Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt

Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt (20 July 1784 – 21 July 1861), born Charles Tennyson, was a British politician, landowner and Member of Parliament for Stamford from 1831 to 1832 and for Lambeth from 1832 to 1852. He is also known for his social pretensions and his graceless behaviour towards his nephew, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge.[1]


Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt

Member of Parliament for Lambeth
In office
1832–1852
Preceded byNew constituency
Succeeded byWilliam Arthur Wilkinson
William Williams
Member of Parliament for Stamford
In office
1831–1832
Serving with Lord Thomas Cecil
Preceded byLord Thomas Cecil
Thomas Chaplin
Succeeded byThomas Chaplin
George Finch
Clerk of the Ordnance
In office
December 1830  February 1832
Preceded bySpencer Perceval
Succeeded byThomas Francis Kennedy
Member of Parliament for Bletchingley
In office
1826–1831
Preceded byLord Francis Leveson-Gower
Edward Henry Edwardes
Succeeded byThomas Hyde Villiers
Henry John Temple
Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
In office
1818–1826
Serving with John Nicholas Fazakerley, William Duncombe
Preceded bySir Robert Heron, Bt
John Peter Grant
Succeeded byCharles Wood
George Heneage
Personal details
Born
Charles Tennyson

(1784-07-20)20 July 1784
Died21 July 1861(1861-07-21) (aged 77)
Spouse(s)
Frances Mary Hutton
(m. 1808; his death 1861)
RelationsAlfred, Lord Tennyson (nephew)
ParentsGeorge Tennyson
Elizabeth Clayton
ResidenceBayons Manor
Alma materSt John's College, Cambridge

Early life

He was the younger son of Elizabeth (née Clayton) Tennyson and George Tennyson, who bought the family seat of Bayons, in the village of Tealby, Lincolnshire, along with 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land, and came in time to own a large part of the village. His elder sister, Elizabeth Tennyson, was the wife of Matthew Russell, MP. At the age of 12, his elder brother George Clayton Tennyson was disinherited by their father, put into a career in the Church, and the family fortune was bestowed on Charles. As a result, there was bad blood between the Tennysons of Somersby, where his brother lived before his death, and the opulent Tennysons of Bayons, who considered themselves socially superior.[2]

His mother was the daughter, and eventual heir, of John Turner of Caistor and claimed to be descended from the Lords of Lovel and d'Eyncourt, and also from King Edward III. His paternal grandparents were Michael Tennyson and Elizabeth (née Carlton) Tennyson.[2]

Career

Bayons Manor, 1859

Upon his father's death at Usselby Hall in July 1835, Tennyson inherited the family estates and changed his family's name to Tennyson d'Eyncourt. A ruined castle was part of the property, and Charles wished to establish a noble lineage for himself with a title and a castle. Beacons was renamed Bayons, to make it sound like a Norman castle, and it was extensively enlarged and rebuilt in the style of a Gothic castellated manor-house.[2]

Public life

For many years, he was MP for Lambeth,[3] and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1832.[4] Also in the 1830s, along with Augustus, Duke of Sussex and Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, he was one of the prime movers in a plan to have the Order of Knights Templar revived as a British order of chivalry.[5] In this he failed, and he also failed during 1839–1841 in an attempt to revive the d'Eyncourt peerage for himself and his heirs. In February 1829 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[6]

He published, in 1850 a book of poems, Eustace, in memory of his youngest and favourite son who had died abroad; it had the misfortune to appear at the same time as Tennyson's In Memoriam, and suffered greatly by the comparison. Charles thoroughly disapproved of the poetry of his nephew Alfred (Horrid rubbish indeed . . . a discredit to British taste), and the latter's appointment as Poet Laureate in the same year and subsequent offer of a baronetcy caused him outrage and chagrin. He did not live long enough to have to endure a 'Somersby Tennyson' being elevated to the peerage.[3]

Personal life

On 1 January 1808, Tennyson was married to Frances Mary Hutton, the only child and heiress of the Rev. John Hutton, Rector of Lea. Together, they were the parents of five sons and three daughters:[3]

Tennyson d'Eyncourt died on 21 July 1861. His widow died in January 1878.[3]

Descendants

The Tennyson d'Eyncourt family eventually gained its baronetcy at the beginning of the 20th century and still continues. The most significant member of the family was the naval architect Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt (1868–1951), the First Baronet, who was the Royal Navy's Director of Naval Construction in the first decades of the 20th century.

References

  1. "Tennyson, Charles (TNY801C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. Mazzeno, Laurence W. (2020). Alfred Tennyson: A Companion. McFarland. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-4766-4084-6. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  3. "TENNYSON, Charles (1784-1861), of 4 Park Street, Mdx. and Bayons Manor, Lincs". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  4. "D'Eyncourt, Charles Tennyson-" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  7. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. 1882. p. 1577. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Military offices
Preceded by
Spencer Perceval
Clerk of the Ordnance
1830–1832
Succeeded by
Thomas Francis Kennedy
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Robert Heron, Bt
John Peter Grant
Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
18181826
With: John Nicholas Fazakerley 1818–20
William Duncombe 1820–26
Succeeded by
Charles Wood
George Heneage
Preceded by
Lord Francis Leveson-Gower
Edward Henry Edwardes
Member of Parliament for Bletchingley
1826–1831
With: William Russell 1826–27
Hon, William Lamb 1827–28
William Ewart 1828–30
Robert William Mills 1830 – February 1831
William Horne February–April 1831
Hon. John Ponsonby April–July 1831
Succeeded by
Thomas Hyde Villiers
Henry John Temple
Preceded by
Lord Thomas Cecil
Thomas Chaplin
Member of Parliament for Stamford
18311832
With: Lord Thomas Cecil
Succeeded by
Thomas Chaplin
George Finch
New constituency Member of Parliament for Lambeth
18321852
With: Benjamin Hawes to 1847
Charles Pearson 1847–1850
William Williams from 1850
Succeeded by
William Arthur Wilkinson
William Williams
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