Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Edwin Clayton Tennyson-d'Eyncourt (4 July 1813 – 14 January 1903) was an officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Early life

Edwin was the second son of Charles Tennyson and Frances Mary Hutton, the only child and heiress of the Rev. John Hutton, Rector of Lea. His paternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Clayton) Tennyson and George Tennyson. Upon his grandfather's death in July 1835, his father inherited the family estates and changed his family's surname to Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. Through his younger brother Louis, he was uncle to Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, a naval architect who was the Navy's

Director of Naval Construction The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer res ...

. He was a first cousin of the poet

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

. As a young man, he thoroughly embodied his family's social pretensions and their snobbish behaviour towards their poor relations, the Tennysons of Somersby; but in later years the mutual dislike between him and his famous cousin thawed, and he gave Alfred advice on the law of propriety of accepting the peerage offered to him in 1883.

Career

Tennyson entered naval college in 1826 and became a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in 1837. He served in the

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

and

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China, was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 1 ...

s during the 1840s, and the took part in the capture of Canton during the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

. In 1854, he served in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

campaign under Sir Charles Napier as captain of the

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

, and returned to that theatre in 1855 under Rear-Admiral

Richard Saunders Dundas Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Saunders Dundas, (11 April 1802 – 3 June 1861) was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain, he took part in the capture of the Bogue forts in January 1841, during the First Opium War. He was appointed to the command of the ...

, as captain of the steam

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

. From 1859 to 1862, he was captain of the

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...

as the guardship at

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

. He was promoted to the rank of

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

on 2 April 1866, and retired in 1870, continuing to rise to the rank of admiral on the retired list in March 1878. He was made a

Companion of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...

(CB) in 1873. After the death of his elder brother George in 1871, he inherited the family estate known as Bayons Manor. In London, they lived in the

Pimlico Pimlico () is a district in Central London, in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Lon ...

district at 56

Warwick Square Warwick Square is a garden square in the Pimlico district of London SW1. Buildings fronting, save for a church, are listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England. The private gardens at the centre of the square are Grade II listed on ...

Personal life

On 1 March 1859, Tennyson-d'Eyncourt was married to Lady Henrietta Pelham-Clinton (1819–1890), the youngest surviving daughter of

Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (31 January 1785 – 12 January 1851), was a British nobleman and politician who played a leading part in British politics in the late 1820s and early 1830s. He was styled L ...

, and his wife, the former Georgiana Elizabeth Mundy (daughter and heiress of Edward Miller Mundy of

Shipley Hall Shipley Hall was a country estate in Shipley, Derbyshire near Heanor and Ilkeston which now forms a Country Park. Early history The Shipley estate is an ancient manor that was mentioned in the Domesday Book. From the 14th century the land was ...

). Together, they were the parents of: * Henrietta Charlotte Tennyson-d'Eyncourt (1864–1951), who married Capt. Alfred Henry Tarleton of Breakspears,

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

, in 1888. He served as

Sheriff of Middlesex This is a list of sheriffs of Middlesex. History of the office From c. 1131 to 1889 there was no separate sheriff for the county. By a charter of Henry I the livery of the City of London were given the right to elect two sheriffs of "London an ...

in 1903. Lady Henrietta died on 19 August 1890. Tennyson-d'Eyncourt died at his residence 56 Warwick-square, London, on 14 January 1903.

References

External links

Edwin Clayton Tennyson-D'Eyncourt (1813-1903), Admiral; son of Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennyson-Deyncourt, Edwin 1813 births 1903 deaths Royal Navy admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War

Edwin The name Edwin means "wealth-friend". It comes from (wealth, good fortune) and (friend). Thus the Old English form is Ēadwine, a name widely attested in early medieval England. Edwina is the feminine form of the name. Notable people and char ...