Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Wishes she and Bessie could have seen each other here, but expects the 'war economy régime' could not have coped with them both being their with their children. Agrees that George seems to have found work which 'suits him down to the ground': though he doesn't know 'the least bit how to tie up a wounded limb or give an anasthetic'; he seems 'to be the [emphasised] person that they all want to go with', and the Italians 'love him'. The brigade has already had a great reception at Turinl expects they will be at Udine or even nearer the front by now; there are sixty people, many 'old hands from Flanders', twenty-six cars, and a 'clearing hospital of fifty beds' so they should be 'tremendously useful'. She herself is returning to London next Monday for three weeks, while the Hon. Sec. [of the Committee for Relief in Belgium, Mary Childers?] has a holiday, and will be there over the winter; hopes they can meet there after Janet's house comes out of its 'curl papers' about 27 Sept. Asks Bessie to tell Bob his '"Foolishness of Solomon" has given her 'many delicious chortles'. Her children are well, but fears 'the tonsils operation still hangs over Mary - & possibly Humphry too'.
Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Glad Julian is all right; sure Elizabeth must be relieved to have settled the 'governess business', and hopes she will be as lucky as Charles and Mollie are in Miss Clarke. Very interesting about Jan [Hubrecht]; thinks he has 'great aptitudes for his new career [in the Dutch diplomatic service]' and has 'learned to work' through his study of astronomy. George is spending thirty six hours with them, and has given them an idea of his 'complicated business' [heading a Red Cross ambulance brigade in Italy]; Janet has come from Robins Ghyll to be with him; his long and 'not unanxious' absences are hard on her, but he is 'doing a man's work'; he does not think she would 'have it otherwise'. Janet was herself meant to have spent September at Wallington, but her colleague [on the Committee for Relief in Belgium] Mrs Erskine Childers has to go away so she can only spend a few days, and will leave the children here.
The papers consist of correspondence, printed material, writings, personal papers, and photographs documenting the English life of Erskine Childers. The correspondence includes incoming letters to Erskine and to Molly Childers, copies of letters sent by Erskine, and a large number of letters written to others from others.
There are over 75 letters from Erskine to Molly dated 1903-1913; Erskine's other principal correspondents include Ian Hamilton, Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, and Basil Williams. Molly's principal correspondents include Benoît-Constant Coquelin, Kate Courtney, and John Singer Sargent. The collection includes letters from a variety of other correspondents, among them Edward Arnold, Julian Corbett, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, William James, Lord Kitchener, J. Ellis McTaggart, Walter Runciman, George Bernard Shaw (to Emily Ford), and G. M. Trevelyan.
Printed material includes cuttings of reviews for 'The H.A.C. in South Africa', 'The Times History of the war in South Africa', 'War and the Arme Blanche', 'The Riddle of the Sands', and 'The German Influence on British Cavalry'; cuttings of articles on cruising printed in 'The Times' from 1907-1913; as well as two issues of 'Poblacht na hÉireann' from 21, 23 October, 1922.
The collection also includes a holograph poem apiece by Bronson Alcott and William Ellery Channing, photographs of Benoît-Constant Coquelin, and a signed photograph of Sarah Bernhardt.
Childers, Robert Erskine (1870-1922), author and politician