Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kennedy, Charles Rann
KENNEDY, CHARLES RANN (1808–1867), lawyer and scholar, born in 1808, was son of Rann Kennedy [q. v.], and brother of Benjamin Hall Kennedy [q. v.] He was educated at Shrewsbury and at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, and proceeded from the latter as an exhibitioner to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1828 he was elected a Bell scholar; in 1829 he became a scholar of the college. In 1829 and 1830 he obtained the Porson prize; in 1829 he won the Browne medal for a Greek ode, and in 1830 that for a Latin ode; he obtained the Pitt university scholarship in 1830. In 1831 he graduated B.A. as senior classic, and was elected fellow of his college; he proceeded M.A. in 1834. Kennedy entered at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar 19 Nov. 1835. At first he went the home circuit, and took part in the great case of Stockdale v. Hansard, but having been in the autumn of 1849 elected professor of law in Queen's College, Birmingham, he sent in the usual request to be allowed to join the midland circuit. To this the mess declined to assent, and the matter formed the subject of a pamphlet by Kennedy entitled ‘A Letter to the Lord Chancellor on Circuit Leagues’ (1850). In May 1856 Kennedy became the professional adviser of Mrs. Swinfen, the plaintiff in the famous will case of Swinfen v. Swinfen, and carried the litigation to a successful issue. A dispute, however, arose as to his remuneration, and on 26 March 1862 he brought an action against her for 20,000l. for the services rendered her. He obtained a verdict at the Warwick assizes, but it was overruled in the court of common pleas, the judges holding that a barrister could not sue for his fees, and a deed which Kennedy had obtained from Mrs. Swinfen, giving him a reversion to the Swinfen Hall estates in Staffordshire, was ordered to be delivered up by a judgment of the master of the rolls on 31 July 1863. Kennedy died at Birmingham 17 Dec. 1867. He was married and left a family.
Kennedy was a fine scholar and linguist. His classical publications include, in addition to pamphlets: 1. ‘Select Speeches of Demosthenes,’ Cambridge, 1841; a translation with notes suggested by Sir William Jones's translation of Isæus. 2. ‘Poems Original and Translated,’ 1843; a new edition 1859. 3. ‘The Works of Demosthenes,’ a translation for Bohn's Classical Library, London, 1848, 5 vols. ‘The Oration on the Crown’ was issued separately as part of Bohn's shilling series in 1888. 4. ‘The Works of Virgil,’ 1849, a translation into English begun by his father, in which he undertook the last six pastorals and last eight books of the ‘Æneid.’ 5. ‘Specimens of Greek and Latin Verse,’ 1853. 6. ‘The Works of Virgil,’ a complete translation, 1861. He also wrote: 7. ‘New Rules for Pleading,’ 1838; 2nd edit. 1841. 8. ‘The Privileges of the House of Commons,’ 2nd edit. 1841; a publication connected with the case of Stockdale v. Hansard. 9. ‘Ode on the Birth of the Prince of Wales,’ 1842. 10. ‘A Treatise on Annuities,’ 1846. 11. ‘Hannibal, a Poem,’ pt. i. London, 1866. He supplied an analysis to Burchall's ‘Joint-Stock Companies Registration Act,’ 1844.
[Annals of our Time; Gent. Mag. 1868, i. 255; Annual Register; Law Lists; Cambr. Univ. Calendar; private information.]