John Kendrick

John Hendrick was a prosperous cloth merchant and patron of the towns of Reading and Newburry in Berkshire.

Born in Reading, Berkshire into an old and respected family, Kendrick was sent to education at Reading School and St John’s College. His business inclinations led him to London where he eventually made a fortune as member of the Drapers’ Company involved in cloth trade. Commerce, mainly with Holland, brought him a substantial personal wealth of more than 30 thousand pounds.

In his will he left charitable bequest for various purposes. The £4,000 he left to Newbury was used to build a “cloth manufactory”, where unemployed clothworkers could be employed until the trade in the town recovered. As it didn’t happen, the building was relocated several times before being restored in 1903 as the Newbury Borough Museum. Today known as the Cloth Hall it forms a part of the West Berkshire Museum.