Blue plaque honours 'prolific' royal mapmaker

The blue plaque displayed on the house in St Albans where engraver and cartographer Thomas Kitchin spent his retirement

A blue plaque has been unveiled to commemorate the 18th Century engraver and cartographer Thomas Kitchin.

It has been mounted on the wall of 7, Fishpool Street, St Albans, where he spent his retirement and died in 1784.

It was presented by Blue Plaques St Albans (BPSA), which honours notable people who lived and worked in the city.

Professor Tim Boatswain, BPSA chairman, said Kitchin was "a prolific and exceptionally talented engraver, who produced hundreds of maps during his lifetime".

Born in Southwark, London, in 1717, Kitchin was apprenticed to map engraver Emanuel Bowen before working independently.

Kitchin's firm produced engraved materials, including portraits and caricatures, but he is best known for engravings of maps, which were used to make prints.

He produced the first pocket atlas of Scotland in about 1748. The Large English Atlas, which he worked on with his old master Bowen, was finished in 1760.

It was thought to be "the first real attempt to cover the whole country on a large scale", Prof Boatswain said.

'Very prolific'

"He was very prolific. He produced more than 170 maps," he added.

"His real ability was the engraving. He had that technical facility to do good etching and lettering and was sought after by the people who did the leg work.

"His real skill was actually to be able to convert that [information] and engrave it to publish proper maps."

Kitchin, who is buried in the city's cathedral, engraved one of the earliest maps of America. In 1773 he became royal mapmaker to King George III.

Of Kitchin's time in St Albans, Prof Boatswain said: "I guess it was a nice little place to come and retire."

Little is known about his life in the city, but his will, which requested burial "with as little expense as may be", revealed his modesty.

Kitchin's was the 12th plaque put up by BPSA, a voluntary organisation. Its scheme is similar to English Heritage's.