Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling

Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling (December 31, 1862 – December 19, 1939) was the American-born wife of Rudyard Kipling and the custodian of his literary legacy after his death in 1936.[1]

Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling
Mrs. Kipling in 1899, painted by Edward Burne-Jones
Born
Caroline Starr Balestier

(1862-12-31)December 31, 1862
Rochester, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 1939(1939-12-19) (aged 76)
Burwash, East Sussex, England
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1892; died 1936)​
Children
RelativesWolcott Balestier (brother)

Balestier was born in Rochester, New York, to a prominent local family with a reputation for being unconventional.[2][3] Her paternal grandfather, whose ancestors were from Martinique, was a founder of the Century Association; her maternal grandfather was E. Peshine Smith, who with Commodore Perry completed commercial negotiations with Japan.

Balestier met Kipling via her brother Wolcott Balestier who had co-authored The Naulahka with Kipling. Balestier had come to London to keep house for her brother and serve as hostess for him.[4][2]: 15  She taught Kipling how to use a typewriter.[4] When Wolcott Balestier died suddenly of typhoid in 1891, Kipling was distraught and spent time with Miss Balestier, proposing to her via telegram and marrying her a week later.[5] The couple were married in London on January 18, 1892. The bride was given away by Henry James who exclaimed "It’s a union of which I don’t forecast the future."[6]

The Kiplings had planned a round-the-world trip for their honeymoon but Kipling's bank failed, causing them to relocate to Balestier's family residence in Brattleboro, Vermont.[5] Once the Kiplings built the family house, Naulakha, Rudyard Kipling would write in an office that could only be accessed via Carrie Kipling's own office, where she would maintain his correspondence and manage the household accounts.[2]: 34  The Kiplings left the United States in 1896 after Rudyard Kipling and Caroline's brother Beatty had an altercation over money.[5]

The Kiplings eventually settled in England, in rural Burwash in the county of Sussex. They purchased Bateman's, a grand house that had been built in 1634.[7] Bateman's was Carrie Kipling's home from 1902 until her death in 1939.[8]

References
  1. Hill, Amelia (2000-11-26). "The cruel side of Kipling". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  2. Nicholson, Adam (2001). The hated wife : Carrie Kipling, 1862-1939. London: Short Books. ISBN 0571208355. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. Frank, Meryl; McKelvey, Blake (July 1959). "Some Former Rochesterians of National Distinction" (PDF). Rochester History. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, NY. p. 22. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  4. "Kipling and Wolcott Balestier". Kipling Society homepage. 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  5. "Kipling: Poet Laureate Of Soldiers, Sailors, And Colonizers". The American Conservative. 2020-09-05. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  6. McGrath, Charles (2019-07-08). "Rudyard Kipling in America". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  7. Antram, Nicholas; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2013). Sussex: East. The Buildings of England. New Haven, US & London, UK: Yale University Press. p. 295. ISBN 9-780300-18473-0. OCLC 826658807.
  8. "National Trust, Bateman's | Art UK". Art UK. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
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