Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born on 13 November 1850 to Thomas Stevenson and Margaret Balfour. Since the 1790s, the Stevenson family had been Scottish engineers and builders of lighthouses, a trade in which Robert was expected to follow as the only son. His early childhood was dominated by frequent illness caused by a pulmonary disease which remained undiagnosed throughout his life, and much of his time was spent listening to the strict religious views of his nurse, Alison Cunningham, a Calvinist. He enrolled at The University of Edinburgh aged 17 to study engineering, but had shown an aptitude and passion for writing from an early age. At 16, he had penned The Pentland Rising, an elaborate and vivid retelling of the 1666 Battle of Rullion Green. This publication was strictly controlled by his father, who steered him away from an embellished version of events, resulting in a more historical account of the conflict. In 1871, Stevenson abandoned engineering and agreed with his father to compromise and study law, having been refused support for a literary career.