Dear Rodney,
On of my august predecessors as Hon. Librarian, Charles Carrington,
suggested that, since John Lockwood Kipling was present while 'The
Day's Work' was in gestation (and gave the volume its name), the basic
idea for the story of the famine may have come from him. This is
mentioned in an excellent article by W.R. Aykroyd in volume 178 of
the Kipling Journal. I attach a copy.
Mr Aykroyd also points out that there was a minor famine in
rice-eating Orissa in 1888/9 in which there were similar problems
arising from supply of wheat from North West India, so perhaps the
seeds of the idea....
Best regards,
John
On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 10:16 AM, John Radcliffe
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Can anyone help Rodney Atwood ([log in to unmask]) with this enquiry.
>
> __________________________________________________
>
> Kipling's short story 'William the Conqueror' is I believe his only work
> to deal with Indian famine. There was no major famine in the time he
> was a correspondent in India, but the worst possibly in Indian history
> occurred under Lord Lytton, mainly in Madras in 1877. Kipling depicts this
> famine in his story.
>
> Can anyone tell me whether he based his story of a young woman nursing and
> helping victims especially children on any real experience? Or give any
> other background to the writing of the story please?
>
> Rodney Atwood
>
> ____________________________________________________
>
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