Charles Tennyson Turner. Biography

Charles Tennyson Turner (4 July 1808 – 25 April 1879) was an English poet. Born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, he was an elder brother of Alfred Tennyson; his friendship and the "heart union" with his greater brother is revealed in Poems by Two Brothers (1829). Another poet brother was Frederick Tennyson.

In 1833, Charles was ordained a priest in the Church of England. On 1 October 1835, he changed his surname to Turner after inheriting the estate of his great-uncle, the Reverend Samuel Turner of Caistor in Lincolnshire. On 24 May 1836, he married Louisa Sellwood, the younger sister of Alfred's future wife; she later suffered from mental illness and became an opium addict. Charles died on 25 April 1879, at the age of 70, at 6 Imperial Square in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.[1]

Turner was key in the construction of Grasby, a small village on the outskirts of Caistor. He helped construct part of the school (Grasby School) and was the vicar of Grasby Church for a while.

Charles Tennyson Turner's Poems:

1. The Steam Threshing-Machine With the Straw Carrier
2. Letty’s Globe
3. Morning Sorrows
4. A Forest Sunset
5. The Process of Composition: An Illustration
6. Orion
7. Arms Old and New
8. The Lion’s Skeleton
9. The Sea-Side Truants
10. On a Vase of Gold Fish