514:. The marriage ended in divorce, and I remember that there was a great deal of pussyfooting around the reasons for it in the family ("He was cruel to her" and so on). In the light of the recent evidence about Denis, one wonders of he was the reason why the disaffected wife was recruited by the OSS. I suppose we will never know. One also wonders if he was up to something on those New York visits! One has to make a certain allowance for the fact that he was passing secrets to us, but I suppose the British can take a dim view of even that. Seems to me more like industrial espionage.
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occasion, during which they merely stayed the required minimum time in a hotel in New York, that I met Denis when I was about 10 or 11, let's say 1938 or 9, possibly as late as 1940. The war was on but we were not yet in it. Atlantic travel was restricted but they had special access because of his war work. Denis utterly charmed me, my parents and everyone around us, as he seems to have done with everyone. I recall his telling me a long involved story about capturing a German U-boat single-handedly by surrounding it on his white horse!
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Denis
Kendall's wife, Virginia, was my first cousin. She was the daughter of my mother Anne, born "Anna Laura". She became a ballroom dancing instructor there, and escaped Portsmouth for Paris in the mid to late 1930s. In Paris she found work, also as a dancing instructor. One day Denis Kendall came
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published a lengthy interview with accompanying action pictures and the eye-catching quote: "I won't sit down and I won't shut up". As the
Managing Director for the British Manufacture and Research Company in Grantham, Kendall had controversial views on war production, which he took every opportunity
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commending him for his part in the rescue of four people from a bombed house. However, the security files also showed how
Beaverbrook, then Minister for Aircraft Production, had raised concerns about Kendall's activities. The file at the National Archives suggests real fears that Kendall planned to
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heated up and the bombing of
Britain commenced, few people realised that my factories were the most bombed in the country, and during the raids I lost approximately 200 of my workpeople killed and wounded when their shelter sustained a direct hit. I had a fine medical staff of three doctors and
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with an increased majority of 15,513. He developed plans to produce a "People's Car", and displayed a prototype outside
Parliament in August 1945. A company, Grantham Productions, was set up to manufacture the car, and also agricultural tractors. He failed to secure adequate finance, despite the
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Virginia was a tall, lithe redhead with very large, expressive blue eyes, charming and with the grace of a dancer. She was cheerful, and a real tease with small boys like me. They (both, I believe) were dual-citizens and so needed to touch base in
America from time to time. It was on such an
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In 1949 a court ordered him to repay £15,000 provided by a private donor as an investment, but which he tried to use to pay off creditors. The security files also disclose that MI5 also kept close eyes on another company, Russian Oil
Products, which was suspected of being a cover for
298:. In 1952, he moved to the US, and set up the American Manufacture and Research Co (American MARC) in Inglewood, California to produce small diesel engines. This was sold in 1961 and he then set up Dynapower Systems Corporation and Dynapower Medionics.
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Three files available in the
National Archives reveal that Kendall had come to the attention of the Security Service well-before his election. Shortly after his election, a reporter visiting his office saw that he had letters pinned up from
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Kendall lost his seat as an MP at the 1950 election. Interest in him appears to have declined after 1953. The files contain summary reports of his ongoing activities, and a career summary from 1950 concludes
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of
Australia, and the tractor factory was sold to Newman Tractors. In August 1945 he also set up Grantham Publications, which published the weekly Grantham Guardian from November 1945 to December 1950.
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As a result of
Beaverbrook's intervention, Kendall's letters were intercepted, as were those of his wife, Virginia. She despaired of his lavish lifestyle; and in one letter to a US friend, wrote:
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The website also publishes a report headed "British MARCo military history of the second world war as seen by William Denis Kendall" (undated but presumably post-war) with the following quote:
327:"... has completely lost his head... has one woman friend after another... spends thousands on silver and diamonds... some day the British people will want to know what is happening".
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skills at car factories in the US and France. His factory was highly productive, where workers were well-paid and provided with endless music and dance parties. He hired an
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to her studio to take some lessons. The charming Englishman literally "swept her off her feet" so to speak. They married immediately and of course she moved to Grantham.
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The files cover Kendall's election in 1942, including copies and summaries of his speeches. His victory was a surprise. He had initially been supported by the local
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The Security Service MI5, continued to watch his activities, and expressed concerns that he was carelessly revealing wartime production figures in his election
465:"About this time the Ministry of Aircraft Production came into being headed by Lord Beaverbrook with Lord Brownlow being his Parliamentary Private Secretary.
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uniform with the rank of captain. The caption indicates that Gable was on a morale-boosting visit to Kendall's factory. The cutting is from the
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article featuring the interview is included in the National Archives files. The files go on to record speculation about his presumed post-war
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The following posting was made by Anne Tracy's brother, William Tracy, and his wife Lillian, of Portsmouth, OH, USA on this site:
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sympathies, his suspected German links, his possible involvement in arms trafficking and his notorious indiscretion. By 1942,
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though Kendall's involvement, if any, is unclear. The company was sold to Regent Oil Company in 1948, the forebear of
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All guns and shells were produced to equip our Spitfires and Hurricane fighter planes 4 cannons per plane.
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She returned to Paris after the war where she met and married Colonel Thomas Davis, then attached to
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he was Managing Director of the armaments firm British Manufacture and Research Co (
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and set up American Manufacture and Research Co to build small diesel engines.
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smuggle secret plans for a new 20mm aircraft cannon out of the UK to America.
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to manufacture aircraft cannon. Kendall became a member or affiliate of the
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Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
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Acts. Kendall's popularity however, thwarted any attempt to arrest him.
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headquarters with whom she had her only child, a daughter, Tracy Davis.
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candidate by just 367 votes. When he won the by-election, the magazine
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security service files describe him as a "larger than life" figure.
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and there is in fact little doubt that he is a currency smuggler".
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Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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car plant and eventually became works manager for the
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177:before running a waterfront cabaret in
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621:"The Other Side of the Kendall Coin"
335:speeches in a way that breached the
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165:William Denis Kendall was born in
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665:Parliament of the United Kingdom
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241:parliamentary seat of Grantham
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595:"Chevron's history in the UK"
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681:Member of Parliament
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36:Member of Parliament
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249:National Government
627:on 2 February 2011
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425:Other information
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440:Clark Gable
401:in the UK.
384:double hull
376:Netherlands
364:gun running
260:engineering
245:by-election
239:He won the
187:steeplejack
117:Independent
100:27 May 1903
65:Preceded by
713:Categories
701:Eric Smith
548:References
419:right-wing
243:in a 1942
161:Early life
82:Eric Smith
631:4 January
484:Luftwaffe
436:Manthorpe
395:espionage
380:Palestine
368:smuggling
313:George VI
275:July 1945
49:In office
685:Grantham
605:18 March
339:and the
333:hustings
284:Hartnett
210:Grantham
179:Shanghai
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41:Grantham
651:Hansard
579:4 March
444:US Army
311:, King
230:Fascist
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198:Citroen
122:Liberal
399:Texaco
392:Soviet
374:, the
204:Career
539:BMARC
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372:India
264:organ
214:BMARC
195:Paris
185:as a
171:China
143:BMARC
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