Charles was born in 1861, at his parents' residence, 1 Park Row, Knightsbridge, St Margaret Westminster, Middlesex. 1

There is a letter from Charlie at Magherintemple, written from Sunnyside Villas, Philips Lane, Formby, which is presumably where his aunt Grace Bannister née Jephson lived. Unfortunately it is not dated. He says- “We arrived safe at Liverpool and our Aunt met us at the steamer and we went directly to the Agent of the ships and he took down our names and he wrote to our Aunt this morning telling her to bring us up to town as the owner wanted to see us both.”

That was presumably the start of his and Tom's apprenticeships to a shipping line. The only clue to the date is- “My Uncle sailed for the coast of Africa ten days ago.” But Edward Bannister probably sailed frequently for Africa. He was consul in most of the places where his nephew Roger Casement later ended up.

It is family legend that Charles and Tom arrived in Melbourne on the day Ned Kelly was hanged - 11 Nov 1880. (told to K Rowley by Charles son-in-law Neville Vaughan) 2 In 1883, Charles was still in the merchant navy. 3 He sailed around Cape Horn five times. 2

In 1886 he was a sailor, staying in Ferguson St, Williamstown, when he discovered that his father had an interest in property in Victoria and applied for letters of administration. He declared that his father had died in or about May 1877. At that time Charles had been at Woodford in Essex. He was planning to go back to sea. 4

In 1888 he received £100 from his great uncle John CASEMENT of Magherintemple to finance a trip to the Croydon Goldfields in Northern Queensland. This is shown in a letter from Charles’ brother Tom Casement to John Casement, asking for money for the same purpose. 3 Croydon is located in the heart of the Gulf Savannah, 562 km west of Cairns. Gold was discovered there in 1885 and by 1887, the town's population had reached 7,000. 5

At the time of his marriage in 1890, Charles was a clerk, resident at Bennett St, North Fitzroy, Vic. 6 Letters from Charles Casement to John Casement shows that Charles was a clerk at Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Co. by 1895 and a Commercial Traveller for Melbourne Steamship Co. by 1916. 3

Charles had a friend who was a journalist but often drunk. Charles used to go to boxing matches with this friend and wrote articles about the matches for him. 2