Roger was a Dublin boy, the son of a British Army officer.
The family moved to County Antrim when he was a teenager, where he attended the school which is now Ballymena Academy.
He left at 15 to begin work in the office of a shipping line in Liverpool.
That job led him to work on one of the company's ships transporting goods to and from the Congo River in West Africa.
A job with the International African Association established by the Belgian King, Leopold II would follow.
Patrick Casement, the great grandson of Roger's second cousin, still lives in the family home and has kept records of letters written by Roger during his time in Africa.
"He was driven in a way, and you get that sense from his incessant letter writing," said Patrick.