He was the son of Sussex landowner and Member of Parliament Thomas Kemp, and his wife Anne, daughter of Henry Read of Brookland.

He was educated at Westminster School, and matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge in 1801.

[3] He fled Britain in 1837 to escape his creditors and died in Paris in 1844.

A tablet was erected to his memory at St Nicholas's Church.

As second marriage in 1832, Kemp wedded Frances Shakerley of Somerford, widow of Harvey Vigors.