Kitty Wilkinson was born
Catherine Seward in Ireland in 1786. She emigrated to Liverpool with her mother
and was apprenticed to a cotton mill, probably at Caton, near Lancaster,
returning to Liverpool when she was 18 to care for her mother. In 1812 she married
a French sailor named John De Monte (or Dimont) and had two sons. However,
before the birth of the second child her husband had been lost at sea. She
endured great hardship struggling to care for her children and deranged mother
but married again in 1823, to a cotton porter named Thomas Wilkinson. The two
undertook much charitable work, visiting the sick and caring for orphans. In
1832 Liverpool was struck by a cholera epidemic and Kitty's devotion to nursing
the sick and opening a school for orphans gave her legendary status in the
city. A key role she undertook was to let neighbours use her boiler to wash
their bedding in chloride of lime. The noted philanthropist William Rathbone
became aware of her efforts and pressed the council to establish public wash
houses so that the poor could bathe and wash their clothes cheaply. The first
such wash house was opened by the council in 1842 in Frederick Street with
Kitty Wilkinson appointed as superintendent. The project was a success and
established the way for similar facilities across the country. In 1846 she was
presented with a silver tea service from the queen, the queen dowager, and
ladies of Liverpool. She died in 1860 and was buried in St James' Cemetery. In
1910, a stained-glass window portrait of Wilkinson was installed in Liverpool
Cathedral. In 2012 a statue of her was unveiled in the Great Hall of St
George's Hall, the first woman to be so honoured
