See Roots, Charters of the Town of Kingston, 1797, and the histories of the town by Anderson, 1818, and Biden, 1832.
KINGSTON, William Henry Giles (1814–1880), boys’ novelist, was born in London, February 28, 1814. Much of his youth was spent at Oporto, where his father was a merchant, but when he joined his father in business, and afterwards when he carried on business for himself, he lived chiefly in London. In 1844 his first book, The Circassian Chief, appeared, and its success led to the publication in 1845 of The Prime Minister, a Story of the Days of the Great Marquis of Pombal. The Lusitanian Sketches that appeared soon after describe Kingston’s travels in Portugal. In 1851 Peter the Whaler, his first book for boys, came out. That and its immediate successors were received with such unequivocal popularity that Kingston retired from business, and devoted himself to the production of tales of adventure for boys. Within thirty years he wrote upwards of one hundred and thirty such books. He travelled at various times in many of the countries of Europe, and lived for a while in Portugal during the civil war there. His Western Wanderings, published in 1856, describes a tour in Canada. In all philanthropic schemes Kingston took deep interest; he was the promoter of the mission to seamen; and he acted as secretary of a society for promoting an improved system of emigration. He was a supporter of the volunteer movement in England from the first. For his services in bringing about a commercial treaty between Portugal and Britain he was knighted by the queen of Portugal; and his literary merits were recognized at home by a grant from his own sovereign. He died at Willesden, August 5, 1880.
Kingston’s boyish ambition had been to enter the navy, and he always kept his affection for the sea. As he advanced in life he had opportunities of cruising in men-of-war, besides sailing in merchantmen and his own yacht; and it was thus that he gained the knowledge of practical seamanship that he used so graphically in his books. Most of his stories are stories of the sea; and he generally laid his plots in the old romantic days before England’s wooden walls had given place to iron-clads. He was a master of the simple romance in which boys delight, and knew well how to draw the peculiar compound of valour and magnanimity that forms the hero to healthy boyhood. He had great assimilative power in using the accounts of travellers in countries where he had never been; and his imagination supplied him abundantly with gallant adventures, thrilling dangers, and hairsbreadth escapes. His books are useful in insinuating knowledge whilst they are giving pleasure, and they are valuable inasmuch as their whole tone is pure, wholesome, and manly. Characteristic specimens of his works are The Three Midshipmen; The Three Lieutenants; The Three Commanders; and The Three Admirals. Occasionally his books were not in the form of a story; and some of them are designed for adult readers.
KINGSTOWN, a seaport town of Ireland, in the county of Dublin, is situated at the south-eastern extremity of Dublin Bay, 6 miles south-east from Dublin by railway. It is a large seaport and favourite watering-place, and possesses several fine streets and terraces commanding picturesque sea views. The original name of Kingstown was Dunleary, which was exchanged for the present designation after the embarkation of George IV. at the port on his return from Ireland in 1821, an event which is also commemorated by a granite obelisk erected near the harbour. The town was a mere fishing village until the construction of an extensive harbour, begun in 1817 from designs by Rennie, and finally completed in 1859, at a cost of £825,000. The eastern pier has a length of 3500 feet, and the western of 4950 feet, the total area enclosed being about 250 acres, with a varying depth of from 15 to 27 feet. Kingstown is the station of the mail packets to Holyhead in connexion with the London and North-Western Railway. It has a large export and import trade both with Great Britain and foreign countries, but as its shipping returns are now included in those of the port of Dublin, it is impossible to give accurate details. The principal exports are cattle, and the principal imports corn and provisions. The harbour revenue exceeds £2000 annually. By the Towns’ Improvement Act of 1854, Kingstown, with several surrounding districts, was formed into a township, having an area of 1450 acres. The population in 1861 was 14,257, which in 1871 had increased to 16,378, and in 1881 to 18,230.
KING-TIH CHIN, a town near Foo-leang Keen in the province of Keang-se, China, and the principal seat of the porcelain manufacture in that empire. Being situated on the south bank of the river Chang, it was in ancient times known as Chang-nan Chin, or “town on the south of the river Chang.” It is unwalled, and stretches along the bank of the river in a somewhat straggling way. The streets are narrow, and crowded with a population which is reckoned at a million, the vast majority of whom find employment at the porcelain factories. Since the Ch’in dynasty (557–589) this has been the great trade of the place, which was then called by its earlier name. In the reign of King-tih of the Sung dynasty (1004–1007) a manufactory was founded there for making vases and objects of art for the use of the emperor. Hence its adoption of its present title. Since the time of the Ming dynasty a magistrate has been specially appointed to superintend the factories and to despatch at regulated intervals the imperial porcelain to Peking. The town is situated on a vast plain surrounded by mountains, and boasts of three thousand porcelain furnaces. These constantly burning fires are the causes of frequent conflagrations, and at night give the city the appearance of a place on fire. The people are as a rule orderly, though they have on several occasions shown a hostile bearing towards foreign visitors. This is probably to be accounted for by a desire to keep their art as far as possible a mystery, and is after all only an extreme interpretation of the law which forbids strangers to lodge in the town. This feeling appears less unreasonable when it is remembered that the two kinds of earth of which the porcelain is made are not found at King-tih Chin, but are brought from K’i-mun in the neighbouring province of Gan-hwuy, and that there is therefore no reason why the trade should be necessarily maintained at that place. The two kinds of earth are known at pih-tun-tsze, which is a fine fusible quartz powder, and kaou-lin, which is not fusible, and which it is said gives strength to the ware (see Kaolin). Both materials are prepared in the shape of bricks at K’i-mun, and are brought down the Chang to the seat of the manufacture.
- ↑ The population of the municipal borough amounted in 1881 to 154,250, and that of the parliamentary borough of Hull to 161,519.
