Denis Kendall

He was defeated in the 1950 General Election, and again in the 1951 General Election. 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.

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 that

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 Soviet espionage though Kendall’s involvement, if any, is unclear. The company was sold to Regent Oil Company in 1948, the forebear of Texaco in the UK.

He retained the seat in July 1945 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 promise of funds from the Jamsahib of Nawanagar, India, and the company went into liquidation. The plans and tooling for the car were sold to Hartnett 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.

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 Labour Party, which then withdrew support on orders from headquarters. A file minute of 14 September 1944 summarises the low opinion in which the Service held him

A article posted in the web site “Manthorpe News” has a picture of Clark Gable, Lord Brownlow and Kendall taken around 1943 with Gable in US Army 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 Grantham Journal, a newspaper still in publication. Gable was posted to RAF Polebrook in 1943, in Northamptonshire but not far from Grantham.

He won the parliamentary seat of Grantham in a 1942 by-election when he defeated the National Government candidate by just 367 votes. When he won the by-election, the magazine Picture Post 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 to publicise. He learnt his engineering 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 organ and cinema organist to entertain them.

Grantham was said to have received 21 raids by the Luftwaffe, which killed 70 people in 1941, around the Commercial Road area. This is in the town centre and north of Springfield Road where Kendall’s factory was.

In 1938, Kendall went to Grantham, Lincolnshire, and became Managing Director of British Manufacture And Research Co (BMARC), which was set up by the French subsidiary of Hispano-Suiza and Lord Brownlow to manufacture aircraft cannon. Kendall became a member or affiliate of the British National Party (BNP). Kendall attracted the notice of the British security service for his Fascist sympathies, his suspected German links, his possible involvement in arms trafficking and his notorious indiscretion. By 1942, MI5 security service files describe him as a “larger than life” figure.

William Denis Kendall, (27 May 1903 – 19 July 1995), was an engineer, businessman, and politician. During World War II he was Managing Director of the armaments firm British Manufacture and Research Co (BMARC), and from 1942-1950, he was the Member of Parliament for Grantham. In 1952 he emigrated to United States and set up American Manufacture and Research Co to build small diesel engines.