Dunsterville, L. C. (Lionel Charles), 1865-1946

Lionel Charles Dunsterville (1865-1946) was a contemporary and close friend of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), the author, at the United Services College, Westward Ho! in Devon. Kipling was a pupil in 1878-82; they met again in India. Kipling's collection of stories, Stalky & Co (1899) relates chiefly to himself, his school friends, the College and Stalky. Dunsterville was the model for Stalky.

Dunsterville entered the Army, served in Waziristan, on the North-West Frontier, in China and, during World War I, in Turkey, and rose to the rank of major-general. He valued his life-long association with Kipling, his old school friend, and over the years amassed a collection of letters and documents relating to his school days and his school friendships. In retirement he exploited his wartime escapades and his place in literary history, publishing The adventures of Dunsterforce (1920), And obey (1925), Stalky's reminiscences (1928), More yarns (1931) and talky settles down (1932). The relevant chapters of Stalky's reminiscences, at least, he sent in draft to Kipling and Beresford (SxMs 69/2/7).

...