Autobiography of robert louis stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson Biography

By Richard Dury, from the RLS Website

Life and Publications Summary

Robert Lewis (later: “Louis”) Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on 13 November 1850.

His father Thomas belonged to a family of engineers who had built many of the deep-sea lighthouses around the rocky coast of Scotland. His mother, Margaret Isabella Balfour, came from a family of lawyers and church ministers.

Autobiography of robert louis stevenson books

In 1857 the family moved to 17 Heriot Row, a solid respectable house in Edinburgh’s New Town.

At the age of seventeen he enrolled at Edinburgh University to study engineering, with the aim – his father hoped – of following him in the family firm.

However, he abandoned this course of studies and made the compromise of studying law. He “passed advocate” in 1875 but did not practice since by now he knew he wanted to be a writer. In the universi