Thomas Kennedy
Thomas Kennedy (1838-1917) of Glenfield and Kennedy
1838 Born in Oban
1866 Patent to Thomas Kennedy, junior, and James Barr, both of Kilmarnock, in the county of Ayr, North Britain, Engineers, for the invention of "improvements in pistons and cylinders."[1]
1867 He entered the employment of the Glenfield Engineering Co, Kilmarnock. The works at that time were making meter castings amongst other things. He became manager of the Works. When Mr. Wm. Taylor, managing director of Glenfield Company, died, Mr. Kennedy succeeded him. Assisted by the late Mr. James Barr and Mr. Thomas Murray, the new managing director developed and organised the works. He devised a patent water meter and organised a separate company to produce it, Kennedys Patent Water Meter Co.[2]
1877 Patent to Thomas Kennedy (presumably this one but there were others of same name), of Kilmarnock, in the county of Ayr, North Britain, Water Meter Manufacturer, for the invention of "improvements in water meters."[3]
1881 Thomas Kennedy 43 General Manager Hydraulic Engineering Works Employing 327 Men 151 Boys 12 Woman lived in Kilmarnock with Jane Kennedy 37, Robert Kennedy 11, Margaret A Kennedy 9, Jessie S Kennedy 7, Mary E Kennedy 5, Jane Kennedy 3[4]
1917 Thomas Kennedy, hydraulic engineer and founder, died in Kilmarnock[5]
1917 Obituary [6]
THOMAS KENNEDY was born at Mau on 29th March 1838.
He received his early education in Oban, and, after leaving school, went to Greenock, where he served an apprenticeship in a marine engineering works.
On its termination he went to Woolwich Arsenal for about two years, and then spent four or five years at sea, latterly being chief engineer on one of the vessels which laid the submarine cables in the Atlantic and Baltic.
In 1867 he entered the employment of the firm which is now known as Glenfield and Kennedy, Ltd., Kilmarnock.
At that time and until 1900 it was two separate concerns, namely, The Glenfield Co., Ltd., and Kennedy's Patent Water Meter Co., Ltd.
In 1889 he was appointed Managing Director, and continued to hold that position until his retirement from active service in 1913. During the long period of forty-six years during which Mr. Kennedy was associated with the Glenfield Co., and latterly Glenfield and Kennedy, Ltd., the firm carried out many large and important contracts for the supply of waterworks, sewerage, pumping, and hydraulic plants to municipalities, Harbour Boards, etc., both in this country and abroad; and during his connexion with Glenfield and Kennedy, Ltd., the firm rose from a very small business with about fifty employees to a large concern employing, in normal times, over 1,800 men. Mr. Kennedy displayed great technical ability and organizing skill, and he was constantly improving the various specialities for which the firm is noted.
His death took place at Kilmarnock on 20th April 1917, at the age of seventy-nine.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1892.