Born November 8th, 1847, in Dublin Ireland, Bram Stoker was raised a Protestant in the Church of Ireland. Bedridden with a mysterious illness until he was 7 years old, he nevertheless lived a healthy and successful life. He became the only student to ever be both the auditor of the College Historical Society and the president of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College, Dublin. He curated a peerless friend group which consisted of Henry Irving, Oscar Wilde, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Through his friendship with Irving, he was invited to the White House and met both William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. During these trips, he also became acquainted with Walt Whitman. While working as Irving's manager and as director of London's Lyceum Theatre, Stoker began to write his stories, including Dracula, The Lady of the Shroud, and, the last work before his death, The Lair of the White Worm. After suffering from several strokes, he died in London on April 20, 1912.