Thomas William Roberts (1856-1931), Hellam Tennyson (detail), Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection. View full image
2nd Baron Tennyson
Governor-General, 9 January 1903 to 21 January 1904
Having temporarily filled the role following Lord Hopetoun’s sudden resignation in 1902, Hallam Tennyson (1852-1928) was formally appointed as Australia’s second Governor-General in January 1903. He proved to be popular and well-regarded in the role, his sober and frugal nature matching the spirit of the times.1
Tennyson was born at Twickenham, London, eldest son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson. He studied at Marlborough College and Cambridge’s Trinity College before marrying Audrey Georgina Florence Boyle at Westminster Abbey in 1884. They had three sons, two of whom were killed in World War I.2
Although admitted to the Bar, he never practised law, becoming instead his father’s secretary, companion and, following Alfred’s death in 1892, his biographer. However, he was already known as an author, having published the children’s book Jack and the Beanstalk in 1886.
In 1899, Tennyson was appointed Governor of SA, his first public office. Though popular with the press, he fell out with the premiers Charles Kingston and Frederick Holder. Committed to states rights, Tennyson organised a boycott by governors of the Commonwealth inauguration ceremonies and resisted the British Government’s decision to centralise official correspondence through the Governor-General.
Despite misgivings about his relative inexperience, in January 1903 Tennyson was appointed as Governor-General, at his own request, for only one year. He was described by the Melbourne magazine Punch as someone ‘who can be absolutely relied upon never to say a foolish thing or to do the wrong thing’.3 Tennyson’s expansive views of his office and strong Imperial sentiments at times created tension in his relationship with both the British and Australian governments. However, Alfred Deakin praised the departing Governor-General for ‘fulfilling all public and social responsibilities with a tact, ability, and courtesy, which have won the respect and esteem of the whole community’.4
On his return to England, Tennyson was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1905 and Deputy Governor and Steward of the Isle of Wight in 1913. He spent much of the rest of his life editing collections of his father’s poems. Lady Tennyson died in 1916 and in 1918 Tennyson married Mary Emily Hitchens Prinsep.5 He died on 2 December 1928 at ‘Farringford’, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, and was buried at Freshwater.
Thomas William Roberts
One of Australia’s leading impressionists, Tom Roberts (1856-1931) was born in Dorchester, England, and moved to Melbourne with his family in 1869. After studying at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, he returned to England to study at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1883, he toured Spain with fellow expatriate, John Peter Russell, where they were introduced to both the principles of Impressionism and plein air painting. Returning to Australia in 1885, Roberts initiated artist trips to the Victorian countryside, establishing camps in suburban Box Hill and Heidelberg with fellow artists Frederick McCubbin, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder. In 1889 the four artists, along with others, staged The
9 by 5 Impression Exhibition in Melbourne, an exhibition of works each nine inches by five inches in size, considered ground-breaking for its new style. Roberts founded the Victorian Artists’ Society in 1888 and advocated for the development of what would become the Historic Memorials Collection. He moved to England in 1903, completing his painting of the opening of the first Australian federal Parliament. He returned to live in Australia permanently in 1923, settling in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria. His work is represented in national, state and many regional galleries across Australia.
6
Hellam Tennyson
by Thomas William Roberts
1914
Oil on canvas
226.8 x 135 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
References
1. Information in this biography has been taken from: RD Hodgkinson, ‘Tennyson, Hallam (1852–1928)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1990, accessed 14 April 2021; C Cunneen,
King’s Men: Australia’s Governors-General from Hopetoun to Isaacs, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983.
2. PA Howell, ‘Tennyson, Audrey Georgiana Florence (1854–1916)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2005, accessed 25 August 2021.
3. Cunneen, op. cit., p. 40.
4. A Deakin, ‘Address to the Governor-General’, House of Representatives, Debates, 21 October 1903, p. 6405–06.
5. ‘From our own Correspondent’,
Portsmouth Evening News, 20 July 1931, p. 6.
6. Information in this biography has been taken from: H Topliss, ‘Roberts, Thomas William (Tom) (1856–19
31)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1988; ‘Tom Roberts’,
National Portrait Gallery; ‘Tom Roberts’,
Art Gallery of NSW; ‘Roberts, Tom (Thomas William)’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, pp. 829–31. Websites accessed 25 May 2021.
6. Information in this biography has been taken from: H Topliss, ‘Roberts, Thomas William (Tom) (1856–19
31)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1988; ‘Tom Roberts’,
National Portrait Gallery; ‘Tom Roberts’,
Art Gallery of NSW; ‘Roberts, Tom (Thomas William)’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, pp. 829–31. Websites accessed 25 May 2021.