
Robert Erskine Childers (1870–1922) [Third from the left]
British civil servant, author, and Sinn Féin propagandist
Extract from RIA Dictonary of Irish Biography by M. A. Hopkinson
Childers was particularly close to Éamon de Valera (qv) and his ideas appear to have had a heavy influence on the dáil president. He was not, however, trusted by many; Arthur Griffith (qv) called him a ‘damned Englishman’. Remembering his British intelligence associations, many suspected him of being a spy. In February 1921, following the arrest of Desmond FitzGerald (qv), Childers became director of propaganda, stressing the need for the IRA to be regarded as a legitimate dáil-approved force. After the May 1921 election he became a Sinn Féin TD.
Childers accompanied de Valera to London for the early stages of negotiations and was appointed one of the secretaries to the treaty conference. During the conference he reported back to de Valera independently on developments, and had increasingly strained relations with Michael Collins (qv) and Griffith. The British delegation also regarded Childers as a harmful influence during the negotiations, and set up private meetings with Griffith and Collins to bypass him. In the dramatic last hours before the signing of the treaty on 6 December, Childers used his family connections in an abortive attempt to discourage Barton from signing the document.
Childers became one of the fiercest public opponents of the treaty, concentrating during the dáil treaty debates especially on the defence clauses. With de Valera, though, he became more and more of a marginal figure as the military opposition to the treaty came to dominate the political. He had to flee Dublin in the early weeks of the civil war, leaving his family and adopting a peripatetic secret role, striving to keep his republican publicity sheets going. Because of his age and the general lack of trust in him as an outsider, he was not accepted by the columns of the Cork and Kerry IRA. Meanwhile he was suspected in British government and Irish provisional government circles of being responsible for the republican military struggle. It was rumoured that Liam Lynch (qv), the republican chief of staff, wished Childers to replace de Valera as leader of the republican party.