John Kennedy Tod (11 September 1852 – 2 June 1925) was a Scottish-American merchant banker. In his youth he was a Scottish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international who represented

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the

1873–74 Home Nations rugby union matches The 1873–74 Home Nations rugby union matches was a single international friendly held between the England and Scotland national rugby union teams. With no other recognised rugby union teams in Britain or the rest of the World, the encounter betwee ...

and 1874–75 Home Nations rugby union matches. Tod was born on 11 September 1852 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and later moved to America where he attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played as a forward for Glasgow Academicals.

Provincial career

He represented Glasgow District against Edinburgh District in the world's first provincial match, the 'inter-city', on 23 November 1872. He also represented Glasgow District against Edinburgh District in the 5 December 1874 match. He also represented the West of Scotland District.

International career

He played in both Home Nations matches in the 1874-75 seasons against England; home and away. His debut was the away match on 23 February 1874 at The Oval. His only subsequent cap for Scotland was in the home match on 8 March 1875.

Business career

Tod moved to New York and became a banking partner of his uncle

John Stewart Kennedy John Stewart Kennedy (January 4, 1830 – October 30, 1909) was a Scottish-born American businessman, financier and philanthropist. He was a member of the Jekyll Island Club (also known as The Millionaires' Club) on Jekyll Island, Georgia al ...

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

. Tod formed the banking firm of J. Kennedy Tod & Co., of No. 45 Wall Street. From 1890 to 1897, he took an active part in the reorganization of the railway properties during the disastrous years and was particularly interested in the successful readjustment of the affairs of the

Philadelphia and Reading Railway The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

Norfolk & Western Railroad The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

, St. Louis & San Francisco Railway,

San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway first began operation in the U.S. state of Texas in 1886. It was developed by Uriah Lott and businessmen of San Antonio as a direct route from the city to Aransas Bay on the Texas Gulf coast. It was eventual ...

, Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway,

Rio Grande Western Railway The Utah Division of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) is a rail line that connects Grand Junction, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah (formerly Ogden) in the Western United States. It is now incorporated into the Union Pacif ...

Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad The Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad, often abbreviated TStL&W and commonly known as the Clover Leaf, was a railroad company that operated in northwestern Ohio, north central Indiana, and south central Illinois during the late 19th and early ...

Colorado & Southern Railway The Colorado and Southern Railway was an American Class I railroad in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908, then as part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until it was absorbed into the Burling ...

Memphis & Charleston Railroad The Memphis and Charleston Railroad, completed in 1857, was the first railroad in the United States to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. Chartered in 1846, the track gauge, gauge railroad ran from Memphis, Tennessee to Stevenso ...

and

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Caledonian Insurance Company of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

; a trustee of the Central Trust Company; the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company, the Provident Loan Society of New York, and a director of the American Cotton Oil Company, the

Bank of New York The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY Mellon, is an American investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City. BNY Mellon was formed from the merger of The Bank of New York and the Mellon Financ ...

, and the Indemnity Fire Insurance Company as well as a director of several railroads, insurance companies and banks.

Personal life

He married Mary Howard Potter, the daughter of

Howard Potter Howard Potter (July 8, 1826 – March 24, 1897) was an American industrialist, investment banker, diplomat and philanthropist, and a partner in Brown Bros. & Co. Early life Potter was born in Schenectady, New York on July 8, 1826. He was the sec ...

(an industrialist, investment banker, diplomat and philanthropist) and his wife, Mary Louisa (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Brown) Potter (of the Brown Bros. & Co. family). The Tods had no children. He was a member of many clubs including the

Knickerbocker Club The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most aristocratic gentlemen's clubs in th ...

Metropolitan Club The Metropolitan Club of New York is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded as a gentlemen's club in 1891 for men only, but it was one of the first major clubs in New York to admit women, t ...

, Lawyers Club, City Club,

Downtown Club The Downtown Athletic Club, also known as the Downtown Club, was a private social and athletic club that operated from 1926 to 2002 at 20 West Street, within the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The Downtown Athletic Clu ...

Tuxedo Club The Tuxedo Club is a private member-owned country club located on West Lake Road in the village of Tuxedo Park, New York, in the Ramapo Mountains. Founded in 1886 by Pierre Lorillard IV, its facilities now include an 18-hole golf course, lawn ten ...

, the

Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinction ...

, the

New York Chamber of Commerce The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants. As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, in ...

, the

Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club is one of the older yacht clubs in the Western Hemisphere, ranking 18th after the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Mobile Yacht Club, Pass Christian Yacht Club, ...

, the

Indian Harbor Yacht Club The Indian Harbor Yacht Club is a U.S. boating organization, based at 710 Steamboat Road in Greenwich, CT, with access to Long Island Sound. The club, founded in 1889 in New York City, is based mainly around personally owned yachts and pleasur ...

, the Riverside Yacht Club, the Fairfield County Golf Club (original name of the Greenwich Country Club), and the

Social Register The ''Social Register'' is a semi-annual publication in the United States that indexes the members of American high society. First published in the 1880s by newspaper columnist Louis Keller, it was later acquired by Malcolm Forbes. Since 2014, it ...

of New York. His country estate, known as Innis Arden in Old Greenwich is today a public park called

Greenwich Point Greenwich Point is one of four beaches located in Greenwich, Connecticut. The beach sits on a peninsula jutting into Long Island Sound. It is a popular spot for Greenwich families to spend the day. Visitors to Greenwich Point typically jog, walk, o ...

. Like his uncle, he was president of the

Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York The Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York is the oldest charitable institution in the state of New York and is focused on helping Scots in the New York community. History The organization was founded in 1756 by Scottish founders in N ...

. Tod died on 2 June 1925 at his summer home in

Old Greenwich, Connecticut Old Greenwich is an affluent coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct section ...

(previously known as Sound Beach).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tod, John Kennedy 1852 births 1925 deaths Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union forwards Glasgow District (rugby union) players Glasgow Academicals rugby union players Presidents of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York Rugby union players from Glasgow Scottish emigrants to the United States West of Scotland District (rugby union) players