Ridge, William Sheldon and Frances

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 PP MS 30
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full title	: Ridge, William Sheldon and Frances
Date(s)	: Created c1917-1948
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 5 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Ridge | Frances | b 1887 | née Butcher | nurse and missionary Ridge | William Sheldon | 1875-1945 | teacher and journalist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Frances Butcher was born on 7 March 1887 in Lewisham, South London. She trained as a Nursing Sister at the London Temperance Hospital and at Carey Hall. On 31 July 1920 she sailed to China, where she worked as a Nursing Sister at the Tientsin Hospital for the London Missionary Society. Frances Butcher resigned her position in October 1924 when she married William Sheldon Ridge.

William Sheldon Ridge was born in Selby, Yorkshire on 10 Jan 1875, and worked as a teacher. He married Mary Louisa Craven in 1903, who died in 1923. They went out to China in 1904 when Ridge became Headmaster of the Shanghai Municipal Public School for Chinese. In 1905 he became Assistant Editor of The Shanghai Mercury, and held a series of editorships including The National Review China (1907-1916); The Peking Daily News (1917-1921); and The Far Eastern Times (1922-1926). In 1930 Ridge started The Chronicle, which he continued until 1939 when he retired. As well as doing journalistic work Ridge was Lecturer on Chinese geography and international relations at the North China Union Language School (from 1917), and Professor of English Language and Literature at the Chinese Government College of Salt Administration (from 1920) and at the Chinese Government University of Communications (from 1927). On their retirement the Ridges moved to Yenchi, and were interned by the Japanese in 1943. In 1945 Ridge died suddenly from a gall stone obstruction.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, c1917-1948, of William Sheldon Ridge, comprising photographs, manuscripts of books containing material used for his lectures on Chinese international relations, and miscellaneous papers. Includes papers relating to his wife Frances.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The material has been grouped into three classes: photographs; manuscripts of books by Ridge; miscellaneous papers.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in 1995.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
15 May 2000