RUDYARD KIPLING DEAD

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21685, 20 January 1936, Page 6

RUDYARD KIPLING DEAD

GREAT AUTHOR’S QUIET ■END UPHOLDER OF IMPERIAL TRADITION hn»IT*D PMB3 ASSOCUTIO*— COI*T»iG«T.) (Received January 19, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, January 18. . The death has occurred; of Mr Rudyard Kipling, the famous novelist and poet, Mr Kipling died 10 minutes after the midnight bulletin, which announced that there was no change in his condition. His wife and daughter were at his bedside, but Mr Kipling did not speak, though he appeared to recognise them. His end was very peaceful.

Sir William Weigall, chairman of the Royal Empire Society, declared that Kipling had expressed the feelings of believers in Empire unity in a way unexampled in our time. The Exfipire Society mourned the loss of a champion and a friend. Messages from Paris say that the press pays tributes to Kipling as the best type of Englishman, In Rome the “Popolo Di Roma” is reported to have recalled Kipling’s disapproval of sanctions, and his exultation in the discipline popular among the Italians. The Queen sent the following message to Mrs Kipling: “The King and I are grieved to hear of the death of Rudyard Kipling. We shall mourn him not only as a great national poet, but as a personal friend of many years. Please accept our heartfelt sympathy.” Numbers of messages include the condolences of the Prince of Wales, and of the War Graves Commission, which eulogises Kipling’s constant readiness to use his great gifts in its service. The Museum announces that Kipling had presented to it an autographed manuscript of “Kim,” and another of some poems. He desired that the gift should not be announced before his death. The manuscripts are now on exhibition in the museum. Rudyard Kipling was born in December 1865, at Bombay, where his

father, Mr J. Lockwood Kipling, C.1.E., was at that time an art master. The elder Kipling was well known through his book, “Beast and Man in India,” which he wrote and illustrated, and by his fine illustrations in some o£ his son’s books. After spending his early days in Bombay and Allahabad, Rudyard Kipling was sent to the United Services College at Westward Ho, Devon, which is described in his unconventional school story, “Stalky and Co.” He became editor of the school magazine, and contributed to the local paper. . When he was not yet 17, Kipling joined the staff of the “Civil and Military Gazette,” Lahore, to which he contributed the famous “Departmental Ditties” and many of the “Plain Tales from the Hills.” He did the work of three men, collecting news, writing articles, doing interview’s, and seeing the paper through the press himself. After five years he was transferred to the “Allahabad Pioneer,’”which is under the same ownership,. To its weekly edition he: contributed many of the short stories which, when collected into slim volumes and published at his own expense, were tc&makg' him famous before he was‘23, r ' " ’ - ‘ - At 21 “Departmental Ditties” were published, and in 1887 “Plain Tales from the Hills.”- There followed in

rapid succession more Indian stories, including “Soldiers Three,” “The Story of the Gadsbys,'’ “In Black and White” and “Wee Willie Winkie,” all published in India by 1889. In 1887-89 Kipling travelled in India, China, Japan, and America, meeting Mark Twain, and he arrived back in England to find that he had made his name. “Plain Tales” had meanwhile been put on the English market, and scored a tremendous success, so - that at a blow he became the best-known modern writer in the English language. Poet of Empire Among Kipling’s best-loved works are the “Jungle Books” which, it has been said, will be as fascinating 500 years hence as they are to-day. His imperialist ideals and His interest in military and naval life became more and more a part of his writings. “Bar-rack-room Ballads” and “The Seven Seas” show this phase. In India, the Duke of Connaught gave Kipling the freedom of his command, the Northwest District of India, with permission to go to the frontier and live with the regiments. It was at this time that the, humorous sketches of army life, about the adventures of Mulvaney, Ortheris, and Learoyd, were written. In 1924, Kipling completed a history of the : Irish Guards in the Great War, written in memory of his son, . When Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate, died, Kipling was regarded by many people as the natural successor to the post. For some reason—it has been said that Kipling had offended the Royal Family by a reference to Queen Victoria as “the widow at Windsor”— he did not receive this recognition, and Robert Bridges was appointed. In 1907 Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He was honoured by many universities, both in England and abroad. He married Caroline Starr Balestier, whose brother Walcott Balestier, collaborated with him in a novel, “The Naulahka.”