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Biography of Rudyard Kipling

Introduction | Dalhousie Kipling Collection | Biography

Rudyard Kipling
From a photograph by E.O. Hoppe, in Current History of the European War Vol., no. 1 (December, 1914).

The renowned British poet, novelist, and short story writer Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) discovered when he was seven that reading was a delight. While attending the United Services College of Westward Ho! in Devonshire, he also discovered the pleasure of writing. His talents were soon recognized by the school's headmaster, who gave the boy access to his extensive personal library. Rudyard was appointed editor of the school paper and soon became the acknowledged school bard.

At the age of sixteen, Kipling rejoined his family in India, where he obtained the position of assistant editor of the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore. There Rudyard threw himself into the exacting grind of daily newspaper writing. Encouraged by the editors to contribute his own impressions of Anglo-Indian society, Rudyard produced some witty and vivid pieces. Readers responded with enthusiasm. The poems and sketches were re-issued in the form of cheap paperbacks suitable for reading on the train. Kipling's Railway Library series carried the name of Rudyard Kipling across the breadth of India. At the early age of twenty-four, Kipling was widely acclaimed the best English writer in the colony.

Kipling decided it was time to go to London and challenge the British literary circles. Within two months of his arrival, Kipling had his first poem published in Macmillan's Magazine and his ability was quickly noticed. William Henley, the influential editor of the Scot's Observer, did everything he could to promote this exciting new voice from the colony. Kipling's reputation grew. After two productive years in London, Kipling moved to Vermont with his American bride. There he wrote his popular Jungle Books (1894-1895) and the Newfoundland-based novel, Captains Courageous (1897).

From 1897 until his death, Kipling made England his base, although he continued to travel extensively. In particular, he spent his winters until 1909 in South Africa, toured Egypt, made trips to Europe before and after the Great War, and visited Canada twice. Whether on an ocean liner to Cape Town or in his study at Bateman's, his home in Sussex, Kipling was always writing. He often made notes and sketches while travelling, reworking and fine-tuning them later. With characteristic speed, Kipling produced the novel Kim in 1901; a book of children's stories, The Just So Stories in 1902; a book of poetry, The Five Nations, in 1903; and Puck of Pook's Hill in 1906. In recognition of his achievements, Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

Kipling watched with alarm the rise of militarism in Europe. Unable to enlist himself, Kipling arranged for his son to join the Irish Guards. Kipling threw himself into a series of recruiting speeches, patriotic appeals, and fund raising events. However, his son's death in the Battle of Loos brought an end to Kipling's imaginative use of the war in his writing. Instead, he turned to writing the official history of the Irish Guards and to serving on the Commission of War Graves.

During the twenties and up to his death in 1936, Kipling continued to write new pieces, edit for re-issue some of his early poetry, and write his autobiography. While his later work, which deals primarily with shattered dreams and tragedy, did not gain the popularity of his earlier work, Kipling retained the love and respect of the general public. One hundred years after the first publication of The Jungle Book, films based on this novel have introduced Kipling's imaginative world to another generation.

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Rudyard Kipling's If