Robert Erskine Childers was born in London in 1870. His parents both died when he was a child, and he was raised at his mother's family home in Ireland. In 1899 he volunteered for service in the Boer War and wrote a popular account of his experiences, following this up with The Riddle of the Sands (1903).

He moved to Ireland after WWI and was elected to the Irish parliament where he was a delegate in the negotiations for the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1922. When the terms fell short of full Irish independence, Childers joined the Republicans in the ensuing Civil War. He was arrested by the Free State government, court-martialled, and executed by firing squad in 1922. Ned Halley is an award-winning journalist