Frederick Tennyson
Frederick Tennyson was the eldest of eleven siblings in a family overshadowed by the literary achievements of his brothers, Charles and Alfred Tennyson. Born into a crowded rectory in Somersby, England, he was the son of Reverend George Clayton Tennyson and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson. Despite his promising education at Harrow and St. John's College, Cambridge, Frederick faced financial challenges and familial tensions, particularly with his grandfather, who had a strained relationship with him. After inheriting a significant estate in Grimsby, he married Maria Giuliotti, with whom he settled in Florence and raised a large family.
Frederick Tennyson's engagement with poetry began privately and, despite an early setback due to a negative review, he eventually published his first collection in 1854. His later work, particularly "The Isles of Greece," emerged in the 1890s, showcasing his interest in classical themes. While he became a noted figure in his own right, he is often more recognized for his connection to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the renowned Poet Laureate, than for his own literary contributions. His life reflects a blend of personal struggle and creative passion, set against the backdrop of a notable Victorian family.
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Frederick Tennyson
Writer
- Born: June 5, 1807
- Birthplace: Louth, Lincolnshire, England
- Died: February 26, 1898
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
The first among eleven siblings, Frederick Tennyson was eclipsed by the accomplishments of his brothers Charles and Alfred. Still, the strapping, handsome oldest son of the Reverend George Clayton Tennyson and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson was not without his charms and not without poetic gifts. Tennyson grew up in an overcrowded rectory in Somersby, England, that had been enlarged for his family by his paternal grandfather, a wealthy lawyer and landowner also named George. George Tennyson the elder had no particular fondness for his epileptic and often drunken son, however, and he made his displeasure known through frequent threats of disinheritance. Despite Frederick Tennyson’s education at Harrow and St. John’s College, Cambridge University, he always harbored financial resentment towards his grandfather, a feeling reinforced when, upon his father’s and then his grandfather’s deaths, his inheritance was given over to the care of his mother and one of his brother’s. It was some consolation, however, that his grandfather left Tennyson with a considerable estate at Grimsby which gave him financial independence.
Shortly after coming into his inheritance, Tennyson proposed to his cousin Julia, but was rejected. In 1839, he married Maria Giuliotti, the daughter of the chief magistrate of Siena, Italy, and settled in Florence, where the couple raised two sons and three daughters in considerable affluence. Tennyson had wealth and leisure enough to indulge his passions for music and spiritualism, and in 1854 he turned his previously private poetical avocation into a public endeavor when he published his first collection of verse. One negative review seemingly discouraged him enough to keep his writing private until 1890, when he published The Isles of Greece, reflecting a lifelong interest in the classics and the ancient world. Tennyson’s literary output had picked up considerably after he moved with his family to the relative isolation of the isle of Jersey, and he became particularly prolific in his ninth decade, by which time he was himself being written of as “the most interesting figure among living poets.” Today, however, Tennyson is remembered more for his relationship with the great Victorian laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, than for his own rather prolix creations.