Robert Erskine Childers DSC, known as Erskine Childers, was an English-born Irish nationalist and writer, best known for his novel The Riddle of the Sands. This novel, published before World War I, influenced Winston Churchill to strengthen the Royal Navy. Childers played a key role in negotiating the Anglo-Irish Treaty but later supported Irish republicanism, severing ties with Britain. During the Irish Civil War, he was executed by the Irish Free State for his republican activities.