ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Robert Lewis (later: "Louis") Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburg on 13 November 1850. His father Thomas belonged to a family of engineers who had built many of the deep-sea lighthouses around the rocky coast of Scotland. His mother, Margaret Isabella Balfour, came from a family of lawyers and church ministers. In 1857 the family moved to 17 Heriot Row, a solid respectable house in Edinburgh’s New Town. 

At the age of seventeen he enrolled at Edinburgh University to study engineering, with the aim - his father hoped - of following him in the family firm. However, he abandoned this course of studies and made the compromise of studying law.

He died in December 1894 and even shaped the manner of his burial: as he had wished, he was buried at the top of Mount Vaea above his home on Samoa.
His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.