Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kennedy, Thomas (d.1754)
KENNEDY, THOMAS (d. 1754), Scottish judge, son of Sir Thomas Kennedy of Kirkhill, Ayrshire, provost of Edinburgh 1685–7, was called to the Scottish bar in 1698, and acquired a considerable practice and a high reputation for forensic eloquence and ingenuity. He held with distinction the office of lord advocate during the temporary disgrace of Sir David Dalrymple, June–November 1714. On the accession of George I he was raised to a seat on the exchequer bench, which he held until his death, 19 April 1754.
He was an able judge and a man of refined tastes and various knowledge, and his house was a centre of reunion for the cultivated society of Edinburgh. His modesty and courtesy were as remarkable as his ability. He married in 1714 Grizel Kynynmound, relict of Sir Alexander Murray.
[Fountainhall's Hist. Notices (Bannatyne Club), ii. 666, 716, 834; Gent. Mag. 1754, p. 244; Ramsay's Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century (from the Ochtertyre MSS.); private information.]