Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1850 and died in 1894 in Samoa. Over the course of his life, he suffered terribly from tuberculosis. He spent many of his childhood days in bed reading or being read to by his nanny, Alison Cunningham to whom he dedicated “A Child’s Garden Of Verses”. He traveled extensively, seeking adventure and relief from the Scottish weather that continued to interfere with his health. He was very sympathetic to the immigrants in America, some of whom he met while he journeyed there to meet Fanny Osbourne who would later become his wife. He wrote about their struggles and strife and his respect and admiration for these people. He eventually settled in Samoa. He took up the human rights cause of the Samoan’s, writing articles in support of their rights to self government. He was loved by the Samoan people, they nick-named him 'Tusitala' or 'Teller of the Tales' and his wife Fanny was named 'Flying Cloud'. On Dec. 3, 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson died from a stroke. The Samoan faction that he had helped to free from jail assembled at his house to cut a path to the top of Mt. Vaea, where he was buried. The epitaph on the monument erected there is self penned. It reads:
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longs to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote prolifically throughout his short life. His children’s literature includes “Kidnapped” and “Treasure Island”, and perhaps his most successful novel, is “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde” which he wrote and printed in ten days after having a most inspiring dream.
Robert Louis Stevenson holds a special place in the hearts of the Scottish people, with a reputation of being a great man and great writer. They are very proud to give him a position of honour in their history books.