Dates

• Existence: 1660 - 1728

Biography

White Kennett (1660-1728), historian and Bishop of Peterborough, was born in Dover in 1660, the son of a dockyard storekeeper who would go on to become a vicar. He matriculated at Oxford in 1678 and it was while he was at the University that he became interested in antiquarian study. Kennett graduated BA in 1682 and began a career in the church, becoming a vicar in 1685. Alongside his church duties he continued his scholarly research, translating the classics and studying historical documents. In 1691 Kennet was made tutor and vice principal at St Edmunds Hall, Oxford and in 1700 became curate of St Botolph's, Aldgate. He rose up the ranks of churchmen, being made Royal chaplain at Windsor in 1708, Dean of Peterborough a year later and finally becoming Bishop of Peterborough in 1718. Despite his church duties he continued his historical studies and made significant contribution to British scholarship with his work on land tenures and the history of feudalism. In 1695 his Compleat History of England was published. It would run to three volumes and was one of the most ambitious and expensive publishing projects of the time. Kennett dies after a short illness in 1728.

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