Alfred Kitching (1864-1911)
Alfred Kitching (1864-1911)
1911 Obituary [1]
ALFRED KITCHING was born at Middleton St. George, Co. Durham, on 19th July 1864. His scholastic education was received at a private school, after which he spent one year in a technical school in Sunderland.
In 1879 he commenced his apprenticeship at the engine works of Messrs. Blair, of Stockton-on-Tees, and from 1880-84 he continued it in the works of Messrs. Brigham and Cowan, of South Shields.
Afterwards he worked in the shops of Messrs. Oswald Mordaunt, of Southampton, for a short time, and then went to sea as marine engineer, obtaining his First Class Certificate in 1888.
In 1891 he went to Singapore to take up the appointment of assistant superintendent engineer to Messrs. Alfred Holt and Co.'s Ocean Steamship Co., of Liverpool, and in 1897 he was promoted to be Marine Superintendent.
When, in 1900, Messrs. Holt and Co. sold their local fleet to the Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, he acted as Superintendent to the latter Company, in addition to his other duties.
In the following year he was appointed Surveyor to the British Corporation Registry at Singapore, and retained that post when in 1905 he commenced business on his own account as a marine and consulting engineer.
He also held the appointments of Surveyor to the Bureau Veritas, International Registry of Shipping, Germanischer Lloyd, Registro Nationale Italians, Record of American and Foreign Shipping, and the Paris Underwriters.
In 1907 he was seriously injured in a benzene explosion on board the S.S. "Pocahontas," which he was surveying at Singapore. For some days it was feared that he would not recover, but, having a strong constitution in spite of eighteen years spent in the tropics, he recovered and took a long holiday in England.
He returned to Singapore in the following year, but his health was indifferent, and in 1911 he was compelled to go into hospital for two months. He was then advised to return home, and sailed for England at the end of August.
Whilst passing up the Red Sea he had haemorrhage, to which he succumbed on 11th September 1911, at the age of forty-seven.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1902; he was also a member of the Institution of Naval Architects.