Erskine Childers, novelist, Royal Navy officer, and later Irish nationalist, is born in London in 1870. He gained early fame for his classic espionage novel, The Riddle of the Sands (1903), which is often considered the first modern spy thriller and reflected his concerns about British naval preparedness.
Though born into a privileged Anglo-Irish background and initially loyal to the British Empire, Childers underwent a political transformation. He became a committed supporter of Irish independence, serving as a courier for the IRA and later as a key figure in the Irish Free State’s negotiations with Britain.
Tragically, he was executed during the Irish Civil War in 1922 by the very state he helped to found. His legacy remains complex and poignant, reflecting the turbulent times in which he lived.