Charles Tennant (1 July 1796 – 10 March 1873) was an English landowner and politician.

Life and politics

Tennant was born in Bloomsbury, London. He was the second son of George Tennant (1765–1832), of 62, Russell Square, London, also of Rhydings and of Cadoxton Lodge, Glamorganshire, attorney (in practice at 2, Gray's Inn Square, in partnership with Thomas Green) and landowner, builder of the

Neath and Tennant Canal The Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked canals in South Wales that are usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath, in 1795 and extended to Giant's Gr ...

in Glamorganshire, by his wife Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Beetson. He was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

; and then studied law. He was articled to his father in 1812, and admitted as a partner with him and Richard Harrison in 1821. His subsequent travels in Europe led to the writing of two volumes of memoirs of this trip, which were published in 1824. From 1830 to 1831, he was Member of Parliament for

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, with James Grimston. He supported the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

. In 1830 he was one of the founders of the National Colonisation Society, advocating emigration to

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

. On his father's death in 1832, he became head of the law firm, and lived at his father's house at Russell Square. Tennant married aged 51; his wife, Gertrude Barbara Rich Collier (1819–1918), was a notable society hostess. They had a son, Charles Coombe Tennant (1852–1928)- whose wife,

Winifred Coombe Tennant Mrs Winifred Margaret Coombe Tennant (1 November 1874 – 31 August 1956) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, philanthropist, patron of the arts and spiritualist. She and her husband lived near Swansea in South Wales, where she beca ...

(née Pearce-Serocold),Burke's Landed Gentry 9th ed., Ashworth P. Burke, 1898, p. 1333, 1450 was a suffragist and Liberal politician- and five daughters, three surviving to adulthood: Alice (1848–1930), who remained unmarried;

Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Dorot ...

(1855–1926), who married the explorer

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...

; and Eveleen (1856–1937), who married the spiritualist and classical scholar

Frederic William Henry Myers Frederic William Henry Myers (6 February 1843 – 17 January 1901) was a British poet, classicist, philologist, and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Myers' work on psychical research and his ideas about a "subliminal self" we ...

(1843–1901). Tennant's political publications include ''The People's Blue Book'' (1857) and ''The Bank of England and the Organization of Credit in England'' (1866), opposing the

Bank Charter Act 1844 The Bank Charter Act 1844 ( 7 & 8 Vict. c. 32), sometimes referred to as the Peel Banking Act of 1844, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed under the government of Robert Peel, which restricted the powers of British bank ...

. He wrote, in 1834, a poem, ''The State of Man'', in which he purposed to 'exhibit, in a concise form, a view of the Divine purpose in the creation of Man'; it was however not in the least concise, running to 4,026 lines. Between 1856 and 1869 he wrote and published numerous works, covering such disparate subjects as decimal coinage,

Utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...

and railways. He spent his final years living at 2, Richmond Terrace, London, having retired from his legal practice in 1866; on his death his only son, Charles, inherited Cadoxton.

References

* 1796 births 1873 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1830–1831 People educated at Harrow School English landowners People from Bloomsbury Advocates of colonization 19th-century English businesspeople {{England-UK-MP-stub