Small image of a man handing a book to a women across a counter.

At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Veronica King

Author: Veronica King (1861–1949)

Alternate Name(s): Margaret Alice Houston Williamson (maiden name); Madge King (alternate name); Mrs. Paul King (familiar name); William A. Rivers (pseudonym)

Biography: Veronica King was born in 1861 in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland, the daughter of Scottish missionaries Rev. Alexander Williamson and Isabelle Williamson. In 1881, she married Paul Henry King, who served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and the couple had several children including author Louis Magrath King. She published her first novel Cousin Cinderella (1892) under the name "Madge King" and her second novel Lord Goltho (1893) under the name "Veronica King." Together, husband and wife co-wrote a few novels under the pseudonym "William A. Rivers." She lived most of her life in China and later moved to England where she died in 1949. Note: Several source erroneously list China as her birthplace.

Author Tags:

References: Tim Chamberlain, "Books of Change: A Western Family's Writings on China, 1855-1949" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society China (2013); pers inf (Bill Wallace)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Cousin Cinderella: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Bentley, 1892.
  2. Lord Goltho: An Apostle of Whiteness. A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Hutchinson, 1895.