Celebrity Graveland

December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was and English writer born in Bombay, British India.

Not satisfied with that base level of international poly-citizenship, Kipling would spend much of his life traveling and exploring the world abroad. British custom at the time required that Rudyard and his sister spend their formative years in England. Their parents stayed in India, so the children bounced back and forth for much of their young lives.

Kipling loved to write, but his education stopped short of attending university. Instead, he went to work at a newspaper in India where he published dozens of short stories – a genre he helped popularize – over the course of several years. He returned to London by way of a 7 month journey through Asia and North America. His time in Japan and America, in particular, proved to be influential to him both personally and creatively. While in New York, Kipling dropped in on an unsuspecting Mark Twain and the two enjoyed a productive conversation.

In London, Kipling published more stories. He suffered a nervous break-down at one point and returned to traveling as a prescriptive remedy. His travels took him to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and – as a newlywed – back to the United States. While wintering in Vermont on his honeymoon, he began piecing together what would become his most recognized work: The Jungle Book. The nursery tales of his childhood, combined with his world experience led to the extremely popular tales of a young boy raised by wolves over two volumes.

More travels and more publications followed. He and his family eventually settled in England. In 1907, Kipling was awarded the first Nobel Prize for Literature for an English-speaking writer. More honors were offered throughout his life, but he declined many of them. His catalog of short stories, novels and poems is extensive and he is widely considered one of the most well-regarded writers in history. He continued writing up until his death following complications of a intestinal hemorrhage at the age of 70. His ashes were interred alongside other great English authors in the Poets’ Corner section of Westminster Abbey.

Burial

Westminster Abbey – London, UK

Specific Location

The South Transept (aka “Poets’ Corner”) – Southwestern section, immediately to the right of Charles Dickens and above Thomas Hardy.

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