Stephen Tennant: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|British aristocrat and socialite}} | {{short description|British aristocrat and socialite (1906–1987)}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} | ||
{{More citations needed|date=July 2013}} | {{More citations needed|date=July 2013}} | ||
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| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]] | | honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]] | ||
| name = Stephen Tennant | | name = Stephen Tennant | ||
| image = | | image = Stephen Tennant, 1920–25.jpg | ||
| alt = | | alt = | ||
| caption = | | caption = Tennant, 1920–1925 | ||
| birth_name = Stephen James Napier Tennant | | birth_name = Stephen James Napier Tennant | ||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|4|21|df=y}} | | birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|4|21|df=y}} | ||
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| notable_works = | | notable_works = | ||
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'''Stephen James Napier Tennant''' (21 April 1906 – 28 February 1987) was a British [[socialite]] known for his [[decadent]], eccentric lifestyle.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ash |first=John |date=1991-02-03 |title=The outrageous Stephen Tennant |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1991/02/03/the-outrageous-stephen-tennant/6fde8a4d-a81d-45be-8d9f-428ed69c854f/ |access-date=2023-03-16 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/03/books/the-man-who-stayed-in-bed.html | title=The Man Who Stayed in Bed | work=The New York Times | date=3 February 1991 | last1=Waters | first1=John }}</ref> He was a central member of the socialite group referred to as "[[Bright young things|Bright Young Things]]" by the tabloid press of the time. Tennant was noted for his affected demeanor, appearance and behaviours.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garman |first=Emma |date=2020-05-12 |title=The Great Writer Who Never Wrote |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/05/12/the-great-writer-who-never-wrote/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=The Paris Review |language=en}}</ref> | '''Stephen James Napier Tennant''' (21 April 1906 – 28 February 1987) was a British [[socialite]] known for his [[decadent]], eccentric lifestyle.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ash |first=John |date=1991-02-03 |title=The outrageous Stephen Tennant |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1991/02/03/the-outrageous-stephen-tennant/6fde8a4d-a81d-45be-8d9f-428ed69c854f/ |access-date=2023-03-16 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/03/books/the-man-who-stayed-in-bed.html | title=The Man Who Stayed in Bed | work=The New York Times | date=3 February 1991 | last1=Waters | first1=John }}</ref> He was a central member of the socialite group referred to as "[[Bright young things|Bright Young Things]]" by the tabloid press of the time. Tennant was noted for his affected demeanor, appearance and behaviours.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garman |first=Emma |date=2020-05-12 |title=The Great Writer Who Never Wrote |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/05/12/the-great-writer-who-never-wrote/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=The Paris Review |language=en}}</ref> | ||
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[[File:The Wyndham Sisters - Lady Elcho, Mrs. Adeane, and Mrs. Tenant.jpg|thumb|right|''The Wyndham Sisters,'' by [[John Singer Sargent]], 1899 ([[Metropolitan Museum]])]] | [[File:The Wyndham Sisters - Lady Elcho, Mrs. Adeane, and Mrs. Tenant.jpg|thumb|right|''The Wyndham Sisters,'' by [[John Singer Sargent]], 1899 ([[Metropolitan Museum]])]] | ||
Tennant was born into | Tennant was born into a Scottish business and political dynasty, the youngest son of [[Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner]] who became a [[peerage|peer]] when Tennant was a young boy, and the former [[Pamela Wyndham]], one of the Wyndham sisters and of [[The Souls]] clique. His mother was also a cousin of [[Lord Alfred Douglas]] (1870–1945), [[Oscar Wilde]]'s lover and a [[sonnet]]eer. On his father's death, Tennant's mother married [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon]], a fellow bird-lover. Tennant's eldest brother [[Edward Tennant (poet)|Edward]] – "Bim" – was killed in the [[World War I|First World War]]. His elder brother [[David Tennant (aristocrat)|David Tennant]] founded the [[Gargoyle Club]] in Soho.<ref name=Independent>{{cite news|last1=Hoare|first1=Philip|title=Michael Luke: Writer, film producer and dashing chronicler of the Gargoyle Club|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-luke-6147974.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606230015/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-luke-6147974.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 June 2014|access-date=3 June 2014|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=9 April 2005}}</ref> | ||
===Social set=== | ===Social set=== | ||
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==Personal life== | ==Personal life== | ||
During the 1920s and 1930s Tennant had a long | During the 1920s and 1930s Tennant had a long sexual affair with the poet [[Siegfried Sassoon]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Johnathan |title=New diaries reveal the 'dark secrets' of Siegfried Sassoon's swooning affair |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/new-diaries-reveal-the-dark-secrets-of-siegfried-sassoon-s-swooning-affair-321646.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/new-diaries-reveal-the-dark-secrets-of-siegfried-sassoon-s-swooning-affair-321646.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Independent |date=22 October 2005 |access-date=30 December 2020}}</ref> Prior to this he had proposed to a friend, Elizabeth Lowndes, but had been rejected ([[Philip Hoare]] relates how Tennant discussed plans with Lowndes about bringing his [[nanny]] with them on their honeymoon). | ||
His relationship with Sassoon (twenty years his senior), however, was to be his most important: it lasted some six years before Tennant off-handedly put an abrupt end to it and Sassoon was reportedly devastated.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Green |first=Peter |date=2006-02-20 |title=The Siegfried Line |magazine=The New Republic |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/65301/the-siegfried-line |access-date=2023-11-04 |issn=0028-6583}}</ref> | His relationship with Sassoon (twenty years his senior), however, was to be his most important: it lasted some six years before Tennant off-handedly put an abrupt end to it and Sassoon was reportedly devastated.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Green |first=Peter |date=2006-02-20 |title=The Siegfried Line |magazine=The New Republic |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/65301/the-siegfried-line |access-date=2023-11-04 |issn=0028-6583}}</ref> | ||
When Tennant died in 1987, he had outlived most of his contemporaries. A large archive of his letters, scrapbooks, personal ephemera and artworks | When Tennant died in 1987, he had outlived most of his contemporaries. A large archive of his letters, scrapbooks, personal ephemera and artworks are held in [[The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History]] in [[Hackney, London]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = the viktor wynd museum of curiosities|url = http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/museum-curiosities/viktor-wynd-museum/viktor-wynd-museum-curiosities-fine-art-natural-history-now-open/#.VhEZ24sk--I|website = Thelasttuesdaysociety.org|accessdate = 2015-10-04|archive-date = 6 May 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210506123951/http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/museum-curiosities/viktor-wynd-museum/viktor-wynd-museum-curiosities-fine-art-natural-history-now-open/#.VhEZ24sk--I|url-status = dead}}</ref> | ||
== In popular culture == | == In popular culture == | ||
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Lord [[Sebastian Flyte]], a character in the novel ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]'', is partly based on Tennant.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/03/books/the-man-who-stayed-in-bed.html|title=The Man Who Stayed in Bed|first=John|last=Waters|date=3 February 1991|access-date=13 February 2019|website=The New York Times}}</ref> | Lord [[Sebastian Flyte]], a character in the novel ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]'', is partly based on Tennant.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/03/books/the-man-who-stayed-in-bed.html|title=The Man Who Stayed in Bed|first=John|last=Waters|date=3 February 1991|access-date=13 February 2019|website=The New York Times}}</ref> | ||
The narrator of Shola von Reinhold's novel ''LOTE'' (2020) is obsessed ("transfixed") with Tennant, and mentions him throughout the book. | The narrator of Shola von Reinhold's novel ''LOTE'' (2020) is obsessed ("transfixed") with Tennant, and mentions him throughout the book.<ref>https://www.dukeupress.edu/lote</ref> | ||
He was played as a younger man by [[Calam Lynch]] and as an older man by [[Anton Lesser]] in the 2021 [[Terence Davies]] film ''[[Benediction (film)|Benediction]]''. | He was played as a younger man by [[Calam Lynch]] and as an older man by [[Anton Lesser]] in the 2021 [[Terence Davies]] film ''[[Benediction (film)|Benediction]]''. | ||
Latest revision as of 23:19, 16 November 2025
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Stephen James Napier Tennant (21 April 1906 – 28 February 1987) was a British socialite known for his decadent, eccentric lifestyle.[1][2] He was a central member of the socialite group referred to as "Bright Young Things" by the tabloid press of the time. Tennant was noted for his affected demeanor, appearance and behaviours.[3]
Early life
Tennant was born into a Scottish business and political dynasty, the youngest son of Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner who became a peer when Tennant was a young boy, and the former Pamela Wyndham, one of the Wyndham sisters and of The Souls clique. His mother was also a cousin of Lord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945), Oscar Wilde's lover and a sonneteer. On his father's death, Tennant's mother married Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, a fellow bird-lover. Tennant's eldest brother Edward – "Bim" – was killed in the First World War. His elder brother David Tennant founded the Gargoyle Club in Soho.[4]
Social set
During the 1920s and 1930s, Tennant was an important member – the "Brightest", it is said – of the "Bright Young Things". His friends included Rex Whistler, Cecil Beaton, the Sitwells, Lady Diana Manners and the Mitford girls. He is widely considered to be the model for Cedric Hampton in Nancy Mitford's novel Love in a Cold Climate, one of the inspirations for Lord Sebastian Flyte in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and a model for the Hon. Miles Malpractice in some of Waugh's other novels.
Writing
For most of his life, Tennant tried to start or finish a novel – Lascar: A Story You Must Forget.[5] It is popularly believed that he spent the last 17 years of his life in bed at the house he inherited from his parents, Wilsford House[6] at Wilsford cum Lake, Wiltshire, which he had redecorated by Syrie Maugham.
Though undoubtedly idle, he was not truly lethargic: he made several visits to the United States and Italy, and developed many new friendships. His later reputation as a recluse became increasingly true only towards the last years of his life. Yet even then, his life was not uneventful: he became landlord to V. S. Naipaul, who immortalised Tennant in his novel The Enigma of Arrival.
Personal life
During the 1920s and 1930s Tennant had a long sexual affair with the poet Siegfried Sassoon.[7] Prior to this he had proposed to a friend, Elizabeth Lowndes, but had been rejected (Philip Hoare relates how Tennant discussed plans with Lowndes about bringing his nanny with them on their honeymoon).
His relationship with Sassoon (twenty years his senior), however, was to be his most important: it lasted some six years before Tennant off-handedly put an abrupt end to it and Sassoon was reportedly devastated.[8]
When Tennant died in 1987, he had outlived most of his contemporaries. A large archive of his letters, scrapbooks, personal ephemera and artworks are held in The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History in Hackney, London.[9]
In popular culture
The character of Cedric Hampton in the novel Love in a Cold Climate is based on Tennant.[10]
The character of Miles Malpractice in the novel Vile Bodies is based on Tennant.[11]
Lord Sebastian Flyte, a character in the novel Brideshead Revisited, is partly based on Tennant.[12]
The narrator of Shola von Reinhold's novel LOTE (2020) is obsessed ("transfixed") with Tennant, and mentions him throughout the book.[13]
He was played as a younger man by Calam Lynch and as an older man by Anton Lesser in the 2021 Terence Davies film Benediction.
References
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- ↑ Template:National Heritage List for England
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- ↑ https://www.dukeupress.edu/lote
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Further reading
- Philip Hoare. Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant (Hamish Hamilton, 1990) Template:ISBN
External links
- Stephen Tennant Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
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