Lionel Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson

Lionel Hallam Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson (7 November 1889 – 6 June 1951) was known principally as a first-class cricketer who captained Hampshire and England. He was the grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Lionel Tennyson
Tennyson pictured in about 1922
Personal information
Full name
Lionel Hallam Tennyson
Born(1889-11-07)7 November 1889
Westminster, London, England
Died6 June 1951(1951-06-06) (aged 61)
Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
Relations
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 180)13 December 1913 v South Africa
Last Test16 August 1921 v Australia
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1913–1935Hampshire
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 9 477
Runs scored 345 16,828
Batting average 31.36 23.33
100s/50s 0/4 19/66
Top score 74* 217
Balls bowled 6 3,756
Wickets 0 55
Bowling average – 54.10
5 wickets in innings – 0
10 wickets in match – 0
Best bowling – 3/50
Catches/stumpings 6/– 172/–
Source: Cricinfo, 12 November 2008
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
2 December 1928 – 6 June 1951
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byHallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
Succeeded byHarold Tennyson, 4th Baron Tennyson
Arms of Tennyson: Gules, a bend nebuly or thereon a chaplet vert between three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys of the second[1]

Life

He was born in 1889. His father had recently become Governor (later the Governor-General of Australia). He and his wife Audrey Tennyson and their sons were in Australia from 1899.[2] He succeeded his father, Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, to the title in 1928, having been known before that as Hon. Lionel Tennyson.[lower-alpha 1]

As a schoolboy at Eton College, Tennyson was a fast bowler, but by the time he took up regular first-class cricket with Hampshire in 1913, he bowled very rarely. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1914.

During World War I he served with The Rifle Brigade in France. He was mentioned in dispatches twice and three times wounded. His two younger brothers were killed in the war.

Tennyson played nine Test matches for England, five of them on the tour of South Africa under Johnny Douglas in 1913/14. In 1921, England having lost six Test matches in succession to the Australians under Warwick Armstrong, Tennyson was recalled to the side for the second Test at Lord's, and though the game was again lost, he scored an undefeated 74 in the second innings against Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald at their fastest. That innings led him to be appointed captain for the three remaining matches of the series, succeeding Douglas. The next game was lost; the final two matches were left drawn. At Headingley in the first of these three games as captain, Tennyson split his hand while fielding in the Australians' first innings but, patched up with what Wisden called a "basket guard", he made 63 and 36. He led several non-Test match tours overseas, to India, South Africa and the West Indies.

Tennyson was captain of Hampshire from 1919 to 1932. He was in charge of the side in the remarkable match against Warwickshire in 1922, when Hampshire were bowled out for 15 runs in their first innings and, having been forced to follow on, then scored 521 in the second innings and won the match by 155 runs.[4]

In 1933 he published his autobiography, From Verse to Worse. Returning from his second war-wound to the Western Front he records: "I have never liked 'travelling light', and so, though the amount of kit I arrived with may, in fact, have aroused a certain amount of astonishment, I was quickly forgiven by my commanding officer as well as by everyone else, when they found out that it included, amongst other things, a case of champagne."[5] He published a second volume of memoirs, Sticky Wickets, in 1950.

He was appointed Honorary Colonel of 51st (London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (a Territorial Army unit based in Chelsea, London) on 9 August 1931 and held the position until 1947.[6][7]

He married Hon. Clare Tennant in 1918. They had three sons before they divorced in 1928:

He was later married to Carroll Donner (née Elting) from 1934 until their divorce in 1943.[8]

Notes
  1. His uncle, after whom he was named, was also called Hon. Lionel Tennyson.[3]

References
  1. Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.1091
  2. Howell, P. A., "Tennyson, Audrey Georgiana Florence (1854–1916)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 8 September 2023
  3. "Tennyson, Lionel (TNY873L)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. "Warwickshire v Hampshire 1922". CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  5. Lionel Tennyson, From Verse to Worse, Cassell & Co, London, 1933, p. 168.
  6. Monthly Army List 1931–39.
  7. Burke's Peerage.
  8. "LORD TENNYSON WEDS MRS. CARROLL DONNER; Gardens of California Estate the Setting in Which Poet's Grandson Takes Bride". The New York Times. 15 April 1934. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
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