Arthur Kitson left England to live in Australia, supported by an annual allowance from his family (see remittance man).
In October 1892 Linda Kitson and her two children returned to England, while Arthur, apparently pursued by creditors, went to Port Darwin and then embarked on various trips in the Pacific.
[3] She was put under chloroform by Playfair with Williams present, and her cervix dilated (so the court was later crudely informed) to the size of a five shiling piece.
[3]Both doctors began the operation in the belief that they were dealing with an intrauterine cancerous growth, but they seemed to discover that Linda Kitson had recently had either a natural miscarriage or an abortion — even though she was separated from her husband.
[5] According to historian Angus McLaren, writing in 1993: This celebrated case centred on a doctor's defence of his right of betraying, not a male, but a female patient's confidences.
Kitson was given access by Joseph Chamberlain to some volumes of Colonial Records that were not yet available to the public and given information concerning a log of Captain Cook in the personal possession of Edward Ellis Morris.
Kitson was also helped by Canon Frederick Bennett (1822–1903),[8] whose mother was a cousin of Captain James Cook's wife Elizabeth.
He communicated with two of Captain Cook's biographers, Arthur Kitson and Sir Walter Besant, loaning them documents, and passing on his memories of her.