Kirkpatrick was born at
Lewes,
East Sussex, only son (with three daughters) of Rev. Francis Kirkpatrick, and was educated at
Haileybury and
Trinity College, Cambridge. He also served as Canon of
Ely (1882–1903),
Dean of Ely (1906 -1936), Examining Chaplain to the
Bishop of Winchester (1895–1903) and General Editor for
Old Testament and
Apocrypha of the
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1892–1929), to which he contributed the commentaries on
1 and 2 Samuel and the
Psalms. In his introduction to the book of Psalms, he observed that "they repeat the whispers of the Spirit of God, they reflect the very light of the Eternal Wisdom". In 1884, Kirkpatrick married Julia Mary (1858-1943), daughter of Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, rector of
Exbury, Hampshire. They had five sons and a daughter. ==References==