Arthur Kitson

Arthur Octavius Kitson (19 April 1848, Leeds – 25 February 1915, Groombridge) was the British husband involved in the famous legal case Kitson v. Playfair. He is also known for his 1907 biography of Captain James Cook.

Family background Arthur Octavius Kitson was the youngest of the four children born to the wealthy locomotive manufacturer James Kitson (1807–1885) and his wife Ann. James Kitson (1835–1911) was the eldest son, John Hawthorn was the second son, and Emily was the only daughter. In 1864 she married the eminent physician William Smoult Playfair.

Linda Kitson Arthur Kitson left England to live in Australia, supported by an annual allowance from his family (see remittance man). There he married Linda Elizabeth Douglas Leroy on 4 August 1881 in Rockhampton. They had two children, Arthur James Douglas (b. 1882) and Irene Marion Douglas (b. 1884). In October 1892 Linda Kitson and her two children returned to England, while Arthur, apparently pursued by creditors, went to Port Darwin and then embarked on various trips in the Pacific. Leading physicians spoke in court in support of Playfair's conduct but the judge found such conduct unacceptable, in accord with prevailing public opinion on medical confidentiality. The jury awarded record-breaking damages of £12,000 against Playfair. The amount was then reduced by legal agreement to £9,200 on application for a new trial. According to historian Angus McLaren, writing in 1993:

Biography of Captain Cook

In 1907 Kitson's biography Captain James Cook, R.N., F.R.S., "the Circumnavigator" (xvi+525 p.) was published in London by John Murray and in New York by E. P. Dutton. Kitson's dedication "to my wife Linda Douglas Kitson" immediately precedes the preface of his book.

Kitson was given access by Joseph Chamberlain to some volumes of Colonial Records that were not yet available to the public and given information concerning a log of Captain Cook in the personal possession of Edward Ellis Morris. Kitson was also helped by Canon Frederick Bennett (1822–1903), whose mother was a cousin of Captain James Cook's wife Elizabeth.