Author: Kennedy, James
Biography:
KENNEDY, James (1793?-1864: DIB) later Kennedy-Bailie
His parents, Elizabeth Kennedy and the Rev. Nicholas Ward Kennedy, were cousins and his father was a schoolmaster. His maternal grandmother’s surname at birth was Bailie and James Kennedy added Bailie to his surname when he inherited an estate from his uncle. He studied at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1812, fellow 1817, MA 1819, BD 1823, and DD 1828). He never married. In 1830 he resigned his fellowship on being made Rector of Ardtrea, County Tyrone, and moved to nearby Stewartstown. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and considered a learned if pompous Hellenist. He was a keen epigraphist and in 1842 he travelled in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt to collect inscriptions; he subsequently lectured on these and published three volumes of his findings (1842-49). His other publications include an annotated edition of The Iliad (1821), Ten Lectures on the Philosophy of the Mosaic Record of Creation (1827), Prelections on the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece (1834), and The Dedication of the Sanctuary: a Poem (1840). He died at home in Stewartstown. (DIB 16 Apr. 2021; ODNB 16 Apr. 2021; Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 7 [1885-86])
Other Names:
- James Bailie Kennedy