Pamela Adelaide Genevieve Grey, Viscountess Grey of Fallodon (born Wyndham; previously Pamela Tennant, Baroness Glenconner; 14 January 1871 – 18 November 1928), was an English writer. The wife of Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner, and later of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, she is one of the painted by John Singer Sargent, who were at the centre of the cultural and political life of their time. Like their parents, they were part of The Souls.
Early life
Wyndham was born on 14 January 1871 at
Clouds House in
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. She was the daughter of Hon. Percy Wyndham (1835–1911) and Madeline Caroline Frances Eden Campbell. Her mother was the daughter of Sir Guy Campbell, 1st Baronet, and his wife Pamela FitzGerald, daughter of Lord Edward FitzGerald and Pamela Syms. Her father was the son of George Wyndham, 1st Baron Leconfield, and his wife Mary Fanny Blunt, the daughter of Rev. William Blunt.
The 1899 portrait of Pamela and her sisters (Mary, wife of the 11th Earl of Wemyss, and Madeline, wife of Charles Adeane, the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire) by John Singer Sargent, known as the Wyndham sisters, was once described as "the greatest picture of modern times" by The Times.
Career
In 1919, Wyndham published the successful memoirs of her son Edward Tennant, who had been killed during World War I. She also published poems, prose, children's literature, and edited poetry and prose anthologies.
She was friends, among others, with Henry James, Oscar Wilde and Edward Burne-Jones,
In April 1927, as Viscountess Grey, she became the first President of the newly formed North East Coast branch of the Electrical Association for Women in Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Personal life
In 1895, Pamela Wyndham married Edward Tennant (1859–1920), who was educated at
Eton College and at Trinity College, Cambridge. Edward was the eldest surviving son of eleven children born to Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet, and succeeded to his father's baronetcy upon the later's death in 1906. From 1908 until his death in 1920, he served as Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire. His sister,
Margot Asquith, was married to H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister from 1894 until 1928.
In 1911, Edward Tennant was raised to the peerage as
Baron Glenconner, of The Glen in the County of Peebles, which gave Pamela Tennant the title of Baroness Glenconner.
Pamela and Edward Tennant were the parents of:
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Hon. Clare Tennant (1896–1960), married 1) Adrian Bethell, 2) Hon. Lionel Tennyson (later 3rd Baron Tennyson) 3) James M. Beck Jr.
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Lieutenant Hon. Edward Tennant (1897–1916), war poet who was killed at the Battle of the Somme
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Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner (1899–1983), married Pamela Paget, the daughter of Sir Richard Paget, 2nd Baronet
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Hon. David Pax Tennant (1902–1968), socialite who founded the Gargoyle Club in London
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Stephen Tennant (1906–1987), socialite known for his decadent lifestyle who was called "the brightest" of the "Bright Young Things"
Following her first husband's death in 1920, in 1922, she married the widower Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933), a Liberal statesman who served as Member of Parliament, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (under Asquith),
Viscountess Grey died on 18 November 1928, age 57, at Wilsford Manor in Wilsford cum Lake, near Salisbury. The house had been built between 1904–1906 during her first marriage.
Her second husband died on 7 September 1933 and the viscountcy became extinct on his death, though he was succeeded in Grey baronets by his cousin, Sir George Grey.
In popular culture
The 2014 book
by Claudia Renton is about the lives of the Wyndham sisters, Mary, Madeline, and Pamela.
Works
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Windlestraw: A book of verse, 1905
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The Children and The Pictures, 1907 published by Heinemann
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The White Wallet, 1912, republished in 1928 with illustrations by Stephen Tennant
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The Story of Joan Arc, 1915
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The Saving of the Children, 1918
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Edward Wyndham Tennant: a memoir by his mother Pamela Glenconner, 1919
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Shepherd's Crowns: a volume of essays, 1923
- Notes
- Sources
External links
