Erskine Childers (1870 - 1922)

Robert Erskine Childers DSC (25 June 1870 – 24 November 1922), universally known as Erskine Childers, was the author of the influential novel The Riddle of the Sands and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War.