Sir Reginald Kennedy-Cox CBE, JP (18 April 1881 – 27 July 1966) was a British dramatist and social reformer, best known for his social work in the East End of London where he founded several Dockland Settlements.
Before he committed himself to this work he was a successful playwright, several of his works being performed on the London stage.
Kennedy-Cox was born in 1881, [1] the son of Reginald Cox and his wife Ada Harriette, née Kennedy. After attending Malvern College he studied at Hertford College, Oxford. On leaving the university he had some success as a dramatist; between 1904 and 1906 three of his plays were staged at the Royalty and London Coliseum theatres in London. [2]
In 1905, he began work as a volunteer at the Malvern Settlement in the Canning Town district of London; the settlement had been founded in 1894 by Malvern College as a means whereby boys from the upper and middle classes could carry out social work among London's poor. In 1907, Kennedy-Cox joined the staff of the settlement. [3]
During the First World War, he was commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment, [4] and later served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps and at 27th Divisional headquarters, being mentioned in dispatches. [2] After the war he returned to the Malvern Settlement as Warden and oversaw a period of considerable building and expansion. [3]
The Malvern Settlement became "Dockland Settlement No. 1"; in the following years, using his private financial resources, Kennedy-Cox led an extension of the Dockland Settlements scheme into other areas of London, including Millwall, Rotherhithe and Stratford. Branch settlements were established in other cities. [2]
For his work in this field, Kennedy-Cox was knighted in 1930. Sir Reginald retired from his full-time work in 1937. [5]
During the Second World War he served as an army welfare officer at Southern Command, with the rank of colonel. [2] In 1944 his war work earned him a CBE. [6] After the war he returned to Canning Town to assist in the reconstruction of Settlement No. 1, whose buildings had been badly damaged by war. [3] He also acted as chairman of the Salisbury Arts Theatre Board, and was a governor of Malvern College. He died at Salisbury on 27 July 1966. [1] [2] Sir Reginald had adopted a son who was killed during a London Blitz raid and is buried with him at All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire.
Kennedy-Cox wrote two biographical books: An Autobiography, 1931 and The Happiest Man: Through the Dock Gates, 1939. He also wrote a history of the docklands area, Dockland Saga, 1955. Among his dramatic works were The Chetwynd Affair, Mary Stuart and The Marriage Brokers. [2]
Plaistow is a suburban area of East London, England, within the London Borough of Newham. It adjoins Upton Park to the north, East Ham to the east, Beckton to the south, Canning Town to the south-west and West Ham to the west.
Field Marshal Sir John Lyon Chapple, was a British Army officer who served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, from 1988 to 1992. Early in his military career he saw action during the Malayan Emergency and again during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and later in his career he provided advice to the British government during the Gulf War.
Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset was an English statesman, poet, and dramatist. He was the son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer.
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The Docklands Settlements were a network of amenity centres in deprived areas of London, intended to meet the social and spiritual needs of the local population at a time when there was no public provision of such services. The settlements originated in 1894 with the foundation of the Malvern Mission in Canning Town, by the staff of Malvern College. Under the leadership of Reginald Kennedy-Cox and others, during the first half of the 20th century the Malvern Mission was greatly expanded. Renamed "Dockland Settlement No. 1", it became the hub from which subcentres were established throughout east London, and in several provincial cities. After the Second World War and the expansion of the Welfare State, the focus of activities changed; in the 1950s Dockland Settlement No. 1 became the Mayflower Centre, with overtly Christian aims. Other settlements continued to serve their communities with a variety of social, sporting and cultural facilities, and were still functioning well into the 21st century.
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