Kipling gained renown throughout the world as a poet and storyteller. He was also a well known mason, he was in India at the time when Lodge True Friendship was there. Whilst there is no evidence that Kipling every visited the Lodge his poems have become associated with some of our Lodge functions. He was also known as a leading supporter of the British Empire. As apparent from his stories and poems, Kipling interested himself in the romance and adventure which he found in Great Britain's colonial expansion.

Kipling was born on Dec.30, 1865, in Bombay, where his father directed an art school. He learned Hindi from his nurse, and he also learned stories of jungle animals. At six, he was sent to school in England, but until he was 12, poor health kept him from attending. At 17, Kipling returned to India and soon became a journalist. He wrote sketches and verses which at first were used as fillers for unused editorial space. Many were later published in Departmental Ditties (1886). At this time, he also created his soldiers three, and Irishman, a Cockney, and a Yorkshire man, the bases for his 1888 humorous tale Soldiers Three.

In 1889, Kipling return to England. In the 1890s, he developed a great interest in folk legends and animal myths. The Jungle Book (1894) and Just So Stories (1902) give the wit and wisdom of the animals who can talk. The stories of Mowgli, a man- cub who was the central character in The Jungle Book, brought Kipling great popularity in England and the United States.

 Some of Kipling's poems below:

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