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His family
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865, in Bombay (now called Mumbai), India. At the time of his birth, his parents, John and Alice, were recent arrivals in India as part of the British Empire. The family lived well, and Kipling was especially close to his mother. His father, an artist, was the head of the Department of Architectural Sculpture at the Jeejeebhoy School of Art in Bombay. -
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Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling was an English author famous for an array of works like 'Just So Stories,' 'If' and 'The Jungle Book.' He received the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature. -
India
For Kipling, India was a wondrous place. Along with his younger sister, Alice, he reveled in exploring the local markets with his nanny. He learned the language and connected with the country and its culture -
Moving to England
However, at the age of six, Kipling's life was torn apart when his mother, wanting her son to receive a formal British education, sent him to Southsea, England, where he attended school and lived with a foster family named the Holloways. -
Hard years for Kipling
These were hard years for Kipling. Mrs. Holloway was a brutal woman who quickly grew to despise her foster son. She beat and bullied the youngster, who also struggled to fit in at school. His only break from the Holloways came in December, when Kipling, who told nobody of his problems at school or with his foster parents, traveled to London to stay with relatives for the month. -
Reading
Kipling's solace came in books and stories. With few friends, he devoted himself to reading. He particularly adored the work of Daniel Defoe, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Wilkie Collins. -
The verge of a nervous breakdown
By the age of 11, Kipling was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. A visitor to his home saw his condition and immediately contacted his mother, who rushed back to England and rescued her son from the Holloways. To help relax his mind, Alice took her son on an extended vacation and then placed him in a new school in Devon. There, Kipling flourished and discovered his talent for writing, eventually becoming editor of the school newspaper. -
Returned to India
In 1882, Kipling returned to India. It was a powerful time in the young writer's life.
Kipling made his home with his parents in Lahore and, with his father's help, found a job with a local newspaper. Nighttime, especially, proved to be valuable for the young writer. Suffering from insomnia, he roamed the city streets and gained access to the brothels and opium dens that rarely opened their doors to common Englishmen. -
The first success
Kipling's experiences during this time formed the backbone for a series of stories he began to write and publish. They were eventually assembled into a collection of 40 short stories called Plain Tales From the Hills, which gained wide popularity in England. -
Wolcott Balestier
In 1889 returned to England in hopes of leveraging of celebrity his book of short stories had earned him. In London, he met Wolcott Balestier, who quickly became one of Kipling's great friends and supporters. The two men traveled together to the United States. -
The marriage
Kipling's friendship with Balestier changed the young writer's life. He soon got to know Balestier's family, in particular, his sister, Carrie. The two appeared to be just friends, but during the Christmas holiday in 1891, Kipling, who had traveled back to India to see his family, received an urgent cable from Carrie. Wolcott had died suddenly of typhoid fever and Carrie needed Kipling to be with her.
Kipling rushed back to England and eight days later they were married -
Moving to the USA
Following their wedding, the Kiplings set off on an adventurous honeymoon that took them to Canada and then Japan. Then Kipling learned that his bank, the New Oriental Banking Corporation, had failed. The Kiplings were broke.
They decided to go to the USA. In the spring of 1891, the Kiplings purchased from Carrie's brother Beatty a piece of land and had a large home constructed. -
Life in America
Around this time, Kipling's star power started to grow. In addition to Plain Tales From the Hills, Kipling published a second collection of short stories, Wee Willie Winkie (1888), and American Notes (1891), which chronicled his early impressions of America. In 1892, he also published the poetry work Barrack-Room Ballads. -
Children
Soon their first child was born, a daughter named Josephine (born in 1893), and a second daughter, Elsie (born in 1896). A third child, John, was born in 1897, after the Kiplings had left America. -
Fame With 'Jungle Book' and 'Naulahka'
As a writer, too, Kipling flourished. His work during this time included The Jungle Book (1894), The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (1892) and The Second Jungle Book (1895), among others. Kipling was delighted to be around children—a characteristic that was apparent in his writing. His tales enchanted girls and boys all over the English-speaking world. -
Family Tragedy
In 1896 he and his family started a new life in England. In the winter of 1899, young Josephine died of pneumonia while visiting her grandmother in the United States. -
Life in England
In 1902, the Kiplings bought a large estate in Sussex known as Bateman's. Kipling revered the new home, with its lush gardens and classic details. At Bateman's, Kipling found some of the happiness he thought he had forever lost following the death of Josephine. -
Just So Stories
Kipling published his Just So Stories in 1902, which were greeted with wide acclaim. The book itself was in part a tribute to his late daughter, for whom Kipling had originally crafted the stories as he put her to bed. -
Missing son
Kipling encouraged his son, John, to enlist. Kipling made use of his connections and managed to get John enlisted with the Irish Guard as a second lieutenant.
In October 1915, the Kiplings received word that John had gone missing in France. John's body was never recovered. -
Final Years and Death
Over his last few years, Kipling suffered from a painful ulcer that eventually took his life on January 18, 1936. Kipling's ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey in Poets' Corner next to the graves of Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens.