Letter from Rudyard Kipling, 1895

The famous English author Rudyard Kipling, best known for writing Jungle Book, visited Bermuda in 1895 and stayed at the Princess Hotel. Writers, artists, socialites and intellectuals were making their way to the island after reports of Princess Louise’s visit in 1883 piqued the interest of America’s elite. This letter from Kipling was written to his friend Captain E T Bayley, who had left Bermuda a matter of days before Kipling arrived. Kipling wrote about his disappointment and noted that “Bermuda must be a particularly god forsaken hole as a military station but it is amusing to play in for a few weeks…”