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Short thread on Christopher Tennant of Cadoxton, Neath. Killed in action 3 September 1917 while serving with the Welsh Guards in Flanders.
The Tennant family arrived in Neath in 1816 and, over the years, developed a defunct canal into a thriving enterprise. The canal is still extant and under family control.
In the late 19th century, ownership of the canal (the Neath and Tennant canal by then) passed to Charles Tennant, a barrister. In 1895 he married Winifred Pearce-Serocold, the daughter of a prominent Swansea family. Winifred was 20 years younger than Charles.
Christopher was born in 1897. He attended West Downs School at Winchester and Winchester College. He was bullied, his House Master stating that his fellow pupils were "big men who are pure Philistines..."
Having narrowly failed to get a scholarship to Cambridge, with war raging, he applied for a commission in the Welsh Guards. At Sandhurst he came 15th in the order of merit.
At his medical examination in July 1916, he was over six feet in height but weighed only 9 stone 6 pounds. He did not like the muscular attitudes of his comrades but did well at military training.
Christopher Tennant.
He left Sandhurst with a position of 12th out of 300+ candidates. He went to the Guards' camp at Tidworth in the summer of 1917. He told his mother that he was enjoying himself. He was a 2nd Lieutenant.
On 18 August 1917, he arrived at Petworth Camp, near Proven. On 31 August 1917, he went into the trenches near Langemarck at the head of No. 4 Platoon, Prince of Wales Company, Welsh Guards.
He showed himself unafraid when visiting advanced positions but didn't see any major action. In the first days of September 1917, he was given several days' leave. He planned to spend it in Paris.
His mother, the redoubtable Winifred Coombe Tennant, was a friend of Lloyd George, a JP, Suffragist, and had been a UK delegate to the League of Nations.
Winifred had the money to visit Paris to meet Christopher but her plan was thwarted by a rule that meant that very few relatives were allowed to see their men near the front. Christopher would spend his leave alone.
On 3 September 1917, Christopher bid his farewells to his company commander and began the journey away from the front line. He had to stick to the duckboards across the muddy battlefield.
He was struck by shrapnel and fell into a crater. Stretcher-bearers reached him quickly but life was extinct. He was later buried at Canada Farm cemetery. (image: Aurel Sercu)
Winifred was devastated. But she had a keen interest in psychical research. SERIOUS research. It was not of the "Is that you, Granny? Where did you hide the money?" type.
Eventually, she was the subject of serious study by members of the Society for Psychical Research for decades. She "practised" her mediumship as "Mrs Willett" to protect her identity.
One of her "assistants" was Gerald Balfour, a statesman in his own right and brother of some-time PM, Arthur. Indeed, her other son, Henry, had been secretly fathered with Gerald to produce a new "Messiah", guided by spirit world contacts.
Winifred had assured Christopher that, should he be killed, she would contact him in his "new place." On 12 September she noted "As I was falling asleep last night he was there, beside me...it was himself." Further psychic contacts followed.
His grave marker remains in All Hallows by the Tower in London. (Image: Kim McMahon-Thompson.)
Winifred placed memorials to Christopher in Cadoxton Church nr Neath, chapel of West Downs School, Winchester College, Sandhurst, Rouen Cathedral, Elverdinge Church, British Church at Ypres, Wellington Barracks, Cambridge Uni and Queenland Aus.
The memorial at Elverdinge (near to where he was killed) consisted of a floor plaque. In the 1950s it seems that it was - amazingly - covered over by a new carpet. It was "rediscovered" in 2004 much to everyone's surprise.
It is now uncovered and visible to all. A memorial service was arranged in 2005 by local historian Aurel Sercu and the Friends of the In Flanders Fields Museum. We must assume that Winifred's spirit would have been delighted. Not forgotten...
