Archibald John Little (abt. 1838 - 1908)

Born about 1838 in London, England

Died 5 Nov 1908 at about age 70 in Falmouth, Cornwall

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Biography

Birth and Origins

'Archibald John LITTLE was born 18 Apr 1838, London, England ^[1], son of Dr William John Little and Eliza Templin ^[2]

In the 1851 England and Wales Census, William John Little (40, married, Physician Graduate Of Berlin Licenscase Of R G Physicians Me, b. Whitechapel,) lived at Saint Luke Middlesex, Middlesex, England, with his wife, Eliza Little (39, b. St Georges East Southwark)</b> and their children, Archibald John Little (12, b. St Gabriels St Margarets Fenchurch Street), Robert William Little (11, b. St Luke, Middlesex), Louis Stromeyer Little (10, b. St Luke, Middlesex), Catherine Eliza Hannah Little (6, b. St Luke, Middlesex), Emily Fletcher Little (4, b. St Luke, Middlesex), Gertrude Little (3, b. St Luke, Middlesex) and Bertha Isabella Little (1, b. St Luke, Middlesex) and servants, Sophia Wood (18, nursery governess, b. Blackrock Cork,), Sarah Millens (45, widow, nurse, b. Yeovil, Somersetshire), Ellen Ridout (27, house servant, b. Sturminster, Dorsetshire), Thomas Brightwell (36, married, coachman, b. Burston, Hampshire), Elizabeth Brightwell (41, married, house servant, b. Southgate, Middlesex) and Ann Treadway (26, house servant, b. Chelsea,)^[3]

Marriage and Family

He married Alicia Helen Neva Bewicke (daughter of Calverley Bewicke, Esq) at the St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London on 2 November 1886. ^[4]

Alicia Bewicke published both under her maiden name, and as Mrs Archibald John Little."^[5]

Occupation

He was a Manchester merchant and businessman in China.

He first went to China in 1859 as a tea taster for a German company, around the time of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty in China.

He set up his own business at Kiukiang (Jiujiang), moved to Shanghai. He also set up a trading company in the western province of Sichuan.

He set about finding a way of using steamships to navigate the Upper Yangtze; a difficult stretch of water for shipping due to the seasonal fluctuations in water level and the presence of rapids and rocks. The Chinese government had conceded the right to navigate (or attempt to do so) the Upper Yangtze by the Chefoo Convention of 1877.

In Oct 1885, Little applied for a permit to navigate the Upper Yangtze. He also had the Kuling, a 500 tonne, stern wheeled paddle steamer, built in sections Scotland and then sent out to Shanghai for assembly.

In 1889, he arrived in in Ychang with the steamer, the Kuling. it took some time for the local Chinese officials to consult with local people and examine the impact of the project, including concerns for the monkeys living in the surrounding mountains and the gods. In the end, restrictions were inposed - the steamer could only travel on two days a month, when the river was closed to other traffic, only during the day and only between May and October - meaning it would take six months to travel the 400 mile stretch of the Yangtze between Ychang and Chungking, and then be forced to stay until the following year before making the return journey back to Ychang, so the whole journey would take 16 months. Eventually, Robert Hart of the Chinese Customs Service stepped in to mediate and made Archibald to buy the Kuling at a handsome profit, ‘so eager were the Chinese to be rid of the interference’.

In 1897, Archibald financed a 9-tonne steamer, the Leechuan, that, in spite of difficulties faced in negotiating the Yangtze’s rapids, finally reached Chungking on 8 March 1898.

Little returned to London to to raise funds for a steamer that would run on a commercial basis He bought Pioneer, capable of carrying 500 tonnes of cargo and passengers. While in London, he met Captain Cornell Plant, a skilled sailor who had successfully navigated the Tigris and Euphrates. Little invited him to join him in China. When Plant arrived in Chungking in June 1900, it was in the middle of the Boxer Uprising and the vessel was commandeered by the Royal Navy to evacuate the foreign community. The Royal Navy retained her as the headquarters ship for the Yangtze squadron, and renamed her H.M.S. Kinsha. ^[6]

Archibald Little wrote books about his travels in China.

• Across Yunnan: a journey of surprises, including an account of the remarkable French railway line now completed to Yunnan-fu by Archibald John Little, Originally letters, it was posthumously in 1910 (by his wife).
• Gleanings from fifty years in China by y Archibald John Little, A series of essays, it was posthumously in 1910 ^[7]

Death and Burial

He died 5 Nov 1908 (aged 70), Falmouth, ^[8] Cornwall, Unitary Authority, Cornwall, England and was buried at Falmouth Cemetery, Falmouth, Cornwall Unitary Authority, Cornwall, England, PLOT Sec. I. Row B. Grave 22^[9] Died

Note: #N2679.

Notes

Note N2679Possibly - > per Macdonald Family Tree (Ancestry) - born 1838 -City of London - parents - William & Eliza.1908 - Probate - of The Haven, Falmouth, Cornwall - London - 12Dec 1908 - Executor: Alicia Ellen Neve Little, widow. Effects£4395 5s 10d.^[10][11]

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S5076
2. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQLB-RHL : 19 March 2020), Archibald John Little, 1838.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGT6-YLM : 12 September 2019), William John Little, Saint Luke Middlesex, Middlesex, England; citing Saint Luke Middlesex, Middlesex, England, p. 11, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPC2-18W3 : 18 April 2019), Archibald John Little, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom; records extracted FamilySearch and images digitized by FindMyPast; citing Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, 5 Nov 1886, The British Newspaper Archive, Ireland; FHL microfilm .
5. ↑ Robert William Little, editor of the North-China Herald, Shanghai, Historical Photographs of China, https://www.hpcbristol.net/visual/ld01-137
6. ↑ Find A Grave, memorial 177201266, biography
7. ↑ Little, Archibald Mrs 1845-1926, World Cat Identities, website, http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n88141964/
8. ↑ Source: #S5076
9. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #177201266
10. ↑ Source: #S5076
11. ↑ Source: #S5076

• Source: S5076 Web Site Ancestry National Probate Calendar