Erskine Hamilton Childers | |
|---|---|
 Childers in 1971 | |
| President of Ireland | |
| In office 25 June 1973 – 17 November 1974 | |
| Taoiseach | Liam Cosgrave |
| Preceded by | Éamon de Valera |
| Succeeded by | Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh |
| Tánaiste | |
| In office 2 July 1969 – 14 March 1973 | |
| Taoiseach | Jack Lynch |
| Preceded by | Frank Aiken |
| Succeeded by | Brendan Corish |
| Minister for Health | |
| In office 2 July 1969 – 14 March 1973 | |
| Taoiseach | Jack Lynch |
| Preceded by | Seán Flanagan |
| Succeeded by | Brendan Corish |
| Minister for Transport and Power | |
| In office 27 June 1959 – 2 July 1969 | |
| Taoiseach |
|
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Brian Lenihan |
| Minister for Posts and Telegraphs | |
| In office 10 November 1966 – 2 July 1969 | |
| Taoiseach | Jack Lynch |
| Preceded by | Joseph Brennan |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Lalor |
| In office 13 June 1951 – 2 June 1954 | |
| Taoiseach | Éamon de Valera |
| Preceded by | James Everett |
| Succeeded by | Michael Keyes |
| Minister for Lands | |
| In office 27 March 1957 – 23 July 1959 | |
| Taoiseach | Éamon de Valera |
| Preceded by | Mícheál Ó Móráin |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Blowick |
| Parliamentary Secretary | |
| 1944–1948 | Local Government and Public Health |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office October 1961 – 23 June 1973 | |
| Constituency | Monaghan |
| In office February 1948 – October 1961 | |
| Constituency | Longford–Westmeath |
| In office June 1938 – February 1948 | |
| Constituency | Athlone–Longford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1905-12-11)11 December 1905 Westminster, London, England |
| Died | 17 November 1974(1974-11-17) (aged 68) Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland |
| Cause of death | Heart failure |
| Resting place | Roundwood, County Wicklow, Ireland |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 7, includingErskine Barton andNessa |
| Parents | |
| Relatives |
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| Education | |
| Profession |
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| Signature |  |
Erskine Hamilton Childers (11 December 1905 – 17 November 1974) was an IrishFianna Fáil politician who served as thepresident of Ireland from June 1973 to November 1974. He is the only Irish president to have died in office. He also served asTánaiste andMinister for Health from 1969 to 1973,Minister for Transport and Power from 1959 to 1969,Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1951 to 1954 and 1966 to 1969,Minister for Lands from 1957 to 1959 andParliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health from 1944 to 1948. He served as aTeachta Dála (TD) from 1938 to 1973.[1]
His fatherRobert Erskine Childers, anIrish republican and author of the espionage thrillerThe Riddle of the Sands, was executed during theIrish Civil War.
Childers was born in theEmbankment Gardens,Westminster,London,[2] to aProtestant family, originally fromGlendalough,County Wicklow, Ireland. Although also born in England, his father,Robert Erskine Childers, had an Irish mother and had been raised by an uncle in County Wicklow, and afterWorld War I took his family to live there. His mother,Molly Childers, was aBostonian whose ancestors arrived on theMayflower. Robert and Molly later emerged as prominent and outspoken Irish republican opponents of thepolitical settlement with Britain which resulted in the establishment of theIrish Free State.[3]
Childers was educated atGresham's School,Holt.[4][5] In 1922 when Childers was sixteen, his father was executed by the newIrish Free State on politically inspired charges of gun-possession. The pistol he had been found with had been given to him byMichael Collins. Before his execution, in a spirit of reconciliation, the elder Childers obtained a promise from his son to seek out and shake the hand of every man who had signed his death warrant.[6]
After attending his father's funeral, Childers returned to Gresham's,[5] then two years later he attendedTrinity College, Cambridge where he studied history.[7]
After finishing his education, Childers worked for a period for a tourism board inParis. In 1931,Éamon de Valera invited him to work for de Valera's recently founded newspaperThe Irish Press inDublin, where Childers became advertising manager.[8] He became a naturalised Irish citizen in 1938. That same year, he was elected as aFianna FáilTD for the constituency ofAthlone–Longford.[9] He remained a member ofDáil Éireann until 1973 when he resigned to become President of Ireland.
When former President of IrelandDouglas Hyde, who was a Protestant, died in 1949, most senior politicians did not attend the funeral service insideSt. Patrick's Cathedral; rather, they remained outside. The exceptions wereNoël Browne, theMinister for Health, and Childers, a fellow Protestant.[10]
Childers joined the cabinet in 1951, asMinister for Posts and Telegraphs in the de Valera government. He then served asMinister for Lands in de Valera's 1957–59 cabinet. In 1959, the new TaoiseachSeán Lemass initially appointed him as Minister for Lands, before appointing him to the newly created position ofMinister for Transport and Power.[11] He served in that position until 1969, in combination with his former position of Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1966 underJack Lynch. In 1969, he was appointed asTánaiste and Minister for Health in 1969.
He never held any of the most important Cabinet posts and his ministerial career was described by one Handbook of Irish politics as "spectacularly unsuccessful".[12] Others praised his willingness to make tough decisions. He was outspoken in his opposition toCharles Haughey, in the aftermath of theArms Crisis, when Haughey andNeil Blaney, having been both removed from the government, were sent for trial amid allegations of a plot to import arms for theProvisional IRA. (Both were acquitted.)
In the1966 presidential election,Fine Gael TDTom O'Higgins had come within 11,000 votes (1%) of defeating de Valera; at the1973 election he was again the Fine Gael nominee and was widely expected to win. Childers was nominated by Fianna Fáil at the behest of de Valera, who pressured Jack Lynch in the selection of the presidential candidate. On the campaign trail, his popularity proved enormous, and in a political upset, Childers was elected the fourth President of Ireland on 30 May 1973, defeating O'Higgins by 635,867 (52%) votes to 578,771 (48%).
When Childers was inaugurated asPresident of Ireland, he took the oath of office in theIrish language, but this was with some reluctance, as he spoke relatively little of it.[13] As his very distinctiveOxbridge accent made pronouncing Irish difficult, he used a tape recording obtained from a native speaker inWest Cork to help his pronunciation, during a stay nearSneem on the coast ofCounty Kerry.[14]
Childers, though 67, quickly gained a reputation as a vibrant, extremely hard-working President, and became highly popular and respected. However, he had a strained relationship with the incumbent government, led byTaoiseachLiam Cosgrave of Fine Gael. Childers had campaigned on a platform of making the presidency more open and hands-on, which Cosgrave viewed as a threat to his agenda as head of government. He refused to cooperate with Childers's priority upon taking office, the establishment of athink tank withinÁras an Uachtaráin, to plan the country's future. Childers considered resigning from the presidency but was convinced to remain by Cosgrave'sForeign Minister,Garret FitzGerald.[15] However, Childers remained detached from the government; whereas previously, Presidents had been briefed by the Taoiseach once a month, Cosgrave briefed President Childers and his successor,Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, on average once every six months.
Though frustrated about the lack of power he had in the office,[15] Childers's daughterNessa believes that he played an important behind-the-scenes role in easing theNorthern Ireland conflict, reporting that formerPrime Minister of Northern IrelandTerence O'Neill met secretly with her father at Áras an Uachtaráin on at least one occasion.[16]
Prevented from transforming the presidency as he desired, Childers instead threw his energy into a busy schedule of official visits and speeches, which was physically taxing.
On 17 November 1974, during a conference with the psychiatrists of theRoyal College of Physicians in Dublin, Childers suffered sudden heart failure causing him to lie sideways and turn blue before suddenly collapsing. He was pronounced dead the same day atMater Misericordiae University Hospital.
Childers'sstate funeral inSt. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was attended by his presidential predecessorÉamon de Valera and world leaders including theEarl Mountbatten of Burma (representing QueenElizabeth II), theBritish Prime MinisterHarold Wilson andBritish Opposition LeaderEdward Heath, and heads of state fromEurope and beyond. He was buried on the grounds of theChurch of Ireland Derralossary Church, inRoundwood, County Wicklow.
 sculpted byJames Power |  | .jpg) |
Childers's widow,Rita Childers, shared her late husband's widespread personal popularity. Upon his death, when she issued a press statement pleading for the nation to keep the office above politics in choosing a successor, Cosgrave reacted by suggesting to theOpposition Leader, Jack Lynch, that they appoint Mrs. Childers to the presidency by acclamation. Lynch agreed four days after Childers's death to bring the suggestion to his party. However, when members of Cosgrave's Fine Gael disclosed the plan to the press on their initiative, Lynch, believing his Fianna Fáil party was being denied a public voice in the decision, withdrew his support for her.[17]
All parties instead agreed to nominate the formerAttorney General andChief Justice, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, as Childers's successor, who waselected unopposed.
Childers married Ruth Ellen Dow in 1925. They had five children, Ruth Ellen Childers, born in July 1927,Erskine, born in March 1929, followed by Roderick Winthrop Childers in June 1931, and, in November 1937, twin daughters, Carainn and Margaret Osgood Childers.[2]
After the death of Dow in 1950, Childers married again, in 1952, toRita Dudley, a Catholic.[2] Together they had a daughter,Nessa, who is a formerMember of the European Parliament andCounty Councillor.
Childers was survived by children from both his marriages. His second wife Rita Dudley died on 9 May 2010.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health 1944–1948 | Office abolished |
| Preceded by | Minister for Posts and Telegraphs 1951–1954 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Lands 1957–1959 | Succeeded by |
| New office | Minister for Transport and Power 1959–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Posts and Telegraphs 1966–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Tánaiste 1969–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Health 1969–1973 | |
| Preceded by | President of Ireland 1973–1974 | Succeeded by |
Erskine H. Childers navigational boxes | |
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