author
b. 1863
An English writer and traveler, she is best remembered for Changing China, a vivid early-20th-century account of a country in rapid transition. Her work blends firsthand observation with the missionary and political concerns of her time.
Born in 1863, Lady Florence Mary Cecil was the daughter of the 1st Earl of Lathom and later became the wife of Lord William Gascoyne-Cecil. Records from the National Portrait Gallery identify her as Lady Florence Mary Cecil, née Bootle-Wilbraham, and give her lifespan as 1863–1944.
She is known in the public-domain record chiefly for Changing China, a book credited to William Gascoyne-Cecil and Lady Florence Mary Bootle-Wilbraham Cecil. Project Gutenberg describes her as assisting in the work, and library records list her as a named author alongside her husband.
Changing China reflects an early-1900s effort to explain major political, social, and religious change in China for English-speaking readers. Read today, it offers both a period view of China and a glimpse of the interests that shaped British religious and travel writing in that era.