[4] Kenyon's father started in Australia as a farmer in the Wimmera district, later a bookseller and dealer in artists' materials,[5][6] chess enthusiast and amateur historian[7] Kenyon was home-schooled for his early education.
[2] Then in 1881 the family moved to Highett Street, Richmond, and he enrolled at nearby St Stephen's Grammar School, and in 1884 he entered Ormond College, Melbourne University, to study civil engineering.
He joined the Victorian Public Works Department in 1887, and the following year was appointed to the Victorian Water Supply Department, where he was responsible for water supply works in the northern Mallee regions.
[citation needed] Institutions of which he was a member include: The A. S. Kenyon Library, Red Cliffs, was named for him.
[3] Kenyon married Alexandrine Amelie Leontine Delepine ( – 20 August 1940) on 2 April 1895; they had one daughter: They had a home at Lower Plenty Road, Heidelberg, where he died; his remains were interred in the Heidelberg cemetery.