Edward Coverley Kennedy

Edward Coverley Kennedy (31 August 1879 – 23 November 1939) was a Royal Navy officer who is remembered as the captain of the armed merchant cruiser who engaged the German battleships and .

Early life and background Edward Coverley Kennedy was born 31 August 1879, only son (there were two daughters) of Edward Briggs Kennedy (1842-1914), of Deanyers, Hall Lane, Upper Farringdon, near Alton, Hampshire, and Caroline Edith (died 1935), daughter of Colville Coverley Jackson (1804-1858), a magistrate and collector in the Bengal Civil Service, sometime of Agra, and granddaughter of Sir John Jackson, 1st Baronet, a politician and director of the East India Company. Edward Briggs Kennedy's three brothers all distinguished themselves in their respective fields; elder brothers Sir John Gordon Kennedy and Admiral Sir William Robert Kennedy were an eminent diplomat and a senior Royal Navy commander, respectively; younger brother Gilbert George Kennedy was a police magistrate who had played international football for Scotland. After Harrow, Edward Briggs Kennedy went to Queensland, Australia, where he spent less than a year with the Queensland Native Police, being appointed acting sub-inspector in 1865 and resigning that same year; in 1869, with two friends, he founded a sugar plantation and mill at Mackay on the Pioneer River in Queensland. He returned to England, and wrote four books about his Australian life and the police force, the first, Four Years in Queensland, published in 1870. In 1912 he and his wife founded the Farringdon Rifle Club. The four brothers were great-grandsons of Archibald Kennedy, 11th Earl of Cassilis.

Early career Edward Coverley Kennedy entered the Royal Navy as a naval cadet in 1892.

Beginning his career in HMS Britannia, he first served at sea in 1894, rising to midshipman in 1895 and serving in that capacity in the China Station. His rise up the ranks continued, becoming sub-lieutenant in 1898 and lieutenant in 1900. In this period he saw service in the battleship , at the Royal Naval College, Osborne and in the flagship of the North America and West Indies Station. The wreck of HMS Cassandra was discovered in 2010 by the Estonian Navy. During the hand-to-hand fighting five or six sailors from the ship were injured.

Kennedy and Constance also took part in quelling disturbances in Belize. On Friday 25 July, Claude Smith had called a public meeting to discuss labour demands. The meeting was broken up when local police and Royal Marines from Constance arrived to arrest him. In retirement Kennedy worked for the Conservative Party. He was a political agent in Hemel Hempstead and in 1929 for the Wycombe Division in Buckinghamshire. However, these reports were later corrected to state that it was actually the battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

For his gallantry Captain Kennedy was posthumously mentioned in despatches.

Personal life In 1918, Kennedy married Rosalind Margaret Innes Grant (1893-1977), daughter of Sir Ludovic Grant, 11th Baronet. They had two daughters and a son, Ludovic Kennedy who became a celebrated journalist. Captain Kennedy was a keen hunter, known to be a crack shot and a fine fisherman. His friend R. B. noted in his obituary that 'with a dog at his heels, or with a rod in his hand he was in his element'.