Charles Tennant (1 July 1796, in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

– 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 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 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

; 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, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roma ...

, with James Grimston. He supported the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

. In 1830 he was one of the founders of the

National Colonisation Society Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Bri ...

, advocating emigration to

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counc ...

. 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 (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 (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 who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his sear ...

; 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" ...

(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 banks ...

. 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 all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...

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 British businesspeople {{England-UK-MP-stub