Sir John Kelk, 1st Baronet
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John Kelk MP |
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Member of Parliament for Harwich |
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In office 12 July 1865 – 17 November 1868 Serving with Henry Jervis-White-Jervis |
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| Preceded by |
Henry Jervis-White-Jervis Richard Rowley |
| Succeeded by | Henry Jervis-White-Jervis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 February 1816 Soho, London, UK |
| Died | 12 September 1886 (aged 70) Tedworth House, Tidworth, Wiltshire, UK |
| Resting place | Kensal Green Cemetery |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Rebecca Anne Kelk (m. 1848) |
| Children | Five, including John Kelk |
| Parents | John Kelk Martha Germain |
| Residence | Tedworth House |
Sir John Kelk, 1st Baronet (16 February 1816 – 12 September 1886) was a British Conservative Party politician, builder and public works contractor.
Kelk was the son of his namesake, John Kelk, an ironsmith, and Martha, daughter of Jacob Germain. In 1848, he married his cousin, Rebecca Anne, daughter of George Kelk, and together they had five children:
Kelk started his career, after a commercial education, as an apprentice of builder Thomas Cubitt, with whom he later had fierce competition, and then went into partnership with William Newton. Upon Newton's retirement, he amalgamated the business with another Mayfair builder, John Elger, and then worked on rebuilding houses in Grosvenor Square, and churches St Michael's, Chester Square, and All Saints, Margaret Street.
He also built Kneller Hall in Twickenham, the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, designed by James Pennethorne, from 1849 to 1851, and in 1854 was involved in the reconstruction of the Carlton Club in Pall Mall.
His firm was the main contractor for the Albert Memorial, a task which saw him "striking terror into at least one of the sculptors". This monument, inaugurated in 1872, saw him, and its architect George Gilbert Scott, offered a knighthood; while Scott accepted, Kelk refused, perhaps seeking the baronetcy he later obtained from Benjamin Disraeli on 16 May 1874 - the title was inherited by his son on his death in 1886.
He generated considerable wealth in the construction relating to railways and docks, acting primarily as the promoter rather than contractor, and handing over the firm to Smith and Taylor, his foremen, in 1862. During this period, he built the Commercial Dock Company's south dock in Rotherhithe, and was a partner in the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, which produced the Royal Navy's first seafaring ironclad warship HMS Warrior in 1860, and the ironwork for Blackfriars Railway Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge.
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