Kitson, Alfred (1855-1934)
Kitson, Alfred (1855-1934)
British pioneer of teaching Spiritualism to children through the lyceum system first founded in the United States by Andrew Jackson Davis around 1863. Kitson, son of a Yorkshire coal miner, was a veteran of the Spiritualist movement at a time when it was violently opposed in Britain. In 1876 he organized evening classes for children on the lyceum system as a wing of the newly formed Spiritualist Society in Yorkshire. Kitson campaigned vigorously for the lyceum movement and became known as "the Father of British Lyceums." He collaborated with Harry A. Kersey on the English Lyceum Manual, first published in 1887.
Kersey and Kitson were also largely instrumental in bringing into existence the Spiritualists' Lyceum Union in 1890. The Union started a monthly Spiritualists' Lyceum Magazine, first published in Oldham in January 1890. When this magazine ceased publication in November 1890 it was replaced by the Lyceum Banner, edited by J. J. Morse from Liverpool until 1902, when Kitson became editor. In 1894 the union changed its name to the British Spiritualists' Lyceum Union. The lyceum movement prospered for many years, but Kitson resigned from secretaryship of the union in 1919 because of ill health.