Albert KITCHING

1866 - 1921  (55 years)

• Name	Albert KITCHING
  Birth	1866	Horsforth,Yorkshire,England
  Gender	Male
  Story	Albert's story on Glasgow to Balmain
  Death	25 Aug 1921	Sydney NSW
  Person ID	I219	Hannah
  Last Modified	2 Aug 2019

  
  

  Father	James KITCHING
  Mother	Jane BRAITHWAITE
  Family ID	F113	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Albert Kitching
  		Albert Kitching

  
  

• Notes

  Albert was listed on the 1881 British Census as aged 15 years old, born (8th April 1866) in Horsforth, York, England. Occupation: Jobber Text. He and his family at the time resided at 12 Orleans St. Keighley, York, England. Family History Library Film: 1343029. PRO Reference: RG11 Piece Folio: 4349/63. Page No. 32. The Kitching family consisting of mother, Jane Kitching and 5 brothers, William, James, Robert, Herbert and Moses arriving in Sydney on the "Orontes" on 19th August 1882. During the voyage out Albert formed a friendship with 18 year old Scottish lad Thomas Hannah. They appeared to have remained good friends for some time after, at least until the untimely death of Thomas, who accidently drowned on the 8th April 1889 at Rozelle whilst prawn fishing. Unfortunately for Albert , Thomas' death would be a constant reminder of his 23rd birthday. One can only imagine the sadness Albert must have felt upon hearing the news of his friends death. Albert was the witness/best man at Thomas' wedding to Jane Jack in 1888. He signed the wedding certificate as a witness. Albert was described as being of average height, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a moustache. He, his wife and family resided in a neat little cottage on the corner of what is now Vaughan Street and Auburn Road, Auburn. The house remained within the family until the death of Albert and Elizabeth Ann's 3rd daughter Grace in 1994. The house stood on a fairly large block which was later sub- divided, the land being sold to Grace's son Alfred and his wife who still reside there, the old cottage still sitting where it always was. All 10 Kitching children were born in the house, sadly some died. Eight of Grace's ten children were also born there. And not surprisingly so were numerous and various grandchildren. Albert was renowned for wearing a rose in his coat lapel, on one particular occasion he ventured into his local pub bragging about how beautiful were the roses he grew, only for him to be shot down in flames, everyone knew that it was his wife Annie who grew the roses, for which she had won prizes at various flower shows. Albert worked as a Sexton at Rookwood Cemetery, Lidcombe. He originally dug graves in the Catholic Section but went to work in the Jewish Section because they paid more money. Unfortunately not a lot is remembered of the uncles, apparently the only one's to visit were Uncle Bill (who always brought some sweets with him), and Uncle Bob, whom everyone thought was funny, it's also said that his wife, aunty Ada was nice, though she apparently only visited a couple of times. The younger children could not remember their father having ever played with them. Albert died in the Vaughan Street house on the 25th August 1921, from cancer. Some of his friends would visit him but would only be allowed stand on the verandah and talk through the bedroom window as apparently the smell from the room was quite bad. It is with our thanks to Bruce Hannah and his extended family for including our Albert in their family story, without which information we would never have known anything of his voyage here nor his friendship with Thomas. Contributed by Jim & Van Townsend (2004)