Sir Albert Ernest Kitson died of pneumonia at his residence at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, on March 8th, 1937, at the age of 68.
He was born in Manchester and received his early education in Central India and Victoria, Australia. In 1886 he entered the Victoria Civil Service and was engaged in the Post Office and Lands Departments for the next 13 years. During this period he became interested in geology, which he studied privately and at the Melbourne School of Mines, and in 1899 he was transferred to the scientific staff of the Victorian Geological Survey, in charge of detailed topographical and geological surveys of coalfields.
In 1904 he was promoted to the post of senior field geologist, and frequently acted as Director of the Survey until he resigned at the end of 1906, when he was appointed principal mineral surveyor in charge of the Mineral Survey of Southern Nigeria. This post he held until the end of 1911, and in the course of his work he discovered and surveyed the Udi coalfield.
In 1913 he was appointed Director of the Geological Survey of the Gold Coast, and the importance of his work during the following 17 years was recognized by the award of the C.B.E. in 1918, the C.M.G. in 1922, and a knighthood in 1927. Under his direction the Survey discovered the important Nsuta manganese deposits, alluvial diamond deposits, and large quantities of bauxite. In 1931, after the discovery of gold in the Kakamega area in Kenya, he visited the field at the request of the Colonial Office, and his report, published in 1932, attracted much attention.
He was awarded the Wollaston Fund (1918) and the Lyell Medal (1927) of the Geological Society of London, and was President of Section C (Geology) of the British Association in 1929. His publications include numerous Government reports and papers read before societies.
Sir Albert Kitson was elected a Member of the Institution in 1915. He was a Member of Council from 1929 to the time of his death, and a Vice-President from 1932 to 1985.
Vol. 47, Trans IMM 1937-8, pp.543-4
