Kennedy, Rann

(1772-1851)

   Born at Shenstone, Staffordshire, the son of Benjamin Kennedy, a surgeon who died in 1784, he graduated M.A. from St. John's, Cambridge, in 1798, where he formed a lasting friendship with S.T. Coleridge. He took holy orders and spent the next 50 years at St. Paul's, Birmingham, including 38 years as a master at King Edward's School, Birmingham, only giving up when he inherited a small property called the Fox Hollies near Birmingham. He died at his son Charles's house in St. Paul's Square, Birmingham. He contributed notes to the Italian edition of Byron's poems published in 1842 and assisted his son, Charles Rann Kennedy, in the translation of Virgil, published in 1849. Some of his publications: A Poem on the Death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, 1817. A Church of England PsalmBook, 1821. Thoughts on the Music and Words of Psalmody, 1821 (6th edition 1827). A Tribute in Verse to the Character of George Canning, 1827. Britain's Genius: A Mask, on Occasion of the Marriage of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain -To Which is Added the Reign of Youth, a Lyrical Poem, 1840.

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997.