KItty Holt (left) with her sisters Molly (standing) and Betty.
Kitty Holt, Born 1871
scientist, writer, poet & artist
Kitty Holt was born in 1871 into a wealthy Liverpool shipping family and was one of the first women to study at Cambridge University. She went on become a scientist and a writer, a poet and an artist, a loving wife to her academic husband and a devoted mother to their six children. However, she and her sisters were denied their share in the family fortune because, as their uncle wrote, ‘Steamship property does not seem to me suitable for ladies’. This appears to have been one of the factors which led to her becoming mentally ill, so that she spent the last third of her life in hospital. The shame which the family felt about her illness meant that for 100 years she remained a dark secret. Her granddaughter has drawn on letters, diaries, photographs and other family documents, including her medical records, to tell the story of her life and of the legacy she left. The book shows that there was a very great deal to celebrate in the life of this remarkable woman.
Click below to view his life story:
Source: Contributed by Jan Pahl, author of the life story and granddaughter of Kitty Holt.