Kipling riddle solved

From Mailonline...

Century-old mystery is solved as experts confirm the final resting place of Rudyard Kipling's 'Boy Jack' whose World War One death broke the writer's heart

• John Kipling died while fighting in the Battle of Loos in September 1915
• His body was not found for several years and there was doubt over whether the remains were really his
• Now experts say they can confirm that the body in his grave is John
• Father Rudyard wrote My Boy Jack about him when he was in mourning
• 
  

By HUGO GYE FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 13:59, 18 January 2016 | UPDATED: 18:44, 18 January 2016

 
 
 
 
 

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The mystery of what happened to Rudyard Kipling's son who vanished during a First World War battle has been solved more than a century later.

John Kipling - remembered in his father's poem My Boy Jack - went missing after he led his troops into action during the Battle of Loos in September 1915. 

His body was not found until after the end of the war - but even then, it was not known for sure that it was really him rather than one of his comrades.

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Grief: Rudyard Kipling, left, mourned the death of his son John, right, after he vanished during a battle

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Burial: This map pinpoints the location where Jack was thought to have been killed, where he was actually killed and where he was laid to rest

Now researchers say they are confident that his grave can be identified after all, claiming they have proven that he is buried in a military cemetery near the battlefield in northern France.

Jack was the only son of Rudyard Kipling, author of great works including If and The Jungle Book, and was educated at Wellington College until he was 16.

The teenager applied for an officer's commission when war broke out, but was turned down because his eyesight was too bad.

After an intervention from Field Marshal Lord Roberts, a friend of his father's, Jack landed a position with the Irish Guards.

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Grave: This is the final resting place of John Kipling, in St Mary's Cemetery in northern France

BELOVED AUTHOR WHO NEVER GOT OVER SON'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH

Rudyard Kipling's novels, poems and children's books made him one of the most beloved authors of the Victorian and Edwardian era.

He is best known for works such as the inspirational poem If, as well as The Jungle Book which chronicles the adventures of Mowgli, a boy raised by animals in the jungles of India.

Kipling had three children, of whom the only boy was John - and the poet always struggled to cope with his death at the Battle of Loos aged just 18.

As well as the poem My Boy Jack, widely thought to be a reference to his son, Kipling wrote the line: 'If any question why we died / Tell them, because our fathers lied.'

Critics have speculated that Kipling was wracked with guilt over his role in helping his son join the army, and he spent years trying to find out exactly what had happened to him.

However, the death of his son did nothing to change Kipling's fiercely patriotic and imperialist views.

He arrived in France on his 18th birthday, August 17, 1915, and just six weeks later he was commanding a platoon at the Battle of Loos.

Jack, who had recently been promoted to lieutenant, was known to be wounded but subsequently disappeared, and was still listed as missing by the end of the war three years later.

Weeks after his death, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about him which begins with the line: 'Have you news of my boy Jack?'

In 1919, the body of an unidentified Irish Guards lieutenant was found on the battlefield, and was buried in an anonymous grave at St Mary's Cemetery.

More than two decades ago, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission announced that the grave was in fact Jack's, and erected a headstone to him.

Critics immediately denied that it could be his, saying that the body was found three miles away from where Jack was last seen and claiming that he was still a second lieutenant on the day of the battle.

But researchers Graham Parker and Joanna Legg have now discovered new evidence which suggests that the identification was correct and that Jack's body is indeed buried in the cemetery.

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Adaptation: 2007 TV drama My Boy Jack, starrring Daniel Radcliffe, told the story of Kipling and his son

Writing in Stand To!, the journal of the Western Front Association, the pair reveal that the three-mile distance between Jack's disappearance and the body's discovery is nothing more than a mapping error.

In fact, the body was found close to where he was known to be fighting and was seen by witnesses shortly before his death.

Mr Parker and Ms Legg also prove that Jack's promotion to lieutenant had come through before the battle, so he was wearing a lieutenant's uniform when he died.

The authors conclude: 'On the balance of probabilities, the Irish Guards lieutenant found on September 23, 1919 must be Lieutenant John Kipling.'

Rudyard Kipling's poem about his son is often thought of as one of the most moving pieces of verse to have come out of the First World War.

The poem gave its name to a 1997 play and 2007 television film exploring Kipling's relationship with his son. The screen adaptation starred Daniel Radcliffe as Jack.

'HAVE YOU NEWS OF MY BOY JACK?' KIPLING'S EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE TO SON

Family: John Kipling with his sisters Carrie and Josephine when they were children

'Have you news of my boy Jack?'

Not this tide.

'When d’you think that he’ll come back?'

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

'Has any one else had word of him?'

Not this tide.

For what is sunk will hardly swim,

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

'Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?'

None this tide,

Nor any tide,

Except he did not shame his kind -

Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,

This tide,

And every tide;

Because he was the son you bore,

And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!