Dennis Harper Kennelly (informally known as "Ken") was of Irish descent. He started collecting shells at Port Alfred at the age of twelve under the guidance of Scott Kincaid* and John Farquhar*. In later years he collected intensively at Jeffreys Bay and Port Elizabeth. He built up several collections, of which the first two were sold to the Albany Museum and the Port Elizabeth Museum respectively. His third and largest collection was acquired by the East London Museum. He was always prepared to share his knowledge and experience with others and his enthusiasm inspired many potential collectors. He wrote many popular articles about shells and shell collecting, for example, an issue of the journal Mollusca (Vol. 2(1), 1947) contained 9 short articles, all of them by Kennelly, including "Jeffreys Bay - South Africa, the shell collectors dream", "Shell collecting at Cape Receife, Port Elizabeth, South Africa", "Notes on some new South African Marine shells", and "Notes on the 'sand mussel' Donax serra Roding". At this time he was living in Uitenhage.
Kennelly was a member of the Conchological Society of Southern Africa and served as its president from 1964 to his death in 1971. In 1962 he joined the staff of the East London Museum as a part-time informal conchologist. Two years later he published a popular book, Marine shells of southern Africa (1964). A second edition appeared in 1969. He did not describe any new species of molluscs and no species appear to have been named after him. He was married in 1931 to May Frances Dance Milborrow, with whom he had a son.
