An Extract from "The Story of St. Bees" 1583-1939 SCHOOLBOY PARSON In a book by Dean Kitchin entitled "Ruskin in Oxford, and other Studies", occurs the following passage:- "In the beginning of the 19th century, about 1807-1808, the Head Master of the St. Bees Grammar school was also in charge of Haile, a little village in the upper country behind St. Bees. My father was educated under him at the Grammar School, and rose to the head of the top form. Not unfrequently I have heard him tell, the Master would come in on a Saturday, and speaking in his broad Cumbrian would say: 'Laads, I'm let from going up to Haile t'morrow,' and then turning to the two head boys he would add: 'and so you, Kitchin, and you, ---------, will go up for me to-morrow, and here is t' prayer book for Kitchin and t' sermon for you, --------, and mind ye dinna laff.' And the two boys went off gleefully, and took duty again and again. I believe it set my father thinking about Orders, for he went that way as soon as he could, and after a few years began clerical life as Curate at this very Church of Haile at which he had sometimes officiated as a schoolboy." Jill

Jill Thanks for posting this extract. Do you know the name of Dean Kitchin's father? I ask because I have an ancestor, Rev Thomas Kitchin(g) whose origins are still a mystery to me. Dorothy G New Zealand - An Extract from "The Story of St. Bees" 1583-1939 SCHOOLBOY PARSON In a book by Dean Kitchin entitled "Ruskin in Oxford, and other Studies", occurs the following passage:- "In the beginning of the 19th century, about 1807-1808, the Head Master of the St. Bees Grammar school was also in charge of Haile, a little village in the upper country behind St. Bees. My father was educated under him at the Grammar School, and rose to the head of the top form. Not unfrequently I have heard him tell, the Master would come in on a Saturday, and speaking in his broad Cumbrian would say: 'Laads, I'm let from going up to Haile t'morrow,' and then turning to the two head boys he would add: 'and so you, Kitchin, and you, ---------, will go up for me to-morrow, and here is t' prayer book for Kitchin and t' sermon for you, --------, and mind ye dinna laff.' And the two boys went off gleefully, and took duty again and again. I believe it set my father thinking about Orders, for he went that way as soon as he could, and after a few years began clerical life as Curate at this very Church of Haile at which he had sometimes officiated as a schoolboy." Jill ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

Dear Dorothy, Unfortunately the only two Kitchins mentioned in the Famous Old Boys, Finlay Lorimer and Charles, attended in the 1880s and so are much too recent to be attached to this story. Tantalisingly, the extract gives no further details of Dean Kitchin or his father but it would be interesting to know who they were. Perhaps somebody has access to the Haile registers which might contain the name of the curate at that time. Best wishes, Jill > Do you know the name of Dean Kitchin's father? I ask because I have an ancestor, Rev Thomas Kitchin(g) whose origins are still a mystery to me. > > Dorothy G > New Zealand>