Kennedy was commissioned into the
3rd The King's Own Hussars on 10 October 1891. He was promoted to
lieutenant on 16 November 1892, and to
captain on 23 May 1896. After transferring to
British India, he was in March 1901 appointed
aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir
George Luck, Commanding the Forces,
Bengal Command, and from April the same year also held a temporary appointment as Assistant Military Secretary to the command. In July he was promoted to major. In April 1913 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in February 1915. In May 1915, during the
First World War, Kennedy was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general and succeeded Brigadier General
Charles Kavanagh in command of the
7th Cavalry Brigade. He was made a substantive colonel in April 1917 and later commanded the
4th Cavalry Division at the
Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 and, after becoming commander of the
230th Infantry Brigade in July 1918, he commanded the brigade in the
Hundred Days Offensive. After the war he was promoted to substantive major general in June 1919 and served as a military governor in occupied German territory and then in June 1923 became GOC
49th (West Riding) Infantry Division in succession to Major General
Henry Rodolph Davies before his death in March 1926. He was colonel of the 3rd The King's Own Hussars, in succession to General
Lord Byng, from January 1924 until his death in 1926. ==Family==