Benjamin Hall Kennedy

Benjamin Hall Kennedy (6 November 1804 – 6 April 1889) was an English scholar and schoolmaster, known for his work in the teaching of the Latin language.

He was born at Summer Hill, near Birmingham, the eldest son of Rann Kennedy (1772–1851), of a branch of the Ayrshire family which had settled in Staffordshire.

He was elected Fellow and lecturer in Classics at St John's College in 1828 and took Holy Orders the following year.

In 1867, Kennedy was elected Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge and canon of Ely Cathedral, serving in both posts until his death.

He supported the access of women to university education and took a prominent part in the establishment of Newnham and Girton colleges.

[5] Kennedy wrote a number of classical and theological works, but he is most famous today for his primer of Latin grammar.

His daughter Marion Kennedy, a Latin scholar, revealed that the book was written by herself, her sister Julia and two of her father's former students, G. H. Hallam and T. E.

[6] The BBC Radio 4 programme in December 2018 Amo, Amas, Amusical, presented by Mary Beard, explained the background to the primer and the sisters' significant part in writing it, as well as the resistance to women's higher education at Cambridge and elsewhere during their lifetime.