(d. 1775) of Culzean, Ayr., 2nd surv. s. of Sir John Kennedy; army officer in Flanders; suc. bro. 1744 as 4th Bt.; suc. cos. 1759 as 9th E. of Cassilis [S]; unm.
1751 - 3 Rome (May 1751 - May 1752), Capua (21 May), Naples (May - ), Rome ( - 19 Sep. 1752), Florence, Lucca [Vienna Jan. 1753] Naples (by Jun. 1753 - ), Rome (Sep.) [Paris Nov.]
1764 Viterbo (two months), Rome (one month, by Oct.)
In May 1751 Sir Thomas was visiting palaces in Rome with Lord Midleton and he had already purchased Piranesi's Views of Rome.1 He appears in the Parody of the School of Athens and in a smaller caricature group, both painted by Reynolds in Rome in 1751 (NGI); he was also caricatured as a 'cellist with his friend John Ward by P.L. Ghezzi (Sotheby's, 23 Mar. 1973). Kennedy is mentioned several times in the circle of Lord Charlemont in Rome in 1752: he was one of the subscribers to the Academy for British artists,2 he made a bet with Charlemont on 20 April, and he was to have played the part of 'Truth' on Charlemont's Triumphal Car for the Carnival. In May Kennedy joined an expedition to Tivoli with Lord Bruce, Lethieullier, Iremonger and Scrope, but on 21 May Scrope and Kennedy were passing through Capua on their way to Naples (Iremonger and Lethieullier following two days later).4 In 1751 - 2 Pancrazi dedicated a plate from his Antichita Siciliane to 'Sigre Tommasso Kennedy Baronetto Scozzese'. On 19 September 1752 Kennedy and a Mr Cook were leaving Rome for Florence and Lucca,5 and Kennedy was in Vienna in January 1753.6 In June 1753 Kennedy was again in Naples, about to go to Caprea [Capri?] with Cook; John Ward then told Charlemont that 'As Sir Thomas loves the sea and shooting, I fear he'll stay there so long that he'll forget his English likewise. In that case the abb? du Bois must look out for another corrector of the press for the English part of his works'.7 Kennedy was back in Rome in September 1753 and in Paris in November.8
In 1764, after he had succeeded as Lord Cassilis, he returned to Italy, this time for his health. He spent two months taking the waters at Viterbo, and then spent a month in Rome with the Abb? Grant; he intended spending the winter in France.9 In September he paid Batoni a half payment on his portrait10 (Culzean Castle; once identified as of his younger brother David Kennedy, cf. Clark/Bowron 272); this was probably the portrait which the Abb? Grant later told him was being dispatched from Rome in March 1768.(11)
1. Ailsa MSS, box 14 (acct. 18 May 1751). 2. GM, 22[1752]:288. 3. Wicklow MSS (J. Russel, 6 Jun. 1752). 4. ASN cra 1257. 5. Wicklow MSS (J. Russel, 20 Sep. 1752). 6. Ailsa MSS, box 14 (acct. 29 Jan. 1753). 7. HMC Charlemont, 1:185. 8. Ailsa MSS, box 28 (letters of introduction: Rome, Sep. 1753; Paris, 13 Nov. 1753). 9. Seafield MSS, GD 248/99/3 (Abb? Grant, 3 Oct. 1764). 10. Ailsa MSS, box 29. 11. Ailsa MSS, box 38 (5 Mar. 1768).