Author: Tennyson, Charles
Biography:
TENNYSON, Charles, later TURNER (1808-79: ODNB)
The middle brother of the three Tennysons responsible for Poems by Two Brothers in 1827, Charles was born on 4 July 1808 at Somersby, Lincolnshire, where his father George Clayton Tennyson (1778-1831) was the rector, and was baptised there on 10 July. His mother was Elizabeth (Fytche) Tennyson, originally of Louth. He was educated first at Louth grammar school and then at home by his father in preparation for university. Admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827 (matric. 1828, BA 1832), he was ordained deacon and priest in 1832-3. His Sonnets and Fugitive Pieces (1830) appeared while he was still an undergraduate. He held two curacies before inheriting, in 1835, property in Caistor, Lincolnshire, and the manor of Grasby which included the living of the parish in which he became the incumbent vicar from 1836 until his death. As a condition of the bequest he changed his name by royal licence to Turner. On 24 May 1836 at St. Mary’s, Horncastle, he married Louisa Sellwood (1816-79), whose sister Emily later married Alfred Tennyson (q.v.). The marriage was childless. Louisa Tennyson Turner suffered from mental illness, Charles developed an addiction to opium, and the couple were estranged for some years. They began to live together again in 1849. Turner’s later poetical works consisted of contributions to periodicals and three collections: Sonnets (1864), Small Tableaux (1868), and Sonnets, Lyrics, and Translations (1873). Louisa Turner was committed to an asylum in Oct. 1878 and died there on 20 May 1879, predeceased by her husband who died at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, of a bladder illness on 25 Apr. 1879. They were buried together at Bouncers Lane cemetery, Cheltenham, with a memorial plaque in his church of All Saints, Grasby. (ODNB 12 Aug. 2024; findmypast.com 12 Aug. 2024; ACAD; CCEd 12 Aug. 2024) HJ
Other Names:
- Charles Tennyson Turner