Lt Col JAMES ROBERT KENNEDY 1917

[trevalyn]

Help required.
I am trying to find proof of burial for Lt Col  JAMES ROBERT KENNEDY who died on 2 Aug 1917.  Aged 48, born on 5 Oct 1869.
Lived and died at 1 Inverness Place, Paddington, London.
Had served with the 96th Berar Infantry, Indian Army.
Wife was Katherine Elizabeth Noona Kennedy.
He is named on the Roll of Honour at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
Lt Col Kennedy is entitled to War Grave Commemoration- if proof of burial can be established.
Any information would be warmly welcomed.

[Andy J2022]

He appears to have died intestate. A Board of Adjustment was convened by the Army in India to dispose of his belongings which were auctioned, and deal with his debts. His widow declined to be responsible for his debts as she was living on a small pension. In her letter to the Board she said that Lt Col Kennedy died in hospital. She also mentioned that the letter to her from the Board had been forwarded to her in London by a Mr Kennedy in Ireland.
There is no mention in the Board's documentation (about 10 pages worth on FindMyPast) of any funeral expenses or details, so I assume his widow handled that. I'm guessing it wouldn't have been a lavish funeral.

[trevalyn]

Thanks, Andy. That would indeed suggest that the couple were in modest circumstances, Probably in a grave with no headstone?

[tonepad]

Noona Elizabeth Catherine Kennedy, 67, widow, teacher, was cremated at Henley Rd Crematorium (Caversham), Reading on 17 Jan 1938.

Above details from Findmypast


She is Noona Kennedy on the 1921 Census at 1 Inverness Place, Paddington, teacher of dancing, born India


Tony

[trevalyn]

Thank you, Tony. I will have a further look down that route.

[tonepad]

There is an obit in a local newspaper for Noona Kennedy, seems she moved to Reading about 10 years before she died.

Strange, no obit or death notice for her husband in 1917.


Tony

[trevalyn]

I had wondered if he had also been cremated there but if she only moved to Reading about 10 years before she died there is no reason to think that he might also have ended his journey there.

[*Sandra*]

The couple were only married months before he died.

Lieutenant Colonel James Robert Kennedy

The Times
London, Greater London
Sat, 10 Mar 1917
Page 15

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times/185056738/

There was no "Westminster Crematorium" in 1917 - cremations were performed at the Woking Crematorium in Surrey, which was the first in the country and the only one available in the London area at the time ??


Sandra

[trevalyn]

That all makes sense. He came home from India, presumably ill , and in her letter to the Board of Adjustment she stated that they had married while he was ill in hospital.