British writer born in India; a poet, novelist and journalist who, more than anyone, captured the spirit of British Rule in India. Kipling first worked as a journalist on the Allahabad Pioneer in India, later moving to England. Some of his most famous works are “The Jungle Book,” 1894, “Captains Courageous,” 1897, and an autobiography, “Something of Myself,” which was published posthumously in 1937. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907, the first English-language writer to have that honor.
When Rudyard was born, his father, John Lockwood Kipling, was serving as principle of the Jeejeebyhoy Art School in Bombay, India. His mother, Alice Macdonald Kipling, had three sisters who had married well. Among his uncles were Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Sir Edward Poynter, both famous painters, and Alfred Baldwin, a future Prime Minister. Family connections were very important in his early life, and the years before he turned six were reportedly idyllic. In 1871, however, the Kipling family returned to England, and things changed drastically. His parents stayed in England for only six months, and when they returned to India, they left young Rudyard and his three-year-old sister with a foster family, the Holloways of Southsea. Over the next five years, he was bullied and physically mistreated, and as a result, he was left with a sense of betrayal and deep psychological wounds.
Kipling attended the United Services College at Westward Ho in North Devon from 1878-1882. Once again the physically frail and nearsighted young man was teased and bullied. Despite the rough treatment that he endured, he developed a fierce loyalty to the College where he had developed his love of literature. He returned to India after completing his education, and spent the next seven years working various jobs and writing about India. “Departmental Ditties,” his first volume of poetry, was published in 1886, and during the years of 1887-89, he published six volumes of short stories including “Plain Tales from the Hills,” the first volume of the “Indian Railway Series.”
In 1889, Kipling returned to England after a stop in the United States. With his reputation as a brilliant writer already established, his success continued to grow by leaps and bounds. In 1890, his first novel, “The Light that Failed,” was released but it enjoyed only moderate success. In 1892, however, the publication of “Barrack-Room Ballads” further cemented his popularity and critical acclaim. A planned trip around the world in 1891 was cut short after stops in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India. This marked his last visit to India, and shortly after this, he wrote some of his most famous works. In 1917, he published “A Diversity of Creatures,” a collection of short stories. Although Kipling had never served in the military, he used his writings to encourage patriotism and believed that it was England’s destiny to become a great empire. As he grew older, however, he became more and more out of touch with political, social and moral realities, and the tone of his writings changed drastically.
On 18 January 1892, Kipling married Caroline Balestier, an American. While they honeymooned as far away as Japan, they eventually settled down at his wife’s home in Vermont. Not completely happy with this development, Kipling eventually returned to England alone in 1899. He went back to the U.S. later that year when his six-year-old daughter Josephine died, an experience that deeply affected him. His son John, born on 17 August 1897, was killed in a World War I battle on 27 September 1915, and as a result, Kipling became withdrawn and was said to have a “new inwardness of vision.” It is said that he went from being the “soldiers’ author” to being the “poet of bitterness and guilt,” and thereafter, he spent much of his time listing soldiers who had been lost in battle and working for the War Graves Commission.
Throughout his life, he suffered from episodes of poor health, and between 1900-1908, he spent every winter in South Africa for his health. Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, he suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died at Middlesex Hospital in London, England, less than a week later on 18 January 1936, at the age of 70, of a perforated duodenal ulcer. On that day his wife Carrie recorded in her diary, “Rud died at 12.10am. Our Wedding Day.”
Link to Wikipedia biography