Letter from J.H. Morgan to Herbert Samuel, 4 August 1916 Letters 1916-1923 J.H. Morgan

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

The letter is from the lawyer John Hartman Morgan (1876-1955) to Herbert Samuel (1870-1963), secretary of state for the Home Office. Morgan was an expert in constitutional law and was working with the British propaganda department on German atrocities but served as counsel for Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916) in his treason trial, with whom he had corresponded previously. Casement had been imprisoned in London after he had been arrested while landing on the coast of Kerry in a submarine on the eve of the Easter Rising. A campaign was launched featuring many prominent figures such as W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw to secure a reprieve for Casement but he was hanged on 3 August 1916. The letter was written the day after Casement's death and Morgan requests the return of Casement's body to his cousin, Gertrude Bannister, for burial in Ireland. He argues that Casement had already suffered the highest punishment possible and that the 'pitiful request' of his relative should be granted on human grounds. Casement's remains were not, in fact, returned to Ireland until 1965, when he was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

 National Library of Ireland Roger Casement Papers, Collection List No A15; Ms. 13,078 /7 https://letters1916.ie/item/5484 English J.H. Morgan 1916-08-04 1 Mitre Court Building, Temple, London, UK Herbert Samuel Home Office, Whitehall, London, England Male 1955 Politics Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Politics

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 1 Mitre Court Buildings. Temple. E. C. 4th August 1916. Dear Mr Samuel, The day before yesterday I called at the House of Commons to see you in order to support the request of Miss Gertrude Bannister that the body Roger Casement might be handed over to her for private burial. I did this because I was deeply moved by the distress of a noble woman whose unflinching devotion to her cousin through the long-drawn agony of his trial was such as to provoke my profound admiration & respect. I did not - indeed as Counsel I could not - support the movement for a reprieve. But he has paid the full penalty - he has not only died a felon's death on the scaffold but before dying he was publicly degraded of all his honours, a step for which I believe there is no precedent in any treason case in the last 300 years. The law has therefore exacted its uttermost. Under these circumstances it is surely not asking too much to ask that the pitiful request of his relatives be granted. Roger Casement is now beyond the reach of human vengeance; it cannot matter to him whether his body remains in a felon's grave in Pentonville or not. But it matters a great deal to this unhappy lady sorrowing under a sorrow almost too grievous for any man or woman to bear. I cannot conceive petition which it would be easier for the authorities to grant & harder for any humane person to refuse. It is not for me to urge any questions of policy though I can imagine few things more likely to exasperate Irish opinion than an implacable severity which wounds the living while it is quite powerless to harm the dead. Moreover there is a very strong feeling abroad - the "Times" gives expression to it this morning that someone in authority "inspired" a campaign of malignant & studied calumny against the prisoner which was not only not necessary to the course of Justice but calculated to per- vert it. It is surely highly undesirable that any impression of ruthlessness should get abroad. But be that as it may, I do beg of you on grounds of humanity to reconsider your decision. Miss Bannister is, I understand, prepared to give every guarantee as to privacy. Yours sincerely, (Sgd) J.H.Morgan. The Rt.Hon. Herbert Samuel.M.P. Secretary of State. The Home Office. Home Office, Whitehall, London, England Letter from M. L. Waller, Home Office, to the Commandant, Prisoner of War Camp, Frongach, 9 October 1916Letter from John Pedder to the Under-Secretary, 2 August 1916Letter from John Pedder to Matthew Nathan, the Under-Secretary for Ireland, 6 April 1916Letter from John Pedder to the Under Secretary of Ireland, 27 March, 1916Letter from Arthur Eagleston to the Under Secretary of Ireland, 13 July 1916Letter from Arthur Eagleston to the Under Secretary of Ireland, 4 July 1916Letter from S. A. Arthur to Sir Robert Chalmers, the Under-Secretary for Ireland, 13 July 1916Letter from Edward Troup to the Under Secretary of the State for India, 19 July 1916Letter from Arthur John Eagleston to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 7 January 1916Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to sir George Chrystal, 15 April 1916Letter from E. Blackwell to Gertrude Bannister, 2 August 1916Letter from J. F. Henderson to Matthew Nathan, 28 April 1916Letter from M.L. Waller to Sir Robert Chalmers, 5 July 1916Letter from John Peddar to Matthew Nathan, 22 January 1916Letter from M.L. Waller to Robert Chalmers, 10 July 1916Letter from A.B. Adams to Robert Chalmers, 19 July 1916Letter from George Chrystal to Andrew Philip Magill, 14 April 1916Letter from J.H. Morgan to Herbert Samuel, 4 August 1916Letter from Arthur John Eagleston to the Under-Secretary, Dublin Castle, 4 April 1916Letter from Arthur Eagleston to the Under Secretary for Ireland, 8 June 1916 1 Mitre Court Building, Temple, London, UK Letter from J.H. Morgan to Herbert Samuel, 4 August 1916 Herbert Samuel Letter from John Condon to Herbert Samuel, 17 June 1916Letter from Herbert Samuel to John P. Boland, 1 August 1916Letter from ‘One of the Hard Pressed’ to Mr. Samuel, 28 July 1916Letter from Clara Moser to Herbert Samuel, 3 June 1916Letter from Herbert Samuel to Edward Carson, 13 July 1916Letter from Herbert Samuel to Edward Carson, 21 July 1916Letter from J.H. Morgan to Herbert Samuel, 4 August 1916 J.H. Morgan Letter from J.H. Morgan to Herbert Samuel, 4 August 1916