Handwritten account in black ink in an a5 leather bound notebook, in good condition although the covers are rubbed and the spine is worn and starting to detach at the preface, but holding on to the netting. His book plate is pasted onto the front paste-down end paper.
The daily entries on the outward bound journey give a detailed description of life on board a Union Castle Liner in 1905-1906. He sailed on the RMS Briton from Cape Town to Southampton The List of passengers for this voyage, daily music programmes, athletics programmes, concert programmes and menus are pasted onto the pages opposite his text. There are also several photographs of passengers without captions pasted in the volume, and sketches of passengers that he drew while on board.
By way of a preface he writes: Diary scribbling has not the same attraction for me as it once had – and over 5 years have passed since I wielded pen in this direction. I propose to follow an old rule dear to me years ago of recording holiday trips in Ms as they afterwards possess certai npoints of interest to the writer. This is my one excuse and apology for thus embarking on the present enterprise.
The journey from Cape Town to Southampton took place from August 16 – September 2 1905:
Aug. 25th Friday: Another hot night – tho' the morning is bright and jolly. The band plays on deck again – and some of the games tournaments are proceeded with. Aug.28th Monday: The magnificent peak of Teneriffe is seen right away up in the sky at almost 6am and many people turn out to see it gradually growing.
On 15 September he travelled to Marseilles and Monte Carlo before embarking on a month long visit to Italy.
Friday Nov 10. A fine day made a visit to Tivoli possible – and so we embark in the steam train at 9.20am and cover the 22 miles or so dividing it from Rome in almost an hour.
His return journey to Cape Town commenced on January 13 1906 on the Kinfauns Castle.
On Wed. Jan17 we arrive at Madeira and mostly go ashore landing at almost 7:15 am. The last programme of music is inserted and dated 27 January. The entries in the homeward bound voyage start to taper off.
Franklin Kay Kendall 1870 -1948 A leading South African architect who worked in Cape Town, Kendall was a senior partner in the firm of BAKER & KENDALL. He was born in Melbourne, Australia and was the son of FR Kendall, a manager of the P & O Shipping Line. The family returned to England where Kendall was educated at Blackheath School, London. From the age of fifteen or (1885) he worked in the office and workshops of a builder, SJ Jerrard in Lewisham until 1887. He then studied from 1887 to 1888 at King's College, London University and attended evening classes at Blackheath. Kendall arrived in South Africa in March 1896 and was employed for a few months in John Parker's office in Cape Town, leaving to work for Sydney Stent in Cape Town.
In 1896 he joined Herbert Baker where he was an assistant before being made a junior partner in 1897. For three years Kendall managed the firm's office in Bloemfontein (1902-1905), supervising the erection of the Government Offices of the Orange River Colony and the house of Lord Basil Blackwood. He became ill and returned to Cape Town in 1905. He was made a senior partner in the firm in 1906, the year that he married Annie Izard.
From 1910 Kendall was on his own in the Cape Town office, a deed of partnership between Baker and himself being drawn up to November 1911. Kendall was elected a Fellow of the RIBA in 1912 and Baker was witness to his papers, adding a note that Kendall was 'intent on artistic consideration in his architecture.' In 1919 he was appointed consulting architect in connection with Cape Town Garden Suburb Kendall died in 1948 .
Kendall was keenly interested in both architectural education and in the arts. He was a founder member of the early South African Society of Architects (1899, 1901) which became the Cape Institute of Architects in 1902 and was a member of the South African Society of Artists (SASA) from its conception in 1902, exhibiting at the Society's exhibitions. He was an enthusiastic amateur dramatic and helped form the Garrick Dramatic Society in Cape Town. He was appointed to the Advertising and Attractions Committee for the Improvement of the Peninsula in Cape Town in 1911.
His active interest in fine art led him to being a founder member of the Fine Arts Association, which later became the South African Association of Arts and was fundamental to the foundation of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town (of which he was the architect ) Kendall became a Trustee of the Gallery and was President of the Fine Arts Association from 1917 to 1918.
He was also President of the South African Guild of Arts and Crafts in 1919 and co-founder the National Society, being its President from 1928 to 1929. This Society later became the National Monuments Council. He assisted in founding the University of Cape Town School of Architecture where he was external examiner for several years. A long and close association with the photographer Arthur Elliot led him to fight for the preservation of Elliott's photographic works for the South African nation. He founded the Elliott Fund Committee to try and raise the necessary funds.
His interests extended to the Animal welfare Society, the Cape Town Photographic Society, the History Society of South Africa and the Kipling Society. He was a founder member of the Owl Club in 1896. Kendall lived at Pelyn, Kenilworth, Cape Town, a house he designed himself, named after the ancestral home of the Kendals in Cornwall, England http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/archframes.php?archid=879
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