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{{Short description|Irish nationalist and author (1870–1922)}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSC}}
| image         = RobertErskineChilders.jpg
| imagesize     =
| caption       = Childers in uniform of the [[City Imperial Volunteers|CIV]], 1899
| office        = [[Teachta Dála]]
| term_start    = [[1921 Irish elections|May 1921]]
| term_end      = [[1922 Irish general election|June 1922]]
| constituency  = [[Kildare–Wicklow (Dáil constituency)|Kildare–Wicklow]]
| birth_name    = Robert Erskine Childers
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1870|6|25|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Mayfair]], London, England
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1922|11|24|1870|6|25|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Beggars Bush Barracks]], Dublin, Ireland
| death_cause   = [[Execution by firing squad]]
| resting_place = [[Glasnevin Cemetery]], Dublin
| nationality   = Irish
| party         = [[Sinn Féin]]
| father        = [[Robert Caesar Childers]]
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Molly Childers|Mary Alden Osgood]]|1904}}
| children      = 3, including [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine Hamilton]]
| relatives     = {{ubl|[[Erskine Barton Childers]] (grandson)|[[Nessa Childers]] (granddaughter)|[[Hugh Childers]] (cousin)|[[Robert Barton]] (cousin)}}
| profession    = {{cslist|Soldier|journalist|politician|novelist}}
| known_for     = {{cslist|Author of  ''[[The Riddle of the Sands]]''| Irish nationalist executed by the [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government of Ireland]] for the illegal possession of a pistol |semi=true}}
| signature     =
|}}
'''Robert Erskine Childers''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSC}} (25 June 1870 – 24 November 1922), usually known as '''Erskine Childers''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɜːr|s|k|ᵻ|n|_|ˈ|tʃ|ɪ|l|d|ə(r)|z}}{{sfn|Olausson|Sangster|2006|p=71}}), was an English-born Irish nationalist who established himself as a writer with accounts of the [[Second Boer War]], the novel ''[[The Riddle of the Sands]]'' about German preparations for a sea-borne invasion of England, and proposals for achieving Irish independence.

As a firm believer in the British Empire, Childers served as a volunteer in the army expeditionary force in the Second Boer War in South Africa, but his experiences there began a gradual process of disillusionment with British imperialism. He was adopted as a candidate in British parliamentary elections, standing for the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] at a time when the party supported a treaty to establish [[Irish home rule]], but he later became an advocate of [[Irish republicanism]] and the severance of all ties with Britain. 

On behalf of the [[Irish Volunteers]], he smuggled guns into Ireland later used against British soldiers in the [[Easter Rebellion]]. He had a significant role in the negotiations between Ireland and Britain that culminated in the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], but was elected as an anti-Treaty member of the first Irish parliament. He sought an active role in the [[Irish Civil War]] (over the acceptance of the terms of the treaty) that followed and was executed by the [[Irish Free State]].

As an author, his most significant work was the novel ''The Riddle of the Sands'', published eleven years before the start of the [[World War I|First World War]]. Its depiction of a secret German invasion fleet directed against England influenced [[Winston Churchill]], the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], into strengthening the [[Home Fleet]] of the [[Royal Navy]]. On the outbreak of the First World War Churchill was instrumental in calling Childers for service in the Royal Navy, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Childers was the son of British [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]] scholar [[Robert Caesar Childers]], the father of the fourth [[president of Ireland]] [[Erskine Hamilton Childers]], the cousin of British politician [[Hugh Childers]] and of Irish nationalist [[Robert Barton]], and the grandfather of the writer and [[diplomat]] [[Erskine Barton Childers]] and of the former [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]] [[Nessa Childers]].

==Early life==
Childers was born in [[Mayfair]], [[London]], in 1870.<ref name=dib>{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/childers-robert-erskine-a1649|title=Childers, (Robert) Erskine|work=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]|last=Hopkinson|first=Michael A.|access-date=28 January 2022|archive-date=28 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128133024/https://www.dib.ie/biography/childers-robert-erskine-a1649|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|title=Childers, (Robert) Erskine (1870–1922)}}</ref> He was the second son of [[Robert Caesar Childers]], a translator and [[Oriental studies|oriental scholar]] from an [[Anglican ministry|ecclesiastical]] family, and Anna Mary Henrietta Barton, from an [[Anglo-Irish]] landowning family of Glendalough House, [[Annamoe]], [[County Wicklow]], with interests in [[France]] such as [[Château Langoa-Barton|the winery that bears their name]]. When Erskine was six, his father died from [[tuberculosis]] and his mother, although at that stage showing no signs of the disease, was confined to an isolation hospital to safeguard her children. She corresponded regularly with Childers until she died from tuberculosis, without having seen her children again, six years later.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=27}} The five children were sent to the Bartons, the family of their mother's uncle, at Glendalough. Well-treated by his new family, Childers grew up with a strong affection for, and knowledge of, Ireland, albeit, at that point in time, from the comfortable viewpoint of the "[[Protestant Ascendancy]]".{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=6}} According to his [[biographer]] Michael Hopkinson, it was the personal tension caused by his innate belief in English superiority, in conflict with this new respect for Ireland, which later caused his remarkable conversion to "hard-line Irish republicanism".<ref name="dib" />

He was educated at home by tutors (with his brother Henry and cousin [[Robert Barton]]) until the age of ten, when he became a boarder at a [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] in England, returning to Glendalough for the holidays.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=29–31}} At the recommendation of his grandfather, [[Canon (priest)|Canon]] Charles Childers, in 1883 he was sent to the [[Haileybury and Imperial Service College]]. His performance there was initially described as "middling" but he later won school prizes in Latin and in his final year he was made "head of house".{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=29–31}} There he won an [[exhibition (scholarship)|exhibition]] to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he studied the [[Classical Tripos|classical tripos]] and then law.<ref>{{acad|id=CHLS889RE|name=Childers, Robert Erskine}}</ref> He distinguished himself as the editor of ''Cambridge Review'', the university magazine. Notwithstanding his unattractive voice and poor debating skills, he became president of the Trinity College Debating Society (known as the "Magpie and Stump"). Although Childers was an admirer of his cousin [[Hugh Childers]], a member of the British [[Cabinet (government)#Westminster cabinets|Cabinet]] who had supported the [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886|first Irish home rule bill]], he spoke vehemently against the policy in college debates, warning that "[Irish] national aspirations were incompatible with our own safety.".<ref name="ODNB"/>{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=35}} A [[sciatic]] injury sustained while hillwalking in the summer before he [[Matriculation#United Kingdom|went up]], which persisted for the rest of his life, left him slightly lame and he was unable to pursue his intention of earning a [[Blue (university sport)#University of Cambridge|rugby blue]], but he became a proficient [[rower]].{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=49–61}}

Having stayed an extra year at Cambridge to gain a further degree (in law) Childers briefly entered [[Barristers' chambers|legal chambers]] in London as a [[Pupillage|pupil]], the first stage in becoming a barrister.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=21}} After four months, influenced by his cousin Hugh Childers, he resigned his pupillage and enrolled at a [[crammer]] to prepare for the competitive entry examination to become a parliamentary official.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=39}}{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=64}} He was successful and, early in 1895, he became a junior committee clerk in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], with responsibility for preparing formal and legally sound [[Bill (proposed law)|bills]] from the proposals of the government of the day.{{sfn|Piper|2003|loc=p. 19 "The duties included drafting and continually re-drafting proposed legislation&nbsp;... carefully selecting words and phrases to comply with the compromises reached by the politicians."}}

==Sailing==
[[File:Asgard 1910.webp|thumb|Erskine and Molly aboard their yacht [[Asgard (yacht)|''Asgard'']] on a Baltic cruise, 1910]]

Childers and his brother Henry had kept a small sailboat on [[Lough Dan]], near to Glendalough. From time to time while at Cambridge he had sailed on the [[Norfolk Broads]].{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=45}} With many sporting ventures now closed to him because of his sciatic injury, Childers was encouraged by [[Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford|Walter Runciman]], a friend from Trinity College, to take up sailing. After picking up the fundamentals of seamanship as a deckhand on Runciman's yacht, in 1893 with his brother Henry he bought his own boat, the former racing yacht ''Shulah''. This vessel required an experienced crew and was totally unsuitable for novices: they sold it in 1895.{{sfn|Popham|1979|p=23}}

His next vessel was the "scrubby little yacht" ''Marguerite'', an {{convert|18|ft|adj=on}} [[Deck (ship)#half-deck|half-deck]], which he kept at [[Greenhithe, Kent|Greenhithe]], close to London. After teaching himself navigation and taking lessons in sailboat handling, he undertook trips around the English coast and across the [[English Channel]] with his brother Henry.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=22–27}} In April 1897 he replaced ''Marguerite'' with the larger and more comfortable {{convert|30|ft|adj=on}} [[Cutter (boat)|cutter]] ''Vixen''; in August that year there was a long cruise in ''Vixen'' to the [[Frisian Islands]], [[Norderney]] and the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] with Henry and Ivor Lloyd Jones, a friend from Cambridge, as crew.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=29–31}} These were the adventures he was to fictionalise in 1903 as ''[[The Riddle of the Sands]]'', his most famous book and a huge bestseller.<ref name="nmm">{{cite web|url=http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/erskine-childers/|title=Erskine Childers's log books|last=Fowler|first=Carol|date=December 2003|work=Sailing Today|publisher=[[National Maritime Museum]]|access-date=23 December 2008|archive-date=23 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123220442/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/erskine-childers/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1903 Childers was again cruising in the Frisian Islands, in ''Sunbeam'', a boat he bought in syndicate with William le Fanu and other friends from his university days. He was now accompanied by his new wife [[Molly Childers|Molly Osgood]].{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=94}} Molly's father, Dr. Hamilton Osgood, arranged for a fine 28-ton yacht, ''[[Asgard (yacht)|Asgard]]'', to be built for the couple as a wedding gift and ''Sunbeam'' was only a temporary measure while ''Asgard'' was being [[Fitting-out|fitted out]].{{efn|The yacht was designed and built in Norway; the name ''Asgard'' was an allusion to the home of the gods in [[norse mythology]]. This name was chosen also as a pun on "Osgood", in acknowledgement of their benefactor.{{sfn|Popham|1979|p=121}}}}{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=125}}

''Asgard'' was Childers's last and most famous yacht: in July 1914, he used it to smuggle a cargo of 900 [[Mauser Model 1871]] rifles and 29,000 [[Gunpowder|black powder]] [[Cartridge (firearms)|cartridges]] to the [[Irish Volunteers]] movement at the fishing village of [[Howth gun-running|Howth]], [[County Dublin]].<ref name="ODNB" />{{sfn|Ball|2006|p=153}}  The ''Asgard'' was acquired by the Irish government as a sail training vessel in 1961, stored on dry land in the yard of [[Kilmainham Gaol]] in 1979, and is now exhibited at [[Collins Barracks (Dublin)|The National Museum of Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Asgard At The National Museum|url=http://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0731/894279-asgard-at-the-national-museum/|website=RTÉ Archives|publisher=[[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]]|access-date=11 March 2018|archive-date=11 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311141058/http://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0731/894279-asgard-at-the-national-museum/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==War service==

===Boer War===
[[File:Driver Childers HAC.jpg|thumb|Driver Childers, Honourable Artillery Company]]

As with most men of his social background and education, Childers was originally a steadfast believer in the [[British Empire]]. Indeed, for an old boy of Haileybury College, a school founded to train young men for colonial service in India, such an outlook on Childers's part was almost inevitable, although, privately, he did not accept completely the "conformist" values of the school.{{sfn|Buettner|2005|p=167}}{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=40–43}}

In 1898, as negotiations over the voting rights of British settlers in the [[Boer]] territories of [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] and [[Orange Free State]] failed and the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] broke out, Childers needed little encouragement when in December [[Basil Williams (historian)|Basil Williams]], a colleague at Westminster, suggested that he too should enlist. Williams was already a member of the [[Honourable Artillery Company]] (HAC), a [[Territorial Army (United Kingdom)|volunteer]] regiment, so at the end of December 1898 Childers joined the HAC.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=39–42}}

A [[Artillery battery|battery]] from the HAC formed part of the hastily constituted [[City Imperial Volunteers]], something of an ''ad hoc'' force set up from soldiers from different volunteer regiments, funded by [[City of London|City]] institutions and provided with the most modern equipment. Childers became a member of the artillery division of this new force, classed as a "spare driver" to care for horses and ride in the ammunition supply train.{{sfn|Childers|1901|pp=30–31}} On 2 February 1900, after three weeks' training, the unit set off for [[South Africa]].{{sfn|Reader|1988|p=13}}{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=39–42}}<ref>{{cite news|date=5 February 1900|title=The War in South Africa|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|issue=36057|page=9}}</ref> Most of the new volunteers and their officers were seasick and it largely fell to Childers to care for the troop's 30 horses.{{sfn|Childers|1901|p=13}} After a three-week voyage, the company was disappointed not to see immediate action but on 26 June, while escorting a supply train of slow ox-wagons, Childers first came under fire during a three-day skirmish in defence of the [[Column (formation)|column]]. It was a smartly executed defence of a beleaguered infantry regiment on 3 July that established the worth of his unit and more significant engagements followed.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=48}}

On 24 August, Childers was evacuated from the front line to hospital in [[Pretoria]], suffering from [[trench foot]]. The seven-day journey happened to be in the company of wounded infantrymen from [[County Cork|Cork]], Ireland, and Childers noted approvingly how cheerfully loyal to Britain the men were, how resistant they were to any incitement in support of Home Rule, and how they had been let down only by the incompetence of their officers.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=55}} This is a striking contrast to his attitude by the end of the [[First World War]] when [[conscription]] in Ireland was under consideration and he wrote of "young men hopelessly estranged from Britain and&nbsp;[...] anxious to die in Ireland for Irish liberty.".{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=239}} After a chance meeting with his brother Henry, also suffering from a foot injury, he rejoined his unit, only for it to be dispatched to England on 7 October 1900.{{sfn|Childers|1901|p=289}}

===First World War===
====Gun running to Ireland====
Childers's attitude to Britain's [[The Establishment|establishment]] and politics had become somewhat equivocal by the start of the First World War. He had resigned his membership of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], and with it his hopes of a parliamentary seat, over Britain's concessions to [[Unionism in Ireland|Unionists]] and a further postponement of Irish self-rule;<ref name="ODNB"/> he had written works critical of British policy in Ireland and in its South African possessions; above all in the Summer of 1914 he had been a member of [[Mary Spring Rice]]{{'s}} committee planning to smuggle guns bought in Germany to supply the [[Irish Volunteers]] in the south of Ireland, a "largely symbolic" response to the April 1914 [[Ulster Volunteers]]' importation of rifles and ammunition in the [[Larne gun-running]].{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=123}}<ref name="ODNB"/> Although in 1914 [[John Redmond]], the leader of the Irish Volunteers, argued that in the case of war his movement would cooperate with the Ulster Volunteers in the defence of Ireland, thus allowing Britain to release troops from the country for the war in Europe, the committee's weapons were used against British soldiers in the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=175}}{{sfn|FitzPatrick|1997|p=386}}

[[File:Mary Spring Rice and Molly Childers on board the Asgard, 1914.jpg|thumb|Molly Childers (left) and Mary Spring Rice (right) with rifles on ''Asgard'', July 1914]]
The members of the committee of eleven included, in addition to Spring Rice: [[Alice Stopford Green]], [[Roger Casement]], [[Darrell Figgis]] and [[Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien|Conor O'Brien]]. Monetary subscriptions were received from other influential figures.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=187–188}} O'Brien owned a small yacht ''Kelpie'' but Childers considered that his own seagoing experience made him the natural choice to lead the operation. Mindful of the risk that the vessel used to carry the shipment could be confiscated, only when Spring Rice's own boat proved unseaworthy did Childers offer ''Asgard''.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=139–140}} With no regard for security, Childers canvassed some acquaintances among British army officers to crew ''Asgard'' for the exploit, but only [[Gordon Strachey Shephard|Gordon Shephard]] of the [[Royal Fusiliers]] accepted.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=126}} Childers and Figgis arranged the weapons' purchase from [[Hamburg]]. The landing, with Molly Childers at the helm of ''Asgard'', was on 26 July 1914 at Howth, openly conducted in broad daylight to offer the maximum publicity for the cause.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=145}} The police and British Army's attempt to intercept the cargo as it was transferred inland led to the [[Bachelor's Walk massacre]] of 26 July 1914, when soldiers from the [[Kings Own Scottish Borderers]] fired upon uninvolved onlookers.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=147}}

A week later, when war with Germany was declared, Childers was in Dublin, writing articles for American newspapers to exploit the success of the operation.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=152–153}} The knowledge that Childers had made a delivery of rifles and ammunition to Irish nationalists was not in wide circulation, but neither was it a great secret, and the official telegram from the [[British Admiralty]] calling Childers to naval service was sent to the Dublin headquarters of the group to which he had made the delivery.<ref>For example, [[G. M. Trevelyan]], an acquaintance from [[Trinity College Dublin]], wrote to Childers a letter of congratulation on his exploit: {{harvnb|Boyle|1977|p=329}}</ref>{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=140}}<ref>In later years Childers's enemies in the new [[Second Dáil|Irish Parliament]] cited this telegram as evidence that he had always been a British agent: {{harvnb|Boyle|1977|pp=196, 256, 308}}.</ref>

At that stage, Childers still believed that a self-governing Ireland would take its place as a dominion within the Empire and so he was easily able to reconcile himself to the belief that fighting for Britain in defence of nations under threat from Germany was the right thing to do.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=151}}<ref name="ODNB"/> In mid-August 1914 he responded to the Admiralty telegram and volunteered for service. He received a temporary commission as lieutenant in the [[Royal Naval Reserve|Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Admiralty|journal=[[London Gazette]]|date=21 August 1914|issue=28876|page=6594}}</ref> [[Winston Churchill]], the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], although hostile to spending money on armaments at the time ''The Riddle of the Sands'' was published, later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat, and he was instrumental in securing Childers's recall.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=77}}{{sfn|Knightley|2003|p=17}}

====Naval service====
Childers's first task was, in reversal of the plot of ''The Riddle of the Sands'', to draw up a plan for the invasion of Germany by way of the [[Frisian Islands]].{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=197}} He was then allocated to {{HMS|Engadine|1911|6}}, a [[seaplane tender]] of the [[Harwich Force]], as an instructor in coastal navigation to newly trained pilots. His duties included flying as a navigator and observer. A sortie navigating over a familiar coastline in the [[Cuxhaven Raid]] (an inconclusive bombing attack on the Cuxhaven airship base on Christmas Day 1914) earned him a [[mention in despatches]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Cuxhaven Raid|date=19 February 1915|work=The Times |location=London|page=6}}</ref>{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=153}} In 1915, he was transferred in a similar role to {{HMS|Ben-my-Chree||6}}, in which he served in the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] and the eastern Mediterranean, earning himself a [[Distinguished Service Cross (UK)|Distinguished Service Cross]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Naval Honours. Awards for Patrol and Air Services|date=23 April 1917|work=The Times |location=London|page=4}}</ref>

He was sent back to London in April 1916 to serve in the Admiralty where, because he understood the requirements of airmen, his work included the mundane task of allocating seaplanes to their intended ships.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=220–221}}{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=173}} It took Childers until autumn of that year to extricate himself and train for service with a new [[Coastal Motor Boat|coastal motor-boat]] squadron operating in the [[English Channel]].{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=179}}

====Irish Convention====
In July 1917, the year following the Easter Rising, [[Horace Plunkett]] asked for Childers (then a lieutenant-commander in the [[RNAS]] serving at a seaplane station at [[Dunkirk]]), to be relieved of his operational duties and assigned as secretary to prime minister [[David Lloyd George]]'s [[Irish Convention|Home Rule Convention]]. This was an initiative, suggested by [[Jan Smuts]] who had used the tactic successfully at the culmination of the Boer War, to convene within Ireland all shades of Irish political opinion to agree a method of government. Plunkett did not have his way, however, as Childers's writings had identified him as a partisan for Home Rule; instead he was appointed as an assistant secretary, with the role of advising the nationalist factions on procedure and presenting their case in formal terms.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=188}} Talks lasted nine months and at the end Plunkett was obliged to pass on his conclusions that no agreement could be reached: the issues of devolved fiscal powers for the new government, and guarantees to Unionists of the right to nominate a percentage of members of parliament, forcing deadlock. Lloyd George, who was facing the consequences of a German breakout from the trenches in France ("the gravest military crisis of the war"), took no action.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=235–237}}

====Royal Air Force====
On his return to London in April 1918, Childers found himself transferred into the newly created [[Royal Air Force]], with the rank of major. He was attached to the new [[Independent Air Force|Independent Bomber Command]] as a group intelligence officer, having the responsibility of preparing the navigational briefings for attacks on [[Berlin]]. The raids were forestalled by the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|Armistice]] and Childers's last assignment was to provide an intelligence assessment of the effects of bombing raids in Belgium.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=242–243}} He departed Royal Air Force service on 10 March 1919.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31458 |date=15 July 1919 |page=9003|title=Royal Air Force }}</ref>

==Marriage==
[[File:MaryAldenChilders.jpg|thumb|Mary "Molly" Alden Childers]]
In autumn 1903, Childers travelled to the [[United States]] as part of a reciprocal visit between the Honourable Artillery Company of London and the [[Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts]] of [[Boston]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The Londoners in Boston|last=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|date=4 October 1903|work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1}}</ref> Childers had with him a letter of introduction to Dr. Hamilton Osgood, an eminent and wealthy physician in the city, that had been provided by Boston banker Sumner Permain, a friend of Childers's father.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=19}} Childers was invited to dinner at Osgood's house and there he met [[Mary Alden Childers|Mary Alden Osgood]] (known as "Molly"), the host's daughter.{{efn|Burke Wilkinson of the [[Massachusetts Historical Society]] suggests that their first meeting was at a public reception for the HAC, where Molly had contrived to be seated next to Childers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Burke |title=Erskine Childers: The Boston Connection |journal=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society |date=1974 |volume=86 |pages=53–63 |jstor=25080758 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25080758 |issn=0076-4981 |access-date=25 October 2022 |archive-date=25 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025085150/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25080758 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} The well-read [[Republicanism|republican-minded]] heiress and Childers found each other congenial company and Childers elected to extend his stay, with much time shared with Molly.{{sfn|McCoole|2003|p=147}} The pair were married at Boston's Trinity Church on 6 January 1904. Cousin Robert Barton travelled to Boston to be best man.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=88}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dempsey |first1=Pauric J. |last2=Boylan |first2=Shaun |title=Barton, Robert Childers |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/barton-robert-childers-a0485 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |access-date=31 October 2022 |location=Dublin |language=en |archive-date=31 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031221745/https://www.dib.ie/biography/barton-robert-childers-a0485 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Childers returned to London with his wife and resumed his position in the House of Commons. His reputation as an influential author gave the couple access to the political establishment, which Molly relished, but at the same time she set to work to rid Childers of his already faltering [[imperialism]].{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=124–126}} In her turn Molly developed a strong admiration for Britain, its institutions and, as she then saw it, its willingness to go to war in the interests of smaller nations against the great.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=238}} Over the next seven years they lived comfortably in their rented [[apartment|flat]] in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], supported by Childers's salary—he had received promotion to the position of parliamentary Clerk of Petitions in 1903—his continuing writings and, not least, generous benefactions from Dr. Osgood.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=138}}{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=94–95}}

Molly, despite a severe weakness in the legs following a childhood skating injury,{{sfn|McCoole|2003|p=30}} took enthusiastically to sailing, first in ''Sunbeam'' and later on many voyages in her father's gift, ''Asgard''.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=94-95}} Childers's letters to his wife show the couple's contentment during this time.<ref name=ODNB/>{{sfn|Wilkinson|1976|p=76}} Three sons were born: [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine]] in December 1905, Henry, who died before his first birthday, in February 1907, and Robert Alden in December 1910.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp= 94, 101}}

==Writing==
Childers's first published work was some light detective stories he contributed to ''The Cambridge Review'' while he was editor.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=70}}

===''In the Ranks of the C.I.V.''===
His first book was ''In the Ranks of the C.I.V.'', an account of his experiences in the Boer War, but he wrote it without any thought of publication: while serving with the Honourable Artillery Company in South Africa he composed many long, descriptive letters about his experiences to his two sisters, Dulcibella and Constance. They and a family friend, Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of [[George Murray Smith|George Smith]] of the publishing house [[Smith, Elder & Co.|Smith, Elder]], edited the letters into book form.<ref name=HenryT>{{Cite ODNB|title=Thompson, Henry Yates}}</ref>{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=61}} The [[Galley proof|print proofs]] were waiting for Childers to approve on his return from the war in October 1900 and Smith, Elder published the work in November.<ref>{{cite news|title=New and recent books|date=21 November 1900|work=[[Daily News (UK)|London Daily News]]|page=6}}</ref> It was well-timed to catch the public's interest in the war, which continued until May 1902, and it sold in substantial numbers.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=63}}

Childers edited his colleague Basil Williams's more formal book, ''The HAC in South Africa'', the official history of the regiment's part in the campaign, for publication in 1903.{{sfn|Williams|Childers|1903}}

Childers's neighbour, [[Leo Amery]], was editor of ''[[The Times]]''{{'s}} ''History of the War in South Africa'', and having already persuaded Basil Williams to write volume four of the work, he used this to persuade Childers to prepare volume five. This profitable commission took up much of Childers's free time until publication in 1907.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=115}} It drew attention to British political and military errors and made unfavourable contrast with the tactics of the [[Boer]] [[guerrilla warfare|guerrillas]].{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=129–131}}

===''The Riddle of the Sands''===
In January 1901, Childers started work on his novel, ''[[The Riddle of the Sands]]'',{{sfn|Childers|1903}} but initially progress was slow;{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=71}} it was not until winter of that year that he was able to tell Williams, in one of his regular letters, of the outline of the plot. At the end of the following year, after a hard summer of writing, the manuscript went to Reginald Smith at Smith Elder. But in February 1903, just as Childers was hoping to return to editing ''The HAC in South Africa'', Smith sent back the novel, with instructions for extensive changes. With the help of his sisters, who cross-checked the new manuscript pages against the existing material,<ref name=HenryT/> Childers produced the final version in time for publication in May 1903.<ref>{{cite news |last1=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Smith Elder and Co's new books |work=[[The Times]] |issue=37105 |date=12 June 1903 |page=8}}</ref> Based on his own sailing trips with his brother Henry along the German coast, it predicted war with Germany and called for British preparedness. There has been much speculation about which of Childers's friends was the model for "Carruthers" in the novel: he is based not on Henry Childers but on the author's long-term friend the yachting enthusiast Walter Runciman. "Davies", of course, is Childers himself.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=67–68}} Widely popular, the book has never gone out of print.{{sfn|Drummond|1992|loc=Introduction}} ''[[The Observer]]'' included the book on its list of "The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/12/features.fiction | work=Guardian | location=UK | title=The 100 greatest novels of all time | first=Robert | last=McCrum | date=12 October 2003 | access-date=22 May 2010 | archive-date=21 June 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621162702/http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1061083,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[The Daily Telegraph|''Telegraph'']] listed it as the third best spy novel of all time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/the-best-spy-novels-of-all-time/the-riddle-of-the-sands-by-erskine-childers-1903/|title=The 20 best spy novels of all time|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 August 2016|access-date=14 September 2016|archive-date=12 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912223620/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/the-best-spy-novels-of-all-time/the-riddle-of-the-sands-by-erskine-childers-1903/|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been called the first [[spy novel]] (a claim challenged by advocates of [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'', published two years earlier), and enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I.<ref name=Fulton>{{cite news |last1=Fulton |first1=Colin Roderick |title=The best early spy novels |url=https://strandmag.com/the-best-early-spy-novels/ |website=[[Strand Magazine]] |access-date=31 August 2023 |location=London |date=26 October 2016}}</ref> It was an extremely influential book: [[Winston Churchill]] later credited it as a major reason that the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] decided to establish naval bases at [[Invergordon]], [[Rosyth dockyard|Rosyth]] on the [[Firth of Forth]] and [[Scapa Flow]] in [[Orkney]].{{sfn|Knightley|2003|p=17}} It was also a notable influence on authors such as [[John Buchan]] and [[Eric Ambler]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Eric Ambler Dies; Lauded as Father of Modern Spy Thriller|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-684294.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116050653/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-684294.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 November 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=15 August 2012|date=25 October 1998|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}</ref>

==="Cavalry controversy"===
Motivated by his expectation of war with Germany, Childers wrote two books on [[Cavalry tactics|cavalry warfare]], both strongly critical of what he saw as outmoded British tactics. Everyone agreed that cavalry should be trained to fight dismounted with firearms, but military traditionalists wanted cavalry still to be trained as the [[:wikt:arme blanche|arme blanche]], bringing shock tactics to bear by charging the enemy with [[lance]] and [[sabre]]. Training in the traditional, mounted tactics had been reestablished after the modernising reformer [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Field Marshal Roberts]] retired in 1904, when [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|General Sir John French]], who had commanded successful cavalry charges at the [[Battle of Elandslaagte]] and the [[Siege of Kimberley|relief of Kimberley]], was promoted to the senior levels of the army.{{sfn|Beckett|Simpson|1985|p=48}} Childers's ''War and the Arme Blanche'' (1910) carried a foreword from Roberts, and recommended that cavalry, instead of charging the enemy positions, should "make genuinely destructive assaults upon riflemen and guns" by firing from the saddle.{{sfn|Childers|1910|p=1}}{{sfn|Badsey|2008|pp= 223–224}} French, among the traditionalists, responded in defence of the old tactics in his preface (in an unlikely alliance) to Prussian general [[Friedrich von Bernhardi]]'s ''Cavalry in War and Peace'' (1910).{{sfn|von Bernhardi|1910}} This allowed Childers to counter with ''German Influence on British Cavalry'' (1911), an "intolerant" rejoinder to the criticisms of his book made by French and Bernhardi.<ref name="ODNB"/>{{sfn|Childers|1911a|p=15}}{{sfn|Piper|2003|loc=p.103: "For the first time we see Erskine the fanatic, the least pleasant aspect of his character; an aspect that was to become all too dominant when his naturally obsessive nature became involved with Ireland."}}

===''The Framework of Home Rule''===
It was as a prospective [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] candidate for [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] that Childers wrote his last major book: ''The Framework of Home Rule'' (1911).{{sfn|Childers|1911b}} Childers's principal argument was an economic one: that an Irish parliament (there would be no Westminster MPs) would be responsible for making fiscal policy for the benefit of the country, and would hold "[[dominion]]" status, in the same detached way in which [[Canada]] managed its affairs.{{sfn|Kendle|1989|p=264}} His arguments were based in part on the findings of the [[Hugh Childers#Retirement and the Childers Commission|Childers Commission]] of the 1890s, which was chaired by his cousin, [[Hugh Childers]]. Erskine Childers consulted Ulster Unionists in preparing ''Framework'' and wrote that their reluctance to accept the policy would easily be overcome.{{sfn|Boyce|O'Day|2001|p=152}}{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=165–169)}} Although it represented a major change from the opinions Childers had previously held, enacting Irish Home Rule was the [[Liberal government, 1905–1915|Liberal government's]] policy at the time.{{sfn|Clarke|1990|p=294}}

An emerging problem was that the book assumed fiscal independence and self-government for the whole island of Ireland, including the wealthier and more industrialised counties around [[Belfast]]. During his research Childers naïvely came to believe that the opposition of the [[Ulster Unionism|unionists]] in the region was mainly bluff, or that the industrialists' entrepreneurial spirit would easily overcome any monetary disadvantages they might initially suffer.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=121–123}} In this he was wrong: this disparity (together with the largely [[Protestant]] unionists' fear of [[Catholic]] "rule from Rome") was a significant contributor to the failure of the 1917 [[Irish Convention|Home Rule Convention]] and, ultimately, to the [[Partition of Ireland]] of 1921.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=193}}

Reception for the work, in both England and Ireland, was positive, although the ''[[Belfast Newsletter]]'' warned that the pretensions and influence of the Catholic church would endanger acceptance of any such proposals. The ''[[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]'' took issue with Childers's optimistic comparisons with other British overseas territories, warning that the manner of colonial rule over indigenous populations, effective in distant parts of the empire, would be impossible to implement in Ireland.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=121–123}} This point was taken up by several other reviewers as an indication of a tendency in Childers towards white supremacy. For example: [[Robert Wilson Lynd|Robert Lynd]] of the ''[[The Daily News (UK)|Daily News]]'' wrote that Childers was drawing on the argument that "the essential Irish character[…]is the same as the character of other white races," and the ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'' wondered why Childers would confine the benefits of freedom only to the "white races".<ref>[[Robert Wilson Lynd|Robert Lynd]] (12 December 1911) ''[[The Daily News (UK)|Daily News]]'', "A Book of the Day", page 3; ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'', (28 December 1911) "Home Rule Idealised", page 9, both references quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Peatling |first1=G. K. |title=The Whiteness of Ireland Under and After the Union |journal=Journal of British Studies |date=January 2005 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=115–133 |doi=10.1086/424982|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Conversion==
There was no single incident which was responsible for Childers's conversion from supporter of the [[British Empire]] to his leading role in the Irish revolution. In his own words, delivered on 8 June 1922 while a [[Teachta Dála]] (Deputy) at the [[Dáil Éireann]], replying to a motion of censure: "[...] by a process of moral and intellectual conviction I came away from Unionism into Nationalism and finally into Republicanism. That is a simple story."<ref name=ORep>{{cite report |title=Tuairisg Oifigiúil (Official Report): For Periods 16th August 1921, to 26th August 1921, and 28th February 1922 to 8th June 1922 |date=1922 |publisher=Stationery Office |location=Dublin |page=503}}</ref> There was a growing conviction, later turning to "fanatical obsession" (as his critics and friends both would suggest<ref>This was the reluctant opinion, for example, of Childers's long-time friend and colleague [[Basil Williams (historian)|Basil Williams]]: {{harvnb|Piper|2003|p=234}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Piper|2003|p=206}}:  "By this time [sc. his arrest] Erskine's opinions were more extreme than most members of Sinn Féin&nbsp;[...]The fact is that Erskine Childers went to extremes with everything he did."</ref>) that the island of [[Ireland]] should have its own government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Robert Dudley |last2=Moody |first2=Theodore William |author1-link=Robert Dudley Edwards |author2-link=Theodore Moody |title=Defence and the role of Erskine Childers |journal=Irish Historical Studies |date=1981 |volume=21, 22 |page=251}}</ref>

An early source of disillusionment with Britain's imperial policy was his view that, given more patient and skilful negotiation, the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] could have been avoided.{{sfn|McMahon|1999|pp=147–148}} His friend and biographer Basil Williams noticed his growing doubts about Britain's actions in [[South Africa]] while they were on campaign together: "Both of us, who came out as hide-bound Tories, began to tend towards more liberal ideas, partly from the&nbsp;[...] democratic company we were keeping, but chiefly, I think, from our discussions on politics and life generally."{{sfn|Williams|1926|p=18}} Molly Childers, brought up in a family that traced its roots to the ''[[Mayflower]]'', also influenced her husband's outlook on the right of Britain to rule other countries.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=124—126}}

The ground was well prepared, then, when in the summer of 1908 he and his cousin [[Robert Barton]] took a holiday motor tour inspecting Horace Plunkett's agricultural co-operatives in the south and west of Ireland—areas ravaged with poverty. "I have come back", he wrote to Basil Williams, "finally and immutably a convert to Home Rule&nbsp;... though we both grew up steeped in the most irreconcilable sort of Unionism."{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=109}}

In the autumn of 1910 Childers resigned his post as Clerk of Petitions to leave himself free to join the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], with its declared commitment to Home Rule: the Liberal Party relied on Irish [[Irish Parliamentary Party|Home Rule MPs]] for its [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|Commons]] majority.{{sfn|Clarke|1990|p=294}} In a lecture delivered in Dublin in March 1912, Childers described the benefits to Ireland, and opportunities for nationalists, from the Liberal party's proposed new [[Home Rule Crisis#Third Home Rule Bill|home rule bill]] (placed before the UK parliament on 11 April 1912).{{sfn|Childers|1912|p=32}} Childers's narrative explaining the Liberal's proposals was well received, but he noted that his audience reacted "coldly" to any suggestion that, post-independence, Ireland could participate in the future of the Empire.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=124}}

Childers secured for himself the candidature in one of the [[Constituency|parliamentary seats]] in the naval town of [[Plymouth Devonport (UK Parliament constituency)|Devonport]]. As the well-known writer of ''The Riddle of the Sands'', with its implied support for an expanded [[Royal Navy]], Childers could hardly fail to win the vote whenever the next election was called. But in response to threats of civil war from the Ulster Unionists, the party began to entertain the idea of removing some or all of [[Ulster]] from a self-governed Ireland. Childers abandoned his candidacy and left the party.<ref name="ODNB"/>

The Liberals' [[Home Rule Act 1914|Home Rule Bill]], introduced in 1912, would eventually pass into law in 1914, but was immediately—by a separate Act of Parliament—shelved for the duration of the Great War, which had just begun. The Amending Bill to exclude six of the nine counties of Ulster for an indeterminate period was eliminated altogether.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=184–185}}<ref>{{cite news|last=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|date=31 July 1914|title=Vital importance of national unity. The Amending Bill postponed|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|issue=40590|page=12}}</ref> On Easter Monday of 1916 the Irish Volunteers (who had taken possession of the rifles Childers had delivered at Howth in 1914) mounted a violent uprising (the "[[Easter Rising]]") in protest at the delay. Its harsh suppression using [[artillery]], and the ruthless prosecution of the captured ringleaders, dismayed Childers and he did not regret that the rifles from the Howth landing had been used against British soldiers.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=222}}

==Home Rule==
In the United Kingdom [[1918 United Kingdom general election|General Election of November 1918]] [[Sinn Féin]] secured 73 of the 105 Irish seats. The party's policy was to refuse to take up their places in the Westminster parliament and in January 1919 they set up their own assembly, the [[Dáil Éireann]], in Dublin.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=204, 207}} In March 1919 Childers presented himself at the Dublin office of Sinn Féin and offered his services. [[Robert Brennan (journalist)|Robert Brennan]] introduced Childers to [[Arthur Griffith]], the founder of Sinn Féin who said of Childers at that time: "He's a good man to have. He has the ear of a big section of the English people".<ref>{{cite book |last=Brennan |first=Robert |author-link= |date=1950 |title=Allegiance |url= |location=Dublin |publisher=Brown and Nolan Ltd. |page=245 |isbn=}}</ref>   [[Desmond FitzGerald (politician)|Desmond FitzGerald]], responsible for Sinn Féin publicity, recognised that an English author with a wide following would be useful and he suggested that Childers should assist him. FitzGerald and Robert Barton arranged for Childers to be introduced to the Irish military leader [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], who in turn introduced him to [[Éamon de Valera]], the President of Sinn Féin.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=204, 207}} After recuperating from a severe attack of [[influenza]] at Glendalough, Childers returned to London, where he could more effectively lobby on behalf of Sinn Féin.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=196}} He rejoined Molly at their Chelsea flat, while also renting a house in Dublin. Molly was reluctant to remove to Dublin: she was mindful of her sons' education at English schools and she believed that she and her husband could best serve the Nationalist cause by influencing opinion in London. She eventually gave up their London home of fifteen years to settle in Dublin at the end of 1919.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=253–254}}

A month after returning to London, Childers received an invitation to meet the Sinn Féin leaders in Dublin. Anticipating an offer of a major role, Childers hurried to return but, apart from Collins, he found the leadership wary, or even hostile. Arthur Griffith, in particular, considered him as at best a renegade and traitor to Britain, or at worst as a British spy.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=197–198}} He was appointed to join the Irish delegation from the as-yet-unrecognised Irish state to the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] of 1919. His unpromising role, as Childers saw it, was to advance the cause of Irish self-determination by reminding delegates of the ideals of freedom over which Britain had gone to war.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=251}} The initiative proved unavailing, and he returned once again to London.{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=197–198}}

In 1920 he published ''Military Rule in Ireland'', a pamphlet made up of eight articles from the left-wing London ''[[The Daily News (UK)|Daily News]]'' appearing between March and May 1920,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Daily News |place=London |title=Military Rule in Ireland. What It Means |last=Childers |first=Erskine |date=29 March 1920 |page=6 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003212/19200329/116/0006 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} Subsequent parts I–VII  published 7, 12, 14, 19, 27  April, ?, and 20 May 1920.</ref> each a strong attack on British army operations in Ireland.{{sfn|Childers|1920b}} At the [[1921 Irish elections|1921 elections]], he was elected (unopposed) to the [[Second Dáil]] as Sinn Féin member for the [[Kildare–Wicklow (Dáil constituency)|Kildare–Wicklow]] constituency,<ref name=oireachtas_db>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Erskine-Robert-Childers.D.1921-08-16/|title=Erskine Robert Childers|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=10 March 2012|archive-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108184823/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Erskine-Robert-Childers.D.1921-08-16|url-status=live}}</ref> and published the pamphlet ''Is Ireland a Danger to England? The strategic question examined'', rebutting British prime minister Lloyd George's claim that an independent Ireland risked Britain's security.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bourke |first1=Richard |title=The Political Thought of the Irish Revolution |chapter=Erskine Childers, is Ireland a Danger to England? |author1-link=Richard Bourke (academic) |date=30 April 2022 |pages=331–340 |doi=10.1017/9781108874465.031|isbn=9781108874465 }}</ref>

In February 1921 Childers became editor of the ''[[Irish Bulletin]]'' and Director of Publicity for the Dáil after the arrest of Desmond FitzGerald.<ref name=MacD>{{cite news |last1=Mac Donncha |first1=Mícheál |author1-link=Mícheál Mac Donncha |title=Remembering the Past: The Irish Bulletin |work=[[An Phoblacht]] |date=12 November 2009 |url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/20893 |access-date=4 September 2023 |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904133019/https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/20893 |url-status=live }}</ref> He stood as a Sinn Féin (anti-treaty) candidate at the [[1922 Irish general election|1922 general election]] but lost his seat.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=8760|title=Robert Erskine Childers|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=10 March 2012|archive-date=18 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018200728/http://electionsireland.org//candidate.cfm?id=8760|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Irish War of Independence==
From 1919 the [[Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA), notionally under the command of Irish defence minister [[Cathal Brugha]], regarded itself as a legitimate force answerable to the Dáil Éireann. It began a series of attacks on British institutions in Ireland.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=258}} The "[[Irish War of Independence]]", as the series of IRA strikes (and British reprisals, such as those by the "[[Black and Tans]]") became known,{{sfn|Hopkinson|2002|pp=xvii, xix}} lasted until July 1921, when Éamon de Valera and British prime minister David Lloyd George agreed a truce.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=275–276}} Childers had exercised more influence on the British change of heart than he knew: his reporting in the United States had strengthened sympathy for the Nationalist cause and in turn the [[Federal government of the United States|US government]] applied pressure on the British administration.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=271}}

==Treaty negotiations==
[[File:The peacemakers- George Gavan Duffy, Erskine Childers, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith in a group (28455606301).jpg|thumb|Childers (second from left) together with members of the negotiation team in London]]
On 12 July 1921 de Valera and a small group, including Childers as secretary, travelled to London for discussions with Lloyd George.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=243}} De Valera submitted Lloyd George's proposals to the Dáil and the outcome was an Irish delegation sent to London on 7 October 1921 for formal talks to negotiate the terms of a treaty. De Valera did not go but he insisted against strong opposition that Childers, in whom he had particular faith,{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=235}} should remain secretary.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=209}}{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=248}} Protracted negotiations continued until agreement was reached on 5 December 1921.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=264}}

Childers was vehemently opposed to the final draft of the agreement, even when the clauses that required Irish leaders to take the [[Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)|Oath of Allegiance]] to the British monarch had been redefined to remove any real authority of the [[The Crown|Crown]] in Ireland.<ref>"[…]swearing allegiance first to the constitution of the Irish Free State, secondly to the crown in virtue of the common citizenship between the two countries[…]" {{harvnb|Lee|1989|p=50}}</ref>{{sfn|Pakenham|1921|pp=112–114}} As secretary to the delegation (rather than a full delegate) his determined resistance to the terms offered by the British was overruled, notwithstanding his attempts "forever trying to manipulate the Irish delegates into uncompromising positions".{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=213}} At the termination of the talks, Lloyd George noted a "sullen" Childers, disappointed that his "tenacious [and] sinister" attempts to wreck the negotiations had failed.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=264–265}} Historian [[Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford|Frank Pakenham]] was less critical: many of the British concessions that had permitted the Irish delegation eventually to sign the document had been introduced at Childers's instigation.{{sfn|Pakenham|1921|pp=189–191}}

The [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|Anglo-Irish treaty agreement]] was presented to the Dáil and debated between December 1921 and January 1922.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Treaty Debates |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/visit-and-learn/centenaries/treaty-debates/ |website=www.oireachtas.ie |publisher=Houses of the Oireachtas |access-date=17 September 2023 |language=en-ie |date=28 August 2023 |archive-date=20 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420033657/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/visit-and-learn/centenaries/treaty-debates/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Childers denounced it, declaring that by accepting compromise Ireland had of its own volition relinquished its independence. Arthur Griffith, a member of the delegation who had pragmatically conceded to Britain over the Oath of Allegiance, alleged that Childers was a secret agent of Britain now working to wreck the agreement and destabilise the new state. The Dáil voted to adopt the terms by the narrow majority of 64 to 57.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=218}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1922060800010 |title=Motion of Censure|access-date=1 September 2023|website= [[Dáil Éireann]] |archive-date=19 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219174603/http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1922060800010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Onset of civil war==
The treaty with Britain broadened the division between Sinn Féin and the "Irregulars" a breakaway anti-treaty faction of the [[Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) led by Cathal Brugha.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=272}} Ireland descended into [[Irish Civil War|civil war]] on 28 June 1922, when government forces, using borrowed British artillery, bombarded the [[Four Courts]], once Ireland's judicial centre but now used as the military headquarters of the IRA.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=220}}

==Fugitive==
[[File:Childers 1920.jpg|thumb|Childers towards the end of his life]]
During the civil war Childers was on the run with the anti-treaty forces in [[County Cork]] and [[County Kerry]]. The author [[Frank O'Connor]] was involved with Childers during the later part of the Civil War and gave a colourful picture of Childers's activities. According to O'Connor, Childers was ostracised from the anti-treaty forces and referred to as "that bloody Englishman", with untrained military officers, newly created from "country boys", ignoring Childers's considerable experience as a professional soldier.{{sfn|O'Connor|1960|p=157}} The high command of the anti-treaty forces, too, distanced themselves from Childers.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=15}} His lowly rank was "Staff Captain, Southern Command, IRA".{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=276}}
Although the headquarters of the rebel army was at [[Macroom|Macroom, County Cork]] only for a short time, while there Childers was able to produce southern editions of ''[[An Phoblacht]]'' which, as it was produced in the "war zone", he called ''Republican War News''. His clandestine printing press was moved between safe houses by [[Trap (carriage)|pony and trap]].{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=276}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barrett |first1=Anthony |title=The Media War: Robert Erskine Childers in West Cork |url=https://www.theirishstory.com/2022/09/13/the-media-war-robert-erskine-childers-in-west-cork/comment-page-1/#.Y0naqi8w3rA |publisher=Irish History Online |access-date=14 October 2022 |archive-date=14 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014221432/https://www.theirishstory.com/2022/09/13/the-media-war-robert-erskine-childers-in-west-cork/comment-page-1/#.Y0naqi8w3rA |url-status=live }}</ref>

Childers's reporting of the skirmishes allowed [[Kevin O'Higgins]], the [[Provisional Government of the Irish Free State|provisional government's]] justice minister, to declare that Childers was in fact the leader of the rebels, and indeed nothing less than the instigator of the civil war itself, through his resistance to compromise with England.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=278–279}}{{sfn|Piper|2003|pp=222–223}} Frank O'Connor saw that the government's intention was to "prepare the way for [Childers's] execution".{{sfn|O'Connor|1960|p=162}} The death in an ambush of [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] intensified the desire of Free State authorities for retribution, and on 28 September 1922, the Dáil introduced the [[Executions during the Irish Civil War|Army Emergency Powers Resolution]], establishing martial law powers and listing carrying firearms without a licence a capital offence.{{sfn|Campbell|1994|p=196}}

Early in November 1922, after his printing press had fallen down a hillside and become lost in a bog,{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=312}} Childers decided that the cause would be better served if he were at [[Éamon de Valera|de Valera's]] side as he attempted to rally the anti-treaty forces. Accordingly he set off by bicycle (in company with [[David Robinson (Irish politician)|David Robinson]], also on the run){{sfn|Wilkinson|1976|pp=220–223}} on the {{convert|200|mi|adj=on}} journey from Cork to his old home at Glendalough, as a staging post before meeting de Valera in Dublin. On 10 November Free State forces, possibly informed by an estate worker, burst into the house and arrested him.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=225}}{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=299, 317–319}} Robinson had hidden himself in a cellar and was not captured.{{sfn|Wilkinson|1976|pp=220–223}} Upon hearing of Childers's capture Winston Churchill expressed his satisfaction, referring to Childers as "the mischief-making, murderous renegade".<ref>Bromage, Mary (1964), ''Churchill and Ireland'', University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IL, pg 96, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-20844</ref> Years later, Churchill's opinion of Childers seems to have softened, referring to him as a "man of distinction, ability and courage[...]who had shown daring and ardour against the Germans in the Cuxhaven raid on New Year's Day 1915[...]."{{sfn|Churchill|1955|p=370}}

==Trial and appeal==
[[File:Piece 206-032; Erskine Childers (1922).pdf|page=10|thumb|right|alt=British Army intelligence file for Erskine Childers|British Army intelligence file for Erskine Childers]]
Childers was put on trial by a military court on the charge of possessing a small Spanish-made [[Gaztanaga Destroyer|''"Destroyer"'']] [[.32 ACP|.32 calibre]] [[semi-automatic pistol]] on his person in violation of the Emergency Powers Resolution.{{sfn|Wilkinson|1976|pp=220–223}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Pixilated Pistol puts in a timely reappearance|last=Siggins|first=Lorna|date=18 October 1995|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |page=1}}</ref> The gun had been a gift from Michael Collins before Collins became head of the pro-treaty Provisional Government.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=15}} Childers was convicted by the military court and sentenced to death on 20 November 1922.{{sfn|Ring|1996|pp=286–287}}

Childers appealed against the sentence, and this was heard the next day by Judge [[Charles O'Connor (judge)|Charles O'Connor]], who said he lacked jurisdiction because of the civil war:
{{Blockquote|The Provisional Government is now de jure as well as de facto the ruling authority bound to administer, to preserve the peace and to repress by force, if necessary, all persons who seek by violence to overthrow it&nbsp;... He [Childers] disputes the authority of the [military] Tribunal and comes to this Civil Court for protection, but its answer must be that its jurisdiction is ousted by the State of War which he himself has helped to produce.<ref>Application of Childers; High Court, 22 November 1922</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=The Childers Case |work=[[The Times]] |issue=43197 |date=24 November 1922 |page=14}}</ref>}}

Childers's lawyer appealed to the [[Supreme Court of the Irish Free State|Supreme Court]], but before it was even accepted by the court and listed as an appealable case, he was put to death.{{sfn|Ring|1996|p=286}}{{sfn|Ranelagh|1999|p=206}}

==Execution==
[[File:Erskine Childers.jpg|thumb]]
Childers was executed on 24 November 1922 by firing squad at the [[Beggars Bush Barracks]] in Dublin. Before his execution he shook hands with the firing squad.<ref name="ODNB"/> He obtained a promise from his then 16-year-old son, the future President of Ireland, [[Erskine Hamilton Childers]], to seek out and shake the hand of every man who had signed his death sentence.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Peter Stanford|title=On Soundings|date=8 November 1976|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918512-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625185130/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918512-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 June 2009|access-date=8 August 2008}}</ref> His final words, spoken to the firing squad, were: "Take a step or two forward, lads, it will be easier that way."{{sfn|Boyle|1977|p=25}}

Childers's body was buried at Beggars Bush Barracks until 1923, when it was exhumed and reburied in the republican plot at [[Glasnevin Cemetery]].<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Legacy==
Winston Churchill, who had exerted pressure on [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] and the Free State government to make the treaty work by crushing the rebellion, expressed the view that, "No man has done more harm or shown more genuine malice or endeavoured to bring a greater curse upon the common people of Ireland than this strange being, actuated by a deadly and malignant hatred for the land of his birth."<ref>From a speech given by Winston Churchill, 11 November 1922 in Dundee.{{cite news|title=Mr Churchill at Dundee|date=13 November 1922|work=The Times|page=18}}</ref> By contrast, Éamon de Valera said of him, "He died the Prince he was. Of all the men I ever met, I would say he was the noblest."{{sfn|Jordan|2010|p=127}}

On 23 November 2022 the Irish national broadcaster [[RTÉ]] transmitted a television programme to mark the centenary of Childers's execution. While acknowledging the importance within Ireland of his political and revolutionary achievements, and his role as "an active propagandist" for the revolution, it contended that his fame beyond Ireland now rests only on his novel ''The Riddle of the Sands''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Byrne |first1=Donal |title=The execution of Robert Erskine Childers |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/1123/1337715-robert-erskine-childers/ |access-date=2 September 2023 |work=[[RTÉ News]] |date=23 November 2022 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902101552/https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/1123/1337715-robert-erskine-childers/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

It was the express wish of [[Molly Childers]], upon her death in 1964, that the extensive and meticulous collection of papers and documents from her husband's in-depth involvement with the Irish struggles of the 1920s should be locked away until 50 years after his death. In 1972, Erskine Hamilton Childers started the process of finding an official biographer for his father. In 1974, [[Andrew Boyle (journalist)|Andrew Boyle]] (previous biographer of [[Brendan Bracken]] and [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Lord Reith]] amongst others) was given the task of exploring the vast Childers archive, and his biography of Robert Erskine Childers was finally published in 1977.{{sfn|Boyle|1977|pp=8–10}}

In December 2021 ''[[An Post]]'', the Irish national post office, issued a postage stamp to mark the centenary of Childers's execution. Also available was a "[[first day cover]]", with an image of the ''Asgard''.<ref>{{cite web |title=First Day Cover (Centenary of the death of Erskine Childers) |url=https://www.anpost.com/Shop/Products/First-Day-Cover-(Centenary-of-the-death-of-Erskine |publisher=An Post |access-date=2 September 2023 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902134306/https://www.anpost.com/Shop/Products/First-Day-Cover-(Centenary-of-the-death-of-Erskine |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}
{{div-col}}

==Bibliography==
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* {{cite book |last1=Childers |first1=Erskine |author-mask=1 |title=The Riddle of the Sands : A Record of Secret Service Recently Achieved |date=1903 |publisher=[[Smith, Elder & Co.]] |location=London |oclc=3569143 |url=https://archive.org/details/riddlesandsarec00chilgoog/page/n11/mode/1up?view=theater}}
* {{cite book |last1=Childers |first1=Erskine |author-mask=1 |title=War and the Arme Blanche |date=1910 |publisher=[[Edward Arnold (publisher)|Edward Arnold]] |location=London |oclc= 3644148 |url=https://archive.org/details/wararmeblanche00chilrich/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater}}
* {{cite book |last1=Childers |first1=Erskine |author-mask=1 |title=German Influence on British cavalry |date=1911a|publisher=[[Edward Arnold (publisher)|Edward Arnold]] |location=London |oclc= 11627879 |url=https://archive.org/details/germaninfluenceo00chiliala/mode/1up?view=theater }}
* {{cite book |last1=Childers |first1=Erskine |author-mask=1 |title=The Framework of Home Rule |date=1911b |publisher=Edward Arnold |location=London|oclc=906176236 |url=https://archive.org/details/frameworkofhomer00chiliala/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater}}
* {{Citation
| last   = Childers
| first  = Erskine
| author-mask=1
| date   = 2 March 1912
| title  = The form and purpose of Home Rule
| publisher = Edward Ponsonby
| place=Dublin
| oclc= 7485421
| url=https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/sq87bv92n?locale=zh
}}
* {{cite book |last1=Childers |first1=Erskine |author-mask=1 |title=Military Rule in Ireland |date=1920b|publisher=Talbot Press |location=Dublin |oclc= 16043760}}
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* Costello, Peter (1977), ''The Heart Grown Brutal: The Irish Revolution in Literature from Parnell to the Death of Yeats, 1891–1939'', Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. {{ISBN|9780847660070}}.
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* {{Cite book | editor-last1= Drummond | editor-first1 = Maldwin  | title = The Riddle of the Sands  | publisher=[[The Folio Society]] | year = 1992|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=FitzPatrick|first=David|editor=Thomas Bartlett, Keith Jeffery|title=A Military History of Ireland|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|location=Cambridge, England|isbn= 9780521629898}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hopkinson |first1=Michael |title=The Irish War of Independence |date=2002 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |location=Montreal |isbn=9780773524989 }}
* {{cite book|last=Jordan|first=Anthony J|title=Éamon de Valera, 1882–1975 : Irish : Catholic : visionary|year=2010|publisher=Westport Books|location=Dublin|isbn=9780952444794}}
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* {{cite book|last=Knightley|first=Phillip|author-link=Phillip Knightley|title=The Second Oldest Profession: Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century|year=2003|publisher=Pimlico|location=London|isbn= 9780140106558}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=J. J. |author1-link=J. J. Lee (historian)|title=Ireland, 1912-1985 : politics and society |date=1989 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521377416 }}
* {{cite book|last=McCoole|first=Sinéad|title=No Ordinary Women: Irish Female Activists in the Revolutionary Years 1900–1923|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison WI|year=2003|isbn=9781847177896}}
* {{cite book | last = McInerney | first = Michael | title = The Riddle Of Erskine Childers: Unionist & Republican | publisher=E & T O'Brien | year = 1971 | oclc = 7092164}}
* {{cite book |title=The Oxford History of the British Empire |last=McMahon |first=Deirdre |editor1-first= Judith M |editor1-last=Brown|editor2-first=William|editor2-last=Louis|year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, England |isbn= 9780199246793 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofb00loui/page/147 147–148] |chapter=Ireland and the Empire-Commonwealth, 1900–1948|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofb00loui|url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book | first = Frank | last = O'Connor | year = 1960 | title = An Only Child And My Father's Son: An Autobiography|isbn= 9780330304207|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|place=London}}
* {{cite book |last1=Olausson |first1=Lena |last2=Sangster |first2=Catherine M. |title=Oxford BBC guide to pronunciation: the essential handbook of the spoken word |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780192807106 |page=71}}
* {{cite book | last = Pakenham | first = Frank  | author-link =Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford|title = Peace By Ordeal | publisher=Jonathan Cape | year = 1921 |isbn=9787800337031}}
* {{cite book |last=Piper |first=Leonard |title=Dangerous waters : the life and death of Erskine Childers| publisher=Hambledon | year = 2003|isbn= 9781852853921 }} Also known as ''The tragedy of Erskine Childers''.
* {{cite book | last = Popham | first = Hugh | title = A Thirst For The Sea: Sailing Adventures of Erskine Childers | publisher=[[Stanfords|Stanford Maritime]] | year = 1979 | isbn = 9780540071975}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ranelagh |first1=John |author1-link=John Ranelagh |title=A short history of Ireland |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521469449 |edition=2}}
* {{cite book|last=Reader|first=William|title=At Duty's Call: A Study in Obsolete Patriotism |year=1988|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester, England|isbn=9780719024092}}
* {{cite book | last = Reid | first = Walter | title = Architect of Victory: Douglas Haig | publisher=Birlinn Ltd, Edinburgh | year = 2006 | isbn = 9781841585178}}
* {{cite book | last = Ring | first = Jim | title = Erskine Childers: A Biography | publisher=John Murray | year = 1996 | isbn = 9780719556814}}
* {{cite book | last = Sheffield | author-link = Gary Sheffield (historian) | first = Gary| title = The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army | publisher=Aurum, London| year = 2011 | isbn =  9781845136918}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Burke |title=The Zeal of the Convert |date=1976 |publisher=R. B. Luce |location=Washington |oclc=473681951}}
* {{cite book|title=The H.A.C. in South Africa : a record of the services rendered in the South African War by members of the Honourable Artillery Company|url=https://archive.org/details/hacinsouthafric00chilgoog|last1=Williams|first1=Basil|last2=Childers|first2=Erskine |publisher=Smith Elder|location=London|year=1903|oclc= 13508383|author-link= Basil Williams (historian)}}
* {{cite book|last=Williams|first=Basil|title=Erskine Childers, 1870–1922: A Sketch|publisher=Women's Printing Society|year=1926|location= London|oclc=34705727}}

{{div-col-end}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/erskine-childers}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=875| name=Erskine Childers}}
* {{Internet Archive author |name=Erskine Childers}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4274 |title=Erskine Childers}}
* {{OL author|25918A}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090123164019/http://www.riapress.com/riapress/author.lasso?goto=26 Free ebooks of ''The Riddle of the Sands'' and ''In the Ranks of the C.I.V.'', optimised for printing, plus selected Childers bibliography]
* [https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1922-06-08/9/#spk_173 Childers's rebuttal to the Dail in 1922 that he had served in the British Secret Service.]
* {{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56qwfpAc22w| title = Newsreel Movie Footage of Robert Erskine Childers | location = London | year = 1922 | publisher=British Pathé}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{cite TIWW |article= Childers, Erskine|page=36 }}

{{Kildare–Wicklow (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{IRA}}
{{ATIRA}}
{{Authority control}}

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