Childers Papers.
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| Summary: | Childers papers, compiled after the death of Erskine Childers by his wife Mary Childers; Papers relating to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, with correspondence and papers relating to the Civil War, includes carbon copies and drafts of documents along with correspondence from the British and Irish politicians leading up to and following the Anglo Irish Treaty,1921-1923; Minute-book and account books relating to Cumann Léigheacht an Phobail, account books connected with the various costs of running the society, includes books for printing costs, postage, stationary. Also includes an account book and cheques from the National Land Bank signed by Mary Alden Childers and copies of correspondence between Alice Stopford Green and Mary Alden Childers, and a letter from Mary Comerford to Mrs [Alice Stopford] Green are also included,1915-1922; Reference documents for Dáil Éireann, includes transcripts of speeches on the Anglo-Irish Treaty delivered by Lord Birkenhead and Winston Churchill in the House of Lords in March 1922, 1920-1922; Newspaper cuttings relating to the Civil War and notes on the Provisional Parliament, 1922-1924; Album of family photographs and letters of friends of Dr. Hamilton Osgood, formerly in the possession of Margaret Cushing Osgood. Erskine Childers was born in 1870 in London and his mother’s family were related to the Bartons of Annamoe, near Glendalough in County Wicklow. He came to live in Ireland in 1919. Previous to that he was a clerk in the House of Commons and an expert in the field of British parliamentary procedure. He had some experience of the Boer War and was in the Royal Naval Air Force during the Great War. He was a British Military Historian and Strategist and author of his immensely successful ‘The Riddle of the Sands’. He went on a tour of Irish co-operatives with Horace Plunkett and with his cousin Robert Barton and came back announcing that he was finally and immutably a convert to Home Rule from the most irreconcilable sort of Unionism. Childers supported the Irish Volunteers and ran guns for them. When WW1 broke out, Childers began a distinguished career with the Royal Naval Air Service and was decorated by George V a year after the Easter Rising. After spells in the secretariat of the Irish Convention that the Government set up in 1917 and with the Intelligence wing of the Royal Air Force, he and his wife Mary though still seeing themselves as British or English, made ready “to give themselves to Ireland”. He became a skillful propagandist during the Anglo- Irish War, appointed secretary to the team which negotiated a settlement with Britain and subsequently aligned himself with the anti-Treaty forces in the Civil War. Childers was arrested at Glendalough House on 10 November 1922 and charged with possession of a small pistol, actually given to him as a keepsake by Michael Collins. On 24 November 1922 Childers was duly executed by firing squad. The execution was justified as coming under the terms of the public safety act. During a visit to Massachusetts (1903) Childers met Mary (‘Molly’) Osgood, theattractive, intellectually gifted, disabled daughter of a leading Boston family, long associated with anti-imperialism. They married on 5 January 1904. Their marriage was intense and close, and Molly had a major, but often exaggerated, influence on Childers. They had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. |
| In collection: | Childers Papers. |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Notes: | Related Materials: Erskine Childers Papers, MSS 48,052-48,105 held in the Department of Manuscripts, National Library of Ireland. Physical description: 3 boxes. more |
| Arrangement: | Fonds |
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Childers Papers.
| In Collection: | Childers Papers. |
|---|---|
| Description: | Childers papers, compiled after the death of Erskine Childers by his wife Mary Childers; Papers relating to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, with correspondence and papers relating to the Civil War, includes carbon copies and drafts of documents along with correspondence from the British and Irish politicians leading up to and following the Anglo Irish Treaty,1921-1923; Minute-book and account books relating to Cumann Léigheacht an Phobail, account books connected with the various costs of running the society, includes books for printing costs, postage, stationary. Also includes an account book and cheques from the National Land Bank signed by Mary Alden Childers and copies of correspondence between Alice Stopford Green and Mary Alden Childers, and a letter from Mary Comerford to Mrs [Alice Stopford] Green are also included,1915-1922; Reference documents for Dáil Éireann, includes transcripts of speeches on the Anglo-Irish Treaty delivered by Lord Birkenhead and Winston Churchill in the House of Lords in March 1922, 1920-1922; Newspaper cuttings relating to the Civil War and notes on the Provisional Parliament, 1922-1924; Album of family photographs and letters of friends of Dr. Hamilton Osgood, formerly in the possession of Margaret Cushing Osgood. Erskine Childers was born in 1870 in London and his mother’s family were related to the Bartons of Annamoe, near Glendalough in County Wicklow. He came to live in Ireland in 1919. Previous to that he was a clerk in the House of Commons and an expert in the field of British parliamentary procedure. He had some experience of the Boer War and was in the Royal Naval Air Force during the Great War. He was a British Military Historian and Strategist and author of his immensely successful ‘The Riddle of the Sands’. He went on a tour of Irish co-operatives with Horace Plunkett and with his cousin Robert Barton and came back announcing that he was finally and immutably a convert to Home Rule from the most irreconcilable sort of Unionism. Childers supported the Irish Volunteers and ran guns for them. When WW1 broke out, Childers began a distinguished career with the Royal Naval Air Service and was decorated by George V a year after the Easter Rising. After spells in the secretariat of the Irish Convention that the Government set up in 1917 and with the Intelligence wing of the Royal Air Force, he and his wife Mary though still seeing themselves as British or English, made ready “to give themselves to Ireland”. He became a skillful propagandist during the Anglo- Irish War, appointed secretary to the team which negotiated a settlement with Britain and subsequently aligned himself with the anti-Treaty forces in the Civil War. Childers was arrested at Glendalough House on 10 November 1922 and charged with possession of a small pistol, actually given to him as a keepsake by Michael Collins. On 24 November 1922 Childers was duly executed by firing squad. The execution was justified as coming under the terms of the public safety act. During a visit to Massachusetts (1903) Childers met Mary (‘Molly’) Osgood, theattractive, intellectually gifted, disabled daughter of a leading Boston family, long associated with anti-imperialism. They married on 5 January 1904. Their marriage was intense and close, and Molly had a major, but often exaggerated, influence on Childers. They had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. |
| Main Creator: | |
| Language: | English |
| Extent: | 3 boxes. |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Call Number: |
MS 16,141
(Manuscripts Reading Room) MS 15,441-15,445 (Manuscripts Reading Room) |
| Rights: | Reproduction rights owned by the National Library of Ireland. |