52.54°N 1°W / 52.54; -1

Kibworth /ˈkɪbwərθ/ is an area of the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, that contains two civil parishes: the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp /ˈbiːtʃəm/ and Kibworth Harcourt /ˈhɑːrkɔːrt/. At the 2011 census, Kibworth Beauchamp had a population of 5,433 and Kibworth Harcourt 990. The villages are divided by the Midland Main Line. Kibworth is close to Foxton Locks, Market Harborough, and Leicester.

In 1270 Walter de Merton, the founder of Merton College, Oxford, bought a large part of the parish of Kibworth Harcourt from Saer de Harcourt, who had been forced to sell the estate after giving his support to the unsuccessful "Second Barons' War" led by Simon de Montfort. Much of the parish has remained the property of Merton College, Oxford to the present day. There is a stained-glass window depicting Walter de Merton in the bell tower of the parish church, St Wilfrid's, of which the warden and scholars of the college are joint patrons with the Bishop of Leicester.^{[citation needed]} The church is a Grade II* listed building.

A village school was founded in 1709, and endowed by Sir Nathaniel Edwards.

Kibworth Harcourt was the birthplace of the writer/reformer Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825) and her brother John Aikin. Their father, John Aikin (1713–1780), kept a dissenting academy there and served as minister of a nearby Presbyterian chapel. The family moved in 1757 to Warrington.

On 23 July 1825 the ancient tower and spire of St Wilfrid's collapsed.^[1]

Kibworth has a number of shops, a community newspaper (The Kibworth & District Chronicle),^[6] and since 2002 new shops, including a branch of the Co-Op.^[7] New housing continues to be built on the edge of the village, causing periodic controversy.^[8]

The Bookshop, which opened in the High Street in 2009, won a regional award for Independent Bookseller of The Year in 2012.^[9]

In birth order:

• John Aikin (1713–1780), Unitarian preacher, schoolteacher and father of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, lived and taught in Kibworth in 1730–58.^[23]
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin, 1743–1823), poet, essayist, children's author and daughter of John Aikin, was born in Kibworth Harcourt.^[24]
• John Aikin (1747–1822), physician, biographer and brother of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, was born in Kibworth Harcourt.^[25]
• James Beresford (1764–1840), Anglican cleric and humorist, was rector of Kibworth from 1812 until his death in 1840.^[26]
• Colonel John Worthy Chaplin (1840–1920), awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1860 in the Second China War, was buried in Kibworth New Cemetery.^[27]
• Edmund Knox (1847–1937), Anglican bishop, Evangelical writer and father of Ronald Knox, was rector of Kibworth in 1884–1891.^[28]
• Samuel Perkins Pick (1858–1919), architect, was educated at Kibworth Grammar School.^[29]
• T. E. R. Phillips (1868–1942), Anglican cleric and astronomer specializing in planets, was born in Kibworth.^[30]
• Wilfred Knox (1886–1950), Anglican theologian and brother of Ronald Knox, was born in Kibworth.^[31]
• Ronald Knox (1888–1957), Roman Catholic monsignor and religious writer, was born in Kibworth.^[32]
• Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley (1906–2001), inventor of the Intraocular lens, was born in Kibworth.^[33]
• Stu Williamson (born 1956), photographer, inventor of the Tri-flector,^{[citation needed]} and drummer for the Scottish group The Marmalade, is based in Kibworth.^{[citation needed]}