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'''Derwas James Chitty''' (1901 – 1971) was an English [[Anglican]] priest and member of the [[Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius]]. He was known as a writer on the spirituality of the [[Greek Orthodox]] tradition,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/onlinelists/GB0447%20CHITTY.pdf |title=House of St Gregory and Macrina Library |website=Nationalarchives.gov.uk |accessdate=2017-03-03}}</ref> as well as an archaeologist.

==Career==
His parents were the Reverend James Charles Martin Chitty (1865–1938) and Gwen Ethlin Georgiana Chitty (née Jones; 1861–1933). Chitty's childhood was spent in the country rectory of [[Hanwood]], [[Shropshire]]. His elder sister was [[Lily Chitty]], who would also go on to take part in archaeology;<ref>{{cite ODNB |last1=Carr |first1=A. M. |title=Chitty, Lily Frances (1893–1979) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/57046 |date=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/57046 }}</ref> He was educated at [[Winchester College]] where he and his brother were Scholars, and at [[New College, Oxford]], followed by two years at the [[École Biblique]] in [[Jerusalem]].

In 1929 he and his friend Michael Markoff excavated the Monastery of St. [[Euthymius]] in the Judaean wilderness. In 1931 he became Rector of [[Upton, Vale of White Horse|Upton]] near Didcot, 15 miles from Oxford, in what was then Berkshire, where he remained until 1968. During the [[Second World War]] he was a chaplain in the [[Royal Navy]], posted to [[Colombo]] and [[Mumbai|Bombay]] among other places.

==Personal life==
During involvement in the 1929 excavations in Palestine, Chitty met his future wife [[Mary Kitson Clark]] (1905–2005); she was also an archaeologist.<ref name="obit Ind">{{cite news|last1=Briggs|first1=C. Stephen|title=Mary Kitson Clark: Archaeologist of Roman Yorkshire|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/mary-kitson-clark-6757.html|access-date=11 October 2016|work=The Independent|date=18 March 2005}}</ref><ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|last1=Gash|first1=Norman|title=(Anna) Mary Hawthorn Kitson Clark (1905–2005)|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-97577|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/97577|date=January 2013|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024}}</ref> On 5 July 1943, they married.<ref name="ODNB" /> Together they had one child, a daughter.<ref name="ODNB" />

After he retired from full-time ministry in 1968, they lived in [[Llangwnnadl]], Caernarfonshire, Wales.<ref name="obit Ind" /> Chitty died in 1971 after a "domestic accident".<ref name="obit Ind" />

==Works==
He published a large number of articles and works on [[early Eastern Monasticism]], including his magnum opus, ''The Desert a City''.

*''The Desert a City: a Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism under the Christian Empire'', 1966.
*[http://anglicanhistory.org/orthodoxy/chitty.html Orthodoxy and the Conversion of England: A paper read at the Conference of the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, on 31st July, 1947]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitty, Derwas James}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:British male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:British male non-fiction writers]]

Derwas Chitty - Revision history

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