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Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer from Edinburgh. His most popular works include the pirate-themed adventure novel "Treasure Island" (1883), the poetry collection "A Child's Garden of Verses" (1885), the Gothic horror novella "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1886) which depicted a man with two distinct personalities, and the historical novels "Kidnapped" (1886) and "The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses" (1888). Stevenson spend the last years of his life in Samoa, where he tried to act as an advocate for the political rights of Polynesians.
In 1850, Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. His father was Thomas Stevenson (1818-1887), a civil engineer, lighthouse designer, and meteorologist. Thomas was a co-founder of the Scottish Meteorological Society, and one of the sons of the famed engineer Robert Stevenson (1772-1850). Thomas' brothers were the engineers David Stevenson and Alan Stevenson. Stevenson's mother (and Thomas' wife) was Margaret Isabella Balfour, a member of a centuries-old gentry family. Stevenson's maternal grandfather was Lewis Balfour (1777-1860), a minister of the Church of Scotland. Lewis was himself a grandson of the philosopher James Balfour (1705-1795).
Both Stevenson's mother and his maternal grandfather had chronic problems with coughs and fevers. Stevenson demonstrated the same problems throughout his childhood. His contemporaries suspected that he was suffering from tuberculosis. Modern biographers have suggested that he was instead suffering from bronchiectasis (a congenital disorder of the respiratory system) or sarcoidosis (an autoimmune disease which affects the lungs).
Stevenson's parents were Presbyterians, but they were not particularly interested in indoctrinating their son. Stevenson's nurse was Alison "Cummy" Cunningham, a fervently religious woman. While tending to Stevenson during his recurring illnesses, she read to him passages from the Bible and from the works of the Puritan preacher John Bunyan (1628-1688). She also narrated to him tales of the Covenanters, a 17th-century religious movement.
Stevenson's poor health as a child kept him away from school for extended periods. His parents had to hire private tutors for him. He did not learn to read until he was 7 or 8-years-old. However, he developed an interest in narrating stories in early childhood. When he learned to write, he started writing tales as a hobby. His father Thomas was happy about this hobby, as he was also an amateur writer in his early life. In 1866, Stevenson completed his first book. It was "The Pentland Rising: A Page of History, 1666", a historical narrative of a Covenanter revolt. It was published at his father's expense.
In November 1867, Stevenson entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering. He showed little interest in the subject matter. He joined both the debating club Speculative Society, and an amateur drama group organized by professor Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885). During the annual holidays, Stevenson repeatedly joined his father in travels to inspect the family's engineering works. He displayed little interest in engineering, but the travels turned his interests towards travel writing.
In April 1871, Stevenson announced to his father that he wanted to become a professional writer. His father agreed, on the condition that Stevenson should also study to gain a law degree. In the early 1870s, Stevenson started dressing in a Bohemian manner, wore his hair long, and joined an atheist club. In January 1873, Stevenson explained to his father that he no longer believed in God, and that he had grown tired of pretending to be pious. He would eventually rejoin Christianity, but remained hostile to organized religion until his death.
In late 1873, Stevenson visited London. He had an essay published in the local art magazine "The Portfolio" (1870-1893), and started socializing with the city's professional writers. Among his new friends was the poet William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). Henley had a wooden leg, due to a childhood illness which led to amputation. Stevenson later used Henley as his inspiration for the one-legged pirate Long John Silver.
Stevenson qualified for the Scottish bar in July 1875, at the age of 24. He never practiced law, though his legal studies inspired aspect of his works. In September 1876, Stevenson was introduced to the American short-story writer Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (1840-1914). She had separated from her unfaithful husband, and lived with her daughter in France. Fanny remained in his thoughts for months, and they became lovers in 1877. They parted ways in August 1878, when she decided to move back to San Francisco.
In August 1879, Stevenson decided to travel to the United States in search of Fanny. He arrived to New York City with little incident. The journey from New York City to California negatively affected his health, and he was near death by the time he arrived in Monterey, California. He and Fanny reunited in December 1879, but she had to nurse him to recovery. His father cabled him money to help in his recovery.
Stevenson and Fanny married in May 1880. Th groom was 29-years-old, and the bride was 40-years-old. They spend their honeymoon at an abandoned mining camp on Mount Saint Helena. The couple sailed back to the United Kingdom in August 1880. Fanny helped Stevenson to reconcile with his father.
Stevenson and his wife moved frequently from place to place in the early 1880s. In 1884, they settled in their own home in the seaside town of Bournemouth, Dorset. Stevenson named their new residence "Skerryvore". He used the name of a lighthouse which his uncle Alan had constructed. In 1885, Stevenson reacquainted himself to his old friend, the novelist Henry James (1843-1916). James had moved to Bournemouth to care for his invalid sister. Stevenson and James started having daily meetings to converse over various topics. Stevenson wrote several of his popular works while living in Bournemouth, though he was frequently bedridden.
In 1887, Thomas Stevenson died. Stevenson felt that nothing tied him to the United Kingdom, and his physician had advised him that a complete change of climate might improve his health. Stevenson and much of his surviving family (including his widowed mother) traveled to the state of New York. They spend the winter at a cottage in the Adirondacks, with Stevenson starting to work on the adventure novel "The Master of Ballantrae" (1889).
In June 1888, Stevenson chartered the yacht "Casco" to transport him and his family to San Francisco. The sea air helped restore his health for a while. Stevenson decided to spend the next few years wandering in the Pacific islands. He visited the Hawaiian Islands, and befriended the local monarch Kalakaua (1836-1891, reigned 1874-1891) and his niece Ka'iulani (1875-1899). Stevenson's other voyages took him to the Gilbert Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Samoan Islands.
In December 1889, Stevenson and his family at the port of Apia in the Samoan islands. He decided to settle in Samoa. In January 1890, he purchased an estate on the island. He started building Samoa's two-story house, and also started collecting local folktales. He completed an English translation of the moral fable "The Bottle Imp".\
Stevenson grew concerned with the ongoing rivalry between Britain, Germany and the United States over their influence in Samoa. He feared that the indigenous clan society would be displaced by foreigners. He published various texts in defense of the Polynesians and their culture. He also worked on "A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa" (1892), a detailed chronicle of the Samoan Civil War (1886-1894) and the international events leading up to it.
Stevenson's last fiction writings indicated his growing interest in the realist movement, and his disdain for colonialism. In December 1894, Stevenson suffered a stroke while conversing with his wife. He died hours later, at the age of 44. The local Samoans provided a watch-guard to protect his body until a tomb could be prepared for it. Stevenson was buried at Mount Vaea, on a spot overlooking the sea. A requiem composed by Stevenson himself was inscribed on the tomb.
Stevenson was seen as an influential writer of children's literature and horror fiction for much of the 20th century, but literary critics and historians had little interest in his works. He was re-evaluated in the late 20th century "as an artist of great range and insight", with scholarly studies devoted entirely to him. The Index Translationum, UNESCO's database of book translations, has ranked him as the 26th most translated writer on a global level. Stevenson ranked below Charles Dickens (25th) in the index, and ahead of Oscar Wilde (28th). His works have received a large number of film adaptations.- Guy de Maupassant was born on 5 August 1850 in Château de Miromesnil, France. He was a writer, known for La criada de la granja (1953), Masculine Feminine (1966) and Pierre & Jeanne. He died on 6 July 1893 in Paris, France.
- E.J. Smith was born on 27 January 1850 in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK. He was married to Sarah Eleanor Smith. He died on 15 April 1912 in North Atlantic Ocean.
- Joseph J. Dowling was born on 4 September 1850 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Yankee Way (1917), Sink or Swim (1920) and The Christian (1923). He was married to Sarah J. Hassen and Myra Davis. He died on 8 July 1928 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
Robert Brower was born on 14 July 1850 in Point Pleasant, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Little Minister (1921), Vanity Fair (1915) and How Mrs. Murray Saved the American Army (1911). He died on 8 December 1934 in West Hollywood, California, USA.- Kate Chopin was born on 8 February 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was a writer, known for American Playhouse (1980), Grand Isle (1991) and The End of August (1981). She was married to Oscar Chopin. She died on 22 August 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
- Octave Mirbeau was born on 16 February 1850 in Trevières, Calvados, France. He was a writer, known for The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) and Business Is Business (1915). He was married to Alice Regnault. He died on 16 February 1917 in Paris, France.
- At the age of 6, Lafcadio Hearn, who had been born in Leucos in the Greek Ionian Islands to a Greek mother and an Irish father, was made a ward of his Irish great-aunt, who packed him off to Jesuit boarding schools in France and Britain. At the age of 16, he was sent to the US, where he worked as a journalist in Cincinnati, Ohio, and New Orleans, Louisiana. He translated French literature into English and began to develop his own taste, which was for the foreign, the exotic, and--sometimes--the macabre. Hearn's life changed radically when he traveled to Japan in 1890. He fell in love with the place and then with Setsu Koizumi, the daughter of a samurai family whose husband had deserted her and left her penniless. They were married in 1891. Hearn enthusiastically became a Japanese citizen, took the name Yakumo Koizumi, and acquired a teaching position at Imperial University, which he held until 1903. His interpretations of things Japanese--customs, geography, folk tales and literature--were internationally translated, widely admired, and adapted into films such as Kwaidan (1964); any of his works are still in print today. His loyalty and love for his adopted country was unflagging throughout his life. He died at the age of 54.
- Georges Demenÿ was inventor, chronophotgrapher, filmmaker and gymnast born at Douai, France. After studying at Douai and Lille, he reached Paris and enrolled in the physiology course of Étienne-Jules Marey, quickly becoming one of the scientist's closest associates. Together they established a programme of research which was to lead to the creation of the 'Station Physiologique', which opened in 1882 in the Bois de Boulogne. Demenÿ was Marey's assistant there, and the two researchers produced a considerable body of work, photographing human and animal movement using sequential photography (chronophotography). The 'film' career of Marey and Demenÿ really began in 1888 when Marey's camera recorded on a sensitive strip several series of images. From 1890 they were using celluloid film. On 3 March 1892, Demenÿ filed a patent for the Phonoscope, an apparatus for glass discs with a series of chronophotographic images on their circumference which could be projected using a powerful Molteni lantern. After the Phonoscope was successfully presented at the Exposition Internationale de Photographie de Paris (1892), Demenÿ dreamed of commercialising chronophotography, and pushed Marey to order the manufacture of six cameras intended for sale. Relations between them soured when Demenÿ formed, in December 1892, the Société de Phonoscope. Marey refused to co-operate in this enterprise, so Demenÿ devised his own camera, inventing the 'beater' mechanism - used in many later projectors - to move the film. In 1894 Demenÿ was dismissed from the Station Physiologique. He installed himself at Levallois-Perret, rue Chaptal, and made about a hundred very diverse Phonoscope scenes. On 22 August 1895 Demenÿ and sleeping partner Léon Gaumont signed their first contract, and in November the Phonoscope (renamed Bioscope) was offered for sale. Early in 1896, the Biographe camera using 60 mm unperforated film was also on offer. Projection by means of Phonoscope/Bioscope discs offered a very brief entertainment. The Biographe camera was already archaic in 1896, in contrast to those of Lumière or de Bedts, and Demenÿ's machines were a financial failure. However, Gaumont exploited Demenÿ's principle of the beater movement with great success, and Demenÿ entrused to him the financial battle of cinematography, returning to his first passion, gymnastics.
- Helen Tracy was born on 7 May 1850 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for Romeo and Juliet (1916), Twenty-One (1923) and The Net (1923). She died on 5 September 1924 in Staten Island, New York, USA.
- André Sylvane was born on 27 March 1850 in L'Aigle, Orne, France. He is known for Tire au flanc (1928), Tire au flanc (1933) and Tire au flanc (1950).
- Famous American poet and author. She wrote numerous poems starting when she was 7 years old. She would go on to write poems such as The Price He Paid, Inherited Passions, The Beautiful Lie and The Belle of the Season amoung other. In her later years she went to the battle fields in France during World War 1 to lecture to the soldiers, and assist with the Red Cross. While in France Ella became ill and was taken back to the United States where she died of Cancer at her Short Beach estate. She was cremated and sealed in a vault with her husbands ashes on the property.
- Pat Garrett was born on 5 June 1850 in Cusseta, Alabama, USA. He died on 29 February 1908 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
- Pierre Loti was born on 14 January 1850 in Rochefort, Charente-Inférieure [now Charente-Maritime], France. He was a writer, known for Pêcheur d'Islande (1959), Le roman d'un spahi (1914) and Le roman d'un spahi (1936). He was married to Jeanne Amélie Blanche Franc de Ferrière. He died on 10 June 1923 in Hendaye, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France.
- Ivan Vazov was born on 27 June 1850 in Sopot, Vazovgrad, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire [now Bulgaria]. He was a writer, known for Gramada (1936), Pod igoto (1952) and Edna odiseya v Deliormana (1983). He was married to Athena Boliarska. He died on 22 September 1921 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Frederick D. Grant was born on 30 May 1850. He was married to Ida Marie Honore. He died on 11 April 1912 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Samuel Gompers was born on 27 January 1850 in London, England, UK. He was married to Gertrude Annersly Gleaves Neuscheler and Sophia Julian. He died on 13 December 1924 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
- Mari Jászai was born on 24 February 1850 in Ászár, Hungary [now in Kisbér, Hungary]. She was an actress, known for Bánk bán (1915) and The Undesirable (1915). She was married to Vidor Kassai. She died on 5 October 1926 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Mrs. H.R. Hancock was born on 7 November 1850 in South Africa. She was an actress, known for Mr. Fix-It (1918). She died on 3 May 1930 in Australia.
- Lujza Blaha was born on 8 September 1850 in Rimaszombat, Hungary [now Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia]. She was an actress, known for A Nagymama (1916) and A táncz (1901). She was married to Ödön Splényi, Sándor Soldos and János Blaha. She died on 18 January 1926 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Gustav Hinrichs was born on 10 December 1850 in Grabow, Germany. He was a composer, known for The Phantom of the Opera (1925). He died on 26 March 1942 in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, USA.
- Soundtrack
Barney Fagan was born on 12 January 1850 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 12 January 1937 in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, USA.- H. Kyrle Bellew was born on 28 March 1850 in Prescot, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1905), The Great Sword Combat on the Stairs (1902) and A Gentleman of France (1905). He was married to Eugènie Marie Séraphie Le Grand. He died on 2 November 1911 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
- A man with the unlikely name of Marion Maus would not be many people's idea of a fierce Indian fighter, a genuine war hero, a Medal of Honor winner and someone described by none other than legendary Apache warrior Geronimo as "the bravest man I have ever seen", but that in fact is just what Marion Maus was.
Maryland-born Marion Perry Maus grew up wanting to be a soldier (his brother Louis also grew up to be an army officer). He graduated from the US Army Military Academy at West Point in the class of 1874, and was posted as an infantry officer to the southwest US, which was experiencing a wave of Indian wars. He served under renowned Indian fighter Gen. Nelson Appleton Miles as Chief of Scouts, and participated in the running down and capturing of Nez Perce Indian leader Chief Joseph in 1877 (it was to Maus that Chief Joseph spoke the famous words, "From where the sun now sits, I will fight no more forever"). Maus was promoted to First Lieutenant and assigned to the Texas and Arizona territories in 1880. In 1885 he was appointed commander of a troop of Apache scouts and was part of the force sent into Mexico to capture Geronimo and his band. In 1886 he and a combined force of US cavalry troopers and Apache scouts were trailing Geronimo in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico when they were ambushed by the Indian chief and his warriors in a narrow pass. Maus and his men took cover behind some rocks, but a trooper was hit by gunfire before he could take cover and was lying exposed. Maus dashed out to drag him to safety. As he did so several Apaches burst out of hiding and rushed him, but Maus coolly shot and killed them all, then dragged the wounded soldier to cover. As he rejoined the fight, he saw Geronimo above him hiding behind a rock with part of his head exposed. A deadly shot, Maus fired off a round at Geronimo, who wasn't hit but the round grazed the rock just inches from his head; in fact, the dust kicked up by the bullet got in Geronimo's eyes and temporarily blinded him. He called off the ambush and his band slipped away. For his actions in this engagement, Maus was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery.
(As a side note, several days after the incident a letter arrived at the office of Maus' commanding general. It was from Geronimo, who recommended that Lt. Maus be decorated for bravery for his actions, saying that Maus "was the bravest man I have ever seen". He said that if Maus hadn't killed several of his best warriors and almost killed Geronimo himself, the patrol would have been wiped out. Maus was decorated for his actions, but it's not known how much Geronimo's recommendation influenced the army's decision.)
Maus was promoted to captain in 1890 and took part in the 1890-94 campaign against the Sioux Indians. In 1897 he accompanied his former superior, Gen. Nelson Miles, on an inspection trip to Europe and later took part in the Spanish-American War of 1898. He rose steadily through the ranks, and in 1902 as a Lieutenant Colonel accompanied Miles again on a foreign tour. In 1904 he was promoted to full Colonel and given command of the 20th Infantry Division. His unit was posted to the Philippines to help put down a guerrilla campaign by Filipino nationalists and Moro tribesmen. In 1906 he was transferred to San Francisco, California, and during the great earthquake that devastated the city that year he played a very prominent role in keeping order and organizing rescue and rebuilding efforts in the city. He was promoted to Brigadier General soon afterward and transferred to San Antonio, Texas, where he was given command of a brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division. He retired from the army as a Brigadier General in 1913.
Maus died on February 2, 1930, in New Windsor, Maryland, and is buried (along with his wife and brother) in Arlington National Cemetery. - Karl Baumgartner was born on 1 March 1850 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor, known for Gespenster (1918), Der Meineidbauer (1915) and Die Tragödie eines verschollenen Fürstensohnes (1922). He died on 6 November 1925 in Vienna, Austria.