is taken of the effects of inflation on purchasing power over a century. The correct total; £214 and five shillings, would correspond to approximately $25,000 in today’s terms. We are not discussing small change here. Yet, despite the large amounts involved sufficient care and diligence apparently was not summoned up to arrive at an accurate total. Then again, one could theorize that the note may originally have added up correctly but tampering changed details and figures making for an anomalous total. If the note had been utilized to function as a type of stage prop to back up a campaign of disinformation, an invalid total would not matter a great deal as it would be a rare individual who would, on gaining sight of the piece of paper, have had the presence of mind to check the arithmetic. 

All in all, the content and appearance of the note provoke some reasonable doubt as to authenticity. As corroborative evidence for the motor cycle transaction it can be deemed to be of uncertain value. One can conclude no more than that.

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[31]	MS 15138/1 NLI, National Library of Ireland 
	Receipts and Statements relevant to Roger Casement 1911

[32]	HO 161/5 [1911 Cash Book], National Archives, Kew, London
	Pg 80 Friday 23 June …   & Pg 82