Elsie Bambridge
Daughter of Rudyard Kipling
About Elsie Bambridge
Lived 1896 – 1976 (aged 80). Elsie Bambridge was a British.
Elsie Bambridge (; 2 February 1896 – 24 May 1976) was the second daughter of British writer Rudyard Kipling. She was the only one of the Kiplings' three children to survive beyond early adulthood.
On 22 October 1924, Elsie Kipling married George Bambridge and in 1938 they bought Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire's largest stately home. When her father died in 1936, she became the executor of his estate, which included all his papers and the copyright on all his works.
Her obituary in The Times stated she had two missions in life, "to maintain the traditions of her husband Captain George Bambridge and her father Rudyard Kipling". She was in the news in the U.K. and America in 1958 when she protected her father’s integrity as his executor by prohibiting a recording by Frank Sinatra of the song “On the Road to Mandalay”, based on her father’s poem “Mandalay”, from being issued in the United Kingdom. She disapproved of the many liberties Sinatra took with the text. In the U. K. when Kipling died in 1936 all his works remained copyrighted for 70 years from the year of his death. On her death in 1976, having no children, she bequeathed her property and its contents to the National Trust. The Trust later donated her father's manuscripts to the University of Sussex in Brighton, to ensure better public access to them. She is buried in the graveyard of St Andrew's Church on the Wimpole estate.
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Important facts
Family & relationships
People in Elsie Bambridge's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Elsie Bambridge?
Daughter of Rudyard Kipling
When was Elsie Bambridge born?
Elsie Bambridge was born on 2 February 1896 in Vermont.
When did Elsie Bambridge die?
Elsie Bambridge died on 24 May 1976 in Cambridgeshire, Wimpole.
What nationality was Elsie Bambridge?
Elsie Bambridge was British.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Elsie Bambridge. https://biography.guide/elsie-bambridge/
MLA: "Elsie Bambridge." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/elsie-bambridge/.
Chicago: "Elsie Bambridge." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/elsie-bambridge/.
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