Editing Alfred, Lord Tennyson (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
Tennyson was born on 6 August 1809 in [[Somersby, Lincolnshire]], England.<ref>Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Brief Biography, Glenn Everett, Associate Professor of English, the University of Tennessee at Martin.</ref> He was born into a successful middle-class family of minor landowning status distantly descended from [[John Savage, 2nd Earl Rivers]], and [[Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale]].<ref name=savagearmstrong>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MU5RKM6ekl4C&pg=PA51 |pages=50–52 |title=The Ancient and Noble Family of the Savages of the Ards, with Sketches of English and American Branches of the House of Savage: Comp. From Historical Documents and Family Papers |last=Savage-Armstrong |first=George Francis |year=1888}}</ref>[[File: W.E.F. Britten - The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson - The Garden at Somersby Rectory.jpg|thumb|upright|An illustration by [[William Edward Frank Britten|W. E. F. Britten]] showing Somersby Rectory, where Tennyson was raised and began writing]] His father, George Clayton Tennyson (1778–1831), was an Anglican clergyman who served as rector of Somersby (1807–1831), also rector of [[Benniworth]] (1802–1831) and [[Bag Enderby]], and vicar of [[Grimsby]] (1815). He raised a large family and "was a man of superior abilities and varied attainments, who tried his hand with fair success in architecture, painting, music, and poetry. He was comfortably well off for a country clergyman, and his shrewd money management enabled the family to spend summers at [[Mablethorpe]] and [[Skegness]] on the eastern coast of England". George Clayton Tennyson was the elder son of attorney and [[Member of parliament|MP]] George Tennyson (1749/50–1835), [[Magistrate (England and Wales)|JP]], [[Deputy lieutenant|DL]], of [[Bayons Manor]] and [[Usselby]] Hall, who had also inherited the estates of his mother's family, the Claytons, and married Mary, daughter and heiress of John Turner, of [[Caistor]], Lincolnshire. George Clayton Tennyson was however pushed into a career in the church and passed over as heir in favour of his younger brother [[Charles Tennyson-d'Eyncourt|Charles]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/tennyson-george-1750-1835 |title=TENNYSON, George (1750–1835), of Bayon's Manor, Lincs. &#124; History of Parliament Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lincolnshirewolds.info/tennyson/tennysonsfather.htm |title=George Tennyson}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raseheritage.org.uk/the-tennysons/ |title=Tennyson |date=11 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marketrasenheritagetour.co.uk/stories/tennysons |title=The Tennysons in Market Rasen :: Market Rasen, All Our Stories}}</ref><ref name=savagearmstrong/> Their mother, Elizabeth (1781–1865), was the daughter of Stephen Fytche (1734–1799),{{citation needed|date=April 2025|reason=Her maiden name appears to be Clayton; why isn't it Fytche?}} vicar of [[St. James Church, Louth]] (1764), and rector of [[Withcall]] (1780), a small village between [[Horncastle]] and [[Louth, Lincolnshire|Louth]]. Tennyson's father "carefully attended to the education and training of his children".

Tennyson, recalling the poetic influences of his youth, said, "as a boy I was an enormous admirer of [[Lord Byron|Byron]]."<ref>"Excerpts from Hallam Tennyson's Memoir" in "Alfred Tennyson: The Major Works" (Oxford World's Classics), p. 541.</ref> Tennyson and two of his elder brothers were writing poetry in their teens and a collection of poems by all three was published locally when Alfred was only 17. One of those brothers, [[Charles Tennyson Turner]], later married Louisa Sellwood, the younger sister of Alfred's [[Emily Tennyson, Lady Tennyson|future wife]]; the other was [[Frederick Tennyson]]. Another of Tennyson's brothers, Edward Tennyson, was institutionalised at a private asylum.

The noted psychologist [[William James]], in his book ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience]]'', quoted Tennyson concerning a type of experience with which Tennyson was familiar: <blockquote>"A kind of waking trance I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has often come upon me through repeating my own name. All at once, as it were out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality, individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and this was not a confused state but the clearest, the surest of the sure, utterly beyond words…"<ref>James, William. ''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature''. Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books, p. 295. 1902/2012. ISBN 1614273154.</ref></blockquote>

===Education and first publication===
[[File:StatueOfTennyson.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Statue of Lord Tennyson in the chapel of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]]]

Tennyson was a student of [[King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth]] from 1816 to 1820.<ref name="Parsons">''Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson.'' Eugene Parsons (Introduction). New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1900.</ref> He entered [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in 1827, where he joined a secret society called the [[Cambridge Apostles]].<ref>{{acad|id=TNY827A|name=Tennyson, Alfred}}</ref> A portrait of Tennyson by [[George Frederic Watts]] is in Trinity's collection.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trinity College, University of Cambridge|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/trinity-college-cambridge-5846_locations|publisher=BBC Your Paintings|access-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140511164255/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/trinity-college-cambridge-5846_locations|archive-date=11 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

At Cambridge, Tennyson met [[Arthur Hallam]] and [[William Henry Brookfield]], who became his closest friends. His first publication was a collection of "his boyish rhymes and those of his elder brother Charles" entitled ''Poems by Two Brothers'', published in 1827.<ref name="Parsons"/>

In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the [[Chancellor's Gold Medal]] at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu".<ref>Friedlander, Ed. "[http://www.pathguy.com/timbuc.htm Enjoying "Timbuktu" by Alfred Tennyson]"</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/asop/people/alfred_tennyson.shtml|title= Lincolnshire People – Famous Yellowbellies – Alfred, Lord Tennyson|date=31 August 2005|publisher=BBC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050831192254/http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/asop/people/alfred_tennyson.shtml|archive-date=31 August 2005|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref> Reportedly, "it was thought to be no slight honour for a young man of twenty to win the chancellor's gold medal".<ref name="Parsons"/> He published his first solo collection of poems, ''Poems Chiefly Lyrical'' in 1830. "[[Claribel (poem)|Claribel]]" and "[[Mariana (poem)|Mariana]]", which later took their place among Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although decried by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].

===Return to Lincolnshire, second publication, Epping Forest===
In the spring of 1831, Tennyson's father died, requiring him to leave [[Cambridge]] before taking his degree. He returned to the rectory, where he was permitted to live for another six years and shared responsibility for his widowed mother and the family. [[Arthur Hallam]] came to stay with his family during the summer and became engaged to Tennyson's sister, Emilia Tennyson.

[[File:John William Waterhouse - The Lady of Shalott - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[John William Waterhouse]]'s ''[[The Lady of Shalott (painting)|The Lady of Shalott]]'', 1888 ([[Tate Britain]], London)]]

{{Quote box |width=285px |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right
 |quote =<poem>
'''''The May Queen'''''

YOU must wake and call me early, call me early, 
     mother dear;
To-morrow 'll be the happiest time of all the glad 
     new-year, –
Of all the glad new-year, mother, the maddest, 
     merriest day;
For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to 
     be Queen o' the May.

As I came up the valley, whom think ye should 
     I see
But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the 
     hazel-tree?
He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave 
     him yesterday, –
But I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to 
     be Queen o' the May.

They say he's dying all for love, – but that can 
     never be;
They say his heart is breaking, mother, – what 
     is that to me?
There's many a bolder lad 'll woo me any sum-
     mer day;
And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to 
     be Queen o' the May.

If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my 
     resting-place;
Though you'll not see me, mother, I shall look 
     upon your face;
Though I cannot speak a word, I shall hearken 
     what you say,
And be often, often with you when you think I'm 
     far away. 

So now I think my time is near; I trust it is. 
     I know
The blessed music went that way my soul will 
     have to go.
And for myself, indeed, I care not if I go to-day;
But Effie, you must comfort her when I am past 
     away.

And say to Robin a kind word, and tell him not 
     to fret;
There's many worthier than I, would make him 
     happy yet.
If I had lived – I cannot tell – I might have 
     been his wife;
But all these things have ceased to be, with my 
     desire of life.

Forever and forever, all in a blessed home,
And there to wait a little while till you and 
     Effie come, –
To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your 
     breast, –
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
     weary are at rest.
</poem>|source = ''From "The May Queen" poem by Alfred Tennyson''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kXd4bRr71a4C&dq=Charles+Timothy+Brooks+ON+Alpine+heights&pg=PA239 ''A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from The Best Poets. With An Introduction by William Cullen Bryant''], New York, J.B. Ford and Company, 1871, pp. 239–242.</ref>}}

In 1833 Tennyson published his second book of poetry, which notably included the first version of "[[The Lady of Shalott]]". The volume met heavy criticism, which so discouraged Tennyson that he did not publish again for ten years, although he did continue to write. That same year, Hallam died suddenly and unexpectedly after suffering a [[cerebral haemorrhage]] while on a holiday in [[Vienna]]. Hallam's death had a profound effect on Tennyson and inspired several poems, including "In the Valley of Cauteretz" and "[[In Memoriam A.H.H.]]", a long poem detailing the "Way of the Soul".<ref name="H. Tennyson, 1897">H. Tennyson (1897). ''Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son'', New York: MacMillan.</ref>

Tennyson and his family were allowed to stay in the rectory for some time, but later moved to Beech Hill Park, [[High Beach]], deep within [[Epping Forest]], [[Essex]], about 1837. Tennyson's son recalled: "there was a pond in the park on which in winter my father might be seen skating, sailing about on the ice in his long blue cloak. He liked the nearness of London, whither he resorted to see his friends, but he could not stay in town even for a night, his mother being in such a nervous state that he did not like to leave her...".<ref name="H. Tennyson, 1897"/> Tennyson befriended a Dr Allen, who ran a nearby asylum whose patients then included the poet [[John Clare]].<ref>[http://highbeachchurch.org/WhosWhoatHolyInnocents.aspx "History of Holy Innocents Church"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320145841/http://highbeachchurch.org/WhosWhoatHolyInnocents.aspx|date=20 March 2012 }}, Highbeachchurch.org. Retrieved 27 April 2012</ref> An unwise investment in Dr Allen's ecclesiastical wood-carving enterprise soon led to the loss of much of the family fortune, and led to a bout of serious depression.<ref name="H. Tennyson, 1897"/> According to Tennyson's grandson [[Sir Charles Tennyson]], Tennyson met [[Thomas Carlyle]] in 1839, if not earlier.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sanders|first=Charles Richard|date=1961|title=Carlyle and Tennyson|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/460317|journal=PMLA|volume=76|issue=1|pages=82–97|doi=10.2307/460317|jstor=460317|s2cid=164191497 |issn=0030-8129|url-access=registration}}</ref> The pair began a lifelong friendship, and were famous smoking companions. Some of Tennyson's work even bears the influence of Carlyle and his ideas.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Starnes|first=D. T.|title=The Influence of Carlyle Upon Tennyson|date=1921|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43466076|journal=Texas Review|volume=6|issue=4|pages=316–336|jstor=43466076|issn=2380-5382|url-access=registration}}</ref> Tennyson moved to London in 1840 and lived for a time at [[Chapel House, Twickenham]].

===Third publication===<!--only last paragraph has citations-->
On 14 May 1842, while living modestly in London, Tennyson published the two volume ''[[Poems (Tennyson, 1842)|Poems]]'', of which the first included works already published and the second was made up almost entirely of new poems. They met with immediate success; poems from this collection, such as "[[Locksley Hall]]", "[[Break, Break, Break]]", and "[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]", and a new version of "[[The Lady of Shalott]]", have met enduring fame. "[[The Princess (Tennyson poem)|The Princess: A Medley]]", a satire on women's education that came out in 1847, was also popular for its lyrics. [[W. S. Gilbert]] later adapted and parodied the piece twice: in ''[[The Princess (play)|The Princess]]'' (1870) and in ''[[Princess Ida]]'' (1884).

It was in 1850 that Tennyson reached the pinnacle of his career, finally publishing his masterpiece, "[[In Memoriam A.H.H.]]", dedicated to Hallam. Later the same year, he was appointed [[Poet Laureate]], succeeding [[William Wordsworth]]. In the same year (on 13 June), Tennyson married [[Emily Sellwood]], whom he had known since childhood, in the village of [[Shiplake]]. They had two sons, [[Hallam Tennyson]] (b.&nbsp;11 August 1852)—named after his friend—and Lionel (b.&nbsp;16 March 1854).

Tennyson rented [[Farringford House]] on the [[Isle of Wight]] in 1853, eventually buying it in 1856.<ref>[http://www.farringford.co.uk/history.php ''The Home of Tennyson''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224042836/http://www.farringford.co.uk/history.php|date=24 December 2007 }} Rebecca FitzGerald, [http://www.farringford.co.uk/index.php Farringford: The Home of Tennyson]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204063836/http://www.farringford.co.uk/index.php|date=4 December 2008 }} official website</ref> He eventually found that there were too many [[wikt:star-struck|starstruck]] tourists who pestered him in Farringford, so he moved to [[Blackdown, Sussex|Aldworth]], in [[West Sussex]] in 1869.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-410472-aldworth-house-lurgashall-west-sussex|title=Aldworth House – Lurgashall – West Sussex – England – British Listed Buildings|author=Good Stuff|work=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk}}</ref> However, he retained Farringford, and regularly returned there to spend the winters.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Break-break-break-reickemeyer.jpg|''Break, Break, Break, on thy cold grey Stones, o Sea'', a photograph by [[Rudolf Eickemeyer Jr.]] The title is a quote from the 1842 [[Break, Break, Break|poem]].
File:Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson and family.jpg|Tennyson with his wife [[Emily Tennyson, Lady Tennyson|Emily]] (1813–1896) and his sons [[Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson|Hallam]] (1852–1928) and Lionel (1854–1886)
File:Farringford - Lord Tennyson's residence - c1910 - Project Gutenberg eText 17296.jpg|[[Farringford]] – Lord Tennyson's residence on the Isle of Wight
File:Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson by George Frederic Watts.jpg|''Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson'', by [[George Frederic Watts]] (1817–1904)

</gallery>

===Poet Laureate===
[[File:Alfred Tennyson, Vanity Fair, 1871-07-22.jpg|thumb|160px|Captioned "The Poet Laureate", caricature of Tennyson in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 22 July 1871]]
In 1850, after William Wordsworth's death and [[Samuel Rogers]]' refusal, Tennyson was appointed to the position of [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]]; [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]] and [[Leigh Hunt]] had also been considered.<ref name="Batchelor">Batchelor, John. ''Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find.'' London: Chatto and Windus, 2012.</ref> He held the position until his death in 1892, the longest tenure of any laureate. Tennyson fulfilled the requirements of this position, such as by authoring a poem of greeting to [[Princess Alexandra of Denmark]] when she arrived in Britain to marry the future King [[Edward VII]]. In 1855, Tennyson produced one of his best-known works, "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]", a dramatic tribute to the British cavalrymen involved in [[Charge of the Light Brigade|an ill-advised charge]] on 25 October 1854, during the [[Crimean War]]. Other esteemed works written in the post of Poet Laureate include "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" and "Ode Sung at the Opening of the International Exhibition".

[[File:Alfred Tennyson..jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Alfred Tennyson'', portrait by P. Krämer]]

Tennyson declined a [[baronet]]cy offered him by [[Disraeli]] in 1865 and 1868, finally accepting a [[peerage]] in 1883 at [[Gladstone]]'s earnest solicitation. In 1884 Victoria created him '''Baron Tennyson''', of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight|Freshwater in the Isle of Wight]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25308|date=15 January 1884|page=243}}</ref> He took his seat in the House of Lords on 11 March 1884.<ref name="Parsons"/>

Tennyson also wrote a substantial quantity of unofficial political verse, from the bellicose "Form, Riflemen, Form", on the French crisis of 1859 and the [[Volunteer Force (Great Britain)#Creation of the Volunteer Force|Creation of the Volunteer Force]], to "Steersman, be not precipitate in thine act/of steering", deploring Gladstone's [[Home Rule Bill]]. Tennyson's family were [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]] by tradition and Tennyson's own politics fitted the Whig mould, although he would also vote for the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] after the Whigs dissolved.<ref name="Pearsall">{{cite book|last=Pearsall|first=Cornelia D.J.|title=Tennyson's Rapture: Transformation in the Victorian Dramatic Monologue|url=https://archive.org/details/tennysonsrapture00pear|url-access=limited|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tennysonsrapture00pear/page/n48 38]–44|isbn=978-0-19-515054-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ormond|first=Leonee|title=Alfred Tennyson: A Literary Life|date=1993|publisher=Springer|page=146}}</ref> Tennyson believed that society should progress through gradual and steady reform, not revolution, and this attitude was reflected in his attitude toward universal suffrage, which he did not outright reject, but recommended only after the masses had been properly educated and adjusted to self-government.<ref name="Pearsall" /> Upon passage of the [[Reform Act 1832]], Tennyson broke into a local church to ring the bells in celebration.<ref name="Pearsall" />

[[Virginia Woolf]] wrote a play called ''Freshwater'', showing Tennyson as host to his friends [[Julia Margaret Cameron]] and [[G. F. Watts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.primaveraproductions.com/index.php?area=productions&subarea=single&id=21%7ctitle=primaveraproductions.com%7cwork=primaveraproductions.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923175341/http://www.primaveraproductions.com/index.php?area=productions&subarea=single&id=21%7ctitle=primaveraproductions.com%7cwork=primaveraproductions.com|url-status=usurped|archive-date=23 September 2015|title=primaveraproductions.com}}</ref> Colonel [[George Edward Gouraud]], [[Thomas Edison]]'s European agent, made sound recordings of Tennyson reading his own poetry, late in his life. They include recordings of "The Charge of the Light Brigade", and excerpts from "The splendour falls" (from The Princess), "Come into the garden" (from [[Maud and other poems|Maud]]), "Ask me no more", "Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington" and "Lancelot and Elaine". The sound quality is poor, as wax cylinder recordings usually are.

[[File:Tennyson in Arbor.PNG|thumbnail|upright=.9|Published one year after Tennyson's death, this sketch depicts him sitting in his favourite [[arbour (garden)|arbour]] at [[Farringford House]], his home in the village of [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight]].]]

Towards the end of his life Tennyson revealed that his "religious beliefs also defied convention, leaning towards agnosticism and [[pandeism]]":<ref>[[Harold Bloom]], ''Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles: The Power of the Reader's Mind Over a Universe of Death'', [[Yale University Press]], October 2020, p. 373, {{ISBN|0-300-24728-1}}: "When he died the laureate declared himself agnostic and pan-deist and at one with the great heretics Giordano Bruno (who was a Hermetist and burned alive by the Church) and Baruch Spinoza (who was excommunicated by the Jews)."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridgeprints.com/newacquisitionsbooks.htm|title=Cambridge Book and Print Gallery|access-date=31 August 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311022152/http://www.cambridgeprints.com/newacquisitionsbooks.htm|archive-date=11 March 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a characteristically Victorian manner, Tennyson combines a deep interest in contemporary science with an unorthodox, even idiosyncratic, Christian belief.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/tenny1.html|title=Tennyson, Science and Religion|website=victorianweb.org}}</ref> Famously, he wrote in ''In Memoriam'': "There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds." In ''Maud'', 1855, he wrote: "The churches have killed their Christ". In "[[Locksley Hall Sixty Years After]]", Tennyson wrote: "Christian love among the churches look'd the twin of heathen hate." In his play ''[[Becket (Tennyson play)|Becket]]'', he wrote: "We are self-uncertain creatures, and we may, Yea, even when we know not, mix our spites and private hates with our defence of Heaven". Tennyson recorded in his ''Diary'' (p.&nbsp;127): "I believe in [[Pantheism]] of a sort". His son's biography confirms that Tennyson was an unorthodox Christian, noting that Tennyson praised [[Giordano Bruno]] and [[Spinoza]] on his deathbed, saying of Bruno, "His view of God is in some ways mine", in 1892.<ref>[http://ffrf.org/day/?day=6&month=8 Freethought of the Day, 6 August 2006, Alfred Tennyson] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121203013326/http://ffrf.org/day/?day=6&month=8|date=3 December 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:Tennyson Monument, Tennyson Down, IW, UK.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Monument to Tennyson on [[Tennyson Down]], Isle of Wight]]

Tennyson continued writing into his eighties. He died on 6 October 1892 at Aldworth, aged 83. He was buried at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|Stanley, A.P.]], ''Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey'' ([[London]]; [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]; 1882), p. 240.</ref> A memorial was erected in [[All Saints' Church, Freshwater]]. His last words were, "Oh that press will have me now!".<ref>Andrew Motion, BBC Radio 4, "Great Lives: Alfred, Lord Tennyson", broadcast on 4 August 2009</ref> He left an estate of £57,206.<ref>Christopher Ricks (1972). ''Tennyson''. Macmillan, p. 236</ref> [[Tennyson Down]] and the [[Tennyson Trail]] on the Isle of Wight are named after him, and a monument to him stands on top of Tennyson Down. [[Lake Tennyson]] in New Zealand's high country, named by [[Frederick Weld]], is assumed to be named after Lord Tennyson.<ref>{{cite book|page =411|last = Reed|first = A.W.|author-link = Alexander Wyclif Reed|title = Place Names of New Zealand|year = 2010|publisher = Raupo|location = Rosedale, North Shore|isbn = 9780143204107|editor = Peter Dowling}}</ref>

He was succeeded as 2nd Baron Tennyson by his son [[Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson|Hallam]], who produced an authorised biography of his father in 1897, and was later the second [[Governor-General of Australia]].