The Tennyson Connection part 3: 

Alfred Tennyson and Sophy Rawnsley

Framed portrait of Alfred Tennyson, c1840 from a painting by Laurence

Sophy Rawnsley was my Great Great Grandfather’s sister. My Grandmother had various tales to tell about Sophy, one being that she was the inspiration behind Alfred Tennyson’s  “Airy, Fairy Lilian”.  She also claimed that Sophy and Alfred might have married, had it not been for Sophy’s parents who forbade them, Alfred being viewed as a “mere poet”!  For years my Grandmother kept a small framed portrait of the young Alfred Tennyson on her bedroom wall. We were told that Alfred had given this to Sophy, on which was written “ever yours A Tennyson”   There is no documentary evidence to directly support my grandmother’s story of their desire to marry, but they were certainly fond of each other and Alfred wrote some beautiful poetry for Sophy :

To Sophy  1834

Sweet ask not why I am sad
But when sad thoughts arise
Look on me, make my spirit glad
To gaze upon thine eyes
For how can sorrow dwell in mine
If they might always gaze on thine –

Lines written to Sophy in 1836 after a tiff at a Spilsby Ball

To thee with whom my best affections dwell
That I was harsh to thee let no one know
It were, O Heaven, a stranger tale to tell
Than if the vine had borne the bitter sloe,
Tho’ I was harsh, my nature is not so.
A momentary cloud upon me fell
My coldness was mis-timed like summer snow
Cold words I spoke, yet loved thee warm & well
Was I so harsh? Ah dear it could not be.
Seemed I so cold? What madness moved my blood
To make me thus bely my constant Heart
That watched with love thine earliest infancy
Slow ripening to the grace of womanhood
Thro’ every change that made thee what thou art

Sophy’s father, Rev Thomas Hardwicke Rawnsley, Rector of Halton Holgate was a family friend of Alfred’s father George Clayton Tennyson, so you would think he might have been more receptive to his daughter’s possible alliance with Alfred. However, he had been called out to Somersby when George Clayton was suffering from alcoholism (and possibly epilepsy) so he had probably seen him at his worst. What if this ran in the family? He and his wife may have concluded that marriage between their only daughter and young  Alfred was a bad idea, and quickly nipped it in the bud. Sophy Rawnsley married Rev Edward Elmhirst in 1840, living at Hameringham near Halton Holgate for a few years before he became Rector of Shawell, Rugby around 1844. They remained friends with Alfred Tennyson, who often visited them at Shawell. 

Sophy Elmhirst

Catherine Rawnsley (Sophy’s sister-in-law) describes one of these visits in her diary for January 1850 . On January 14th she travelled in a “close carriage to Shawell” where Alfred Tennyson was expected to visit. A party of people were invited expressly to meet him, but no poet turned up! Five minutes after the visitors had gone:

“Mr Tennyson was announced. He had sent off the last proofs of the new edition of the Princess that morning, set out to come, lost the train & only got to Shawell at ten o’clock however it was a pleasure to see him even so late …”

Another dinner party took place at Shawell on the 17th January, where a Mr Fellowes:

 “improved the Poets appearance by cutting his hair”  

The Elmhirsts had a den in their garden where Alfred would disappear to smoke and work on his poetry. Catherine mentions this in her diary for 18th & 19th January:

“A quiet day Alfred very agreeable especially in the evening. He mainly read to us some unpublished elegies in the den …  19th  … I was left to cure my cold & help entertain the Poet. I always made breakfast for him then he went to his smoking den, no one was to interrupt him for half an hour as he got wrapped in smoke & mystery over his first pipe at noon we quietly went to tease him a little. Then came luncheon after that going out for a walk or a game at battledore & shuttlecock in the Hall or Greenhouse then a talk in the study & then to dressing & dinner when the mask fell as in a moment from the Poets countenance & all was light. The precise moment of the wondrous change I never could [fail] to watch it as I would, enough that it did take place. After dinner we talked then Alfred read Locksley till Sophy cried & [I listen] in intense wonder & delight watching the ever changing countenance & hearing the peculiar ringing tone of the deep voice.”

Why was Sophy in tears over Locksley Hall?  The subject of the poem begins with fond memories of his childhood sweetheart, but then she abandons him due to her parents disapproval. Alfred's reading of this particular poem must have struck a chord with Sophy. 

After Alfred Tennyson’s death in October 1892, Sophy’s nephew Hardwicke Rawnsley was keen to gather reminiscences of Tennyson for a book . Sophy had died in 1889 but her husband Edward Elmhirst wrote to Hardie. He was trying to lay his hands on a poem headed “Lines that might have been” :

“They relate to “Lilian” – for they breathe a spirit of bitter disappointment that Lilian will have nothing to say to him, and that she was about to bestow her hand upon another – meaning me, I suppose. I could have sworn the lines were with other poems in your dear Aunt's Davenport in the Drawing Room ... I shall continue my search, & will let you know, when I have discovered them”

Notes and Sources

Lilian by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. First printed in 1830.

“To Sophy Rawnsley 1834” and “Lines written to Sophy in 1836 after a tiff at a Spilsby Ball Langney Archive LA/11/5 ms copy; Rawnsley Archive RR/13/26 ms copy

Photos of Sophie Elmhirst, undated, Rawnsley Archive RR/P/1/23 and Langney Archive LA/O/5/2

Rawnsley Archive RR/1/3 Catherine Rawnsley’s diary 1850

Locksley Hall by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Written in 1835 & published in 1842

Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, also known as Canon Rawnsley, or "Hardie" to his family, was one of the founders of the National Trust

Memories of the Tennysons by the Rev H.D. Rawnsley. James MacLehose and Sons Glasgow 1900

Rawnsley Archive RR/13/12 Letter from Edward Elmhirst to Hardie Rawnsley, 4th January 1893

 The Tennyson Connection part 2

We are fortunate that Catherine Rawnsley (ne Franklin) kept a daily journal for part of her married life, as well as writing down her reminiscences.  A few pages inserted into her journal for 1877-1882  cover the high points from earlier years, one of which is 1850:

“1850 opened pleasantly & was an important one for we were able to help Alfred & Emily Tennyson in arranging their long delayed marriage they met for the first [time] after 6 or 8 years separation at our house in April & were married after much consideration & many pros & cons from our house by my husband in presence of my Uncle Sellwood Emily’s Father, Mr & Mrs Lushington (his sister), Charles Weld her brother in law & myself & children. I felt it a great responsibility to have had so much to do with it but still I felt sure I was right & they were each doing the best for their own & each others real happiness in marrying.” 

How exactly did she manage to bring about Alfred and Emily’s marriage?  Fortunately we have Catherine’s diary for 1850  which provides a more contemporary account of this achievement. The entries are at times too brief, they leave the reader longing for more detail and are of course open to different interpretations. My own interpretation is that their decision to marry was not taken lightly, it was a tortuous process for all involved, including Catherine, with an uncertain ending which could have swung either way.

The first mention of Emily, or “E” as she appears in Catherine’s diary, is when Catherine and Alfred Tennyson, ( “A” in the diary)  are staying at Shawell, Rugby with the Elmhirst’s on 19th January 1850.  This was the home of Rev Drummond Rawnsley’s sister Sophy, married to Rev Edward Elmhirst. Alfred had just read Locksley Hall to them after dinner:

“I think I first touched on E that evening after the others said good night.”

A few days later, whilst still at Shawell, Catherine writes:

“… had a long talk about E with A. I stood up for her boldly I think to his surprise somewhat. However I said no more than I thought was laid on me to say it was – was not satisfactory I can hardly tell my own feeling about it but it was deeply interesting to me ….  24th  In the morning another talk in the smoking room about E. Nothing more came of it yet I feel I did no harm & I did to a certain degree satisfy my own conscience”

A few months later, back at Shiplake Vicarage on March 24th Catherine received a note from Alfred to say that he was coming to visit. He arrived the next day with the newly packaged volume of Elegies (the original title of In Memoriam). He left on the 30th “promising to return in a weeks time” which he did on April 9th. Alfred’s brother Horatio Tennyson (“H”) appeared unexpectedly on the 13th April and remained until the 18th. Emily was coming to stay on the 18th and Catherine expected Alfred to depart along with Horatio, but he stayed: 

“I went alone to fetch E & broke it to her that A staid to meet her. At first she was all aghast but recovered herself & said she would get over the meeting as well & firmly as she possibly could. Most unpleasant it was he looked darker than usual as she came into the room she was self possessed but got nervous. The hurry of H’s departure helped one a little out of the awkwardness then A & I walked with him to the ferry & he made me angry by saying [?] wish I had gone too. Why did you not then was my reply, no one asked you to stay, you cannot say they did. It was quite your own doing you know “Yes well perhaps it was” was the reply & we walked slowly home. Dubbie was gone out to dinner & we got over the evening as well as we could”

“Dubbie” was Catherine’s nickname for her husband Drummond. It has been said that religion was one of the main differences between Emily & Alfred, Emily coming from a devout Christian family whereas Alfred's poetry was thought to convey more atheist views. However Catherine writes on 19th April:

“A rather grumpy & E uncomfortable, I wishing myself entirely out of it & them, he talked to her on religious points in which they agreed”

This sign of progress seemed to stall the next day:

“A resolved to leave us till Tuesday having a dinner engagement … begged me to go to the train with him & began to talk of E. I told him clearly he must take care & that if he meant to go no further he had better perhaps not return on Tuesday he said “might he not stay” Certainly I said if that really was his wish & intention but not otherwise. We argued the point got somewhat vexed. I left him in 20 seconds & then wrote a line to make it clear I did not wish to prevent his coming if he thought it right. No reply & no return Monday Tuesday Wednesday on Thursday he appeared as we were finishing dinner, a long talk with him afterwards in which he took wonderful pains to clear himself from all conscience in the matter of his return & then ended by telling me to send E to sit with him”

A few days later and Catherine observes: 

“Alfred walked along pipe in mouth & E on his arm looking more in his element than he felt as she thought it right to speak about his habits. I had a nice walk there with him a lovely day”

But a few days later on the 29th another turn for the worst:

“Mr Walls left us he drove to the station leaving A & E alone, who took advantage of our absence for a long talk over their affairs. Found both in the drawing room on our return, she very red & he very grim & grave”

Again the next day she observes “Nothing settled E very uncomfortable”  On May 1st Catherine & Alfred walk to the ferry, during which she hears:

 “all his doubts & get rather sick of them. Emily looking over & correcting In Memoriam.   A gradually softening & becoming more attentive”

There are no entries in the diary for the next few days, until 6th May, when:

“After much indecision A made up his mind to go & take a whole day to consider of it & then send the results of such deliberation to Emily. Went off out of sorts perhaps vexed because I would not ask him to stay ”      

The following day finds  “Emily rather disturbed”  but finally a day later on 8th May all is resolved:

“a little note to me announcing  A’s resolve to be married in a month & one to E to the same effect … May it be for their good”

So it appears that the final decision of whether or not to go ahead with marriage was left with Alfred and conveyed to both Emily and Catherine in separate written notes, and after all the years of waiting they had one month to prepare!

It has always been understood that Emily’s reading of, and comments for In Memoriam (originally the Elegies) was an important part of their decision to marry. When Alfred visited Catherine & Drummond on 25th March 1850, he brought them a copy of the Elegies. This was one of six untitled copies that had been specially printed for Tennyson.   A letter from Emily to Catherine dated 1 April 1850 , (now at Harvard) implies that Emily had already read the Elegies by this date, and also implies that they had been sent to her by Catherine. If so Catherine must have sent her the package soon after 25th March, while Alfred was still staying with them (he left on 30th March), otherwise the time frame seems troublingly short. It has been claimed that Emily chose the final title in May 1850  but this may have occurred earlier, as Emily was staying at Shiplake from 18th April and Catherine’s diary confirms that this new title was in use on or by 1st May 1850. 

The wedding took place at Shiplake Church on 13th June 1850, with Rev Drummond Rawnsley officiating. Catherine records the day in her diary:

“ a memorable day in the annals of the church and family the Poet Tennyson married to Emily Sellwood. Memorable to him as the beginning we may hope of a great change for the better, in all ways, to her as the fulfillment of hopes long deferred, to me as taking so much interest in both. To little Mary as being bridesmaid for the first time in her life. To Dr as being the tier of the knot. To each & all of us here assembled a memorable & a really happy day. Both got thro’ remarkably well & the little breakfast was a cheerful one.” 

      Emily Tennyson c1862                                                Alfred Tennyson c1862

Tennyson wrote a poem as a reminder of the happy day, with a short accompanying note :

Dear Drummond

I send you my poem made for the most part in your carriage between Shiplake and Reading. Keep it to yourself, as I should have kept it to myself if Kate had not asked for it – ie keep it till I give you leave to make it public.

Ever yours

A. Tennyson                           

            To the Vicar of Shiplake                       

Vicar of that pleasant spot

Where it was my chance to marry,

Happy, happy be your lot

In the Vicarage by the Quarry –

You were he that tied the knot.

                     

Sweetly, smoothly flow your life

Never parish feud perplex you,

Tithe unpaid or party strife,

All things please you, nothing vex you,

You have given me such a wife

Have I found in one so near,

Ought but sweetness aye prevailing,

Or thro’ more than half a year

Half the fraction of a failing?

Therefore bless you, Drummond dear!

Good she is and pure and just –

Being conquered by her sweetness,

I shall come through her, I trust,

Into fuller orbed completeness,

Tho’ but made of erring dust.

You meanwhile shall day by day

Watch your standard roses blowing,

And your three young things at play,

And your triple terrace growing

Green to greener every day.

Smoothly flow your life with Kate’s,

Glancing off from all things evil,

Smooth as Thames below your gates,

Thames along the silent level

Streaming through his osier’d aits

Sources & notes:

Rawnsley Archive RR/1/6 Catherine Rawnsley’s reminiscences added to her diary of 1877-1882

Rawnsley Archive RR/1/3 Catherine Rawnsley’s diary 1850. As far as I am aware, none of the Tennyson biographers have used this particular source. 

The Boundless Deep. Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief  Richard Holmes. William Collins 2025. p276-277 

The Letters of Emily Lady Tennyson edited by James O. Hoge. The Pennsylvania State University Press 1974  Letter from Emily Tennyson to Catherine Rawnsley,        1 April 1850 p44-45

"Kate" or "Katie" was Catherine Rawnsley. 

This is the only photograph of Emily in the family archives, from Catherine Rawnsley's photograph album. LA/O/5/2.  They probably date to around 1862 

Rawnsley Archive RR/13/26. “To the Vicar of Shiplake” (copy) Langney Archive LA/11/6 also contains a typed copy. 

The Tennyson Connection part 1

The Tennyson, Franklin and Rawnsley families of Lincolnshire were inextricably joined through friendship and marriage.  

Alfred Tennyson’s father, George Clayton Tennyson became Rector of Somersby & Enderby in 1806 and the young Tennysons grew up at Somersby Rectory. George Clayton Tennyson had business dealings with Henry Sellwood, Solicitor and Land Agent in Horncastle. Henry Sellwood was married to John Franklin’s sister Sarah, until her death in 1816.  Of their three children, the youngest Louisa married Alfred Tennyson’s older brother Charles Tennyson Turner in 1836 and the eldest daughter Emily married Alfred Tennyson in 1850.

Thomas Hardwicke Rawnsley formed a longstanding friendship with George Clayton Tennyson when as a young curate he took up his post in the nearby parish of Spilsby in 1813, later becoming Rector of Halton Holgate from 1824 until his death in 1861. T.H. Rawnsley’s daughter Sophy had been a particular friend of Alfred Tennyson and a recipient of some of his poetry. Her brother Drummond married Catherine Ann Franklin, John Franklin’s niece in 1842. 

Alfred Tennyson c1840, print by John Carr Armytage from a painting by Samuel Laurence

We have John Franklin’s niece Catherine Franklin to thank for her reminiscences of her first meeting with the Tennysons . She accompanied her uncle John Franklin to Lincolnshire in 1836, the purpose being to say goodbye to his Lincolnshire relatives and friends before he left for Van Diemans Land (Tasmania). Catherine’s parents had both died in India of cholera in 1824 and she lived with her guardian and Uncle, William Burnside and family in Nottinghamshire. She had been staying in London with the Franklins and they took the old Perseverance Boston coach from Snow Hill to Boston in Lincolnshire. Jane Franklin didn't accompany them, she remained in London to continue with the arrangements for Van Diemans Land.

            "We proceeded on our way to Horncastle & there it was I first saw my cousin Emily (now Lady Tennyson) …  Louie  had been married only a week or ten days previously & we were to see our new connections the Tennysons at dinner. In they came, tall & dark, & handsome. Alfred the Poet & his eldest sister Mary I think the handsomest woman I ever saw. Frederick the eldest brother was a fairer man …"

Catherine goes on to describe the dinner:

"To my great alarm the Poet was told [off] to take me in to dinner & owing to some confusion I escaped sitting next to him at dinner but it was only to endure the greater trial of sitting opposite to him & seeing the glass put up to his eye to find out what manner of girl I might be & of hearing him ask his next neighbour in a sepulchral under tone “Is she a Hindoo?” I felt very very much out of it, all the dinner & was thankful when we went to the drawing room, where after a time we were joined by the gentlemen Uncle F rather indignant at Alfred’s cool proceeding of stretching himself  across 3 chairs to smoke as soon as we had left the dining room – the stringent etiquette of the service in those days could not brook such an offence against good manners & respect for Elders & betters. 

I was set down to the piano being a fair performer when Alfred took a chair & came close to me to see as he said the sparkling ornaments I was wearing, whereon he called me “Zobeide” as my garnets were fit for an Eastern Princess & I was I believe considered to be somewhat Eastern looking as a girl. There was not much time for talk as they had some mules to drive home to Somersby, but I thought them very remarkable looking people tho’ certainly formidable in their unconventional manner."

                                          Catherine's reminiscences

By the reference to  “Hindoo”  it is possible that Alfred was confusing Catherine with her cousin Mary Franklin, the illegitimate daughter of Major James Franklin (brother of John Franklin, who had served in the military in India for the British East India Company). Mary’s mother was a Hindoo woman of whom nothing is known, but following her death James Franklin had sent his daughter back to Lincolnshire to be brought up by his sister Hannah Booth and her husband. James Franklin himself had died two years earlier in 1834.  

Alfred may also have been under the impression that Catherine, like her younger brother Willingham, had been born in India. This was not the case. Catherine had been born in England and remained there while her parents travelled out to India in 1822, her father having been appointed Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Madras. Her two younger siblings also remained behind, the three of them looked after by Catherine’s grandmother, Elizabeth Burnside in Nottingham. At the time it was considered too dangerous health wise to take three young children with them, but in the event Catherine’s two siblings died in England and her parents both succumbed to cholera in 1824, leaving both Catherine and her brother Willingham as orphans. 

Alfred mentioned garnets. The family portrait of Catherine, which probably dates from around the time of her marriage to Drummond Rawnsley in 1842, shows her wearing a garnet brooch.

Catherine Franklin, probably in 1842 around the time of her marriage to Drummond Rawnsley

Catherine’s second meeting with Alfred Tennyson occurred when she was staying at Halton Holgate on her way to her cousins the Booths at Friskney. This was probably around 1840:

“He had been at Mablethorpe some weeks revising & adding to his Poems with a view to bringing out an Edition in 2 vols. He looked very much like the old man of the sea as if seaweed might cling to him unkempt & unwashed & altogether forlorn as to the outer man. When told he had seen me before he looked hard at me & said “Now who are you? & what are you? & where do ye come from?” to which my reply was – Cattarina Anna Franklin Spinstis Nottingham.  The curtness of my answer appeared to amuse him. He had I suppose thought to bully me as I was young looking but I was too old for that & seeing his engagement with Emily Sellwood was then in abeyance I cared nothing about him personally though delighting in his poetry. He talked pleasantly that evening & the next day he walked up & down the garden at Halton noticing especially the yellow crocuses then in full beauty & very abundant calling them torches of flame. His line in Oenone was no doubt suggested by the Halton garden “And at his feet the crocus brake like fire”. That walk in the Halton garden was the most eventful one of my life, and Alfred Tennyson with his short but keen sight was the first to perceive what was to come of it. I went on my way to Friskney that afternoon & saw the Poet no more for 5 or 6 years, till we lived at Shiplake & he came now & then to see us there.”

Halton Holgate Rectory and garden painted by Catherine Rawnsley in 1882

Halton Holgate Rectory was the home of Rev Thomas Hardwicke Rawnsley & his wife, and the significance of this for Catherine was meeting her future husband, their son Drummond Rawnsley. They were married in 1842, from Henry Sellwood’s house in Horncastle where Catherine had been staying. In time the beautiful house and garden at Halton would become their home, but in 1842 this was in the future. They settled at Hadham, Hertfordshire where Drummond was vicar. In 1849 they moved to Shiplake on Thames, and it was here that Alfred Tennyson visited them with far reaching consequences, as Catherine relates in her reminiscences:

“He was fond of my husband as he had good reason to be for he had no truer or more devoted friend & I have never regretted or in fact done otherwise than required in the part I took in helping to smooth away difficulties at the time of his marriage to my cousin Emily, who has been as every one who knows them feels a most valuable & valued wife”

                       Drummond Rawnsley, probably painted around 1842

The quill pen in the family portrait of Catherine is significant in that Emily Sellwood gave her cousin “Kate” a beautiful pen with a pearl feather handle at the time of her wedding to Drummond Rawnsley in 1842 .

The story of Catherine Rawnsley’s part in bringing together Alfred and Emily is told in The Tennyson Connection part 2.

Sources, notes & explanations:

There is a memorial to Sarah Sellwood (ne Franklin) in the church at Horncastle, and a blue plaque where their house once stood in Market Square, sadly now no longer (I think it was a co-op when we last visited)

Portrait of Tennyson from a painting by Laurence, Langney Archive LA/P/1

Catherine's reminiscences are from a letter to her son Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, 30th March, year unknown but before May 1892. Rawnsley Archive RR/13/9

"Louie" was Louisa Sellwood who married Charles Tennyson Turner.

A puisne judge was an ordinary judge, or judge of lesser rank

Catherine Franklin's guardian and uncle on her mother's side, William Stanford Burnside, had intended for her to marry his son (her cousin) William Burnside. Fortunately she was brave enough to call off the engagement, but it made it awkward for her to remain in Nottingham, so she spent time with her Franklin relatives in Lincolnshire, and this was where she met and fell in love with Drummond Rawnsley.

Halton Rectory & garden from Catherine's book of watercolours, Langney Archive LA/O/2

Catherine and Drummond Rawnsley portraits from the family collection

Quill pen, Langney Archive LA/7/7