Fonds CHIL - Papers of Erskine Childers

Gift of Col. Robert Alden Childers, June 1977. The reviews of 'The Times History of the War in South Africa', 'The HAC in South Africa', 'War and the Arme Blanche', and 'German Influence on British Cavalry' which had been intended to be part of the gift in 1977, was given in February 1981.

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.

Letter from Robert Erskine Childers to Ivor Lloyd-Jones, with provenance letter, ADD.Ms.a.599, Trinity College Library, Cambridge.
The Papers of Robert Erskine Childers (1870-1922) and of his wife Mary Alden Childers (née Osgood), MSS 7781-7931, Trinity College Dublin.
Yachting journals (1895-1914), The Caird Library, Manuscripts Section, National Maritime Museum, London: RCC/1-7.
Diaries, 1914-18 (8 vols), The Imperial War Musem, London: 471 80/36/1 & PP/MCR/C28.
Correspondence and papers (c1920-4), The National Library of Ireland, Dublin.