page_title: Erskine Childers (author)
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Erskine Childers (author) / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: Robert Erskine Childers c1920, died 24 November 1922, contemporary newspaper image
context_page_description: Robert Erskine Childers DSC, usually known as Erskine Childers, was a British-born Irish writer, whose works included the influential novel The Riddle of the Sands. He became a supporter of Irish Republicanism and smuggled guns into Ireland in his sailing yacht Asgard. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War. He was the son of British Orientalist scholar Robert Caesar Childers; the cousin of Hugh Childers and Robert Barton; and the father of the fourth President of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers.
context_section_description: Childers was secretary-general of the Irish delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty with the British Government. He stayed at the delegation headquarters in Hans Place throughout the period of the negotiations, 11 October – 6 December 1921. However, Childers became vehemently opposed to the final draft of the agreement, particularly the clauses that required Irish leaders to take the Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch. The Treaty was approved by an exhausted Dáil voting 64–57 in January 1922. In the course of the debates some felt that Childers had been insulted by Arthur Griffith, and the matter was debated in June. The treaty continued to divide Sinn Féin and the IRA, and Ireland descended into civil war on 28 June 1922.
  During the Civil War, Childers was said to be the man behind the propaganda of the republican movement, and was hunted by National Army soldiers. The death in an ambush of Michael Collins intensified the desire of Free State authorities for retribution, and on 28 September 1922, the Dáil introduced the Army Emergency Powers Resolution, establishing martial law powers and listing carrying firearms without a licence a capital offence.
  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, he was ostracised from the anti-treaty forces and referred to as "That bloody Englishman". The high command of the anti-treaty forces distanced themselves from Childers on the grounds that he was too infamous to be of any practical use, despite his considerable military experience, and at one stage he was put to work addressing letters in the staff office in Macroom, County Cork. He was later said to be a Captain in the Anti-Treaty forces.
  On 10 November, Free State forces burst into the Barton mansion at Glendalough, while Childers was staying there on his way to meet de Valera, and arrested him.
caption: Childers towards the end of his life
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