Thumper GT
08-02-2012, 2:36 PM
I am trying to find out more about the Kirk and Kitchen families of Yorkshire.
The earliest Kirks that I'm researching came from Leeds, and were involved in Brewing. James Kirk was born in 1832 in Leeds. His father, William (1796), came from Tadcaster. From being a Corn Merchant, James moved into brewing in the 1860s, and established Kirk, Matthews & Co, based on the Melbourne Brewery in Regent Street. He subsequently purchased another brewery in Sherburn, east Yorkshire, which became known as the East Riding Brewery. The family moved from Leeds (Killingbeck Hall) to just outside Scarborough.
James's older sister, Ann Kirk (b1830), married a William Kitchen (b1835, Leeds). Their daughter, Anne Elizabeth (b1865) married James's son Arthur Frederick (also b1865), in 1891. Quite common for cousins to marry in Victorian Britain, I suppose. I know they had at least two children, but cannot find any record of them, although Arthur entered the army in 1895, and I suspect, could have been posted overseas. Anne died in 1901 in Yorkshire, and Arthur died in 1904, in Devon.
I have found several mis-spellings of the surname Kirk during my investigations, and suspect that may be a recurrent problem in getting any further. I just wondered if anyone else here was researching the same families, and might share some leads.
The earliest Kirks that I'm researching came from Leeds, and were involved in Brewing. James Kirk was born in 1832 in Leeds. His father, William (1796), came from Tadcaster. From being a Corn Merchant, James moved into brewing in the 1860s, and established Kirk, Matthews & Co, based on the Melbourne Brewery in Regent Street. He subsequently purchased another brewery in Sherburn, east Yorkshire, which became known as the East Riding Brewery. The family moved from Leeds (Killingbeck Hall) to just outside Scarborough.
James's older sister, Ann Kirk (b1830), married a William Kitchen (b1835, Leeds). Their daughter, Anne Elizabeth (b1865) married James's son Arthur Frederick (also b1865), in 1891. Quite common for cousins to marry in Victorian Britain, I suppose. I know they had at least two children, but cannot find any record of them, although Arthur entered the army in 1895, and I suspect, could have been posted overseas. Anne died in 1901 in Yorkshire, and Arthur died in 1904, in Devon.
I have found several mis-spellings of the surname Kirk during my investigations, and suspect that may be a recurrent problem in getting any further. I just wondered if anyone else here was researching the same families, and might share some leads.