TW: mentions of animal cruelty, and domestic abuse
Early life, Marriage and Children
Elizabeth Fytche was born in Louth, Lincolnshire in 1780. Her father, Stephen Fytche, was the Vicar of St James’ Church, Louth (1764) and Rector of Withcall (1780) and married Martha Green in the late 1770s. The Fytche’s had three children of which Elizabeth was their second child. Their eldest daughter Martha died before Elizabeth was born, at only a year old of unknown causes. Her younger sister Mary Anne (sometimes written as Marianne in letters between the family) remained close to Elizabeth and her children throughout her life. Elizabeth was referred to by family as Eliza, and often signed her letters with the nickname.
There is not much recorded about Elizabeth’s life until her marriage to George Clayton Tennyson on the 6th August 1805 in Louth. As her portrait suggests, with her short figure, dark eyes and hair, she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the county and she told one of her daughters that she had received twenty-five offers of marriage before accepting George Tennyson’s. Elizabeth Tennyson had twelve children: George, Frederick, Charles, Alfred, Mary, Emilia, Edward, Arthur, Septimus, Mathilda, Cecilia and Horatio. Sadly, like her parents, the couple lost their eldest son George in his infancy to unknown causes. The Tennyson family moved to The Rectory in Somersby, Lincolnshire sometime between 1807 and 1808 where every child but George and Frederick were born.
Personality and Pets
Elizabeth was adored by her children and thought of highly by almost all who knew her. Alfred’s friend Edward Fitzgerald called her ‘One of the most innocent and tender-hearted ladies [he] ever saw’. The acquaintances around her, including her husband’s flock and the family servants considered her the gentlest of women. It is reported that Alfred wrote the poem ‘Isabel’ (1830) to demonstrate how his mother was a ‘remarkable and saintly woman’. The first verse reads:
Alfred Tennyson, ‘Isabel’ (1830)Eyes not down-dropt nor over-bright, but fed
With the clear-pointed flame of chastity,
Clear, without heat, undying, tended by
Pure vestal thoughts in the translucent fane
Of her still spirit; locks not wide-dispread,
Madonna-wise on either side her head;
Sweet lips whereon perpetually did reign
The summer calm of golden charity,
Were fixed shadows of thy fixed mood,
Revered Isabel, the crown and head,
The stately flower of female fortitude,
Of perfect wifehood and pure lowlihead.
The poem emphasises the revered Isabel and her charitable and chaste qualities as the perfect wife. Hallam Tennyson wrote in his father’s Memoir of how devoted Elizabeth was to her husband and children. She was remembered for her kindness and great sense of humour.
The children apparently spent almost all their time with her in their youths seemingly ‘about her like bees’. Whilst their father schooled his children with many formal lessons, their mother was the ‘best teacher after all’ spending her hours with them reading and talking to her children. It was Elizabeth who encouraged her children, and the one who inspired their poetry. Charles stated that ‘We should none of us probably have written poetry if it had not been for her’. Although, Frederick would say that despite his mother’s loveable and tender-heart, she was not imaginative and just fond of reading to them. Either way, her devotion to her children and their equal fondness for her, was evident throughout their lives.
Elizabeth also had a deep love for animals which was inherited by her children. She had several pets herself, including a Newfoundland mastiff who was often compared to a steed, and a monkey who would imitate the household staff. He would emulate the housemaid scrubbing the floor, and apparently enjoyed singeing the hair on his back on lit candles. Supposedly, the monkey demonstrated jealousy of Alfred’s pet owl which used to sit on the back of Elizabeth’s chair. However, this was solved when eventually the owl drowned in a well on the family property which Hallam Tennyson determined as a ‘Narcissus death of vanity’. Hallam also records how boys from the neighbouring village would bring their dogs to the house’s windows and beat the animals before them. Distressed, Elizabeth would bribe the boys to stop their cruel or offer to the buy the animals.
Deterioration of her Marriage
George Clayton Tennyson was a troubled man who suffered extensively with mental health issues and epilepsy. His depression and fits, as well as the disdain of his father, meant that George resorted to alcoholism and narcotics. His heavy-drinking and worsening illness and paranoia resulted in him becoming more physically violent into the 1820s and strained his relationship with Elizabeth and their children. As a devoted mother, it was a difficult position for Elizabeth to navigate.
In 1829, Elizabeth writes to her father-in-law George Tennyson (Senior) and expresses ‘my most fixed and final resolution to separate from my husband as the only step that can effectually secure myself and family from the consequences of his ungovernable violence which I solemnly assure you has proceeded to such a length that I do not feel it safe either for myself or my children to remain any longer in the house with him’. The emotive letter is a difficult read as she pleads with her husband’s disapproving father for help and protection from her husband’s ‘ungovernable violence’. The letter continues on to describe how:
Elizabeth Tennyson to George Tennyson Sr.‘There is another and perhaps a stronger reason than any I had given for our separation, the impression which his conduct may produce upon the minds of his family not to mention the perpetual one of such degrading epithets to myself and children as a husband and a father but above all a person of his sacred profession or particularly to avoid. A short time since he had a large knife and loaded gun in his room. The latter he took into the kitchen to try before he went to bed. He was going to fire off through the kitchen Window but was dissuaded. With a knife he said he would kill Frederick by stabbing him in the jugular vein in the heart. I remonstrated with him on having such dangerous weapons and told him he would be killing himself. He said he should not do this but he would kill others and Frederick should be one. I do not say this to injure my poor husband in your opinion but I need to convince you that in the state of mind in which he is at times it is not safe for his family to live with him.’
It is unknown how George Sr. responded to this plea for assistance. However, Elizabeth and the children did not officially leave Somersby until after George Jr.’s death. There is evidence that the family went on long trips without the father, and he was left to be cared for by doctors and family friends in their absence. It doesn’t seem these threats came to reality, but the tone of Elizabeth’s letter portrays the fear she had for the safety of her children and herself. The family seems to have spent more time apart from George Jr. after this, and going on trips when he was having his worst bouts of illness and depression. George Clayton Tennyson died in March 1831 after a month-long illness.
Later Life and Death
When Alfred moved to Farringford House on the Isle of Wight in 1853, Elizabeth moved into Chapel House. In a letter to his wife Emily Sellwood Tennyson, Alfred explains how he told her that he was afraid if Elizabeth came to live with them, the rest of the family would also follow. In 1858, Alfred reports that his mother and Mathilda were living with his sister Emily and her husband Captain Richard Jesse in Rose Mount, Hampstead. Elizabeth spent her later life living with her daughters and their families, receiving reading material from Alfred and his friends, and caring for her sister Mary Anne who became ill in 1864 and only started recovering shortly before her death.
Elizabeth Tennyson died on 21st February 1865 in Well Walk, Hamstead at around 10pm at the age of 84. Alfred wrote to his wife that ‘Mother had gone before I came […] I dare not see her […] She did not ask for me especially, which is one comfort’. Her funeral was on 27th February 1965 and Tennyson travelled to London with his brother Arthur to attend. The Poet told the clergyman conducting the funeral that his mother ‘was the beautifullest thing God Almighty ever did make’. The ceremony was all pomp and circumstance with black plumes and coaches which Alfred regarded as ‘nonsense’ saying that the family would rather have attended in white and gold ‘but convention is against us’. She was buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.
Conclusion
It is fair to say that Elizabeth was beloved by her children and that she was the one who cultivated the Tennyson siblings’ love for poetry. She demonstrated kindness throughout her life to all those around her, human and animal, and was well-respected for her gentle nature. Her marriage to her husband who suffered greatly with his mental health and well-being meant that she had a difficult time trying to balance her loyalties as a wife and as a mother. Certainly, she remained an advocate for her children throughout her life and supported them until her death.
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