Catherine [ Kitty ] Wilkinson 1787-1860

Kitty Wilkinson was born as Catherine Seaward in County Londonderry in 1787 , she came with her family to Liverpool at an early age . In the early 1800s she married Emanuel Demontee a sailor and bore two children . She was a domestic servant and she lived with her widowed mother, in Denison Street Liverpool . In 1823 she married Thomas Wilkinson . She bought a water boiler and mangle and earned a living as a laundress. During 1832 Liverpool fell into the grip of Cholera , during this epidemic she hired out her boiler to neighbours to wash their clothes and stave off infection as the boiling water killed the bacteria. She came to the attention of William Rathbone an influential Liverpool merchant and politician and the District Providential Society where she urged the foundation of public baths and wash houses for the poor . Through this influence a combined public baths and wash house was opened in 1842 on Upper Frederick street Liverpool the first in Britain . Kitty Wilkinson died on 11 November 1860 and she was buried in St James' cemetery .

 Kitty Wilkinson depicted in stained glass in the Lady chapel at the Anglican cathedral  Liverpool , and her statue in St George's Hall .

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