Charles Rann Kennedy the Playwright

There were two Charles Rann Kennedys,  the original the barrister and his grandson the playwright.

I blogged about the grandfather here a while back.

Charles the younger was born in 1871 in Derby.  His father had had to make his own way in life after the financial ruin of Charles the elder post-Swinfen,  and worked in the Coal Industry. Charles the younger (hereinafter referred to as Charles) who was aged 11 when his father died, similarly had to work in a telegraph office and educate himself and make his way in life without any support,  but he became a playwright of note,  not in Britain but in his adopted home of the United States where he emigrated in 1907.

He had met his wife Edith Mathison whilst they were actors in London in the early 1900s. They both had strong beliefs in a tough brand of Christianity, drama and hard work. So opposed were they to materialism that they once turned down a 270,000 dollar bequest from a friend and gave it to a school.

He was a Christian Socialist,  one of the early Fabians and his plays were generally about the problem of living a truly Christian life in the modern world.  This was the theme of Dostoyevsky's later works and it is interesting to ponder if Charles had read any of the Russian writer's works.

Like Dostoyevsky he opposed liberal humanism and especially all forms of the philosophy of 'supermanism' which he believed had led to The Great War and the terrible dictatorships that followed. Like the Russian novelist Charles was a visionary and spoke and wrote often in apocalyptic terms. A New York Times interview here from 1916 shows him giving forth in typical style.

His many plays, which were attacked by critics in the US and Europe, see this and this for example, but also drew plaudits in his adopted homeland of the United States, included:

• The Servant in the House (1908)
• The Winter Feast (1908)
• The Terrible Meek (1911)
• The Necessary Evil (1913)
• The Idol-Breaker (1914) Review in the New York Times
• The Rib of the Man (1916)
• The Army with Banners (1917)

Press Obituaries following the death of Lord Justice William Rann Kennedy

William Rann Kennedy was a man of many parts.  When he died in 1915 he received the following tributes in the British Press.

LORD JUSTICE KENNEDY
SUDDEN DEATH IN LONDON
A SCHOLARLY JUDGE

We regret to announce that Lord Justice Kennedy died yesterday at his house in Philimore Gardens from an attack of angina pectoris.  The news of his death will be a shock to his friends, especially to those who saw him apparently in full vigour of mind and body in the Court of Appeal on Saturday.  He had then complained of no symptoms of illness, and it was only at 10 O'Clock yesterday morning that he was seized with pain and died within a few minutes.  During the Christmas Vacation he had taken a large part in the preparation of the materials for the judgement of the full Court of Appeal on cases arising out of the war, which is to be delivered by the Lord Chief Justice tomorrow, and he was present at the recent meeting of the Judges of that Court which was held to consider the terms of the judgement.

Lord Justice Kennedy was a careful and conscientious Judge-somewhat slow and laboured both in the formation and expression of his opinion, but usually sound in his method of reaching conclusions, and accurate in the result.  He came of a family of almost unparralleled distinction in classical learning. The eldest son of the Rev. William James Kennedy, vicar of Barnwood, he was born in 1846.  Three of his uncles had been senior classics; Benjamin Hall Kennedy, the great Headmaster of Shrewsbury and Professor of Greek at Cambridge, who headed the Tripos in 1827; Charles Rann, a barrister whose career was somewhat unfortunate, and translator of Demosthenes, whose year was 1831; and George John, who came three years later.

All three were Porson medallists, and the late Judge's father won a like distinction, though his name does not appear in the Tripos.  These were all sons of Rann Kennedy, a distinguished schoolmaster and a fine scholar.  The future Lord Justice went to Eton and not to Shrewsbury, where his uncle reigned until 1866.  From Eton he won a foundation scholarship at King's.  After winning the Craven and Bell scholarships and the Powis medal, he was Senior Classic in 1868-the fourth of the family.  Soon afterwards he was elected to a Fellowship at Pembroke, of which in later years he was made an Honorary Fellow.  In 1870-71 he was Mr. Goschen's private secretary at the old Poor Law Board, and was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1871.  Joining the Northern Circuit, of which Herschel, Russell and Gully, afterwards Lord Selby, were soon to become leaders, he settled as a local practitioner at Liverpool and acquired a substantial business as a junior, especially in mercantile and shipping cases.

He took silk in 1885, but his practice was still mainly in Liverpool and on circuit.  In 1891 he published a book on the Law of Civil Salvage.  A second edition appeared in 1907, and this is still a book of recognised authority on the subject.  In the meantime he showed himself an active Liberal politician.  Standing for Birkenhead, which had to that time been considered a fairly safe Conservative seat, he was defeated in 1885 by General Sir Edward Hamley, whose majority was considrably over 1,000.  In a second contest in the following year the relative positions of the two candidates were virtually unchanged.  At St Helens, however, in 1892, he came within 60 votes of his Conservative opponent, the late Sir Henry Seton-Kerr.

As a Queens Counsel Kennedy never rose to the first rank, and his reputation was local for the most part.  But he made occasional appearances in the two final tribunals.  In Cooke v. Eshelby, in the House of Lords in 1887, he was the leading counsel for unsuccessful appellants on a question of agency-the extent to which a principal is bound by or can take advantage of the proceedings of a broker.  His general reputation as a commercial lawyer is better shown  in the Privy Council, before which he was seen now and then, as in the collision appeal of the Arratoon Apear, and in the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. v. Timaru Harbour Board, where he appeared with the present Lord Alverstone for the partially successful appellants in a case involving the powers and responsibilities of a New Zealand harbour authority.

ON THE BENCH

On the resignation in the Long Vacation of 1892 of George Denman, Kennedy was appointed at the end of OCtober a Judge of the Queens Bench Division.  He was the only Judge of the High Court nominated by Lord Herschell during his second Chancellorship.  The choice, though fully justifiable from a strictly professional point of view, was somewhat of a surprise, as there were one or two men, Liberals in politics, and even members of the Northern, Herschell's old, Circuit, who were thought to have greater claims.  But no Chancellor can afford altogether to disregard party claims, and Kennedy had fought three elections.  The further consideration that the new Judge, Senior Classic, probably never occured to the mind of Herschell, who did not belong to either of the ancient universities.  Kennedy was somewhat slow, but was always most anxious to get at all the facts and every point of law which might directly or indirectly affect the decision. In this respect he acted as a serviceable counterpoise to colleagues who like the late R. S. Wright, wre apt to jump to conclusions or to form them by their own mental processes and without sufficient attention to the arguments of counsel.

Notwithstanding his brilliant university career, Kennedy did not give the impression of a clever man.  Nor did he feel called upon to enter into a competition of wit with the advocate who was promoting his case.  He attempted no bon mots or flights of rhetoric or style.  Indeed, of literary quality there is hardly a trace in his judgements.  His strength lay in mercantile law, and he was a a frequent member, whether sitting alone or with a colleague of the so-called "Commercial Court".  His decisions were rarely reversed on appeal and scarcely ever reached the House of Lords.

The case of Risdon Iron and Locomotive Works v. Furness raised a question of the conflict of law between this country and the State of California. The plaintiffs were a foreign corporation in that state, by the laws of which every shareholder of a company, whether incorporated in the state or elsewhere, is made personally liable for the debts of the company in proportion to his interest in the comapny's capital.  Sir Christopher, after Lord, Furness was the holder of fully paid up shares in The Copper King (Limited), an English company which had dealings with and became a debtor of the American company.  The latter, after proceedings in San Francisco, sued Sir C. Furness in this  country for the proportion of the debt represented by his share of the capital.  The learned Judge held that he was not so liable, and the decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

It fell to Kennedy's lot to try the action out of which the great trade union appeal of Allen v. Flood arose and was twice argued in the House of Lords.  The Judge held that there was no evidence of conspiracy, intimidation, or coercion on the part of Allen, who was a delegate of the trade unions ; and that there was no breach of contract procured by Allen, as Flood and Taylor, the respondents in the Lords, were engaged by the day only and might be discharged at any time.  But he left questions to the jury, who found that Allen had maliciously induced the employers to discharge the two workmen and not to re-engage them, and for thisdamages of £20 each were awarded to the two men. The learned Judge was thus partly wrong and partly right.  He was correct as to the absence of conspiracy or coercion; but the majority of the Lords held that Allen had violated no legal right of the respondents, and that his actions were not actionable, however improper his motives may have been.

THE KENNEDY JUDGEMENT
The most notable achievement, however, of the late Lord Justice was what was called during the debates of on the Licensing Bill the "Kennedy Judgement". That decision was in particular assailed by Mr. Asquith, not, it would seem, on the ground of bad law, but of its supposed unrighteousness.  At all events, no appeal was taken from the decision.  The question was the amount of compensation payable to Ashby's Cobham Brewery Company and Ashby's Staines Brewery Company under the Licensing Act, 1904, for the extinction of the licenses of two tied houses-The Crown, Cobham, and The Hand And Spear, Woking.  The compensation fixed by the Act is, in the absence of agreement, to be based on the price which the licensed premises "would fetch if sold in the open market".  The decision was that, as among the possible purchasers in the open market would be brewers, and as the price which they would be willing to pay would depend on the profit which they might fairly expect to make by the supply of liquor to the premises, it was material to inquire into the quality and quantity of the trade done by the house under normal conditions, and apart from any considerations of a personal or special character, such as the popularity of the license holder or the proximity of the licensed premises to the brewery.  The tenant's profit, however, was not to be taken into the calculation in addition to the brewer's profit. In the result the Court awarded substantially less than was claimed by the brewers, but a multiple of what had been allowed by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

On the promotion, of the late Lord Collins to the House of Lords and of Lord Cozens-Hardy to the Mastership of The Rolls, in March 1907, Mr Justice Kennedy was appointed Lord Justice.

The late Lord Justice took an active part both in the old Bar Committee, of which he was a member from 1883 to 1892, and in conferences and congresses abroad.  Of these perhaps the most noticeable was that at St Louis on the law of shipping, especially in its international aspect, and on the establishment in relation to collisions and the safety of the sea of a code which should be recognised by all civilised nations.  He was president of the International Law Association.  His death is a serious loss at the present moment.  His knowledge of international law was recently of great value upon questions which arose out of the war.  He was a great advocate of a peace tribunal which should not  be merely a board of arbitration, but a Court of Justice among the nations.  By the establishment of such a Court he believed that ultimately there would evolve a system of international law which would receive unanimous recognition throughout the civilised world.

Lord Justice Kennedy married in 1874, Cecilia Sarah, daughter of the late Mr. George Richmond, RA.  She survives him, with a daughter and three sons-Mr. Alfred Kennedy, barrister-at-law; Captain Julius Kennedy R.F.A; and the Rev. Horace Kennedy, vicar of Ditton Priors, Bridgnorth.  The eldest son, Mr. John Kennedy, died last year.

DEATH OF LORD JUSTICE KENNEDY

The Press Association regrets to announce the death of Lord Justice Kennedy, which took place at his residence in Kensington yesterday.

Mr Justice Bailhache, at the Commercial Court today said that Lord Justice Kennedy was a most painstaking judge and a very learned lawyer.  He was a true friend, and those of them who had known him long deeply regretted his death.

Lord Justice Kennedy, whose sudden death in London yesterday is announced, was one of the most erudite of our judges.  Little more than two years ago, he published a translation of the "Plutus" of Aristophanes into English verse; and when the Titanic went down he wrote a tribute in Latin verse to the memory of the engineers who died at their posts.  At Cambridge, he was the fourth member of his family to hold the distinction of being senior classic.

With his 23 years on the Bench, he was the "father" of the High Court, succeeding to that position on the retirement of Sir Roland Vaughan Williams, who was his senior by two years. He married in 1874 a sister of Sir W. B. Richmond RA.  Their eldest son died nearly a year ago at a sanatorium in Silver City, New Mexico.  Three other sons and a daughter remain.

An amusing piece of doggerel was written by another judge when Kennedy obtained his judgeship.  He was the only judge appointed by Lord Herschell, and the anonymous bard celebrated the occasion in lines appropriate to the music of "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo"-

When he takes his seat in banco with a very pompous air
The juniors declare
"How did he get there?"
And the leaders frown and sigh, as they wink the other eye,
At the man who got the judgeship out of Herschell.


Lord Justice Kennedy died suddenly yesterday at his house in Philimore Gardens, Kensington. His lordship was, apparently, in the best of health on Saturday and sat in the Court of Appeal.  He was taken ill at 10 O'Clock yesterday morning and died within a few minutes from an attack of angina pectoris.

The Right Hon. Sir William Rann Kennedy was born in 1846, the son of the Rev W. J. Kennedy, vicar of Barnwood.  An uncle of his was the famous Greek scholar, Benjamin Hall Kennedy, headmaster of Shrewsbury School.

The future judge was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.  He was Senior Classic in 1865.  Private secretary to Mr. Goschen at the Poor Law Board in 1870-1, he was called to the Bar in 1871, and soon acquired a large practice in mrcantile and shipping cases.  Aiming at Parliament, he contested Birkenhead as a Liberal in 1885 and 1886, being defeated on each occasion.  In 1892 he was defeated at St Helens and did not again attempt to enter the House of Commons.

Appointed QC in 1885, he bacame a judge of the Queens Bench Division in 1892, and Lord Justice in 1907.

TRIBUTES IN COURT

When Appeal Court I assembled today, in addition to the Master of the Rolls and Lords Justices Swinfen Eady and Phillimore (the sitting members of the court) Lords Justices Buckley and Pickford came into court, all their lordships and the members of the Bar standing.

The Master of The Rolls, addressing Mr. McCall KC, the senior member of the Bar present, said: The sudden and unexpected death of Lord Justice Kennedy cannot permit us to commence the business of this court in silence. This is not the proper occasion for a formal tribute to his judicial merits.  Such an occasion will arise tomorrow, when the full Court of Appeal will meet in the Lord Chief Justice's Court.  For more than twenty-two years Lord Justice Kennedy served his country, first as a judge of the King's Bench Division, and since 1907 in this court. Today in this court, we think rather of Kennedy the man.  His bright and lovable nature endeared him to everyone who came across him at the Bar or on the Bench.  He was a charming colleague.  We are the poorer by his death. His memory will remain long with us.

IN THE KING'S BENCH
Mr Justice Bailhache, who was accompanied by Mr Justice Bray, in the King's Bench Division today, said the Court would have heard with deep regret of the sudden death of Lord Justice Kennedy.  He was always a most painstaking judge, and a very learned lawyer.  He was a true friend, and those of them who had known him long, deeply regretted his death.

Mr Duke, KC, on behalf of the Bar, speaking with deep emotion, said that of the distinction of the judge, as a lawyer and a judge, it would not be becoming for him to speak, but on behalf of the Bar he would like to express the affection and deep admiration which was felt for the late judge throughout the legal profession.  Every one of them shared in what his lordship had said was a loss to the profession and English life.

By the death of Lord Justice Kennedy the Bench loses a subtle personality.  He was perhaps a greater scholar than judge, though he was a good judge; and his scholarship was but an attribute of a strong character.  He was distinctly an interesting figure of the Bench which cannot be said of all judges, even when their law is profound.

Lord Justice Kennedy's scholarship was true culture-we hate the word just now, but there is no other.  His reading had formed his mind, and was traceable in its quality.  It did not inspire with a desire to exhibit his cleverness, but made him detest the shallow tricks of the rhetorician and epigrammatist.

In the earlier days of his judicial career it used to be amusing to watch Lord Justice Kennedy in an Assize Court.  To hear him appeal for silence in court was an experience not easily forgotten.

Westminster Gazette January 18th

HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE
Lord Justice Kennedy
The sudden death of Lord Justice Kennedy will be heard of by many with the deepest regret.  He belonged to a famous family of scholars, which Mr Francis Galton has treated as a conspicuous illustration of his theory of hereditary genius.  Kennedy was Senior Classic, Cambridge, in 1868.  Before he began his career at the Bar-he was called in 1871- he acted as private secretary to the late Lord Goschen when that statesman was president of the old Poor Law Board.  His chief forensic triumphs were won at Liverpool, where, soon after joing the Bar, he practised as a "local", and where he acquired his great knowledge of mercantile law.  He contested Birkenhead in 1885 and 1886 and St Helens in 1892. Lord Justice Kennedy, in addition to being one of the best linguists on the Bench, was one of the keenest devotees of Art.  Lady Kennedy is a daughter of Mr George Richmond, RA.

AN EMBARRASSING INCIDENT

The late Lord Justice was confronted with a very embarrassing incident whilst travelling his first circuit in 1892.  Almost the first case the newly ppointed judge had to try was a murder case.  During the luncheon interval one of the jurymen separated from his fellows to write and despatch a letter.  No such incident had before occurred during a murder trial.  Lord Justice Kennedy, uncertain as to the best course to pursue, hastened to London to consult the late Lord Coleridge, who then occupied the office of Lord Chief Justice.  The result of the consultation was that Kennedy fined the offending juryman £50, and ordered the case be retried before another jury.  This incident caused certain persons to regard Kennedy as a judge somewhat wanting in self-reliance.  As a matter of fact, the very opposite was the case.

THE STANDARD
January 19th
SIR W. R. KENNEDY
SUDDEN DEATH OF JUDGE OF APPEAL
DISTINGUISHED CAREER

Sir William Rann Kennedy the well-known judge of the Appeal Court, died suddenly on Sunday morning,from angina pectoris, at his residence in Phillimore Gardens, Kensington. He was 69.  The son of the Rev. W.J. Kennedy, vicar of Barnwood, he was educated at Eton and King's College Cambridge, and was caled to the Bar (Lincoln's Inn) in 1871.  He was Bell and Craven Scholar, and won the Brown and Powis medals, and was also Senior Classic.  He became Fellow, and afterwards Hon. Fellow of Pembroke College, and later had the honorary degree of L.L.D. conferred on him by Liverpool University.  He became Queen's Counsel in 1885 and was raised to the Bench in 1892. He was made a Lord of Appeal in 1907.

In politics he was a Liberal, but his three attempts to enter Parliament, twice at Birkenhead (1885 and 1886) and once at St. Helens (1892) were unsuccessful.  He was an exceptionally sound lawyer and an advocate of remarkable ability.  His practice when at the Bar was largely in mercantile and shipping cases, and in Liverpool, with which he was closely connected, his reputation was exceedingly high.  He married a daughter of the late Mr. G. Richmond, R.A.  and is survived by three sons and one daughter.

References to the death of Mr. Justice Kennedy were made in various courts yesterday.  In the Court of Appeal, The Master of The Rolls, standing with Lord Justices Swinfen Eady, Phillimore, Buckley, and Pickford, and addressing Mr McCall KC, the senior member of the Bar present in court,said "His bright and loveable nature endeared him to everyone who came across him at the Bar or on the Bench.  He was a charming colleague; we are the poorer by his death; his memory will remain with us."

In the Commercial Court of the Kings Bench Division, Mr. Justice Bailhache, who was accompanied on the Bench by Mr. Justice Bray, said that they all knew that Lord Justice Kennedy was a painstaking judge and a very learned lawyer.  He was a true friend, and those who had known him long deeply regretted his death.

Mr Duke KC said that every member of the Bar present felt that the profession had suffered a great loss.

The burial of the late Lord Justice will take place at Highgate Cemetery on Thursday, following a funeral service at two o'clock at St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington. It is understood that by permission of the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn, a memorial service will be held at Lincoln's Inn, the time of which has not yet been decided upon.

DAILY TELEGRAPH
Jan 19th
DEATH OF LORD JUSTICE KENNEDY
FATHER OF THE HIGH COURT

We record with regret which will be widely shared the death of Lord Justice Kennedy which has occurred suddenly at his residence in Phillimore Gardens, Kensington.  Apparently he was in excellent health on Saturday, when he sat in the Court of Appeal; but he had a sudden seizure of angina pectoris at ten o'clock on Sunday morning, and he passed away within a few minutes.  In April of last year Sir William Rann Kennedy became, on the retirement of Sir Roland Vaughan Williams, so far as the members of the judiciary who sit in the Strand are concerned, the "Father" of the High Court, having been on the Bench since October 1892.  Of Lord Justice Kennedy it may be said that he was one of the most careful and conscientious members of the Bench, and in his own department of Admiralty and mercantile law he was an acknowledged authority.

FAMILY OF SCHOLARS

Born in 1846, he was a member of a distinguished family of scholars, but unlike the famous headmaster of Shrewsbury, who was educated at the school over whose fortunes he presided for thirty years, the late Lord Justice went to Eton.  His father, who as inspector of schools, was the Rev. William James Kennedy, of Manchester.  Young Kennedy proceeded from Eton to King's College, Cambridge, then in the transition period between that of a mere continuation of Eton, as New College was of Winchester, and its present commanding position in the University, such as is now held by New College at Oxford. The future judge's undergraduate career was one of great brilliancy.  He was Bell's Scholar in 1865, Browne Medalist in 1865 and 1867, Powis medallist in 1867, and Craven Scholar in 1867.  Sir William was the fourth member of his family to hold the distinction of Senior Classic, of whom Benjamin Hall Kennedy, of Shrewsbury fame, and afterwards Professor of Greek at Cambridge, was the first, in 1827, and Charles Rann Kennedy, the barrister, translator of Demosthenes, was the second, in 1831. The late judge achieved this distinction in 1868, and was made a Fellow of Pembroke.  Sir William was regarded as one of the finest classical scholars on the Bench.  He published a translation of the "Plautus" of Aristophanes, and after the loss of the Titanic he wrote a fine tribute in Latin verse to the memory of the heroic thirty-two marine engineers, who went down with their ship.  It was rather remarkable in so eminent a scholar that his judgements showedfew traces of his fine scholarship, and were not marked by any special literary quality.

LEGAL AND POLITICAL

Called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in January 1871, the first ten or a dozen years of his professional life were spent as a "local" at Liverpool, where he obtained a substantial junior practice, especially in shipping cases.  In the interval between leaving Cambridge and joining the Bar he acted as private secretary to Mr. Goschen at the old Poor Law Board, soon to be known as the Local Government Board. In April, 1882, he entered the Middle Temple as a barrister, probably on account of the proximity of its library to his chambers in Gardencourt. In 1885 he was made a QC, and acquired a substantial practice, chiefly on the Northern Circuit on which Lord Herschell and Charles (afterwards Lord) Russell and W.C. Gully (later Lord Selby) were the most commanding figures. In November 1885, and in July 1886, he stood for Birkenhead, but was defeated by General Sir E. Hamley, the Conservative candidate, the majority being more that 1,000.  Six years later by a narrow majority, he was beaten again by Sir Henry Seton-Karr at St. Helens.

(Missed a line) and on the retirement of Justice Denman Kennedy was made a judge of the Queen's Bench Division in October 1892.  For Mr Gully, who was thought to possess higher claims, better things were reserved, the Speakership of The House Of Commons and a perage.  It was a remarkable coincidence that one senior classic should be succeeded by another, for Denman had headed the Classical Tripos in 1842.  Unlike most Chancellors, Herschell was rather averse from the exercise of the vast patronage that belongs to his office, and Kennedy's was the only appointment to the Queen's Bench, and Sir James Stirling's to the Chancery Division, made during Mr. Gladstone's term of office from 1892 to 1895, Lord Justice Kay having been induced to withdraw the resignation which he tendered during that period.  Kennedy proved a careful and sound judge, whose decisions were usually respected by the Court of Appeal.  All the other judges of the Supreme Court have been appointed under the regimes of the Earl of Halsbury, Earl Loreburn and Viscount Haldane.

IMPORTANT JUDGEMENTS

It fell to the late judge's lot to deal with the first stage of the famous litigation that developed into the historic appeal of Allen vs. Flood which was twice argued in the House Of Lords on the second occasion in the presence of eight of HerMajesty's judges, in 1895 and 1897. The learned judge was in the main right in his law, being of the opinion that there was no evidence of conspiracy, intimidation, coercion, or breach of contract.  But he left certain questions to the jury, who found that the defendants had maliciously induced the employers to discharge the plaintiffs, and not to re-engage them, and awarded £40 in damages.  The inference rather is that Kennedy would have agreed with the minority of the consulted judges in the House of Lords and with the majority of the learned lords who allowed the final appeal.

The law of licensing has in recent years greatly occupied the public mind, and indeed important and far-reaching decisions of the Courts.  It was the the late Lord Justice's fortune to take part in two of these, one of which has been the subject of much discussion in Parliament.  In the first-Raven v. Southampton Justices-in 1903, Kennedy sat with the Lord Chielf Justice and Mr. Justice Lawrance, from whom he had the courage and misfortune to differ. The Court of Quarter Sessions had refused to renew the license of the George and Henry public house at Southampton, on the ground that there was already a redundancy of licensed premises in the immediate neighbourhood, and that the house was not needed.  Within a radius of 100 yards there were two fully licensed houses and seventeen beerhouses, and within a radius of 200 yards twelve fully-licensed houses and thirty-seven beerhouses.  The majority of the Court held that this evidence did not entitle the Quarter Sessions to refuse to renew the license.  The case was not taken to the Court of Appeal, and the principles laid down by the decisions of the House of Lords appear to be more consistent with the opinion of Mr. Justice Kennedy than with that of his brethren.

The other case-referred to by Mr. Asquith in the House of Commons as the "Kennedy Judgement"-arose under the compensation section of the Licensing Act, 1904.  This was a test case to determine the correct principles upon which compensation was to be awarded under that Act, when quarter sessions refuse the renewal of the license.  The petitioners were Ashby's Cobham Brewery Company and Ashby's Staines Brewery Company, in respect of the Crown, Cobham, and the Hand And Spear, Woking.  The decision was that, in the absence of agreement, the compensation payable ought to be based on the price which the licensed premises "would fetch if sold in the open market."  The actual assessment included the capitalised annual value of the brewer's profits, the capitalised value of the rent, and a sum for depreciation of trade fixtures, from which was to be deducted a sum representing the value of the premises without the license.  The scale was much too liberal to find acceptance with the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it was violently denounced by the teetotal advocates in the House of Commons and throughout the country as being opposed to the intentions of Parliament.  In the argument, counsel for the Crown-the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General-had contended that nothing was to be added in respect of the value of the tenant's interest, and that the Act of 1904 was not intended to give full compensation for all the interests affected by the refusal to renew.

In March 1907-after perhaps, an undue period of waiting-Kennedy was promoted to the Court of Appeal on the elevation of Sir R.H. Collins to the House of Lords and of Lord Justice Cozens-Hardy to the Mastership of The Rolls.  The late judge wrote a treatise, published in 1891, on the Law of Civil Salvage, which is a recognised authority, and has reached a second edition.  He always took an active interest in the efforts made in recent years to establish something like an international code in matters of shipping, and was the principal British delegate to the conference at the St. Louis Exhibition, held for that purpose.

LAW AND PEACE

In the interest of international peace an immediate objective, he held, should be the establishment of a Court to act as a real judicial tribunal; which by its character should command the respect and by the moral weight of its judgements compel the obedience even of the most powerful and warlike nations.  He did not mean a temporary Board of Arbitration, but a permanent Court of Justice.  That was the most hopeful, if not the only, way in which there would  be gradually evolved in the civilised world a recognised system of international law.  He could see no insuperable difficulty to the formation or working of such a Court.  The position of its judges would be one of the highest in the world.  If all the Powers contributed, the cost would not amount to that of a single modern battleship.

In September 1874, the late Lord Justice married Cecilia Sarah, youngest daughter of the late Mr. George Richmond, RA, the famous portrait painter and sister of Sir William Blake Richmond, RA.  She survives him, with a daughter and three sons-Mr. Alfred Kennedy, barrister at law, Captain Julius Kennedy, RFA, and the Rev. Horace Kennedy vicar of Ditton Priors, Bridgnorth.  The eldest son, Mr. John Kennedy died last year.

The funeral of the late Lord Justice will take place at Highgate Cemetery on Thursday next, following a service at two o'clock at St Mary Abbott's Church, Kensington.  It is understood that, by permission of the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn, a memorial service will be held at Lincoln's Inn, the time of which has not yet been determined.

Thanks to Will Kennedy for making the above material available from his archive.

William Rann Kennedy and the 1885 General Election

William Rann Kennedy was the eldest son of William James Kennedy,  the educationalist.  He was born in Kensington, London in 1846.  As a boy he lived in Preston and Manchester where his father was an Inspector of Schools.

He attended Eton about 1859-1864 then won a foundation scholarship to Kings College, Cambridge where he studied the Classics as did his grandfather,  uncles and father before him.  He won the Bell and Craven scholarships and the Browne and Powis medals and was Senior Classic. From 1868 to 1870 he was a Fellow at Pembroke College,  Cambridge.

In 1871 he became a barrister like his uncle Charles Rann Kennedy,  but specialising in industrial and especially shipping cases.  At first he practised in London.

For a time he worked as secretary to Lord Goschen,  the famous Liberal politician of the day.

In 1875 he moved to Liverpool and began building what would become a successful practice in Shipping cases.

He wooed and married Cecilia Richmond,  daughter of George Richmond (1809-1896),  portrait painter and friend of William Blake the artist and poet.  Richmond was also the friend of William Ewart Gladstone, formerly High Tory,  but latterly Liberal Leader and Radical.

Liverpool was one of the main ports of the Empire,  with the docks expanding decade by decade as the ships grew bigger and their draughts deeper.

Side by side with the prosperity of the port, the poverty of the city was nightmarish.

William's political outlook was profoundly affected by the poverty around him.  Whilst he did not come from a wealthy family,  indeed they were a family who had always had to work hard in order to rise to success as they did,  he had sympathy for the working class and to a large extent Irish population of Liverpool and wished to help.  He and his father discussed the issues a great deal, and it was no surprise when in the early 1880s William decided to stand for Parliament,  for the Liberal Party of William Ewart Gladstone.  It is clear from the family papers that Gladstone was an acquaintance of William's father who was a major influence in the Liberal education reforms of the 1870s that led to the education system English children know now.

The 1880s had seen a revitalised Liberal Party back in power after the jingoistic Tory administrations of Disraeli in the 1870s had rolled forward the boundaries of the Empire after they had rolled out the vote  to a whole mass of ordinary working class men for the first time ever.  Disraeli,  whilst Chancellor under Lord Derby in 1867, had cunningly realised that ordinary British voters could be enrolled into the Imperial adventure,  and bolster the popularity of the Empire and the Queen - who had withdrawn from public life after the death of Prince Albert.  Giving working class men the vote would mean votes for the Tories,  not the Liberals,  he thought.  However the policy rebounded to some extent when Disraeli decided to back the Ottoman Empire in its aggressive campaign against Christian Bulgaria and ordinary people were revolted by press reports of brutal Turkish reprisals against Bulgarian civilians.  Disraeli wanted to bolster the Turks as a buffer against the designs of the Russian Empire but Gladstone used the moral issue in a series of powerful speeches to the new mass electorate,  which led ultimately to their sweeping to power.

The reality of a Liberal party gaining power in an Empire is that events take a turn for the worse and soon enough the Liberal government was faced with a revolt in Egypt against the client monarch by nationalist elements.  This threatened British interests in the Suez Canal.  British troops were sent in against Gladstone's instincts in order to stabilise the situation.

Meanwhile in Ireland the Fenian rebellion continued to simmer,  with violence in the countryside and a bombing campaign which visited the mainland of Britain.  Most Irish people wanted land reform,  and to do away with the absentee Anglo Irish landlords. The Irish Nationalist MPs led by Charles Stuart Parnell blockaded the House of Commons,  voting against government legislation with the Tories in order to put pressure on the Liberals to introduce Home Rule.  The Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and his Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke were brutally murdered in Phoenix Park by republican terrorists in 1883,  causing a storm of outrage against Irish Nationalism in Britain.  Parnell and his Party were blamed by many even though they were not associated with the terrorists.

The reforms that Gladstone wanted for Britain were clearly not going to take place unless the Irish issue was addressed.  Lord Hartington,  the other senior member of the Liberal Government was the brother of Lord Frederick Cavendish and was determined that the government would not bow to terrorism as he saw it.  In this was the crucible of what shattered the Liberal establishment forever.

Events again were to blame when Gladstone was ultimately unseated by the backlash following the defeat of General Gordon at Khartoum in the Sudan (an event that he can hardly be held responsible for as Gordon had refused to return from his post as ordered, and in effect sought his own 'martyrdom').  Lord Salisbury formed a minority Tory government which survived a few months until a General Election was called in late 1885.

In 1884 the Tories and the Liberals had combined in Parliament, to extend the vote to poor people in the country too. Now 5,500,000 men had the vote.

William Rann Kennedy was interested in socialism. He made a speech on the subject here .

William Rann Kennedy had decided to stand as Liberal Candidate for Birkenhead.  The following was his election address:

To the Electors of the Borough of Birkenhead

Gentlemen-More than a year ago I had the high honour of being invited by the representatives of the Liberal Party in Birkenhead to come forward at the next Parliamentary election as the Liberal candidate for the Borough.

In glad compliance with the invitation, I now respectfully beg the favour of your suffrages.

I am and always have been a Liberal in politics.  I conceive that, whereas the Tory idea is the maintenance of class privilege and artificial inequalities, the object of Liberalism is before all and above all the well-being -religious, intellectual and material- of the greatest number. I believe that the Liberal Party has worked, and will work, faithfuly for this object, and that great as have been its past achievements, it will in the near future, under the invigorating influence of the wider and more popular electorate which its labours have created, achieve even grander triumphs for the cause of progress and the welfare of the people.

I accept with satisfaction Mr. Gladstone's programme of Liberal measures.  These measures are in my humble judgement, most important, not only for the blessings which they will directly confer, but also as the natural and necessary stepping-stones to further legislative reforms.  To the subjects of two of Mr. Gladstone's proposals-the enfranchisement of the land and the reform of the present chaos of Local Government, and taxation-I have for many years past devoted much thought and study.

I want in the course of the ensuing contest to have the ample opportunity of explaining to you fully and frankly my opinions as to these, and also as to other subjects of political controversy, such, as that of National Education, which I cannot adequately or properly handle within the narow limits of a preliminary address.  I may, as regards the education question, just say this-that I would not support any legislative proposal which did` not preserve the existing interests of Denominational Education. (In the copy of this address held in the family records, someone has underlined this sentence in pen and noted "I agree but would omit").

There are however, certain questions of moment as to which I feel bound to take this opportunity of informing you of my views, and the nature of which, as I dare to hope, permits me to state these views briefly without risk of misconstruction.

I am an ardent Free Trader. I am convinced that Free Trade has been the main cause of our wonderful prosperity, and that in the comparative depression of business that has lately visited us, as well as foreign nations, and which has, I grieve to seefallen so heavily on Birkenhead, Free Trade is for the vast industrial population the main safeguard against intolerable privation.

I have long felt that the better housing of the poor in our crowded cities and the improvement of the condition of the rural labourer are urgent questions of national concern.  I am confident that both these difficult and complex problems wil be solved by the Liberal Party without either sapping the independence of the poor or diregarding the claims of private property.

I am anxious in the interest alike of the artisan and of his employer, for the establishment of a system of Technical Education.  The want of it has sorely hampered us in our competition with foreign industry, and, most certainly, if the trade of Great Britain goes, her power and prosperity go with it.

I am prepared to vote for a just and moderate scheme of Local Option.

In regard to Ireland, I am an advocate for the largest amount of Irish self-government which is compatible with the real integrity of the empire and an undivided parliament.

I am in favour of our withdrawal from Egypt at the earliest moment at which our solemn duty to establish there an an orderly and stable Government permits us to withdraw.  To the performance of this duty we stand, in my judgement, pledged by every consideration of national honour and national interest.

As to our Colonies, I shall rejoice if it should be found possible, as I think it may be, without a foolish meddling in their growth, to draw our fellow subjects in every part of the Greater Britain beyond the seas into closer and more active union with ourselves and with each other.

In conclusion, permit me respectfully, but most earnestly, to entreat you to bear in mind the momentous issues of the impending contest, and to assure you of the deep sense of responsibility which I feel in asking you, especially at such a crisis, for the splendid privilege of your confidence.  I can only say as I do from the bottom of my heart, that, if you give it to me, I shall spare no pains to serve you worthily, both as regards the great local interests of your borough, and as regards your wider and higher interests as citizens of a country of which it has been well said that it "stands unrivalled in the magnitude of its enterprises, and the humanity of its purposes"-I remain,
Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM RANN KENNEDY
Birkenhead 10th Oct 1885.

Birkenhead had been more or less built by the Laird family, from Scotland, who erected the grand square at the centre of the town and laid out the large park.  The Lairds introduced Shipbuilding,  building the extensive docks and  founding the Cammell Laird company.  They were the political force in the constituency,  Tories.  They had built ships for the Confederacy during the American Civil War which would have outraged Liberal sentiment.

The Liverpool newspapers followed the campaign in detail:

The Daily Post October 9 1885 contained a report describing the difficulties in selection of a Conservative candidate.  Mr Alexander Allen had been rejected for legal reasons though his commercial connection with the town led him to be a popular choice with many of the party bigwigs,  as opposed to General Hamley.  Others objected to General Hamley as being little known to the people of Birkenhead.

The current member David McIver was subsequently deselected ostensibly for health reasons but it is suggested elsewhere for his weak performances in parliament - though he was still being considered at this late stage and he was said to be popular outside the committee since his health had recovered.

Leader Comment in the Daily Post October 10 1885 edition seemed a little impatient at the arrival of Kennedy's election address.  The correspondent mentioned that Tories had been implying and Liberals were concerned that Kennedy was lukewarm in his commitment.  However the Leader expresses the view that there could be no fitter representative than Kennedy.  It should be noted here that the Liberal Party had little support to offer candidates who would receive no salary if elected.  Kennedy was not a rich man and no doubt had business to tie up - election or no election.

The Leader points to the Tories' absurd objections to Kennedy on account of his being a lawyer.  It notes that Kennedy worked on the issue of Land Law Reform,  Local Government reform, Local Option and Local Taxation some years before when he was Goschen's secretary.  This compares him favourably with the General.

The rest of Kennedy's address is commended to the voters of Birkenhead.

The Daily Post October 13 1885 describes a meeting of the Birkenhead Conservative Association, Committee at Queens Hall Claughton Rd.

General Sir E. B. Hamley KCB had been adopted as candidate.  5-600 present and the press attempted to be excluded.  Mr John Laird President of the Association had written to apologise for his absence due to illness.

There was some discussion over the non-selection of a Mr. Allen who had been excluded by the Attorney General because of his company's government contract.  The chair,  Mr. Taylor was very regretful that Allan was not the candidate.

Hamley had been selected because of his record in the Egyptian conflict,  and his work for Salisbury and Granville.  The writer said that Hamley's speech short, his voice was weak and his style halting.

He tackled Fair Trade (selective protectionism) saying that it was not fair to have no tariffs when other countries were raising tariffs.  Next he criticised the policy of free education,  because it would lead to secular education and undermine the denominational schools.  (The Liberal policy was not free education nor was it to attack denominational schools - the Tory candidate would continue to use this slur throughout the campaign in a calculated attempt to turn Roman Catholics against Kennedy).

Next he turned to general remarks on the benefits of the colonies and pointed out various shortcomings of Liberal policy in the far-flung possessions.  He mentioned the Liberals stopping work on the Afghan Quetta Railway as endangering the North West Frontier,  and the death of Gordon which the Tories in general blamed on Gladstone - although Gordon had gone to Khartoum without orders to do so.  Hamley expressed a desire for no more British effort in Sudan.  In contrast he said there was no call for the British to get involved in Bulgaria - Gladstone's  big concern in the 1870s.

He expressed a desire for the Established Church to be fortified, along with the British coastline and the Navy thereby to be put under less pressure.  An odd combination,  showing how his mind worked in relation to the Church and the Military.

He proposed a Royal Commission to look into the Licensing Laws - clearly he wished to avoid upsetting the business interests traditionally allied with the Tories.  He said that publicans losing licenses should be compensated.

Another member of the ruling family,  H.H. Laird seconded the motion in support of the candidate.

The Daily Post October 22 1885 reported on  a Public Meeting of the Conservatives at the Theatre Royal Argyle St.

Prior to the start of the meeting a young man regaled the audience with a selection of patriotic songs - an indication of the Jingoism of the Birkenhead Tories.  Several members of the Laird family were in attendance.  Also Captain Gladstone,  the GOM's Tory brother.

David McIver formally took leave of the constituency after eleven years service.  The chairman John Laird pointed out McIver's work in many committees especially on foreign policy issues in which he had brought important issues to the public eye,  he said.  He was intimating that the economic depression was caused by some of these issues and that the Tory leadership would be investigating them if elected.

McIver effectively apologised for underperforming as MP but said he'd done his best.  He indicated that he had acted independently at times.  He pointed out that he had supported commercial and trade interests though they were not given due recognition in parliament due to the numbers of lawyers and professional politicians.  He attacked the Fair Trade policies of the Liberals - calling Kennedy a member of the "Cobden Club".  He had fought against Chamberlain's Shipping Bill and tried to reduce the over-regulation of British Shipping as he saw it.

McIver compared Hamley,  a man who had served his country,  with Kennedy,  a man who served himself.  He concluded with the phrase "Peace Abroad And Prosperity At Home".

The Chairman commended Hamley as a soldier,  diplomatist, and a man of literature and science.

Hamley spoke of himself as a staunch Conservative,  and opponent of Radicals.  He accused Liberals of being nothing because they were neither Conservative nor Radicals.  He reserves all his scorn for the Radicals who were as he saw it attacking the Constitution and the Established Church without an appreciation of the value of these institutions.  He saw the Conservative role as preserving those institutions.

He referred to the economic depression and stated that the Conservatives had formed a Royal Commission on the subject and invited the Liberals to sit on it but they had refused.

He accused the Gladstone government of throwing Gordon to the wolves in Khartoum,  after having used him to cover up their own inadequacy.

He proposed that the unemployed shipyard workers be re-employed in order to build more ships for the Navy.

He ridiculed the Liberals for awaiting the pronouncements of Gladstone like the ancient Romans did their old gods.

In general it was a long uncompromising speech which was punctuated with much applause.

The Daily Post October 23 1885 reported on a Liberal Public Meeting at the Queens Hall, Claughton Road.

Letters of apology included one from W. Rathbone MP who said that he thought "Mr Kennedy's representation of Birkenhead would tend to raise it to its proper position in the House of Commons."

The chairman was full of praise for Kennedy's candidature and said that all the Tories could object to was that he was a lawyer which was no objection at all.  The presence of another military man in parliament would only increase jingoism and extravagant spending on the army and navy.

Kennedy said he was honoured by the large audience and that this would be the first election where the intelligent manhood of England would be polled on political questions.  He also said he thought it would be the last time that Gladstone would be leader and for this he wanted a big majority.  He wanted a reform of Parliament itself so that more business was transacted.  He considered himself a Radical on the Land Reform issue which he thought threatened the nation.  He wanted to "destroy" the law of primogeniture.  He also wanted to give agricultural labourers an interest in the soil,  but there should be fair compensation for any lad taken in order to do this.  He wanted to end the law of entail so that owners of land were able to sell it if they chose to. He wanted fair local taxation, effective county and local government which was elected and that would hold the purse strings.

He said he would give local control over licensing and Sunday closing.

He said he was in favour of self-government for Ireland that did not break the Union and that did not divide the Imperial Parliament. He wanted any such measure to respect the law and not terrorise anyone.

He said there were other reforms which he wished to detail in other later addresses.

He pointed to the reforming element of the Tories led by Lord Randolph Churchill who was calling for support from moderate Liberals.  He said that General Hamley was an old-fashioned Tory who did not have any truck with Churchill.  He hoped that moderate Liberals would refuse Churchill's blandishments.

He attacked Churchill's proposals regarding education and said that he did not support free education because he thought it would devalue education, nor did he want to interfere with the denominational schools - pointing out that he was a Church Of England man.

In the same edition was a report on a Tory meeting at the Drill Hall,  Tranmere.

David McIver continued to thank Birkenhead for his time as MP. He then set about Kennedy.  He said he could "talk like a waterfall".  He was a classical scholar and could make Latin verses [perhaps an attempt to show Kennedy as living in an ivory tower].  He was an ardent free trader which DMI saw as indicating that Kennedy had not considered commercial interests.  He said that the lack of ships being built in Birkenhead and the incidence of foreign flagging confirmed that Free Trade was against local people's interests.

He said that Kennedy was a gentlemanly, pleasant fellow but that the Liberals seemed to think he was really eminent in his profession when in fact he wasn't and would not be.  He said that Kennedy was just a junior and had accepted the candidacy chiefly in order to drum up more business in the area.

He then went on to point out how old Gladstone was and that he was giving respectability to Radical extremists such as Chamberlain, Schnadhorst and Mack.

Then he started to bleat about what had led to the end of his tenure as MP of Birkenhead.  He said that he had done his best.  He said he was not responsible for the statements by the newspapers as to the reasons for him standing down.  He had been ill but now he was well and wanted to stand again for Parliament.  He said he had not lost a large amount of money or even sixpence in sugar.  He had never been involved in speculation but he had suffered financially recently and in any event had never been rich. [it is easy to imagine the finger drumming and eye rolling going on at the top table at this point]

Hamley added a few words to the effect that the Liberals had been bad for trade but that the Tories would be much better which would end economic depression.

The constituency of Birkenhead did not elect William Rann Kennedy as their MP in 1885 despite his valiant efforts.  Hamley won the seat.

The results were :

Hamley 5733 votes

Kennedy 4560 votes

Therefore a Conservative Majority of 1173

The Liberals nationally had the most seats but not an overall majority,  meaning that the Irish MPs once again could bring their votes to bear on Parliament.

Liberals 319 seats

Conservative 247 seats

Irish Party 86 seats

After the election,  the Irish Nationalists referred specifically to William Rann Kennedy,  saying that they had deliberately prevented him from winning by exhorting Irish voters in Birkenhead to vote for the Tories.  This they said was due to his being close to Gladstone.  It was an unmistakeable message to the Grand Old Man that he had better listen to them.

Next year Kennedy was to stand again in Birkenhead as is described here.