Alicia Little
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Alicia Little or Mrs Archibald Little (1845 – 31 July 1926) was a British writer and a campaigner for women's rights and later against
foot binding Foot binding (), or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus ...
in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.


Life

Little was born as Alicia Ellen Neve BewickeIn many of her books ''Neve'' appeared as ''Neva''. in the
Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...
islands of
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
in 1845 to Calverley and Amelia Jane Bewicke. Her parents owned Hallaton Hall in Leicestershire but she was brought up in Madeira. She returned to England and successfully published her first tranche of books. She travelled abroad but she was based in England until 1886. She campaigned in 1885 when she published a novel called ''Mother Darling'', which highlighted the poor status of women's rights in British marital law. At the time a man might not only exclude an estranged wife not only from "his" property but also access to their children. This was alleviated by the Married Women's Property Act 1893. She married and called herself "Mrs Archibald Little" in 1887. They went to live in
Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...
where she was seen as an oddity. Women did not go out in public as she wanted to so she had to spend time challenging their expectations. They had been refused permission to build a holiday home by a magistrate who feared a public backlash. The magistrate arranged for them to stay at a farm in the hills near the Yangtze River as they avoided the summer heat at their home in
Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...
. Whilst they were there they were robbed and Little explains how she had to cope without a mirror, tablecloths and the time - as their watches had been stolen. Both of them travelled around China, although Little had to dress as a male to avoid attracting attention, which had on occasion resulted in items being thrown. Little kept a diary during 1893-1894 which she prepared for publication. In 1894, she met the photographic printer Kazumasa Ogawa whilst they were visiting Japan. The diary became to basis of a well bound book. Ogawa supplied photographs and it was published as ''My Diary in a Chinese Farm''. The book described her stay on the farm near the Yangtze River. Little was known for her campaign against
foot binding Foot binding (), or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus ...
. She was the leading European campaigner from 1896 to 1906 against this practice.Sybil Oldfield
Little, Alicia Ellen Neve (1845–1926)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007, accessed 9 Nov 2016
In 1898 she founded '' Tien Tsu Hui'' ( Natural Foot Society) which campaigned against the Chinese custom of binding the feet of girls and women. The organisation initially took expats as members and Little realised that she needed to not confuse her message with religion. In 1899, she published a 600-page book called "Invisible" China, which was amply illustrated by over 100 of her photographs. The book covered a variety of subjects but foot binding again got attention. Little with the support of her husband organised a campaign of postcards and Little set out to deliver talks in leading cities in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Little delivered these talks using X-rays of the deformed feet and with quotes from
Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
. She had seen and written about the effects of this custom where children's feet and toes were broken before they were bound to prevent normal growth. Women with bound feet had to work in the fields on their knees because they could not stand and women killed themselves during wars because they knew that they could not run. Her 1902 book ''Out in China'' was reviewed at the time as a "political pamphlet". The story involves the wrong woman being sent from Britain to marry a man in China. The story ends with the wedding party being murdered by Boxers.book review of Out in China
1902, The Spectator
In 1908, her husband died and she took time to complete the publication of his book which was published as a joint effort. The book, which was published in 1910, was one of the first in English to describe the province of
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
. Little died in
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
.


Legacy

Little is unusual in being one of the few women who outshone their husband in the
ODNB The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
. Her work on foot binding was well received but has now been seen as expressing British cultural superiority. Her work has been compared with some external approaches to the custom of
female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...
in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
in the 21st century.


Selected publications

*''Flirts and Flirts: or, A Season at Ryde'' (1868) *''One Foot on Shore: A Novel'' (1869) *''Love me for my Love'' (1869) *''Last of the Jerninghames'' (1873) *''Lonely Carlotta: "a crimson bud of a rose"'' (1874) *''Onwards! But Whither?: A Life Study'' (1875) *''Margery Travers'' (1878) *''Miss Standish, and By the Bay of Naples'' (1883) *''Mother Darling'' (1885) *''A Marriage in China'' (1896) *''My Diary in a Chinese Farm'' (1896) *''Intimate China'' (1899) *''Li Hung-Chang: His Life and Times'' (1903) *''Across Yunnan: A Journey of Surprises'' (1908) on behalf of her late husband


References


External links

*
Intimate China
', complete book {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Alicia 1845 births 1926 deaths People from Madeira British expatriates in Portugal 20th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers 19th-century British women writers 20th-century British writers