Rudyard Kipling, the English author, was born in Bombay, India December 30, 1865. He lived there until the age of six when he was sent to England for his education. After completing his studies at the United Services College, he returned to Bombay in 1880 and worked for various newspapers including the Chronicle and the Civil and Military Gazette. His creative writings included poetry, tales, and novels many of which reflected the cultural influences of India and the position of the British empire during the Victorian age. Two of his well-known works were The Jungle Book (1889) and Kim (1901). Kipling's importance as an author was recognized worldwide, and in 1907, he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature.

In 1892, Kipling married an American, Caroline Balestier. The Kiplings traveled widely as his literary celebrity grew. They lived for four years in Vermont before settling permanently in Sussex, England. Before his marriage to Miss Balestier, Kipling lived in Allahabad, India and wrote articles for The Pioneer. In 1887, he became acquainted with an American couple, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Alexander Hill. Hill was an English professor at Government College in Allahabad and the meteorological reporter to the North- West provinces of India. His wife was the former Edmonia (Edna) Taylor, the daughter of the Rev. R. T. Taylor, president of Beaver College in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hill became a great friend to Kipling. The editor of a recent collection of Kipling letters, Thomas Pinney, described Mrs. Hill as Kipling's "muse, collaborator, and confidante all at once." (The Letters of Rudyard Kipling. Edited by Thomas Pinney. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1990.) Kipling's friendship with the Hills lasted well into the 1900s as evidenced from the author's published letters. In 1888, Kipling lived in their Allahabad house, "Belvedere," while the Hills were away on leave, and in 1889 the three traveled together to China, Japan, and America. While traveling in the United States, Kipling was the guest of Mrs. Hill's father in Beaver, Pennsylvania. For a brief period, Kipling was engaged to another daughter in the family, Caroline Taylor.

Mrs. Edmonia Hill remained a life-long admirer of Kipling and his work. She collected articles and published items about the author and eventually assembled them into a scrapbook titled "Kiplingisms.". After the death of her husband, Mrs. Hill came to Baltimore to live with her sister, Julia Taylor. Because of reduced circumstances, Mrs. Hill sold the originals of the letters Kipling had written to her. They were later purchased by Mrs. Caroline Kipling after the author's death and most likely destroyed. Copies of the letters were later discovered, and the copies are included with the Kipling Collection at the University of Sussex. (See: Pinney. V. I, Introduction, pp.xiii-xiv.) Edmonia Taylor Hill died in Baltimore in 1952.

Rudyard Kipling died in London, January 18, 1936.