The Death of Erskine Childers

Erskine Childers was executed by former comrades for possession of a gun that was given as a present by the head of the Free State Michael Collins rior to the split.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• michael collins
• erskine childers
• free state
• irish civil war
• IRA
• I.R.A.
• republicanism

[tomasocarthaigh]

True, but Churchill is no hero in Ireland, the most we will remember him for is the Black and Tans and his quote "I would give independence to any nation on earth bar the Irish pigs"

[weymouthfalco]

I did`nt know that. However, I can`t help thinking that behind it all Churchill had some influence on the decision to execute Childers

[godbrother10]

However within a few years even Churchill's temper cooled and he wrote: "Another man of distinction, ability and courage fell a victim. Erskine Childers, author of Riddle of The sands, who had shown daring and ardour against the Germans in the Cuxhaven Raid ... had espoused the Irish cause with even more than Irish irreconcilability. He, too, was shot for rebellion against the Free State."

[daver852]

Another true Republican, murdered by Free`Staters.

[weymouthfalco]

Winston Churchill would obviously have disagreed with the sentiments of this poem when he said, following Childer`s arrest "No man has done more harm or done more genuine malice or endeavoured to bring a greater curse upon the common people of Ireland than this strange being, actuated by a deadly and malignant hatred for the land of his birth."