Sketches around St Albans by F.G. Kitton (1856- 1904)

Portrait of F.G. Kitton (1856 - 1904)

Frederick George Kitton was born in Norwich in 1856, the son of a tobacconist. He was apprenticed to a London newspaper, The Graphic, as a wood engraver and etcher.

At the age of 26 Kitton decided that he wanted to follow a literary career and above all to dedicate himself to studying the life and works of the author Charles Dickens. As a result of this change in lifestyle he moved to St Albans where he became interested in various historical aspects of the town, co-editing the Herts illustrated Review and writing, illustrating and lecturing on aspects of St Albans and the surrounding countryside.

He was also honorary curator of pictures at the newly opened City Museum (Now the Museum of St Albans) where he helped to procure for purchase the Sir John Evans collection of books, manuscripts and drawings, the Buckingham watercolours and the Phipson watercolours. Outside the walls of the museum Kitton did an enormous service to St Albans, had it not been for his campaigning many of the old and interesting buildings of St Albans would have been demolished.

He died on Saturday September 10th 1904 following an operation. The museum tried to help his widow financially by purchasing some of his sketches of the area, now some of the finest artwork held by St Albans Museums.