Portrait of a navy officer and his sea scout son by Clem Kenning, photographer, c1913/1914 or 1918.

An original photograph on relatively thin card.

Clement Kenning (1889-1971) was born in Rotherham on 9th January 1889. He was the son of George Kenning, a kitchen range fitter born in Ireland, and Mary Ann, from Whitwood, Yorkshire. Clement was brought up in Rotherham.

Clement was a steward on a steam ship (fishing) in 1911 when he lived with his widowed mother at 15 Wollaston Road, Cleethorpes. In 1913 and 1914, Clement was living at 42 Freeman Street, Grimsby which was a photographic studio once used by William Audas and Henry Blackburn etc. So, presumably, Clement was a photographer at this time.

Clement Kenning appears to have had to give up his career as a photographer for army service at the outbreak of WW1 (a private in the Army Ordnance Corps – 032797). He was back at 42 Freeman Street, Grimsby in 1918. Returning to Grimsby can’t have worked out as Clement was a photographer in Oldham, Lancashire from 1919 until 1924. He seems to have qualified for army accommodation. His widowed mother was with him in Oldham in 1921.

Clement moved back to Grimsby in 1924 and married Lottie Marsh (1899-1938) in Grimsby in 1925. He was working with the well-known Cleethorpes photographer, John William Hardy, at “Rockaven”, Alexandra Road, Cleethorpes. He was also living with the Hardy family at 27 Signhills Avenue (1924) and he was still with the Hardy family at 52 St. Peter’s Avenue (1925). Clem and Lottie then lived at 82 Barcroft St., Cleethorpes (1927) and 108 Blundell Avenue (1928 until at least 1931). By 1931, Clement’s mother was living at the same address. She died in 1933.

Clem and Lottie had a daughter, Annie Mary Lottie Kenning, in 1926. Sadly, Lottie Kenning died in 1938, aged just 39. Annie Mary Lottie Kenning was living with her widowed father at 9 Victoria Terrace, Cleethorpes in 1939. He described himself as general, commercial photographer. Annie Mary Lottie Kenning married John E. Grieve in 1954. She died in Boston in 2007, aged 81.

Clem Kenning died in Louth in 1971.

Research by Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum.