Patrick Kirk was born at 55 Paget Street in Liverpool, Lancashire, England on 12 June 1892 and baptised in St Alban’s Church five days later. Hailing from a Roman Catholic family, he was one of nine children born to Joseph Kirk, a Scottish-born marine fireman, and Catherine Cassidy, a native of Liverpool who was of north Irish descent. 

By 1911 the Kirk family home was at 72 Boundary Street in Liverpool but Patrick was not listed, perhaps at sea at the time. In April 1912 he was serving as a trimmer aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic. Also serving aboard was his elder brother, Joseph Kirk.

Kirk continued working at sea after the Titanic disaster, serving with the merchant fleet during WWI. In 1913 he married Alice Anderson (b. 1896) and they had three children. 

Patrick Kirk died in Liverpool in 1934 aged 42 and was buried in Ford Cemetery on 12 November (grave SD130).