Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Kelly, Edward" to "Kite" by Various
1576. His son John (c. 1567-1615), who became the 5th earl, was lord
1960 words | Chapter 6
high treasurer of Scotland in 1599 and his lifetime witnessed the
culmination of a great feud between the senior and a younger branch of
the Kennedy family. He was succeeded as 6th earl by his nephew John (c.
1595-1668), called "the grave and solemn earl." A strong presbyterian,
John was one of the leaders of the Scots in their resistance to Charles
I. In 1643 he went to the Westminster Assembly of Divines and several
times he was sent on missions to Charles I. and to Charles II.; for a
time he was lord justice general and he was a member of Cromwell's House
of Lords. His son, John, became the 7th earl, and one of his daughters,
Margaret, married Gilbert Burnet, afterwards bishop of Salisbury. His
first wife, Jean (1607-1642), daughter of Thomas Hamilton, 1st earl of
Haddington, has been regarded as the heroine of the ballad "The Gypsie
Laddie," but this identity is now completely disproved. John, the 7th
earl, "the heir," says Burnet, "to his father's stiffness, but not to
his other virtues," supported the revolution of 1688 and died on the
23rd of July 1701; his grandson John, the 8th earl, died without sons in
August 1759.
The titles and estates of the Kennedys were now claimed by William
Douglas, afterwards duke of Queensberry, a great-grandson in the female
line of the 7th earl and also by Sir Thomas Kennedy, Bart., of Culzean,
a descendant of the 3rd earl, i.e. by the heir general and the heir
male. In January 1762 the House of Lords decided in favour of the heir
male, and Sir Thomas became the 9th earl of Cassillis. He died unmarried
on the 30th of November 1775, and his brother David, the 10th earl, also
died unmarried on the 18th of December 1792, when the baronetcy became
extinct. The earldom of Cassillis now passed to a cousin, Archibald
Kennedy, a captain in the royal navy, whose father, Archibald Kennedy
(d. 1763), had migrated to America in 1722 and had become collector of
customs in New York. His son, the 11th earl, had estates in New Jersey
and married an American heiress; in 1765 he was said to own more houses
in New York than any one else. He died in London on the 30th of December
1794, and was succeeded by his son Archibald (1770-1846), who was
created Baron Ailsa in 1806 and marquess of Ailsa in 1831. His
great-grandson Archibald (b. 1847) became 3rd marquess.
See the article in vol. ii. of Sir R. Douglas's _Peerage of Scotland_,
edited by Sir J. B. Paul (1905). This is written by Lord Ailsa's son
and heir, Archibald Kennedy, earl of Cassillis (b. 1872).
KENNEDY, BENJAMIN HALL (1804-1889), English scholar, was born at Summer
Hill, near Birmingham, on the 6th of November 1804, the eldest son of
Rann Kennedy (1772-1851), who came of a branch of the Ayrshire family
which had settled in Staffordshire. Rann Kennedy was a scholar and man
of letters, several of whose sons rose to distinction. B. H. Kennedy was
educated at Birmingham and Shrewsbury schools, and St John's College,
Cambridge. After a brilliant university career he was elected fellow and
classical lecturer of St John's College in 1828. Two years later he
became an assistant master at Harrow, whence he went to Shrewsbury as
headmaster in 1836. He retained this post until 1866, the thirty years
of his rule being marked by a long series of successes won by his
pupils, chiefly in classics. When he retired from Shrewsbury a large sum
was collected as a testimonial to him, and was devoted partly to the new
school buildings and partly to the founding of a Latin professorship at
Cambridge. The first two occupants of the chair were both Kennedy's old
pupils, H. A. J. Munro and J. E. B. Mayor. In 1867 he was elected
regius professor of Greek at Cambridge and canon of Ely. From 1870 to
1880 he was a member of the committee for the revision of the New
Testament. He was an enthusiastic advocate for the admission of women to
a university education, and took a prominent part in the establishment
of Newnham and Girton colleges. He was also a keen politician of liberal
sympathies. He died near Torquay on the 6th of April 1889. Among a
number of classical school-books published by him are two, a _Public
School Latin Primer_ and _Public School Latin Grammar_, which were for
long in use in nearly all English schools.
His other chief works are: Sophocles, _Oedipus Tyrannus_ (2nd ed.,
1885), Aristophanes, _Birds_ (1874); Aeschylus, _Agamemnon_ (2nd ed.,
1882), with introduction, metrical translation and notes; a commentary
on Virgil (3rd ed., 1881); and a translation of Plato, _Theaetetus_
(1881). He contributed largely to the collection known as _Sabrinae
Corolla_, and published a collection of verse in Greek, Latin and
English under the title of _Between Whiles_ (2nd ed., 1882), with many
autobiographical details.
His brother, CHARLES RANN KENNEDY (1808-1867), was educated at
Shrewsbury school and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated as
senior classic (1831). He then became a barrister. From 1849-1856 he was
professor of law at Queen's College, Birmingham. As adviser to Mrs
Swinfen, the plaintiff in the celebrated will case Swinfen v. Swinfen
(1856), he brought an action for remuneration for professional services,
but the verdict given in his favour at Warwick assizes was set aside by
the court of Common Pleas, on the ground that a barrister could not sue
for the recovery of his fees. The excellence of Kennedy's scholarship is
abundantly proved by his translation of the orations of Demosthenes
(1852-1863, in Bohn's _Classical Library_), and his blank verse
translation of the works of Virgil (1861). He was also the author of
_New Rules for Pleading_ (2nd ed., 1841) and _A Treatise on Annuities_
(1846). He died in Birmingham on the 17th of December 1867.
Another brother, REV. WILLIAM JAMES KENNEDY (1814-1891), was a prominent
educationalist, and the father of Lord Justice Sir William Rann Kennedy
(b. 1846), himself a distinguished Cambridge scholar.
KENNEDY, THOMAS FRANCIS (1788-1879), Scottish politician, was born near
Ayr in 1788. He studied for the bar and became advocate in 1811. Having
been elected M.P. for the Ayr burghs in 1818, he devoted the greater
part of his life to the promotion of Liberal reforms. In 1820 he married
the only daughter of Sir Samuel Romilly. He was greatly assisted by Lord
Cockburn, then Mr Henry Cockburn, and a volume of correspondence
published by Kennedy in 1874 forms a curious and interesting record of
the consultations of the two friends on measures which they regarded as
requisite for the political regeneration of their native country. One of
the first measures to which he directed his attention was the withdrawal
of the power of nominating juries from the judges, and the imparting of
a right of peremptory challenge to prisoners. Among other subjects were
the improvement of the parish schools, of pauper administration, and of
several of the corrupt forms of legal procedure which then prevailed. In
the construction of the Scottish Reform Act Kennedy took a prominent
part; indeed he and Lord Cockburn may almost be regarded as its authors.
After the accession of the Whigs to office in 1832 he held various
important offices in the ministry, and most of the measures of reform
for Scotland, such as burgh reform, the improvements in the law of
entail, and the reform of the sheriff courts, owed much to his sagacity
and energy. In 1837 he went to Ireland as paymaster of civil services,
and set himself to the promotion of various measures of reform. Kennedy
retired from office in 1854, but continued to take keen interest in
political affairs, and up to his death in 1879 took a great part in both
county and parish business. He had a stern love of justice, and a
determined hatred of everything savouring of jobbery or dishonesty.
KENNEDY, WALTER (c. 1460-c. 1508), Scottish poet, was the third son of
Gilbert, 1st Lord Kennedy. He matriculated at Glasgow University in
1475 and took his M.A. degree in 1478. In 1481 he was one of four
examiners in his university, and in 1492 he acted as depute for his
nephew, the hereditary bailie of Carrick. He is best known for his share
in the _Flyting_ with Dunbar (q.v.). In this coarse combat of wits
Dunbar taunts his rival with his Highland speech (the poem is an
expression of Gaelic and "Inglis," i.e. English, antagonism); and
implies that he had been involved in treason, and had disguised himself
as a beggar in Galloway. With the exception of this share in the
_Flyting_ Kennedy's poems are chiefly religious in character. They
include _The Praise of Aige_, _Ane Agit Manis Invective against Mouth
Thankless_, _Ane Ballat in Praise of Our Lady_, _The Passion of Christ_
and _Pious Counsale_. They are printed in the rare supplement to David
Laing's edition of _William Dunbar_ (1834), and they have been re-edited
by Dr J. Schipper in the proceedings of the Kais. Akad. der
Wissenschaften (Vienna).
See also the prolegomena in the Scottish Text Society's edition of
Dunbar; and (for the life) Pitcairn's edition of the _Historie of the
Kennedies_ (1830).
KENNEL, a small hut or shelter for a dog, also extended to a group of
buildings for a pack of hounds (see DOG). The word is apparently from a
Norman-French _kenil_ (this form does not occur, but is seen in the
Norman _kinet_, a little dog), modern French _chenil_, from popular
Latin _canile_, place for a dog, _canis_, cf. _ovile_, sheep-cote. The
word "kennel," a gutter, a drain in a street or road, is a corruption of
the Middle English _canel, cannel_, in modern English "channel," from
Latin _canalis_, canal.
KENNETH, the name of two kings of the Scots.
KENNETH I., MacAlpin (d. c. 860), often described as the first king of
Scotland (kingdom of Scone), was the son of the Alpin, called king of
the Scots, who had been slain by the Picts in 832 or 834, whilst
endeavouring to assert his claim to the Pictish throne. On the death of
his father, Kenneth is said to have succeeded him in the kingdom of the
Scots. The region of his rule is matter of conjecture, though Galloway
seems the most probable suggestion, in which case he probably led a
piratic host against the Picts. On the father's side he was descended
from the Conall Gabhrain of the old Dalriadic Scottish kingdom, and the
claims of father and son to the Pictish throne were probably through
female descent. Their chief support seems to have been found in Fife. In
the seventh year of his reign (839 or 841) he took advantage of the
effects of a Danish invasion of the Pictish kingdom to attack the
remaining Picts, whom he finally subdued in 844 or 846. In 846 or 848 he
transported the relics of St Columba to a church which he had
constructed at Scone. He is said also to have carried out six invasions
of Northumbria, in the course of which he burnt Dunbar and took Melrose.
According to the _Scalacronica_ of Sir Thomas Gray he drove the Angles
and Britons over the Tweed, reduced the land as far as that river, and
first called his kingdom Scotland. In his reign there appears to have
been a serious invasion by Danish pirates, in which Cluny and Dunkeld
were burnt. He died in 860 or 862, after a reign of twenty-eight years,
at Forteviot and was buried at Iona. The double dates are due to a
contest of authorities. Twenty-eight years is the accepted length of his
reign, and according to the chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon it began in
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