| Authorised form of name | Kennedy; Sir; Alexander Blackie William (1847 - 1928); mechanical and electrical engineer |
| Dates | 1847 - 1928 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | 20 Stepney Green, Stepney, London, England |
| Date of birth | 17 March 1847 |
| Place of death | 7a Albany, Piccadilly, London, England |
| Date of death | 01/11/1928 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Place of marriage: Cromdale, Inverallan and Advie, Inverness, Scotland. |
| Occupation | Mechanical and electrical engineer |
| Research field | Civil engineering |
| Engineering |
| Electronic Engineering |
| Kinematics of machinery |
| Activity | Education:
City of London School (1858-1862); School of Mines
Career:
Apprenticed to the firm of J. and W. Dudgeon, Millwall gaining experience in marine engine construction (1863-1868); leading draughtsman in Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Co at Jarrow, and here he worked out the designs for the first compound marine engines built on Tyneside (1868); chief draughtsman to the firm of T. M. Tennant and Co of Leith (1870); professor of engineering at University College, London (1874); resigned his professorship to practise as a consulting engineer at Westminster in partnership, moving from mechanical engineering into an electrical consulting practice (1889); Chairman, Admiralty Committee on gunsights and Range Finders (1914-1918); explored he city of Petra, Jordan, and documented the archaeology there (1922).
Honours:
Kt 1905
Memberships:
MICE
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Institution of Electrical Engineers
Physical Society of London
British Association for the Advancement of Science
London Camera Club
Alpine Club |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 09/06/1887 |
| Age at election | 40 |
| Proposer | John Russell Reynolds |
| William Henry Barlow |
| Herbert McLeod |
| William Grylls Adams |
| Thomas George Bonney |
| Osborne Reynolds |
| William Edward Ayrton |
| James Thomson |
| William Thomson |
| Frederick Bramwell |
| Olaus Magnus Friedrich Erdmann Henrici |
| Fleeming Jenkin |
| Relationships | Parents: John Kennedy, Congregational minister, and Helen Stodart, daughter of Alexander Blackie, bank manager, of Aberdeen.
Spouse: Elizabeth Verralls (d. 1911), eldest daughter of William Smith (1816–1896), an Edinburgh actuary (1874).
Children: Elizabeth Helen; William Smith; Sir John MacFarlane. |
| OtherInfo | Involved in the development of electric lighting, of trams, and of railways.
Designed electrical works in India and Japan.
Consulting Engineer to LNWR, LSWR, and to LCC tramways.
Avid mountaineer and amateur photographer. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Image | 
|
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DSB
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 213-223, plate, by Alexander Gibb
References:
F C Moon, 'Robert Willis and Franz Reuleaux: pioneers in the theory of machines' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 209-230 |
| Virtual International Authority File | ttp://viaf.org/viaf/50004830 |
| Code | NA1703 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/Maull/002510 | Kennedy, Sir Alexander Blackie William | nd |
| NLB/11/984 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 12 November 1895 |
| NLB/5/290 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrisons | 29 April 1891 |
| NLB/5/155 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 4 April 1891 |
| NLB/12/696 | Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 13 April 1896 |
| NLB/9/115 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society, 14 Old Queen Street, Westminster, S.W. | 3 April 1894 |
| NLB/12/333 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to F A Eaton, Secretary, Royal Academy of Arts | 31 January 1896 |
| NLB/12/397 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 13 February 1896 |
| RR/15/375 | Referee's report by Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, on a paper 'A throw-testing machine for reversals of mean stress' by Osborne Reynolds and J H Smith | 7 April 1902 |
| NLB/18/396 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor A B W Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 4 March 1899 |
| NLB/20/153 | Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 15 February 1900 |
| NLB/23/1/761 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 January 1902 |
| NLB/24/687 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 June 1902 |
| NLB/46/128 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 13 June 1912 |
| NLB/55/241 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Alexander [Blackie William] Kennedy, FRS | 01 February 1918 |
| NLB/66/523 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Alexander Kennedy, FRS | 23 May 1924 |
| NLB/65/935 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Alexander [Blackie William] Kennedy, FRS | 31 January 1924 |
| NLB/66/541 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Alexander Kennedy, FRS | 27 May 1924 |
| NLB/71/908 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Prof. [William Cawthorne] Unwin, FRS | 5 December 1928 |
| IM/002511 | Kennedy, Sir Alexander Blackie William | nd |
| NLB/29/882 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 January 1905 |
| RR/10/332 | Referee's report by Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, on a paper 'The rupture of steel by longitudinal stress' by Charles A Carus-Wilson | 11 June 1890 |
| EC/1887/09 | Kennedy, Sir Alexander Blackie William: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| NLB/12/335 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Michael Foster, Secretary, Royal Society | 31 January 1896 |
| MC/15/161 | Letter from [Alexander Blackie William] Kennedy, 19 Little Queen Street, Westminster, to [Herbert] Rix, The Royal Society, Burlington House | 3 April 1891 |
| ACS/1/1/207 | Letter from [Sir Alexander Blackie William] Kennedy, A7 Albany, Piccadilly, W., to [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton | 8 January 1918 |
| NLB/12/602 | Copy letter from Michael Foster, to Sir Courtenay E Boyle, Secretary, Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, S.W. | 20 March 1896 |
| MC/15 | Volume 15 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1889-1892 |
| MC/38/54 | Letter from Alexander [Blackie William] Kennedy, Broadway Court, 8 Broadway, Westminster, to [Francis Alexander] Towle, The Royal Society, Burlington House | 24 January 1924 |
| MC/38 | Volume 38 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1924 |
| ACS/1/2/6/13 | Letter from [Alan Archibald Campbell Swinton], 40 Chester Square, S. W., to Alice [Susan Lucy Swinton] | 20 June 1920 |