Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India. He is best known for the children's story The Jungle Book (1894), the Indian spy novel Kim (1901), the poems "Gunga Din" (1892), "If— " (1895), and his many short stories.

Kipling's childhood

Kipling was born in Bombay, India (The house in which he was born still stands on the campus of Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art in Mumbai). His father was John Lockwood Kipling, a teacher at the local Jeejeebhoy School of Art, and his mother was Alice Macdonald. They are said to have met at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire, England, hence Kipling's name. As a six-year-old he and his three-year-old sister were sent to England and cared for by a woman named Mrs. Holloway. The poor treatment and neglect he experienced until he was rescued at the age of 12 may have influenced his writing, in particular his sympathy with children. His maternal aunt was married to the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and young Kipling and his sister spent Christmas holidays with the Burne-Joneses in England from the ages of six to twelve, while his parents remained in India. Kipling was a cousin of the three-times Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Related Topics:
Bombay - India - Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art - John Lockwood Kipling - Alice Macdonald - Rudyard Lake - Staffordshire - Edward Burne-Jones - Prime Minister - Stanley Baldwin

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After a spell at a boarding school, the United Services College, Kipling returned to India, to Lahore (in modern-day Pakistan) where his parents were then working, in 1881. He began working as a newspaper editor for a local edition and continued tentative steps into the world of poetry; his first professional sales were in 1883.

Related Topics:
Boarding school - United Services College - Lahore - Pakistan - 1881 - Newspaper - 1883

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