While a master of the blue coat, or charity, school of Totnes, he attracted notice by some short poems, particularly ‘On the Recovery of the Hon. Mrs. Eliz. Courtenay from her Late Dangerous Illness’, printed in 1743 and 1747. He benefited from Whig patronage. He was a typical clergyman with a number of preferments, but was also a successful biblical scholar. Kennicott's scholarly endeavours attracted support in Britain and beyond. In England subscriptions amounted to £9119 7s. 6d.; he also had a high number of ranking patrons who supported him financially. His Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum cum variis lectionibus attracted some controversy but secured his academic reputation. The only verse he wrote seems to have been occasional written in his early years.