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the birth of her second child, and stress and overwork caused her health to weaken to the point that she became an invalid. She enjoyed music and wrote settings for some of
Tennyson's poetry, and wrote a couple of hymns. After her husband died in 1892, she worked with her son to write a biography of his life.
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In 1837, they were engaged. It was called off in 1840, because of financial issues and her father's wariness of
Tennyson's ability to support a family on a poet's income. Tennyson's career was more successful in the 1840s and they were married on 13 June 1850. She was married at 37 years of age. That
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Over time, the degree of responsibility was so stressful that it weakened her health. She longed for periods "for reading and thinking, to restore the elasticity of one's mind, now too like a bow spoilt by long bending". She became an invalid and was no longer able to entertain or perform managerial
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Emily played a number of significant roles in Alfred's life. Aside from being a wife and mother of two sons, she ran large households and conducted business tasks for her husband. She performed the role of a business manager, secretary, promoter, entertainer, and protector. Her health suffered after
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wrote of Emily
Tennyson, another poet's wife: Mrs Alfred Tennyson/Answered/begging letters/admiring letters/ insulting letters/enquiring letters/ business letters/and publishers' letters./She also/looked after his clothes/saw to his food and drink/ entertained visitors/protected him from gossip and
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described Emily as the woman behind the man — she managed his business, ran his household, took care of and educated his children, entertained visitors, and was protective of him—while he wrote poetry. Her correspondence provides insight into her managerial abilities and love for her husband. In
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married her sister Louisa. It was thirteen years before they would marry, due to her father's concerns about the degree to which
Tennyson could provide for her on a poet's salary. When his career became more successful, Emily and Alfred married.
187:. Emily found the house to be the "dearest place on earth", but they had so many visitors that it felt more like a hotel. Their guests often stayed for weeks, which provoked Alfred due to the commotion of servants and guests.
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and secretarial duties, as she had in the past. This was in some ways a blessing to Alfred, with both of them going into retirement. She was able, though, to offer him comfort when he was upset.
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criticism/And finally/(apart from running the household)/ Brought up and educated his children./While all this was going on/Mister Alfred
Tennyson sat like a baby/Doing his poetic business.
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as cultivated, charming 'but her mind seems always deeper than her cultivation, and her heart always deeper than her mind, - or rather constituting the main element of her mind."
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Her father was a prosperous solicitor, secretary, and manager who acted for the
Tennyson family many times over the years; her mother was a younger sister of Arctic explorer Sir
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in London, they established households in large houses with live-in servants, likely affordable due to a dowry from her father. To avoid the publicity, the
Tennysons moved to
224:, born at Twickenham on 11 August 1852, and Lionel, born at Farringford House on 16 March 1854. After the birth of her second son, she developed an incurable illness.
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visited Emily at
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A musician, Emily employed her own talents in setting some of his poems to music. She wrote the hymns
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when she was either nine or sixteen. Alfred fell in love with Emily at the marriage of his brother,
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Emily
Tennyson, c. 1857, in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale.
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modern times, her work for her husband would be considered that of a business woman.
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361:. Vol. 54 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. pp. 147–149.
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She was his secretary, business partner, proofreader, and financial manager.
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Emily Sarah Sellwood was born on 9 July 1813, most likely at Market Place,
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The Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire as at Present Existing
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172:(1850), and the attention was overwhelming for Alfred and Emily.
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19:"Emily Tennyson" redirects here. Not to be confused with
251:. Emily and her son Hallam wrote a memoir of Tennyson.
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Tennyson, Baroness Emily Sellwood (September 1981).
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year, Alfred was very popular due to the success of
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The Writer: A Monthly Magazine for Literary Workers
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476:. Hurst and Blackett, limited. p. 595.
399:Hills, William Henry; Luce, Robert (1896).
271:. Emily Tennyson died on 10 August 1896 at
131:And all at once a pleasant truth I learn’d,
127:And over his left shoulder laughed at thee,
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773:Lady Emily Sarah Sellwood Tennyson
706:The Letters of Emily Lady Tennyson
643:"O yet we trust that somehow good"
560:"Obituary for Lady Emily Tennyson"
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730:. University Press of Virginia.
675:Little Book of the Isle of Wight
441:Viney, Ethna (12 October 1986).
249:O yet we trust that somehow good
933:The Charge of the Light Brigade
748:Emily Tennyson: The Poet's Wife
277:All Saints' Church, Freshwater
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751:. Faber & Faber Limited.
1003:Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
375:UK public library membership
1106:Flower in the Crannied Wall
672:Toms, Jan (26 April 2011).
566:. 11 August 1896. p. 7
52:, was the wife of the poet
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1195:Blackdown, West Sussex
828:Poems, Chiefly Lyrical
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878:Mariana in the South
152:Alfred Heaton Cooper
50:Emily, Lady Tennyson
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926:Break, Break, Break
850:The Lady of Shalott
275:. She is buried in
220:They had two sons,
1295:British baronesses
1247:Frederick Tennyson
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507:. 8 November 2011
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239:Music and writing
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1225:(grandson)
1160:The Window
968:Lady Clare
843:The Kraken
377:required.)
316:References
177:Twickenham
75:Horncastle
69:Early life
1249:(brother)
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892:Claribel
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511:17 March
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92:Marriage
46:Sellwood
1171:Related
1067:Ulysses
864:Mariana
647:Hymnary
622:Hymnary
117:Charles
58:Charles
1213:(wife)
1204:People
1154:(play)
1013:(1842)
954:Godiva
918:Poetry
871:Oenone
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