England to China via America? 1890/91

[Marmalady]

Would someone going from England to China in 1890 or 1891 have gone via America?

I am not having any luck tracing my Great-Grandfathers voyage to China.

Frederick Williams Whitney married Josephine Watson at Bristol Register Office on 11 April 1890

After that he seems to vanish!

Their daughter Alice Dorothy was born back at Josephine's hometown of Weedon Bec Northants in October 1890
Josephine &  Alice are on the 1891 census at Weedon Bec
Josephine & Alice (strangely listed as George ??) are passengers on a ship from London to Shanghai departing 16 Oct 1891

Josephine & Frederick must be  together in Shanghai by early 1892 in time to conceive twins born October 1892

There's a couple of vague possibles for Frederick on Ancestry:

Mr F Whitney  age not given, married , Liverpool to Boston 18 June 1891

Mr F Whitney age 29, single, London to Sydney 31 July 1891  (this is 3 yrs younger than my Frederick would be at this time)

But if either of these is my Frederick -- where was he on the 1891 census?

[ShaunJ]

He would probably have gone by ferry to France, by rail to the Mediterranean then by steamer through the Suez Canal and on to China that way. So there would be no record of his departure from the UK.

[Marmalady]

That does seem a more likely route  than across to America, and a ship from California? to China

But why not just a ship London to Shanghai like Josephine did?

[barryd]

I once came across a man travelling on business who left England on a ship. Sailed  to New York, went by train to California (I think it was San Francisco) and then boarded another ship for Australia. This was about 1905. This I believe was the quickest way to Australia at the time. China would be quicker?

[ShaunJ]

The overland route via France was much quicker than sailing from England, and avoided the Bay of Biscay.

[ShaunJ]

Just did a quick search in the 19th C. UK newspapers and there are ads in the 1890's for an overland route to Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan via San Francisco. Northern Pacific was one company offering this.

[ShaunJ]

Re the one that went to Boston in June 1891, the US records show a Frederick Whitney aged 48, an American merchant, arriving on June 29th of that year on the Catalonia.

[Marmalady]

Re the one that went to Boston in June 1891, the US records show a Frederick Whitney aged 48, an American merchant, arriving on June 29th of that year on the Catalonia.

thanks
can discount him then

the other one is even less of a fit being the wrong age and marked as single