William and Margory’s
family evidently fully established themselves in the community – to the extent
that by the late 1730s their son John was prosecuting locals for trespass. He and two of their [grand]sons had become
sheriffs of Lichfield by the 1760s and 1770s.
This shows that they had gained some quite impressive patronage in the
City. Their eldest son Thomas, born in 1702 was a burgage holder – a voter -
by 1760. Thomas was seven years older
than Samuel Johnson, Lichfield’s most
famous inhabitant. Johnson, who always kept in touch with people in his
home town, would certainly have known
the Kennedys, as they plied their trade
in the same markets as his father, including the one outside the house he was
born and grew up in.
Thomas Kennedy appears
several times in the parish registers of St Michaels and St Mary’s Lichfield in
regard to the births and deaths of his children. He seemed to spend equal amounts of time at
each church. He obviously had some
property, as proven by his status as a
burgage holder. He was not however
active in the corporation – unlike his brothers who became City sheriffs. He had more children than any of his
siblings, and demonstrated that he was
able to provide amply for them all when they were starting out in their
careers. There is no direct evidence of
his employment. However it is known that
Lichfield was the abode of middlemen during the middle years of the eighteenth
century. Such men acted as agents for
the purchase of raw materials and manufactured goods which were chiefly
produced in the industrial neighbourhoods of Birmingham. Such middlemen
combined many business interests in order to ride out instability in this or
that market.
The wills of Thomas’
family seem to indicate acrimony towards their sibling. They leave paltry sums to him compared to
other recipients. John gets £20 and
William £10 whilst Thomas the eldest only gets £5 from their mother Margery in
1738. In 1763 John wills everything to
his sister Anne and brother William whilst giving Thomas only £5 “for
mourning”. In the same year William
leaves 1 shilling to Thomas whilst everything else is willed to Anne and John.
The period when Thomas
Kennedy was in the prime of his years saw electoral upheaval in the City. The response to the Jacobite rebellion was
rowdy and in favour of the Stuart contender for the throne. However the local Tory, The Marquis of Stafford who controlled the
parliamentary candidate, switched to the
Whig side and immediately drew the ire of the Corporation, by this time Tory by persuasion. Dr Johnson,
loyal Tory as he was, excoriated the Marquis’ traitorous behaviour. There was frequent trouble between local
Jacobites and the adherents of the Marquis – for example at a local race
meeting during a county election which ended up in court in the early 1750s.
In order to maintain
his grip on the parliamentary seats of the City the Marquis spent a fortune on
burgage plots which he then handed out to his supporters. These placemen then used the ancient rights
associated with the burgess in order to prop up their paymaster. The domination of the Leveson-Gower family in
this area continued until the era of parliamentary reform in the mid
1800s. Meanwhile the burgesses were able
to live in some comfort through the largesse of their benefactor. From this we can deduce that Thomas Kennedy
was likely to have been one of those placemen of the Leveson-Gowers. There were many who derived their whole
income from election ‘benefits’.
Certainly the train of patronage that emanated from parliamentary
influence drew countless carriages in its wake.
Nowhere in the public
record is there any mention of Thomas’ wife. This woman at whose identity we
can only guess must have paid dearly in physical terms for bearing all their
children. Thomas and his wife obviously
passed on much in terms of resourcefulness and brains to his sons. His son Thomas became a Customs Official
which shows that his father had influence with the wealthy men that controlled
public appointments. His son George
became a surgeon – he joined the forerunner of the Royal College of Surgeons. (George should not be confused with his cousin George Kennedy who was owner of several inns around the West Midlands.) Another son, Benjamin also became a surgeon
and was, as we shall see in a later chapter,
interested in politics, writing and the theatre. That alone indicates a high level of culture
within the Kennedy family in the mid 1700s.
As we shall also see later, Benjamin made an auspicious marriage which
also indicates that Thomas was well-connected.
Marriage in that period had enormous social significance.
There was in Lichfield
during the 1760s a company named ‘Kennedy and Markland’, mentioned in the poll tax records as holding
premises. Perhaps this was Thomas’
business, possibly a law practice. It
seems that Thomas Kennedy, who was
direct ancestor of all of the subsequent Lichfield Kennedy line, must, for now,
remain with his grandparents and their antecedents, in the shadows of
history, shafts of light sometimes
briefly illuminating his face, but then,
most frustratingly, disappearing
again, leaving us guessing.
What is a fact is that
the right to vote admitted Thomas to a world of bribes and corruption, wherein he would be wooed or threatened –
depending on his leanings - by the supporters of each candidate. There were two seats in the City and as we have
already seen, they were controlled by the Anson family and that of the Marquis
of Stafford who nominated either a son or close adherent and made sure that
their candidate won. The Inns of the
City would have thronged with the voters during election time, helping themselves to free food and
beer. Nobody really cared who got elected, as long as the right palms were greased. Whichever side won the election, the government was conducted just the same. These families were able to dispense official
posts to their allies and obstruct those who opposed them in all kinds of
ways. It was generally expected that
once public office was attained it would be exploited for financial gain in a
way that would be described as corrupt today.
To be appointed as a Customs official with a brother in the brewing
business would have been extremely fortuitous perhaps on both sides. Brewing was a major trade in the late 1700s
in Lichfield – Boswell complimented the ale of the city - and in the country as
a whole trade in beers increased by a third over that period.
Lichfield society
during the middle part of the 1700s was divided into two parts. The leisured class mainly lived in The
Close, that group of old houses within
the line of the old walls of the Cathedral, who diverted themselves with lavish
dinners, card parties, and in some cases
music, literature, philosophy and the new ideas that would later become known
as science. The ordinary Lichfieldians
meanwhile concentrated on making a living in a rapidly changing economic
environment. Between the two major
groups there existed people who did not have the security of a large
income, but subsisted on trade or one of
the lesser professions. These people
would have read, socialised and enjoyed taking part in the
cultural activities of the City. Thomas
Kennedy would have existed in this middle ground. If, as seems likely, he was in the legal
profession, he would have made a living
catering for the legal and other wants of the prominent churchmen and landed
gentry and their families, who comprised the privileged class in the City. Some
of his fellows would have been stewards to a particular rich patron – personal
lawyer and adviser.
Lichfieldians loved to
attend horse races – there were separate Tory and Whig meetings - and to the
regular performances of Handel’s works at the Cathedral. Perhaps the most popular activities for rich
and poor were attending boxing matches, bloodsports such as cockfighting and
badger baiting, and of course public
executions, which took place out on the
London Road. The best vantage points at
the latter events were much coveted, and
everyone hoped that the scoundrel to be hanged died bravely in order to provide
suitable entertainment. It is a safe bet
that if such penal practices were reintroduced today, similarly large crowds would be drawn to
watch in fascination – no doubt while a small number of vocal campaigners
protested nearby. We are probably not so
very far in advance of our ancestors.
Lichfield was a centre
for the Army. They were billeted in the
local inns whilst they conducted manouevres on Cannock Chase. The parish registers are full of references
to soldiers dying, or their
dependents. One entry in a Lichfield
parish register mentions the burial a drummer boy blown up in a gunpowder
accident. Soldiering was a poor, brutish and miserable existence in those
times. They were frequently flogged –
sometimes to death, left unpaid and uncared-for, whilst their senior officers
bought their way up the career ladder and pursued social and career advancement
with rabid self-interest. Disorder amongst
the ranks was dealt with summarily – death by firing squad was a common
occurrence. No Lichfield Kennedies
joined the Army but the presence of the Army would have imposed itself on them
as it did on everyone else in the City.
Inn owners such as the other George Kennedy were obliged to provide accomodation,
food and ale to the troops, and this
imposition had critical financial consequences for many of the inns, some of which were barely worthy of the
name. The presence of soldiers who were
involved in the Seven Years War which particularly affected America will have
brought thoughts of the colonies over the Atlantic very much to the fore.
Thomas had several sons, one of whom is dealt with here.
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