John Kipling
| John Kipling | |
|---|---|
John Kipling in the uniform of the Irish Guards, 1915
|
|
| Born |
17 August 1897 Rottingdean, Sussex, England |
| Died | 27 September 1915 (aged 18) Loos-en-Gohelle, France |
| Buried at | St Mary's ADS Cemetery, Haisnes |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1914–1915 |
| Rank |
.png){kind=icon} Lieutenant
|
| Unit | Irish Guards |
| Battles/wars | |
| Relations | Rudyard Kipling, father. Caroline Starr Balestier, mother. Josephine Kipling, sister. Elsie Bambridge, sister. |
John Kipling (17 August 1897 – 27 September 1915) was the only son of the British author Rudyard Kipling. He was killed in September 1915 at the Battle of Loos while serving with the British Army during the First World War, nearly six weeks after his eighteenth birthday.
He is a central character in the 1997 play My Boy Jack. He is portrayed by actor Daniel Radcliffe in the 2007 television film adaptation of the same name.
Born in 1897, Kipling was the youngest of three children of the author Rudyard Kipling and his American wife Caroline Starr Balestier. He was born at "The Elms" at Rottingdean in Sussex, which was the Kiplings' home between 1897 and 1902. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire.
Kipling was 16 when the First World War broke out in August 1914. His father, a keen imperialist and patriot, was soon writing propaganda on behalf of the British government. Rudyard sought to get his son a commission, but John was rejected by the Royal Navy due to severe short-sightedness. He was also initially rejected by the army for similar reasons.
However, Rudyard Kipling was friends with Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, commander of the British Army, and Colonel of the Irish Guards, and through this influence, John Kipling was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards on 15 August 1914, having just turned 17. After reports of the Rape of Belgium and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, Rudyard Kipling came to see the war as a crusade for civilization against barbarism. and was even more keen that his son should see active service.
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Wikipedia