This is the inspirational story of Kitty Wilkinson, a poor Irish immigrant who, despite a series of personal tragedies, devoted herself to improving lives in the slum communities of Liverpool. It was the turn of the 19th century, she was penniless, an Irish immigrant, a widow and a mother. But, driven by genuine compassion for the unfortunate, she founded the first public wash-house; provided a home for orphans, the sick and the abandoned; and her work helped minimise the impact of one of Liverpool's worst cholera epidemics. This woman was unstoppable.

Origins

It all began in Londonderry, Ireland, on 24th October 1786. Kitty was born to a working-class Protestant solider and his wife. Kitty's full name was Catherine Seaward.

At the time, sectarian hostility was rampant, with Protestants and Catholics in constant conflict. Conditions were violent, unstable and deteriorating. Understandably, many were desperate to escape this volatile situation.

At the time, Liverpool was then the third largest port in England, with fat merchants growing rich on the profits from the slave, cotton and sugar trades. Thousands of migrants flocked here in the hope of finding their fortune. If it didn't happen here, they could travel to America, another land of opportunity. Liverpool was a dangerous place at the time with many a scallywag ready to take advantage of naïve migrants carrying all their worldly possessions. Easy pickings for skilled vagabonds.

In the hope of securing a better life for their family, Kitty's parents decided to take the risk, buying a one-way ticket aboard a 'coffin ship' to Liverpool. They were called coffin ships because the boats were in poorly-maintained condition, overloaded with passengers and insured to the gills. Ship owners would make more money from a sunken ship than a ship arriving safely with everybody intact.

Tragedy

Kitty was just nine years old when she set foot in Liverpool in 1795. Tragically, not all members of her family made it. On passing the rough Irish sea and turning into the River Mersey, their inadequate coffin ship encountered problems and started to sink. Smaller boats hurried to rescue some of the passengers, but Kitty's father and young sister drowned in the choppy river.

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19th Century Irish Immigrants: Source

Life was difficult for Kitty's mother. She was young, widowed and heartbroken. She lived in a strange city where the local population was hostile to immigrants, especially Irish immigrants. Poverty was all around. Locals were struggling enough without having the added burden of an influx of immigrants to compete with. This gave rise to sectarian tensions and violence. Kitty's mother tried her best for a while but was unable to cope with her grief. She descended into mental illness.

Work begins

At just 11 years old, Kitty was sent away to a cotton mill to work as an indentured servant. This mill was owned by relatives of the rich and powerful Rathbone family. The Rathbones were successful merchants who devoted time and money to charitable causes and public services. During this time, Kitty was given the opportunity to acquire an education which, at the time, was rare for a working class girl. This ignited a passion for knowledge which she would later use to teach children in her own private school. Whilst working at the mill, she met a kindly but illiterate porter called Thomas (John) Wilkinson. A deep and close friendship blossomed but, at the age of 21, Kitty had to leave the mill and return home to care for her severely incapacitated mother who had now gone blind and totally insane.

Although she was the only bread-winner, and busy working and caring for her mother, Kitty could never turn away a person in need. There was a succession of lodgers and visitors at their house, including a family and a blind neighbour. Kitty would cook for them and tend to them if they were sick. It was now that she opened up a private 'Dame' school which she ran from their home. It was a small but necessary supplement to her income.

Marriage to a wayward sailor

Soon after, she met a French Catholic sailor named Emmanuel De Monte. She agreed to marry him on the condition they would raise their children as Protestants. She was pregnant with their second son when tragedy visited again. On hearing of his wife's pregnancy, Emmanuel decided to return from a work trip to Canada. On his journey home the ship sank and all on board died. This was how Kitty relayed the story to the very proper Eleanor Greg Rathbone. Some think Kitty was hiding a more shameful truth at the time. Sailors were known to keep a woman in every port and it's possible that Kitty could also have been romanced into this unfortunate situation. In those days, it would have been excruciating to admit to being just another call in a port.

On the brink of destitution, and heavily pregnant, Kitty was forced to search for smaller accommodation. This meant she had to reduce the number of students she was able to teach. In her desperation to compensate for the loss of income, Kitty took extra jobs, working in the fields and also as a char lady for rich merchants.

After the birth of her second son she began work in a nail factory. This involved handling hot nails which blistered and burned her hands. She tolerated the pain for a year but reluctantly applied to the Guardians of the parish for help towards raising her sons. They awarded her two shillings a week. This was not enough to sustain them so she continued doing char work and other odd jobs to make ends meet.

Slums

After the abolition of slavery in 1807, slave merchants used their profits to build cheap housing around the dock areas. The cheapest accommodation a family could find was in the cellars of these buildings. The city's sewage system was grossly inadequate. Sewage from higher up areas would seep and pool in the lower docklands, often into the cellars which were poorly ventilated and riddled with damp and mildew. The conditions were crowded, smelly and miserable. Many families lived together, crowded in these cellars, often without a toilet. Instead, they would use a 'privy pail' or a share communal toilet outside with neighbours. There was no running water. Residents would have to walk to a water pump in the street to fetch water a few times per week. In times when the pump was out of action, they would have to reuse the dirty water. Disease was rife.

After her mother's death, Kitty returned to Liverpool to find that conditions for the poor had worsened. An influx of migrants to the city had resulted in a population explosion. Kitty continued working in domestic labour. One client, Mr Alexander Braik, was so grateful for the care Kitty had given his poor suffering wife, that he gifted her a mangle. This device, used for wringing out wet laundry, would later change the lives of many people in the slums of Liverpool.

Kitty did even more work, taking in laundry but was still dangerously close to destitution. Although she often went short of food, she would always share what she had with those less fortunate.

Reunited

In 1823 Kitty was reunited with a friend she'd known at the cotton mill – Thomas (John) Wilkinson. They soon became inseparable and were married that December at Holy Trinity Church, St Anne Street. Life wasn't easy though. They rented a cellar in the slums where they welcomed in the waifs and strays of society.

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Cholera

Cholera, originating from the Indian Ganges delta, arrived in several English ports in 1831. It spread rapidly throughout the crowded slums where there was limited access to clean water and adequate sanitation. By September 1832, there were 4,977 known cases of cholera. The situation was so bad in Liverpool that floating hospitals and fever sheds were built along the dockside. Life expectancy in the slums and dock areas were the lowest in the country with an average life expectancy of just 26 compared to the mid-40s in less squalid areas.

The situation got so bad in Liverpool that people started to panic. There were 8 street riots in 1832! Angry mobs took to the streets, hurling hate at the medical establishment and chanting, 'Bring out the Burkers!' This was the nickname inspired by the notorious Burke and Hare, a Scottish duo who murdered people for the purpose of selling their bodies to anatomy schools for dissection. A few years earlier, 33 bodies had been discovered in the docks, ready to be shipped to Scotland for dissection. Liverpool residents believed doctors were deliberately killing cholera patients to make extra money by selling their bodies for the same nefarious reasons.

Doing her bit

During the epidemic, Kitty took action by doing what she did best:caring and doing. Each morning she would make a batch of porridge, enough to feed 60 children. She also gave up her bedroom to provide a place to wash and care for the children of those sick or dying from cholera. On top of this, she visited the sick and dying neighbours to help where she could, donating linens and blankets for their sick beds.

The only boiler in the neighbourhood was in Kitty's kitchen. She encouraged her neighbours to bring their contaminated sheets and clothes, teaching them how to disinfect them with chloride of lime. Effectively, she had opened the first public wash-house. Kitty believed the solution to the spread of disease was to improve hygiene. And she was right.

Public baths and wash-house

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Frederick Street Wash-House: Source

After the epidemic passed, Kitty campaigned for a public bath and wash-house to enable the poor to wash themselves and their clothes. The first public bath and wash-house opened in Frederick Street in 1842. A few years later, Kitty and her husband were appointed 'Superintendents of the Public Baths'.

Controversy

Some sources claim that Kitty's contribution was not as significant as claimed in the biography written by Eleanor Greg Rathbone, given that the local press made no mention of her and that other people were instead credited with improved conditions for the poor. This was a time, however, where poor people took a back seat to the politicians and didn't feature heavily in the printed literature. Another factor to consider is that Kitty was a woman and society was not yet ready to honour women's contributions. Regardless, Kitty's work with the sick and her selfless devotion to orphans is undeniable.

Honouring Kitty

A person who gave her life to bring comfort to those more unfortunate deserves her place in history.

In her honour, a marble statue was created by the artist Simon Smith and enjoys a permanent display at St George's Hall, Liverpool. Here she stands as the only woman amongst eleven other greats of the city.