Ballantyne, Robert Michael

AUTHOR (SCOTLAND)
BORN 24 Apr 1825, Edinburgh - DIED 8 Feb 1894, Roma, Lazio
GRAVE LOCATION Roma, Lazio: Cimitero Acattolico, Via Caio Cestio 6 (Zona Seconda, 15.18 (2480))

Robert Ballantine came from a family of publishers and printers. He went to Canada when he was sixteen years old and there he worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1847 he returned to Scotland, where he published "Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America" in 1848. He worked for the publisher Contable until he decided to give all his time to writing in 1856. In 1866 he married Jane Dickson Grant. They had six children.

He was highly productive and wrote books like "The Coral Island" (1857), "The Pirate City" (1874) and "The Settler and the Savage" (1877). His work was an influence to Robert Louis Stevenson. Apart from writing he also painted watercolours and he exhibited them at the Royal Scottish Academy. In later years he lived in Harrow. In 1893 he published "Personal Reminiscences of Book Making". He went to Rome to relax after a period of hard work, but there he died on 8 Feb 1894.

Images

The grave of Robert Michael Ballantine at the Cimitero Acattolico, Rome.
Picture by Androom (23 Jan 2010)

 

Sources
R. M. Ballantyne - Wikipedia
Protestant Cemetery, Rome - resting-place of Keats & Shelley | Italy Heaven


Ballard, Edward

Published: 13 Jun 2010
Last update: 26 Nov 2023