He was born in Hull in 1869 and practised as a doctor in London before moving to Pickering in 1898. Kirk resided in Houndgate Hall, Pickering from 1910 to 1938. Kirk spent some time painting natural and landscape scenes, such as his 1891 'Stags in the Snow'. Kirk was intimately involved in Yorkshire Archaeological Society and was a member of the general committee, executive committee and acted as director and honorary treasurer.
Professional life
Archaeologist
Kirk excavated in the fort at Virosidum in 1925-26 with R. G. Collingwood. He excavated part of the Roman camp at Malton in 1927 with Philip Corder. The results of this excavation formed the core of the Roman archaeology collection of the Malton Museum. He and Corder also excavated at the side of Langton Roman Villa, near Malton, the excavations of which were led by Kirk. Regarding Kirk's role in the Langton excavations, Corder wrote: "The daily supervision and all the organisation of the work once again fell to Dr. Kirk, who directed the excavation in person, until ill health led to his forced retirement. Even then he largely directed the final stages of the work from his bed". Published works as an archaeologist include:
Corder, P. and Kirk, J.L. 1932. A Roman Villa at Langton, near Malton, East Yorkshire Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society
Corder, P. and Kirk. J. 1928. "Roman Malton: a Yorkshire Fortress and its neighbourhood" in Antiquity Vol. 2. pp. 69–72
Curator
Kirk had amassed a collection of objects relating to the study of Social History. His enthusiasm for folk museums was encouraged through visiting the Stockholm Historical Museum, Biological Museum, and Skansen in Sweden in 1910. In addition to collecting and photographing social history, he would accept 'bygones' in lieu of payment from his medical patients. Initial plans to house the collection in Pickering in the 1920s ultimately failed. In 1931 Kirk advertised more widely for expressions of interest from sites who wished to house his collection, receiving responses from sites in Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Batley, Doncaster and York, with the latter eventually being successful. The Female Prison was bought by the York Corporation in 1934 and modified to house the Kirk Collection of "bygones", opening as the Castle Museum in 1938. A major attraction of this new museum was the recreation of a late Victorian street, named 'Kirkgate'; this was the first of its kind in Britain. Kirk and his deputy curator, Violet Rodgers were both recreated by re-enactors on Kirkgate, the reconstructed Victorian street, as part of the Castle Museum's 80th anniversary in 2018.
