He was the Captain of the Empress or Ireland and was born 30 January 1874 in Chelsea, London, the son of Joseph, a whitesmith and gas fitter born at Exeter about 1842, and Mary Ann Frances (nee Eaton; born at Westminster, London, about 1850) Kendall, who had married 30 June 1867 at St. Mary’s Church in Lambeth, London in the Church of England. Henry’s known brothers and sisters were Elizabeth J., b. 1868, Alice Rosina, b. 1872, Beatrice Eugenie, b. 29 February 1876 (died in infancy), Florence, b. 30 January 1878 (d. 1879), Charles Richard, b. 17 July 1880. In 1881, the Kendall family lived in West Derby, Lancashire. His first ship was a (sailing) ship called Indefatigable, on which he served from 7 June 1887 to 4 December 1889 and thereafter he served on the Agamemnon of the Blue Funnel Line. In March or April 1891 he seems to have had adventurous ideas, since he deserted from the ship on which he then served as an ordinary seaman, the Iolanthe. Newspapers stated that he had gone 70 miles in the bushes in search of the goldfields in Australia, but also that he abandoned that idea almost immediately and returned to his seagoing career. Other newspaper reports said he deserted because he had witnessed a murder on the Iolanthe and felt threatened. It was stated that he found a ship on which he stowed away and the captain of the ship left him, Kendall, on Thursday Island once he had been discovered. From there he sailed 21 April 1891 as an Able Seaman on a vessel called Ellen on which ship he served seven months, thereafter serving as an ordinary seaman on a ship called Rollo between 21 November 1891 and 1 July 1892. He then served on various ships as an able bodied seaman from 25 July 1892 to at least 19 November 1895, his last ship being the Bathurst, of Glasgow. He married Jane Wright Jones (born about 1875 at Liverpool) 27 January 1896 at St. George’s Church, Everton, in the West Derby district of Lancashire, in the Church of England tradition. They had at least three children; William Easterbrook Wright, b. 3 April 1902, Lily Maud Wright, b. 1905, and Henry George W., b. 1912. He attained the rank of 2nd mate 19 December 1895, 1st mate 7 July 1898, Master 4 February 1901 and Extra Master 3 May 1902. He was 5’8” tall, had a light complexion, brown hair and grey eyes. His BT certificate number as a Captain/Master Mariner was 029826. He first joined the Beaver Line, which was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway Line around 1904 and held the position of chief officer on the steamer Lake Champlain (in 1902, when the ship still belonged to the Beaver Line) and had served as Captain of the steamers Monmouth, Montrose, and Lake Erie. He had also served as chief officer on the Empress of Ireland at one point. In 1901, he lived at Granton Road, Everton, Liverpool, with his wife. He was listed as a Master Mariner at the time. He started working for the Canadian Pacific Railway about 1904. He served on the steamer Montrose in July 1910 when he caught a notorious murderer, Dr. Crippen. In 1911 his wife and two sons lived in the Walton on the Hill parish of Liverpool. Mrs. Kendall’s brother Davd, a shipping clerk aged 29, and her sister Mary, an elementary school teacher aged 22, also lived in the household. The family also employed a general domestic servant, Beatrice Walker, 22, a native of Rudgeley, Staffordshire. In early 1914 he served as Captain of a steamer called Ruthenia, of the C.P.R.’s Mediterranean service, and when Captain Murray, the former commander of the Empress of Ireland, was appointed harbour master at Quebec on or about 4 May 1914, Captain Kendall left the Ruthenia and was given command of the Empress of Ireland. The ship in which he last served was the Empress of Ireland (it was his second homeward-bound journey on the ship). He was later called to testify at the investigation into the sinking of the Empress of Ireland, which was held at King’s Bench Courthouse at Quebec. The investigation had commenced 16 June 1914 and was lead by Lord Mersey, who was a High Court judge in the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division,and who in 1912 had presided over the investigation of the sinking of the Titanic. He returned to England by the Alsatian 9 July 1914. Captain Kendall died 28 November 1965 in Lambeth, London. The material presented on this page has been researched by Peter Engberg-Klarström. Copyright 2017 Peter Engberg-Klarström. Feel free to use the research, but please refer to my research if used in publications or if published or posted on other pages on the Internet.
Peter's Empress of Ireland page 