Sir Francis Joseph Kitts (1 May 1912 – 16 March 1979) was a New Zealand politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Wellington, holding the post from 1956 to 1974. He was the Labour Member of Parliament for between and 1960. Early life Kitts was born in Waimate, the son of an Australian quarryman, and attended Marist Brothers primary school alongside his half-brother John before completing his education at Timaru Boys' High School. He was an active athlete and was a talented swimmer also having an interest in both boxing and rugby. He was a firm believer in physical fitness and had a lifelong twice-a-day exercise regimen. Whilst still at high school he joined the Timaru branch of the Labour Party at 16, with his father's encouragement, and was branch president at from 1936 to 1938. In 1938 Kitts stood unsuccessfully for the Timaru Borough Council as a Labour candidate. Kitts enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in July 1940 during World War II and served for five years with the home forces as a staff sergeant. Whilst posted in Ōtaki he met Iris Woodcock at the local racecourse and the two married in 1949. The couple had no children. Following the war he moved to Wellington, and worked as a civil servant for the Government Stores Board. He became the vice-president of the Wellington Central branch of the Labour Party in 1947. He was a competent debater and was a team leader for the Wellington Metropolitan Debating Club. He held Saturday morning talks along a walking route down Bowen Street Lambton Quay and Willis Street with residents from all around Wellington, which earned him a public reputation in the city. Kitts walked the route nearly every day for the next 25 years. Newspaper reports after his death say he was a "man of mystery" as little is known about his early life, and his Who's Who in New Zealand entries in 1971 and 1978 both start with his election to Wellington local bodies in 1950. His brother, Father John Kitts, who was chaplain at the Villa Maria Convent in Brisbane, stated that Kitts seldom spoke of his private life and his wife Iris was the only person who truly knew him. Political career Local-body politics At the 1950 local-body elections the Labour Party had no obvious mayoral candidate, and Labour activist Gerald O'Brien suggested to Kitts should