Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa, KT, FRS (February 1770 – 8 September 1846), styled Lord Kennedy between 1792–4 and known as the Earl of Cassillis between 1794 and 1831, was a Scottish peer.
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Early life
Kennedy was the eldest son of Archibald Kennedy, 11th Earl of Cassillis, a Scottish peer who lived in the English Colony of New York, and, his second wife, Anne Watts. Among his siblings were the Hon. John Kennedy (who married Charlotte Gill), Hon. Robert Kennedy (who married Jane Macomb, a daughter of merchant Alexander Macomb) and Lady Anne Kennedy (who married William Henry Digby). Before his parents' marriage, his father was married to, and widowed from, Katherine Schuyler (a daughter of Peter Schuyler and granddaughter of Arent Schuyler). Katherine was an only child, so she inherited all of her father's estate upon his death in 1762 and Kennedy inherited the entire estate after her death in 1765.
His paternal grandparents were Archibald Kennedy (a direct descendant of the second son of the 3rd Earl of Cassilis) and Maria (née Walter) Kennedy. His maternal grandparents were John Watts and Ann (née DeLancey) Watts (a granddaughter of Stephen Delancey). His uncle was U.S. Representative John Watts, who had served as the Speaker of the New York State Assembly.
He became known by the courtesy title Lord Kennedy when his father succeeded to the earldom of Cassillis in 1792.