Sir John Kennedy (26 September 1838 – 25 October 1921) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

civil engineer. He was born at Spencerville,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and was educated at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

. In 1863 he was appointed assistant city engineer of

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. In 1871 he became division engineer, and later chief engineer of the Great Western System of Canada. In 1875-1907 he was chief engineer of the Montreal harbour commission. He deepened the ship canal between Montreal and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

from 20 to 27½ feet (6.1 to 8.4 m) and designed and carried out all the improvements in Montreal harbor during 32 years. He was a member of several royal commissions for engineering purposes connected with the

Lachine Canal The Lachine Canal ( in French) is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, ...

, the causes of floods at Montreal, and the completion of the Trent Valley Canal system. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

in 1916.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, John People from Montreal McGill University alumni Canadian Knights Bachelor Canadian engineers 1838 births 1921 deaths Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Harbour engineers