Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Kitchin, George William - Dean

7 December 1827 – 13 October 1912

Although history was one of Kitchin’s main interests, he was something of a polymath who followed a variety of activities, and in three different centres. Fortunately, during his two periods in Hampshire he left marks that can be readily identified and chronicled.

He was born in Ipswich into a clerical family and, after starting at King’s College, London, was soon elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford. His talents must have been recognized and were fulfilled with a First in Classics and Mathematics. He took holy orders and became a tutor, but at the age of 28 went off to become Headmaster of Twyford School, the prep school near Winchester. It is recorded that during the seven years he led the school he ‘transformed’ it, increasing the roll from 40 to 74.   His relationship with pupils was apparently ‘far more humane that was the norm for the day’ and he encouraged staff to be ‘stimulating, as well as informative’.

It is clear that Christ Church wanted him back and so in in 1861 he became a senior don, or ‘censor’, a position which held until his marriage two years later. For the next 20 years he forged an extraordinary career as a lecturer at various Oxford colleges: in particular, he promoted Modern History and Modern Languages as subjects fit for undergraduate study.

In 1883, as a loyal Liberal, Gladstone appointed him Dean of Winchester and during the eleven years he was there he played a significant role in the local history and archaeology of the county. He was quick to make a mark with two volumes of Winchester Cathedral Records, published in 1886, and was one of the early members of the HFC, but seems to have played no major part in its foundation. In 1890 he published Winchester in the Historic Town Series from Longmans, presumably as a result of a link with one of the editors of the series, Edward Augustus Freeman, who was Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford.

Kitchin’s volumes on the cathedral records led to the Hampshire Record Society (HRS), which between 1889 and 1897 published a dozen scholarly editions of important records – some relating to the religious houses of Winchester and its cathedral, and others to Crondall, Selborne and Manydown (Wootton St Lawrence). He was personally involved in editing three of the HRS works and for others was able to commission distinguished scholars.   Also involved were the cathedral librarian, F.T. Madge, and the independent historian F.J. Baigent. The HRS was set up on the basis of members paying an annual fee of 10s. 6d., to include reduced prices for its publications, or one guinea to have them all free of charge. In 1888 it already had a membership of 80 members and was seeking to increase it to 300.

Apparently, the pension required by Kitchin’s predecessor as dean, John Bramston, limited his stipend and so in 1894 he transferred to the more lucrative Deanery of Durham, where he followed an active career in education, publishing and other areas beyond the scope of this profile (see British Library Catalogue).  It is worth noting, however, that amongst his many achievements, in his first year there he successfully championed the admission of female students to Durham University.

Sources

• R. Porteous and J. Stott, Twyford School – Ann Illustrated History, Easton, 2010.

• M.C. Curthoys, ‘Kitchin, George William’, ODNB, 2003.

• HRO, Hampshire Record Society, 21M57/E60/5

Portrait

Photograph, 1859, by the mathematician and writer Charles Ludwidge Dobson (‘Lewis Carroll’), a friend of Kitchin at Christ Church. Taken at a time when subjects had to sit very still, it does him no favours.

Contribution to county’s history

The 1890s can be seen as a period of awakening for Hampshire local history, with the Hampshire Field Club and Kitchin’s HRS, the volumes of which are frequently cited in the VCH.

Relevant published works

• A Consuetudinary of the 14th Century for the Refectory of the House of St Swithun in Winchester, 1886, Winchester Cathedral Records, No. 1, Winchester.

• A Charter of Edward III, Confirming and Enlarging the Privileges of St Giles’ Fair, Winchester, AD 1349, 1886, Winchester Cathedral Records, No. 2, Winchester.

• With F.T. Madge, Documents Relating to the Foundation of the Chapter of Winchester, AD 1541-1547, 1889, Hampshire Record Society, Winchester and London.

• Winchester, Historic Towns Series (eds. E.A., Freeman and W. Hunt), London, 1890.

• Compotus rolls of the obedientaries of St Swithun’s Prior, Winchester, from Winchester Cathedral Archives, with an introduction on the organisation of the convent, 1892, Hampshire Record Society, Winchester and London.

• The manor of Manydown, 1895, Hampshire Record Society, Winchester and London.

Note: Winchester Cathedral Records 1 and 2, detailed above, were reissued in 1889 by the Hampshire Record Society.

Critical Comments

Kitchin had very wide interests and was more an editor and writer than a scholar. Even the 1927 edition of the ODNB commented that he failed ‘to produce a great work of learning’ and that although his three-volume History of France (1873-1877) was ‘interesting and still useful’ it was ‘too slight in texture to be placed in the highest class of historical writings’.

Other Comments

Kitchin is one of those forward-thinking Victorians whose biography is in need of writing.  It would be an enormous task, as his activities and interests were so varied that a huge amount of research would be required.

Contributor

Barry Shurlock, 17 February 2024

Key Words

Twyford School, Modern History, Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire Record Society

Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

Back to Historians I-L from Innes, Kathleen to Luce, Sir Richard