Erskine Hamilton Childers (Irish: Earchta Ó
Slatiascaigh; 11 December 1905 – 17 November 1974), the son of Robert
Erskine Childers (author of the espionage thriller The Riddle of the Sands and a leading Irish republican political
figure in his own right), served as the fourth President of Ireland from 1973 until
his death in 1974. He was a TD from 1938 until 1973. Childers served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (1951–1954, 1959–1961, and 1966–1969),
Minister for Lands (1957–1959),
Minister for Transport and Power (1959–1969), and
Minister for Health (1969–1973). He was appointed
Tánaiste of the Republic of Ireland in 1969.
Biography
Childers was born in London. He moved to Ireland after the First World War and took up residence in Wicklow, with his father
Robert Erskine Childers, who was in subsequent years to emerge as one of the
most prominent and outspoken Irish Republican opponents of the controversial political settlement with Britain that resulted in
the establishment of the Irish Free State. The younger Childers was educated at
Gresham's School, Holt, and Trinity College,
Cambridge, hence his striking British upper class accent. In 1922, when Childers was 16, his father was executed, on
politically-inspired gun-possession charges, by the Irish Free State. Before his execution, in a spirit of reconciliation, the
older Childers obtained a promise from his son to seek out and shake the hand of every man who had signed his father's death
warrant. [1]
Childers left Ireland after the death of his father to return to London and to University in Cambridge. After finishing
college he worked for a period in a tourism board in Paris, until the then Taoiseach of Ireland Éamon de Valera invited him back to Ireland to work for the Irish Press. He became a naturalised Irish
citizen in 1938. A member of Fianna Fáil, he held a number of
ministerial posts in the cabinets of Éamon de Valera, Seán Lemass and Jack Lynch, becoming Tánaiste in 1969. Erskine's period as a minister was
controversial. One commentator described his ministerial career as "spectacularly unsuccessful". Others praised his willingness
to take tough decisions. He was outspoken in his opposition to Charles Haughey in the
aftermath of the Arms Crisis, when Haughey and another minister, both having been sacked,
were sent for trial amid allegations of a plot to import arms for the Provisional IRA. (Haughey and the other minister, Neil
Blaney, were both acquitted.)
In a political upset, Childers was elected the fourth President of Ireland on 30 May,
1973, defeating Tom O'Higgins by 635,867 votes to 578,771.
Childers, though 67, was a vibrant, extremely hard-working president who earned universal respect and popularity, in the process
making the office of President a highly visible and useful institution. However, he died suddenly of a heart attack in November
1974, while making a public speech to the Royal College of
Physicians in Dublin.
Inauguration of Childers as President of Ireland,
25 June 1973.
Childers's state funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was attended by world leaders including the
Vice-President of the United States, Earl Mountbatten of Burma (representing Queen Elizabeth II), the Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Opposition, and presidents and crowned heads of state from Europe and
beyond. He was buried in the grounds of Derralossary church in Roundwood, County Wicklow. Initially it was expected that President Childers' popular widow, Rita, would be offered the office of president to continue his work, but it went instead to the former
Chief Justice, Cearbhall Ó
Dálaigh.
Childers was survived by his second wife, Rita, and children from both his marriages. A son, Erskine Childers, by his first wife Ruth Ellen Dow, was a UN civil servant and Secretary General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations. A daughter by 2nd wife
Rita, Nessa Childers, is a councillor for the Green Party on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
County Council.
Political career
Notes
Additional reading
John N. Young, Erskine H. Childers: President of Ireland
See also
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
