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Alfred Kempe
Times obituary
Chancellor of Six Dioceses.
Sir A. B. Kempe and the Royal Society.
We regret to announce that Sir Alfred Bray Kempe, D.C.L., F.R.S., Chancellor of the Diocese of London and of five other dioceses, and for 20 years Treasurer of the Royal Society, died yesterday from pneumonia at his house in Sussex Gardens, aged 72.
Sir Alfred Kempe came from a family remarkable for their height and their longevity, as well as their intellectual talents He was the third son of that fine old English gentleman Prebendary John Edward Kempe, for over 40 years rector of St. James's, Piccadilly, who died at the age of 97 in 1907, leaving one brother and three sisters over the age of 90. The prebendary's surviving sons are Sir John Arrow Kempe, K.C.B., born in 1846, who was Comptroller and Auditor-General from 1904 to 1911, and Mr. H. R. Kempe, born in 1862, consulting engineer, and formerly electrician to the Post Office. Alfred Bray Bray Kempe was born on July 6, 1840. Like his father, he was educated at St. Paul's School and went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degree as 22nd Wrangler. On November 17, 1873, he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, of which he became a Bencher in 1909, and joined the Western Circuit. He specialized in ecclesiastical law, and in 1881 was appointed secretary to the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts, which issued its report in 1883.
In 1912, the year in which he was knighted, he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of London, succeeding Dr. Tristram, a lawyer of the old school. At the time of his death, he was also Chancellor of the dioceses of Southwell, St. Albans, Peterborough, Chichester, and Chelmsford, and he had been Chancellor of Newcastle; and he was official to the archdeaconries of Essex, Kingston, and Southwark. He received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University of Durham.
In early life and in his later years, his tastes were mathematical and scientific. In 1877, he published an essay entitled "How to Draw a Straight Line"; in 1886, a memoir "On the Theory of Mathematical Form"; and in 1890, "The Relation between the Logical Theory of Classes and the Geometrical Theory of Points." Kempe succeeded the late Sir John Evans as Treasurer of the Royal Society in 1899 and served in that capacity until forced by health to retire in 1919. The financial affairs of the Society, although not large in bulk, are very complex, owing to the great number of small trusts involved. Kempe was unwearied in his devotion to these honorary duties, although his gentle persistence restrained the somewhat unbusinesslike attitude of his colleagues on the Council. But his services extended far beyond mere financial and legal advice The Treasurer of the Royal Society, like His Majesty's Treasury in the brave days before the war, had an almost decisive voice on policy. Kempe entered thoroughly into all the Society's work, whether directed by Council or by special committees, and was always able to give practical and sympathetic advice. He had a fund of quiet humour and often threw oil on troubled waters with quaint comments or amusing anecdotes. He was devoted to music and had a beautiful organ in the drawing-room of his former house in Pembridge Square, which was placed there by the former tenant, the late Mr. Edmund Macrory, Q.C.
Sir Alfred Kempe was twice married, first to Mary, second daughter of the late Sir W. Bowman, Bt., and secondly to Ida, daughter of the late Judge Meadows White, Q.C.; he had two sons and one daughter.
Chancellor of Six Dioceses.
Sir A. B. Kempe and the Royal Society.
We regret to announce that Sir Alfred Bray Kempe, D.C.L., F.R.S., Chancellor of the Diocese of London and of five other dioceses, and for 20 years Treasurer of the Royal Society, died yesterday from pneumonia at his house in Sussex Gardens, aged 72.
Sir Alfred Kempe came from a family remarkable for their height and their longevity, as well as their intellectual talents He was the third son of that fine old English gentleman Prebendary John Edward Kempe, for over 40 years rector of St. James's, Piccadilly, who died at the age of 97 in 1907, leaving one brother and three sisters over the age of 90. The prebendary's surviving sons are Sir John Arrow Kempe, K.C.B., born in 1846, who was Comptroller and Auditor-General from 1904 to 1911, and Mr. H. R. Kempe, born in 1862, consulting engineer, and formerly electrician to the Post Office. Alfred Bray Bray Kempe was born on July 6, 1840. Like his father, he was educated at St. Paul's School and went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degree as 22nd Wrangler. On November 17, 1873, he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, of which he became a Bencher in 1909, and joined the Western Circuit. He specialized in ecclesiastical law, and in 1881 was appointed secretary to the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts, which issued its report in 1883.
In 1912, the year in which he was knighted, he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of London, succeeding Dr. Tristram, a lawyer of the old school. At the time of his death, he was also Chancellor of the dioceses of Southwell, St. Albans, Peterborough, Chichester, and Chelmsford, and he had been Chancellor of Newcastle; and he was official to the archdeaconries of Essex, Kingston, and Southwark. He received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University of Durham.
In early life and in his later years, his tastes were mathematical and scientific. In 1877, he published an essay entitled "How to Draw a Straight Line"; in 1886, a memoir "On the Theory of Mathematical Form"; and in 1890, "The Relation between the Logical Theory of Classes and the Geometrical Theory of Points." Kempe succeeded the late Sir John Evans as Treasurer of the Royal Society in 1899 and served in that capacity until forced by health to retire in 1919. The financial affairs of the Society, although not large in bulk, are very complex, owing to the great number of small trusts involved. Kempe was unwearied in his devotion to these honorary duties, although his gentle persistence restrained the somewhat unbusinesslike attitude of his colleagues on the Council. But his services extended far beyond mere financial and legal advice The Treasurer of the Royal Society, like His Majesty's Treasury in the brave days before the war, had an almost decisive voice on policy. Kempe entered thoroughly into all the Society's work, whether directed by Council or by special committees, and was always able to give practical and sympathetic advice. He had a fund of quiet humour and often threw oil on troubled waters with quaint comments or amusing anecdotes. He was devoted to music and had a beautiful organ in the drawing-room of his former house in Pembridge Square, which was placed there by the former tenant, the late Mr. Edmund Macrory, Q.C.
Sir Alfred Kempe was twice married, first to Mary, second daughter of the late Sir W. Bowman, Bt., and secondly to Ida, daughter of the late Judge Meadows White, Q.C.; he had two sons and one daughter.
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