The Golden Age

Scottish-born Edinburgh native Kenneth Grahame was a British author who lived from 8 March 1859 to 6 July 1932. His most well-known works were The Reluctant Dragon and The Wind in the Willows (1908), both classics of children's literature. His mother died from scarlet fever when he was five years old, and his father was a sheriff's replacement. It is believed that the author was influenced by the setting of The Wind in the Willows. In 1879, Grahame received a job assignment at the Bank of England. He advanced through the ranks until taking a medical retirement as its Secretary in 1908. Three bullets were fired at Grahame, but none of them hit him. He was driven into retirement, reportedly for health reasons. In 1899, Grahame wed Elspeth Thomson, a woman who was Robert William Thomson's daughter. Alastair (also known as "Mouse"), the couple's only child, was born blind in one eye and had other medical issues. In 1920, Grahame's son took his own life on a railway line. When author Kenneth Grahame died in 1932, he left behind a legacy that would forever make childhood and literature more blessed. At Holywell Cemetery in Oxford, he was buried next to his son Alastair in the same cemetery as his wife Elspeth.