Alicia Little

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Alicia Little
Mrs Archibald Little
Mrs Archibald Little
Born 1845
Madeira
Died 31 July 1926 (aged 80�81)
Kensington
Nationality British
Alicia Little or Mrs Archibald Little (1845 � 31 July 1926) was a writer and a
British campaigner for women's rights and later against foot binding in China.

Contents
1 Life
2 Legacy
3 Works include
4 References
5 External links
Life
Little was born as Alicia Ellen Neve Bewicke[1]in Madeira islands, Portugal, 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.[2]

She campaigned in 1885 when she published Mother Darling. This novel 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.[2]

She married Archibald John Little [no] and called herself "Mrs Archibald Little" in
1887. They went to live in Chongqing 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.[2] 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 Yangtse River as they avoided the summer heat at
their home in Chongqing. 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.[3] 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.[2]

Country House on the Yangtse by Kazumasa Ogawa as it appears in Little's book

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 Yangtse River.[3]

She was a writer who was known for her campaign against foot binding. She was the
leading European campaigner from 1896 to 1906 against this practice.[2] In 1898 she
founded Tien Tsu Hui (Natural Foot Society) which campaigned against the Chinese
custom of binding the feet of girls and women.[4] The organisation initially took
ex-pats as members and Little realised that she needed to not confuse her message
with religion.[2] In 1899 she published her book "Invisible" China which was a 600-
page book which was amply illustrated by over 100 of her photographs. The book
covered a variety of subjects but foot binding again got attention.[5] 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. 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.[2]

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.[6]

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.[7]

Little died in Kensington.

Legacy
Little is unusual in being one of the few women who outshine their husband in the
ODNB. 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 FGM in Africa in the 21st century.[4]