Erskine Childers is known today as the author of
The Riddle of the Sands(1903), one of the earliest and most influential spy-adventure novels. He is also known as a martyr of the Irish resistance to British domination.
Erskine Childers was born in Mayfair, London, on 25th June 1870. His father, Robert Caesar Childers (1838-1876), was the son of a Yorkshire clergyman, therefore considered a gentleman. He had intellectual and religious inclinations and studied Hebrew at Wadham College, Oxford. In 1860 he joined the British administration of Ceylon where he became fascinated by Pali, the classical scriptural language of Buddhism. In 1864, forced by tuberculosis to return to England, he worked in the India Office Library and compiled the first English dictionary of Pali, published in two
1959 words
Citation: Clark, Robert. "Erskine Childers". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 February 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=858, accessed 23 November 2024.]
