The Kiplings and India: A Collection of Writings from British India, 1870-1900

John Lockwood Kipling

John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) is the father of Rudyard and Alice Kipling and husband to Alice MacDonald Kipling. He was born John Kipling and raised in Yorkshire, England, and was the son of a Methodist minister (Reverend Joseph Kipling). Though raised to be a minister, Kipling began to study art as a young man, and enrolled in the Potteries School of Art, Stoke-on Trent. In 1859, Kipling moved to London, where he worked with professional sculptors and designers. In 1861, Kipling added the middle name "Lockwood," which was his mother's maiden name and the name of a successful builder and architect named William Lockwood. In 1863, Kipling was given a full-time position at the South Kensington Museum. That same year, he met Alice MacDonald while working on a commission at Lake Rudyard. The two were married in 1865.

In May 1865, the couple moved to Bombay, where Kipling took up a position at the J.J. School of Art, named after the wealthy Parsi businessman Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. Their son Rudyard Kipling was born there in the winter of 1865, and their daughter Alice was born in 1868 (in England). For several years, Kipling taught modeling, terra-cotta, and architectural sculpture while also actively producing sculptures for the rapidly expanding city. (Among many others, Kipling is credited for making bas-relief sculptures at Crawford Market.) Many of the works Kipling and his students completed during this period are still visible in today's Mumbai. 
 
In 1870, John Lockwood Kipling and Alice MacDonald Kipling relocated to Lahore, where Kipling became the principal of the Mayo School of Art. Throughout the 1870s, Lockwood Kipling wrote weekly columns for the Allahabad-based Pioneer newspaper, reporting on events occurring in the local vicinity. Kipling was also a prolific illustrator and museum curator; many of his illustrations can be seen in books like the first edition of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Lockwood Kipling also worked with Flora Annie Steel, illustrating her Tales from the Punjab. 

Writings by Lockwood Kipling on this site:

"The Mirror of Two Worlds"
"An Anglo-Indian Episode"
"My Christmas at the Ajaibgaum Exhibition" (debated authorship)
"Mofussil Jurisdiction"

Forthcoming:

Lockwood Kipling's Illustrations
Lockwood Kipling's Indian journalism
Beast and Man in India
"Lahore as it was" 
Excerpts from Lockwood Kipling's Art-historical writing


 

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