Wifely influence
Sir: Your critic, Brian Inglis, in his review of
Andrew Boyle's The Riddle of Erskine Childers (9 April) seems, in common with many other people, to be unable to explain the reason for Childers's change from a
patriotic Englishman to one equally patriotic in the cause of the Irish republic.
It is very easy, in the windings of speculation, to overlook the thread leading probably to the answer. I remember being told, some fifty years ago, by a close relative who knew Erskine well, that Molly, with her 'scheming mind,' had transferred to him her extreme Irish-American views. His wife surely provides an explanation of much that has puzzled us, and I would be most interested to hear if any other readers have pursued this line of thought.
Maurice Hare Fordley Hall, Middleton, Saxmund ham, Suffolk
Previous page
