Page 74 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

the First World War he was a Trooper with the Worcestershire Yeomanry, Corps of Hussars,
serving in Egypt to protect the Suez Canal. There he was wounded and taken prisoner of war at
the Battle of Katia by Ottoman (Turkish) troops. He was first in prison in Damascus, Syria, writing
home that “I am having a really good time. We are in fact, being treated as though we were for
the Turks instead of against them.” Later he was moved to a POW camp in Turkey with a similar
reputation for treating prisoners well. During the last War he served as a Lieutenant helping
command the Worcestershire Army Cadet Force. Among the numerous organisations in which
he held office were the local Hospital Board of Management and the Marriage Guidance Council.
He was brother of Bert Crump who joined the club in 1943 (#252) and father of Mike Crump who
joined in 1960 (#373).

229 Cyril Granville MURRAY (1896-1983) (Elected c.29.7.1940; resigned 13.3.1945 on joining the
newly formed Tipton club.) Chemist and druggist. He established his own drug store in Horseley
Heath, Tipton in 1920 after having served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a pharmacist
during the First World War. In 1927 he opened a further pharmacy at Tividale, soon followed
by one at Kates Hill, Dudley. Over successive decades the firm has grown to become Murray’s
Healthcare with around two dozen retail pharmacies. For several years from the inauguration
of the National Health Service in 1947 he served as a Pharmaceutical Committee member of the
Staffordshire county NHS Executive Committee.

230 Robert (‘Bob’) Foster KENNEDY (1907-1989) (Elected 9.12.1940; resigned 15.8.1944.) Theatres.
With his younger brother and business partner Maurice - elected to the
club on the same date - he was a director of Kennedy’s Enterprises,
owners of numerous cinemas and theatres around the Black Country.
They took over the business as joint managing directors following the
death of their father Ben Kennedy in 1939. Bob had been General
Manager of the Plaza Cinema from 1932 and of Dudley Opera House
from 1933 until it burned down in 1936. He then became manager of
the newly built Dudley Hippodrome from 1938. The Hippodrome was
one of the largest venues in the Midlands and attracted major
performers and shows into the 1950s, but with the decline in live variety acts the Kennedy
brothers were forced to sell it in 1958. They also disposed of their other cinema-theatres during
the 1950s. Bob became company manager for a Summer Show at the Palace Theatre, Blackpool
in 1960, starring the singer and comedian Harry Secombe. At the end of the season he became
Harry’s personal manager and continued in that role for the next nearly 30 years, right up to his
own death. They were such good friends that Bob moved down to Surrey to live close to the
star. Bob was born Robert Bernhard. His father, separated from his wife some years previously
but not divorced, adopted his new partner’s surname of Kennedy. So as children the brothers
were known as Robert Bernhard Kennedy and Morris Bernhard Kennedy. They dropped the
‘Bernhard’ as young men. During the last War Bob was a Pilot Officer, rising to Flight Lieutenant,
in the RAF Volunteer Reserve, serving as Commanding Officer of the 347 (Dudley) Squadron Air
Training Corps. He became first President of the Dudley RAF Association formed in 1946.

231 Maurice KENNEDY (1911-1962) (Elected as Additional Active Member
9.12.1940; resigned 8.11.48.) Theatres. With his older brother Robert (see
previous entry) he was joint managing director of Kennedy’s Enterprises,
operators of cinemas and theatres. Before his father’s death in 1939 he
was assistant to his brother as manager of the Plaza Cinema, Dudley
Opera House and Dudley Hippodrome. He left the club on moving home
from Kingswinford to Streetly. After he and his brother sold Dudley
Hippodrome in 1958, Maurice was unsettled and went from one job to
another, starting as divisional manager for Landscape and Gardens in