Lost Senses
John Kitto was a self-taught biblical scholar, born in Stillman Street, Plymouth on 4 December 1804. Kitto was a sickly child and the son of an intemperant Cornish stonemason. The poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse, gaining a very erratic
and interrupted education.
On 13 February 1817, at the age of twelve, John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop in Batter Street. Carrying mortar and slates, he missed his footing and fell thirty-five feet onto the street below. His sense of hearing was completely extinguished and he became totally and permanently deaf. His accident left him with an impaired sense of balance and his speech a kind of guttural thunder.
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