| Main entry | Ayscough, Florence Wheelock |
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| Birth place | Shanghai, China |
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| Birth date | 21 January 1875 |
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| Death place | Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA |
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| Death date | 24 April 1942 |
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| Identifier | 0153 |
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| Birth name | Florence Wheelock |
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| Married name | Ayscough, McNair |
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| Marital status | married |
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| Degree and date | Doctor of Letters (honorary), Acadia University (1927) |
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| Biography | By the mid-eighteenth century the Wheelock family had settled in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, the birthplace of Florence's father, merchant Thomas Reed Wheelock (c1842-1920), who may have some connection to today's China-based Wheelock and Co..In 1872 he married Massachusetts-born Edith Haswell Clarke, and while residing in Shanghai they welcomed daughter Florence Wheelock (1875-1942). After spending her first nine years in China, Florence devoted her life to studying and interpreting the land of her birth to the rest of the world. At school in Boston she met the poet Amy Lowell, her life-long friend with whom she collaborated on FIR-FLOWER TABLETS (1921); with the help of her Chinese teacher Nung Chu, Florence translated Chinese poems into English for Lowell. After her American schooling, Florence returned to China to specialize in Chinese literature and become librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai. There she married an English scholar and merchant, Francis Ayscough (1859-1933), who shared her interest in Chinese culture. At this time, Florence focused on furthering her Mandarin language skills. In 1923 the Ayscoughs moved to St. Andrew's, New Brunswick. Florence took part in the literary life of her new community as well as frequently travelling to China, London, Paris and Berlin to pursue her scholarly interests. Acadia University awarded her an honorary D. Litt in 1927. After being widowed in 1933, Florence married another sinologist in 1935; Harley Farnsworth McNair (1891-1947) subsequently became a professor of Chinese history at the University of Chicago, and Florence's biographer after her death. From 1938 Florence lectured at that university on Chinese literature. All her published works, some intended for young readers, can be seen as attempts to educated the Western world about China. Florence died in 1942 and was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. |
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| Travel | Victoria, British Columbia (via Yokohama, Japan), 1920; Seattle (via Shanghai), 1920; Quebec (Shangai), 1921; Saint John, New Brunswick (via Liverpool), 1924; Vancouver (via Shanghai), 1927; New York (via Liverpool), 1931; St. Albans, Vermont (via Manila, Phillipines), 1935 |
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| Other notes | Some sources cite Florence's birth year as 1878. Possible that full name was Mary Florence Wheelock. Following Francis's death in 1933, Florence had a stained glass window dedicated to the Ayscough family (Francis and parents, Thomas and Ethel) at the church in Cradley, Herefordshire. |
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| Residences | Shanghai, China (1875-c1884); Boston, Massachusetts; Shanghai, China (c1897); St. Andrew's, New Brunswick (1923-27); Chicago, Illinois (c1935-1942) |
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| Geographic regions | New Brunswick; China; USA |
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| Primary genres | fiction (some juvenile); non-fiction; translation |
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| Books | FRIENDLY BOOK OF FAR CATHAY (1916); FIR-FLOWER TABLETS (1921); A CHINESE MIRROR: BEING REFLECTIONS OF THE REALITY BEHIND APPEARANCE (1925); AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHINESE DOG (1926); TU-FU: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHINESE POET, A.D. 712-770: ARRANGED FROM HIS POEMS (1928); FIRECRACKER LAND: PICTURES OF THE CHINESE WORLD FOR YOUNG READERS (1932); CHINESE WOMEN YESTERDAY AND TODAY (1937) |
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| Periodicals | CHINA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ART |
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| Organizations | Canadian Authors Association |
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| Father's name | Thomas Reed Wheelock |
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| Life dates of father | c1842, Annapolis, Nova Scotia - 5 January 1920, Shanghai; m. 1872 |
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| Father's note | merchant (possibly owner of Shanghai Tug & Lighter Co., and with connection to Wheelock & Company Limited) |
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| Mother's name | Edith Mary Haswell Clarke |
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| Life dates of mother | c1850, Roxbury, Massachusetts - after 1913; m. 1872 |
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| Mother's note | Daughter of Manlius Stimson Clarke and Frances Cordis Lemist |
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| Spouse 1 | Francis Ayscough |
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| Life dates of spouse 1 | 8 September 1859, Cradley, Herefordshire, England - 6 December 1933, Guernsey, Channel Islands |
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| Spouse 1 note | scholar; merchant (ran British importing house in Shanghai) |
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| Marriage 1 date | c1897 |
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| Marriage 1 place | Shanghai, China |
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| Spouse 2 | Harley Farnsworth McNair |
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| Life dates of spouse 2 | 22 July 1891, Greenfield, Pennsylvania - 22 June 1947, Chicago, Illinois |
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| Spouse 2 note | Professor |
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| Marriage 2 date | 7 September 1935 |
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| Marriage 2 place | Guernsey, Channel Islands |
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| Biographical references | MacNair, ed., FLORENCE AYSCOUGH AND AMAY LOWELL: CORRESPONDENCE OF A FRIENDSHIP (1945); McNair, THE INCOMPARABLE LADY (1946); FEMINIST COMPANION TO LITERATURE IN ENGLISH (1990), p. 46; Sage, THE CAMBRIDGE GUIDE TO WOMEN'S WRITING IN ENGLISH (1999), p. 30; Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956; Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924; Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935; Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1957; England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976; New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; Seattle Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1957 |
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| Bibliographic references | Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), pp. 10, 240, 459, 601, 907; National Union Catalogue |
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| Research references | complete |
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| Archival references | Papers at Harvard University; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; University of Chicago; manuscripts, Acadia University Archives |
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| Image credits | Image courtesy of Special Collections, Armacost Library, University of Redlands, Redlands, California. |
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