Margaret Williamson King Explained

Margaret Williamson King (1861-1949) was a Scottish author born in Ardrossan Road, Saltcoats, Ayrshire Scotland.  She used various pen names, including Veronica King and Madge King, and with her husband, William A. Rivers.

Early life

Margaret Alice Houston Williamson was born in Scotland, the daughter of Protestant Christian missionaries Alexander Williamson and Isabelle Dougall Williamson.^[1] Her parents were from Scotland,^[2] and both of them wrote books about their experiences in China.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Career

Books by King included two novels, Cousin Cinderella (1892)^[6] and Lord Goltho: An Apostle of Whiteness (1893). Books co-written with her husband appeared under the joint pen name "William A. Rivers", or crediting "Veronica and Paul King", and included Anglo-Chinese Sketches (1903),^[7] Eurasia: A Tale of Shanghai Life (1907),^[8] The Chartered Junk: A Tale of the Yangtze Valley (1910), Theodora's Stolen Family (1928), The Commissioner’s Dilemma: An International Tale of the China of Yesterday (1929)^[9] and Looking Inwards (1931). She also published one of her father's journals with one of her own, as Voyaging to China in 1855 and 1904: A Contrast in Travel (1936).^[10] Madge King also wrote articles about China for British publications.^[11]

The Kings wrote about their travels in the United States in two critical volumes, The Raven on the Skyscraper: A Study of Modern American Portents (1925) and Under the Eagle's Feathers (1926).^{[12] [13] [14]}

Personal life

Margaret Williamson (known to her family as 'Veronica') married Paul Henry King (1853-1938), a Commissioner in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, at Shanghai's Holy Trinity Cathedral in 1881.^[15] They had five sons, Duncan, Paul, Wilfrid, Louis, and Patrick, and two daughters, Dulcie and Carol.^[16] Their fourth son Louis Magrath King (1886-1949) married a Tibetan woman, Rinchen Lhamo, and they continued the family tradition of writing about China and Tibet.^{[17] [18] [19]} Margaret Williamson King died in England in 1949, aged 88 years.

Further reading

• Tim Chamberlain, "China and Tibet – Through Western Eyes" Waymarks (August 18, 2013). A blogpost about three generations of the Williamson/King family in China and Tibet, illustrated with many photographs
• Jacqueline Young, "Western Residents of China and Their Fictional Writings, 1890-1914" (Doctoral diss., University of Glasgow, 2011).
• Steven Ralph Hardy, "Expatriate Writers, Expatriate Readers: English-language Fiction Published Along the China Coast in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries" (Doctoral diss., University of Minnesota, 2003). Includes a chapter of Veronica and Paul King's Anglo-Chinese Sketches.

Notes and References

1. Timothy Richard, "In Memoriam of Rev. Alexander Williamson, LL.D." The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal (February 1901): 55.
2. Troy J. Bassett, "Veronica King", At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1839-1901.
3. Alexander Williamson, Journeys in North China, Manchuria, and Eastern Mongolia; with some account of Corea (London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1870).
4. Isabelle Williamson, Old Highways in China (London: The Religious Tract Society 1884).
5. Tim Chamberlain, "Books of Change: A Western Family's Writings on China, 1855-1949" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society China 75(1)(2013): 55-76.
6. James Ashcroft Noble, "New Novels" The Academy (August 6, 1892): 108. via ProQuest
7. William A. Rivers, Anglo-Chinese Sketches (Kelly and Walsh 1909).
8. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ypCAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22William+A.+Rivers%22+China&pg=PA590 "The Bookshelf"
9. Veronica King and Paul King, The Commissioner's Dilemma. An International Tale of the China of Yesterday (London 1929).
10. Book: Voyaging to China in 1855 and 1904: A Contrast in Travel . Heath Cranton . 1936 . King . Paul . London.
11. Mrs. Paul King, "Social Life in China" The Lady's Realm (February 1901): 437-444.
12. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140728690?searchTerm=Veronica%20and%20Paul%20King%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits= "Miscellaneous Works"
13. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16352412?searchTerm=Veronica%20and%20Paul%20King%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits= "The United States"
14. A. M. Pooley, "Money the God" Evening News (December 23, 1925): 13. via Trove
15. Book: Paul King . In The Chinese Customs Service: A Personal Record of Forty-Seven Years . (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1924).
16. Wendy Tibbitts, "Fast and Dangerous: An independent spirit in an 8-litre Bentley: Carol Mary Langton King" Dangerous Women Project (15 June 2016).
17. Louis Magrath King
18. Book: Louis Magrath King . China in Turmoil . (London: Heath Cranton, 1927) .
19. Rinchen Lhamo, We Tibetans (London: Seeley, Service Co. 1926).