Memorial Service

Martin Kenyon (1929-2022)

Martin Kenyon was a publisher, church governor and supporter of overseas students, a lifelong campaigner against apartheid and a feminist.

Kenyon achieved 15 minutes of fame in December 2020, when he drove himself to Guy’s Hospital to become one of the first people to be inoculated against COVID-19. He became a media sensation when he said he couldn’t park his car and it didn’t hurt at all – and asked Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain, ‘And who are you?’

In 1945, he was a King’s Scholar at Eton when he was chosen to show Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret around.

George VI was visiting the school to bestow a knighthood on the Provost, Henry Marten.

At school he made friends with future politicians Douglas Hurd and Jeremy Thorpe.

In Africa, he became director of the Overseas Students Trust, getting to know Bishop Trevor Huddleston and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He became godfather to their daughters. He also befriended Nelson Mandela.

Tutu’s daughter, the Rev Mpho Tutu van Furth, was Kenyon’s goddaughter. She was banned from conducting his funeral in Shropshire by the Bishop of Hereford on the grounds that she is married to a woman. The funeral was instead held in a marquee at the family home in Shropshire.

The Rev Mpho Tutu van Furth led the memorial service in Stockwell.

‘God accept our prayers,’ she said. ‘Send us tears in return.’

Martin’s daughters, Nina and Eliza, both said prayers.

‘God, thank you for Pa, for Martin, for his full and excellent life,’ said Eliza, a singer and voice coach. ‘Thank you for the rich web of connection he shared with so many humans.’

‘Open our eyes and hearts so that we may be able to discern your work in the universe and be able to see your features in every one of us,’ said Nina, a nurse and photographer, whose wedding was attended by Archbishop Tutu.

JAMES HUGHES-ONSLOW