Kitty Wilkinson was born in Londonderry in 1786. Her family decided to move to Liverpool when she was only a few years old to create a better life for themselves. Sadly, the trip to Liverpool ended in disaster, the Irish ferry they travelled on hit an obstruction and Kitty's father and sister were drowned. Despite the tragedy, Kitty and her mother settled in Liverpool and, at the age of twelve, Kitty found work in a cotton mill in Caton, near Lancaster.

Several years later she offered herself to the services where she met a sailor and the couple had two children. Her life apparently mapped out with tragedy deemed that her newly found husband was to be taken from her shortly after. He was lost at sea during service and Kitty was left to look after not only her children but also her mother who was now blind and mentally ill. Despite such hardship, Kitty was always willing to help others and looked after anyone who needed help.

Following the death of her Mother, Kitty moved back to Liverpool and was horrified at the cramped, crowded and squalid conditions of people living in foul-smelling cellars and crumbling houses. It was a city that was soon to be plagued with disease. Years earlier, Kitty had been left a mangle by a woman who had offered work and to earn a little money, she took in people's washing and continued to look after the needy. She was reunited with Tom Wilkinson who she had met in Caton and they settled down in a house in Denison Street. Tom was a man of similar hospitality and subsequently their home soon became an unofficial orphanage.

In an eight year spell beginning in 1832, Liverpool was subject to ten outbreaks of cholera and Kitty transformed the cellar of her house into a wash-house for neighbours. It was also used to disinfect the clothes of cholera homes. Kitty had realised that the only way to fight disease was with cleanliness. As a result of campaigning by Kitty and her husband, the first 'Public Baths and Wash-house' was opened in Upper Frederick Street in 1842.

Kitty and Tom were appointed as superintendents and Kitty was eventually honoured by the City of Liverpool and Queen Victoria. In Liverpool Cathedral there is a window dedicated to this largely unsung heroine of her time.

Kitty Wilkinson died in 1900 at the age of 73, a remarkable age at the time, twelve years after the death of her husband, Tom. Buried in St James cemetry the inscription on her gravestone reflects the tale of this remarkable woman.