Robert Louis Stevenson: a life in pictures

1854
The son of a renowned lighthouse builder, Robert Louis Stevenson was born into middle class comfort in Edinburgh on November 13, 1850. Though healthy at birth, he soon began to suffer from respiratory problems that later developed into tuberculosis, leaving him frail and sickly Photograph: Image courtesy of The Writers' Musem

1867
At 17, and in accordance with his father's wishes, Stevenson entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering. Unable to disguise his disinclination for the discipline, however, he spent most of his time avoiding lectures and building friendships with other students. In 1871 Stevenson informed his father of his decision to give up engineering in favour of writing; while his father was disappointed, the family quickly became (in Stevenson's mother's words) "wonderfully resigned" to his decision Photograph: Image courtesy of The Writers' Museum

1875
Stevenson's father did, however, insist that his son provide himself with some form of financial security; as a result, it was agreed that Stevenson would return to Edinburgh university to read law. He was called to the Scottish bar in 1875 Photograph: Image courtesy of The Writers' Musem

1877
A keen amateur dramatist, Stevenson often took part in plays put on at the home of Flemming Jenkin, a professor of engineering whom Stevenson met while studying at Edinburgh university, and whose memoir Stevenson would go on to write Photograph: Image courtesy of The Writers Museum

Stevenson met his wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, in 1876. Ten years older than Stevenson and married with two children, the two parted after their first meeting, but were later reunited and eventually married in 1880 after Fanny, by then divorced, came to nurse Stevenson through one of his many bouts of ill health. The pair ranged around the UK, Europe and the US before finally setting sail for the South Seas, and settling in Samoa Photograph: Image courtesy of Capital Collections

Even in this warm climate, however, Stevenson continued to suffer with his health, and throughout adulthood did much of his writing from his sickbed. Here he is seen composing music on his flageolet Photograph: Image courtesy of Capital Collections

Stevenson in Samoa, acquainting himself with the locals. He took the native name Tusitala ("Teller of Tales"), and he quickly became involved in local politics. Convinced that the European officials appointed to rule the Samoans were incompetent, he wrote A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa - an account of the grappling between colonial powers for control of the island. The book was so incendiary that it resulted in the recall of two officials from the island, and Stevenson feared for a while tha it would result in his own deportation Photograph: Image courtesy of Capital Collections

1894
On 3 December 1894, aged 44, Stevenson collapsed while talking to Fanny, and died within a few hours, most probably of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was buried with great local ceremony on Mount Vaea, overlooking the sea. His gravestone was inscribed with his own poem, "Requiem":
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill. Photograph: (Image courtesy of Capital Collections