William Kenrick

William Kenrick was born on 8 June 1831 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire. He was the son of Archibald Kenrick, a justice of the peace and iron founder, and Anne Paget. His father lived from 1798 to 1878, and his mother from 1798 to 1864.

Kenrick became involved in the family business, serving as a director of Archibald Kenrick & Sons, an iron founding and hardware manufacturing firm. His professional career was primarily related to iron founding and manufacturing industries.

He participated actively in local government in Birmingham, serving as a town councillor starting in 1870, and as an alderman from 1872. He held the office of mayor of Birmingham during 1877–1878.

In national politics, Kenrick was elected as a Member of Parliament for Birmingham North in the 1885 general election. He retained this parliamentary seat until his resignation in 1899. Following his resignation, he was appointed to the Privy Council. In 1911, he was awarded the Honorary Freedom of the City of Birmingham.

Apart from his political career, Kenrick had interests in education and the arts. He served as a governor of King Edward's School in Birmingham and was engaged with the Arts and Crafts movement. He was the chairman of the Museum and School of Arts Committee, and his involvement extended to the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft, where he became a director when it became a limited company in 1895. William Morris visited him at his residence in 1880.

Kenrick's residence was at The Grove, Park Lane, in Harborne, Edgbaston, Warwickshire. Pieces of the interior paneling from his house are preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

His familial relationships connect him to notable figures in British politics. On 26 August 1862, he married Mary Chamberlain, born in 1838 and died in 1918, at the Union Chapel in Islington. Mary was the sister of Joseph Chamberlain, a prominent politician. Joseph Chamberlain married Harriet Kenrick, William's sister, in July 1861. Harriet Kenrick died in 1863, and Joseph Chamberlain married Florence Kenrick, William's cousin, in 1868. Florence and Joseph Chamberlain were the parents of Neville Chamberlain, who later became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

William Kenrick and Mary Chamberlain had several children, including:

- Cicely Kenrick (1869–1950), who married Ernest Debenham in 1892.

- Millicent Mary Kenrick (1871–1932), who married Claude Gerald Napier-Clavering in 1897, and was the mother of actor Alan Napier.

- Wilfred Byng Kenrick (1872–1962), who married his cousin Norah Beale in 1906, and later served as Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

- Gerald William Kenrick (1876–1953), who married Ruth Chamberlain in 1912.

William Kenrick died on 31 July 1919 at his home in Harborne, Warwickshire.