school from 1836 to 1843 under Charles Mayo (1792-1846) [q. v.] On 9 April 1845 he was admitted a commoner at Wadham College, Oxford, but in May 1847 he migrated to Trinity College, Cambridge. He appeared as a senior optime in the mathematical tripos, and graduated B.A. in February 1850. Very shortly after leaving Cambridge he married, on 28 May 1850, Emily, third daughter of G. J. A. Walker of Norton, Worcestershire, and, preferring a career in the colonies to the bar, he sailed on 10 July for Melbourne, where he arrived on 26 Oct. 1850. He was furnished with excellent letters of introduction to the governor, Charles Joseph Latrobe [q. v.], and was appointed, 11 Jan. 1851, an inspector of schools. In September of the same year he became secretary to the education department and emigration agent at the port of Melbourne. His ability for work and organisation was soon noted, and on 11 Oct. 1852 he was given the office of auditor-general, with a seat in the legislative council, and a salary of 1,200l. a year. In this office he practically controlled the revenue of the colony at the early age of twenty-six. On 4 Nov. 1852 he produced his first budget, which provided 10,000l. for a university at Melbourne, and on 11 Jan. 1853 he brought in a bill for the establishment of the university, of which he was made first vice-chancellor. In December 1853 he was appointed collector of customs with a salary of 2,000l., by virtue of which office he obtained a seat in the executive council as well as in the legislative council. With Sir Charles Hotham, Latrobe's successor, Childers's relations were strained, and Hotham wished to dismiss him, but was overruled by the home government. After the conversion of Victoria into a self-governing colony in 1855, Childers was elected, 23 Sept. 1860, to represent Portland in the new parliament. He sat in the first Victorian cabinet as commissioner of trades and customs.
In March 1857 Childers returned to London to fill the newly created post of agent-general for Victoria, but a change of government occurring in the colony the appointment was cancelled beyond the end of the same year. Childers, however, continued to act for the colony in an informal way, and to the end of his life was a staunch advocate of colonial federation. He visited Australia in 1858 on behalf of Messrs. Baring with regard to a proposed loan to the colonies for the purchase of railways by the state. On his return to England in September 1858 Childers determined to devote himself to politics, and at the general election of 1859 stood in the liberal interest for Pontefract, where he possessed some interest through his uncle. Sir Culling Eardley Eardley (formerly Smith), his mother's brother, who represented the borough in 1830. He was the second liberal candidate with Monckton Milnes (afterwards Lord Houghton) as a colleague, and was defeated. A petition was, however, presented against the return of the conservative, William Overend (1809-1884). Although the petition was withdrawn, another contest followed in January 1860, when Childers was elected. He continued to represent Pontefract until the general election of 1885. His peculiar colonial experience soon attracted attention to his abilities in the House of Commons. His first speech on the working of the ballot, 9 Feb. 1860 (published 1860; 2nd ed. 1869), was notable, owing to his knowledge of the act as passed in Victoria, and brought him early under the notice of Lord Palmerston. On the question of transportation to the colonies becoming urgent, he was appointed chairman of the select committee considering the question, and was also a member of the royal commission inquiring into penal servitude in 1863; his efforts were largely instrumental in procuring the abolition of transportation. In April 1864 he succeeded (Sir) James Stansfeld [q. v. Suppl.] as a civil lord of the admiralty, under the Duke of Somerset, the first lord in Lord Palmerston's administration, and from the first showed himself to be a strong supporter of economy and reform in dockyard administration. In August 1865 he was appointed financial secretary to the treasury, and cemented a friendship with Gladstone, then chancellor of the exchequer, whose policy rather than that of Palmerston he was from the first inclined to support. He was thenceforth until the end of his life a devoted follower and admirer of Gladstone, who well rewarded his loyalty. During his tenure of office as financial secretary his most important work was the passing of the Audit Act of 1865, for which he was mainly responsible (Alg. West, Recollections, ii. 209; Lord Welby in Times, February 1896; Life of Childers, i. 1 28-9). He retired from office on the fall of the liberal government (June 1866). In 1867 he acted on the royal commission appointed to investigate the condition of the law courts.
On the formation of Gladstone's first administration in December 1868 Childers was appointed first lord of the admiralty, and was admitted to the privy council. During his term of office he proved himself an active administrator, and carried out a number of far-reaching reforms. His main
