Barry Kemp was born on 14 May 1940 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK. He was married to Miriam Bertram. He died on 15 May 2024 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2011 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to archaeology, education and International Relations with Egypt. He is the Senior Research Fellow for the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.