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Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865-January 18, 1936)

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, to parents who were serving there. At the age of five, he and his younger sister were sent to England to board with an English family. Rudyard later commented that the cruelty and neglect suffered there may have contributed to his literary success. He and his sister stayed there for six years, only leaving occasionally to visit nearby family.

In 1878, Rudyard enrolled in the United Services College, a school that prepared boys to serve in the British Army. After he left, his father got him a job as assistant editor at the Civil & Military Gazette in Lahore, Punjab (now Pakistan), since the family did not have the funds to send him to Oxford.

His return to India enthralled him. He worked hard at the newspaper, yet still found time to write. His first volume of verse was published in 1886. When a new editor was appointed at the paper, he was encouraged to publish stories frequently. Between 1886 and 1887, at least 39 of his short stories appeared in the paper. He took an annual month off with his family to relax and enjoy what India had to offer, usually staying at Shimla. By 1888, he had six volumes of short stories to publish, and he had transferred to a larger paper, The Pioneer.

In March 1889, Rudyard left The Pioneer and traveled through the United States and part of Canada, finally making his way to London by October. He had no problem getting several stories picked up by magazines in London. He published a novel in the next two years, and experienced a nervous breakdown. He also had the luck to meet an American publishing agent and writer who became a collaborator on The Naulahka. Due to his health, his doctors advised Rudyard to travel south. He took a voyage to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India. He skipped the holidays with his family when he heard of the death of his collaborator, Wolcott Balestier. He proposed to Wolcott's sister by telegram, and by January of 1892, he and Carrie Balestier became man and wife.

Rudyard and his new wife settled in Vermont. They lived in a small cottage on a farm, and this is where their first child, Josephine, was born in 1892. This is also where he began his Jungle Books. After baby's arrival, the cottage felt cramped, so he bought a large house in Dummerston, Vermont that he named Naulakha (a corrected spelling of the book he co-wrote with his wife's brother). He was very prolific here; it was also where his second daughter, Elsie, was born in 1896. Due to political disagreements between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela, Rudyard moved his family back to England in September of 1896, settling in Devon. He found their new home depressing, but he managed to stay productive. His son, John, was born here in 1897.

He moved his family to Sussex, and bought a place named Batemans in 1902, the same year his Just So Stories were published. The early part of the twentieth century saw Rudyard hit the height of his popularity. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

World War I affected him deeply. He was very much for the war, and encouraged men to sign up. He pushed to get his son a commission despite his poor eyesight. His son was killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915, an event that has been dramatized in the play and movie, My Boy Jack. His son's loss hit him deeply.

Rudyard Kipling died in 1936, of a perforated duodenal ulcer.