The House of Desolation

This was the description given, many years later, to Lorne Lodge in Southsea by Rudyard Kipling. It was here that Kipling was to spend six years of his childhood, 1871-1877, in the care of paid guardians, Captain and Mrs Holloway. Lorne Lodge was situated in Campbell Road and the young Rudyard attended a small private school, Hope House. He had spent his previous childhood in India where he had revelled in the ‘strong light and darkness’ whilst being cared for by doting parents. In contrast, he remembered his time in Portsmouth, during which he suffered both cruelty and neglect, with great bitterness in later life.