Paul Kempton 1951-2021

My younger brother Paul was born in North London. The family moved to Sevenoaks in 1953 where he attended St Thomas’ primary school, then Sevenoaks School from 1963 to 1970.

Paul was a member of the athletics and rugby teams and will be remembered as one of the ‘bouncers’ practising three to four hours daily after school in Johnson Hall (then a gym). With James Forder, son of the housemaster of School House, he was a leading light in the squad that won the senior team prize in the Kent Schools Trampoline Championships in 1966, and he was selected to compete for England in the European Schools Championships in Germany later that year.

He originally intended to qualify as a building surveyor, but decided to switch to insurance, joining Pickford, Dawson & Holland, which later merged with Lloyd Thompson and Jardine Matheson, where he met his wife Sally in 1980. Paul lived and breathed insurance, so he and Sally resolved to strike out on their own and set up Sennocke International Insurance Services Limited in 1990, initially with three employees. Based in Sevenoaks, the company quickly expanded thanks to Paul’s broad knowledge of the insurance market and his drive and determination to succeed.

Paul was an innovator with a keen eye for new market opportunities. Probably his biggest commercial success was to move into the new but burgeoning self-build insurance market in 2010. He created the Self Build Zone and Build-Zone insurance brands followed by Build-Zone Survey Services, firmly cementing Sennocke’s leading position in the sector.

He had a huge impact on the many people he met and worked with, and who have fond memories of him. His legacy continues through the company he created, which will undoubtedly continue to live up to the values he instilled in his employees.

Paul was a keen golfer, a member of Wildernesse Golf Club and a great supporter of the Old Sennockians Golf Society, which he represented with distinction for over 30 years in the Grafton Morrish Tournament, held annually on the north Norfolk coast.

He passed away on 24 May 2021 after a short battle with cancer, leaving his wife Sally, three children (two of whom attended Sevenoaks School) and two grandchildren.

Richard Kempton (OS 1966)