Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt (20 July 1784 – 21 July 1861), born Charles Tennyson, was a British politician, landowner and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Stamford from 1831 to 1832 and for

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area e ...

from 1832 to 1852. He is also known for his social pretensions and his graceless behaviour towards his nephew, the poet

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

. He was educated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

Early life

He was the younger son of Elizabeth (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Clayton) Tennyson and George Tennyson, who bought the family seat of Bayons, in the village of

Tealby Tealby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds and north-east of Market Rasen. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 593. Communi ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, 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. 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 Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

. His paternal grandparents were Michael Tennyson and Elizabeth (née Carlton) Tennyson.

Career

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 Bayons ( oc, Baion) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of south-eastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Bayonnais'' or ''Bayonnaises''. Geography Bayons is lo ...

, to make it sound like a Norman castle, and it was extensively enlarged and rebuilt in the style of a Gothic castellated manor-house.

Public life

For many years, he was MP for

, and was made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

in 1832. 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 , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

revived as a British

order of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and paired with medieval concept ...

. 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 Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

. 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 A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

in the same year and subsequent offer of a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

cy caused him outrage and chagrin. He did not live long enough to have to endure a 'Somersby Tennyson' being elevated to the peerage.

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: * George Hildeyard Tennyson D'Eyncourt (1809–1871), who did not marry. * Edwin Clayton Tennyson d'Eyncourt (1813–1903), who entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

and became an

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

; he married Lady Henrietta Pelham-Clinton, a daughter of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle. * Louis Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt (1814–1896), who married Sophia Yates, a daughter of John Ashton Yates, MP for Carlow County; they lived at Hadley House in Middlesex. * Eustace Alexander Tennyson D'Eyncourt (1816–1842), his favorite son who died unmarried in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

. * Ellen Elizabeth Tennyson D'Eyncourt (1817–1900), who married Henry Mill Bunbury of Marlston House, High Sheriff of Berkshire. * William Henry Tennyson D'Eyncourt (1819–1819), who died in infancy. * Julia Frances Tennyson D'Eyncourt (d. 1879), who became a nun at

Princethorpe Princethorpe is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2011 census the parish had a population 376, increasing to 429 at the 2021 census. Princethorpe is located roughly halfway between the towns of Ru ...

in 1852. * Clara Maria Tennyson D'Eyncourt (d. 1863), who married

John Hinde Palmer John Hinde Palmer (1808 – 2 June 1884) was an English barrister and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1868 and 1884. Early life Palmer was the son of Samuel Palmer of Dulwich Common and his wife M ...

, MP for Lincoln, in 1849. Tennyson d'Eyncourt died on 21 July 1861. His widow died in January 1878.

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 The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer res ...

in the first decades of the 20th century.

References

External links

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Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt (1784-1861), Politician; MP for Stamford and Lambeth
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from West Lindsey District