Background
The son of jeweller turn banker John Kennard (Heywood, Kennards & Company, merged into Consolidated Bank Limited), and Harriet Elizabeth Peirse, he trained as a merchant in London.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
The son of jeweller turn banker John Kennard (Heywood, Kennards & Company, merged into Consolidated Bank Limited), and Harriet Elizabeth Peirse, he trained as a merchant in London.
Having invested in the Falkirk Iron Company in 1830, Kennard"s consortia formed the Blaenavon Coal and Iron Company in 1836, which subsequently bought the Blaenavon Ironworks. Through his connections with the iron and steel industries, and access to large sums of money through his families baking connections, he became a significant financier during the railway boom of the 1830s, and also financed some of the government requirements during the Crimea War. Leveraging this, Kennard made his fortune as a director of several United Kingdom railway companies, and as a director of one of the largest groups promoting railroads in France and Belgium.
He held the office of Justice of the Peace for: Stirlingshire.
Middlesex; and later Hertfordshire. Having held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Monmouthshire, he was appointed Sheriff of London and Middlesex between 1846 and 1847.
Kennard was elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative on 11 February 1857, as the senior member for Newport (Isle of Wight) constituency. He left at the general election, on 11 November 1868.
Kennard married Mary Ann Challis, only child of Liberal Member of Parliament and later Lord Mayor of London Thomas Challis, on 23 May 1823.
Living in Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire, the couple had 10 children: Mary Jane Kennard. Charlotte Anne Kennard (died 24 October 1926). Ellen Kennard (died 5 April 1917).
Reverend Robert Bruce Kennard (8 May 1824 - 10 March 1895).
Thomas William Kennard (29 August 1825 - 10 September 1893). Arthur Challis Kennard (born 17 June 1831).
Henry Martyn Kennard (born 17 February 1833). John Kennard (13 April 1836 - 24 November 1925).
Howard John Kennard (29 November 1839 - 8 August 1896).
Edward Kennard (born 22 April 1842). He is interred in Kensal Green Cemetery, in Grade II listed portland stone with brone door mausoleum.
17th United Kingdom Parliament. 18th United Kingdom Parliament. 19th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was elected as an associate member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, seconded by Robert Stephenson and Sir William Cubitt.