The Life of Kitty Wilkinson

This book is for a wide audience who have an interest in outstanding people. 


It will appeal to those with a love of heroic people who tried to make the world a better place. To those with an interest the sociological conditions of the poor in the nineteenth and twentieth century. 


My first encounter with the name Kitty Wilkinson was in a book the "A History of the Corporation of Liverpool, 1833-1914" by Brian D. White. Twenty years later in 1976 whilst I was engaged in restoration work in the Lady Chapel of Liverpool Cathedral I was to be reminded of Kitty Wilkinson. 


Looking at the stained glass window in the staircase leading into the Lady Chapel I saw the dedication to Kitty Wilkinson. I had lived in her shadow most of my life, without noticing. 


In every working class area of the City of Liverpool, and in many other towns in Britain up until 1970, you could find a public washhouse, and it is only in quite recent years that they have disappeared. The old battered prams, which had outlived their original use and were now transporting the weekly wash, still remain clear in the memory of many people. The smiling women pushing those old prams, many of them with buckled wheels, groaning under the strain of the bags of freshly cleaned washing will always remain in my memory. The faces of those women could have been hiding the words of the song, 'The cares of tomorrow, can wait till this day is done.'


I was unaware as a child that my going to the local swimming baths once a week to have a private bath was a direct result of the work done by Kitty Wilkinson. The head stone above her grave of Kitty Wilkinson reminds us of all the great work that she had carried out in her lifetime, so why, after a life time of giving and serving Liverpool, had I not heard more of this woman? 


In 2012 Liverpool City Council, will unveil a statue of Kitty Wilkinson. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Kelly was born in Liverpool in 1932, he left school aged 14 without a worthy education. He managed to start an apprenticeship at the age of sixteen in Cammell & Laird ship builders, on the River Mersey as a Ships Carpenter. He was married at the age of twenty-one, he has three sons and a daughter. 


He got his love of writing from his father and encouraged to write by his grand mother Mary Ann. His father was an unpublished short story writer. Michael developed a love of Liverpool Irish history when he was in his twenties writing for his own pleasure at that time. He always had a great interest in Irish writing; one of his favourite stories is 'The Dead' from the 'Dubliners' by James Joyce. W. Somerset Maugham, Oscar Wilde and Jack London is also one of his favourite writers. Among his favourite poets are Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Patrick Kavanagh, and Tom Moore. 


He feels that he learns his history from the people of Liverpool who are like a vast encyclopaedia, because of their thirst for knowledge. Michael Kelly has always been involved in the community and for many years being called upon to give talks on my writing.