Transcript

of

John Kitson [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol.  44, (1912). pp. 40-41.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was presented at the Association’s July 1912 Exeter meeting. A competently executed portrait of Mr Kitson as last Chairman of the old Torquay Local Board, by Arthur Hacker,(1858-1919), may be accessed here. Mr Kitson also played an important role in fund-raising for Torquay’s impressive Mallock Memorial Clock as member of a committee chaired by William Henry Kitson. The obituary may be found in a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal that can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

John Kitson. Mr. Kitson was the second son of Mr. William Kitson, and belonged to an old well-known Torquay family whose members have done much to advance the welfare and prosperity of the town. Mr. John Kitson was formerly a member of the firm of Vivian, Kitson, and Co., Bankers, and of W. and C. Kitson, Solicitors, and was the last Chairman of the old Local Board of Torquay. In recognition of his services to the town, he was presented, in 1893, with a portrait of himself, which hangs in the Council Chamber of the Townhall, and on 26 July, 1909, had the honour conferred on him of being made the first freeman of the borough. He was a County Magistrate and an enthusiastic student of Forestry, and his wide and varied knowledge of that subject was exemplified by the plantations at Heatree, his moorland residence near Manaton.
He became a member of this Association in 1893, and died at his Torquay residence, Hengrave, in his seventy-filth year, on 5 December, 1911.