Lionel Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson

Who was Lionel Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson?

Lionel Hallam Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson was known principally as a cricketer who captained Hampshire and England. The grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, he succeeded his father to the title in 1928, having been known before that as "The Hon Lionel Tennyson". He should not be confused with his uncle, after whom he was named, who was also "The Hon Lionel Tennyson"

As a schoolboy at Eton College, he had been a fast bowler, but by the time he took up regular first-class cricket with Hampshire in 1913, he bowled very rarely. During World War I he served with The Rifle Brigade in France. He was Mentioned in Despatches twice and three times wounded.

Tennyson played nine Test matches for England, five of them on the tour of South Africa under Johnny Douglas in 1913/14. In 1921, England having lost six Test matches in succession to the Australians under Warwick Armstrong, Tennyson was recalled to the side for the second Test at Lord's, and though the game was again lost, he scored an undefeated 74 in the second innings against Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald at their fastest.