George William Kitchin (7 December 1827 – 13 October 1912) was the first Chancellor of the University of Durham, from the institution of the role in 1908 until his death in 1912. He was also the last Dean of Durham to govern the university.
In 1854, Kitchin was an examiner in Mathematics at Christ Church.[2] He soon left Oxford to become Headmaster of Twyford Preparatory School in Hampshire, but returned to residence at Oxford as Censor in 1861. While at Christ Church, in late 1861 he was partly responsible for the ending of the Latin Prayer Service, conducted there since time immemorial, and for the continuation of which special provision had been made in the Act of Uniformity 1662.[3] Kitchin served as Oxford's first Junior Censor of non-collegiate students from 1868 to 1883. He was also Select Preacher at Oxford for 1863–1864 and Whitehall Preacher for 1866–1867. He took a break from Oxford life to live at Brantwood, in the Lake District, from 1869 to 1871, a property later bought by his friend John Ruskin.[4] While there he undertook assignments for the Clarendon Press, including working on the proofs of Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson's Icelandic-English Dictionary.[4]
The grave of George Kitchin, Durham Cathedral churchyard
In 1879, Kitchin was a member of a committee formed to create a women's college at Oxford "in which no distinction will be made between students on the ground of their belonging to different religious denominations." This resulted in the founding of Somerville Hall, later renamed Somerville College.[5]
While Dean of Winchester Kitchin was responsible for refurbishments within the Cathedral, most notably the restoration of the mediaeval reredos behind the High Altar, usually known as 'The Great Screen'. The restoration was initially entrusted to the architect J D Sedding. However, Sedding's design for the scheme did not meet with general satisfaction and was not implemented.[7] Thereafter, Kitchin personally took over and master-minded the entire project, essentially as his own architect, commissioning the many new statues needed to populate the restored screen. When completed, this was acclaimed as one of the Church of England's major artistic ecclesiastical restorations of the 19th century.[citation needed]
In 1910, when the University of Durham was given a new constitution, Kitchin was elected as its first Chancellor and remained in office until his death two years later.
On 8 September 1863, at Westminster Abbey, Kitchin married Alice Maud Taylor, second daughter of Bridges Taylor, the British consul in Denmark.[8] Their daughter Alexandra, known as "Xie", born in 1864, became Lewis Carroll's favourite photographic subject. Their son George Herbert Kitchin (1865–1951),[9] was a prolific architect, especially in Hampshire. Examples of his work include Compton End, Winchester, Lyegrove House, Sodbury, and Horsley Hall, Gresford.[10] He was also a botanist and garden architect.[citation needed] They had three further children, two sons, Hugh Bridges and Brook Taylor, and a second daughter, Dorothy Maud Mary.[citation needed]
An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language (Crowned by the French Academy) by A. Brachet, author of 'A Historical Grammar of the French Tongue' Formerly Examiner and Professor at the Polytechnic School, Paris Laureate of the Institute, etc. Translated by G.W. Kitchin, M.A. (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1878)
Life of Pope Pius II (1881)
Winchester Cathedral Records (2 vols., Winchester, 1886)
Documents Relating to the Foundation of the Chapter of Winchester, A.D. 1541–1547 (London, 1889)
Winchester (1890)
Rolls of the Obedientaries of St. Swithin's Priory, A.D. 1309–1534 (Winchester, 1895)
The Manor of Manydown, Hampshire (1895)
Edward Harold Browne, Bishop of Winchester: A Memoir (London, 1895)
Ruskin in Oxford, and other Studies (1904).
Sir Roger L'Estrange: A Contribution to the History of the Press in the Seventeenth Century[11]
