James Kitson

James Kitson (27 October 1807 – 30 June 1885) was an English first-class cricketer and early railway industrialist, founding the locomotive builders Kitson and Company.

Early life The son of a publican, he was born in his father's pub, the Brunswick Tavern, in Leeds in October 1807. He acquired some level of education at local schools in Leeds, with Kitson helping out in the family pub as a young child. At 14 he was apprenticed at a local dyeworks, where he acquired a bad injury. Despite his injury he was determined to improve himself and was fascinated by the new emerging railway technology. Kitson joined the newly founded Leeds Mechanical Institute, where he studied chemistry, mathematics and mechanics. before briefly gaining employment under Robert Stephenson with his company, Robert Stephenson and Company, at Newcastle. He counted the elder George Stephenson among his close friends.

Career In 1835, Kitson decided to form his own locomotive engineering company. Enlisting the help of Charles Todd and David Laird, together the trio founded Todd, Kitson and Laird in a former cloth mill. Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed in the MCC first innings by Francis Popham, while in their second innings he was dismissed for a single run, being caught by Henry Knatchbull off an unrecorded bowler.

Politics He served as the Mayor of Leeds from 1860 to 1862, in addition to serving on the Leeds Town Council for many years.

Religion

The Kitsons were closely associated with Unitarianism in Leeds, at Mill Hill Chapel, with Kitson giving lectures to working women on hygiene as part of his missionary work. William Morris was commissioned to create a stained glass window there in honour of Ann Kitson, who died in 1865.

Marriages and children At the age of 21 he married Ann Newton, with the couple having 11 children, though only six survived to adulthood.