Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
The Lord Glenconner | |
Honorific Suffix: | Bt |
Tenure: | 1920 – 1983 |
Predecessor: | Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner |
Successor: | Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner |
Birth Name: | Christopher Grey Tennant |
Birth Date: | 14 June 1899 |
Birth Place: | Warminster, Wiltshire, England |
Death Place: | Corfu, Greece |
Spouse: | |
Parents: | Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner Pamela Wyndham |
Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner (14 June 1899 – 4 October 1983), of The Glen, Scottish Borders,[1] [2] was a British peer, businessman and Royal Navy officer.
He was the second son of Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner, a Liberal politician and businessman, and Pamela Wyndham, a daughter of Hon. Percy Wyndham and one of The Wyndham Sisters who later remarried the 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon.[3] He was educated at Eton, after which in 1912 he was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy.[4] He served on HMS Lord Nelson, HMS Castor, and HMS Royal Oak, during World War I.
Upon his father's death in 1920, and as a result of the premature death of his elder brother in World War I, he succeeded as Baron Glenconner and Baronet Tennant, of The Glen and St Rollox.
Like his grandfather, Sir Charles Tennant, Glenconner was a well-known patron of the arts. Aside from being chairman of various family related businesses, such as C. Tennant, Sons & Company, he served as chairman of Northern Assurance Co. Ltd. and was a director of Hambros Bank.[5]
During World War II, Glenconner was head of SOE, Cairo.
Glenconner was married twice. Firstly, in 1925, to Pamela Winifred Paget (1903–1989), daughter of Sir Richard Paget, 2nd Baronet; secondly, in 1935, to Elizabeth Powell, daughter of Lt.-Col. Evelyn Powell.[6] In total he had five children. He was the father of Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner (1926–2010), who was noted for having owned and developed the Caribbean island Mustique.[7] From his second marriage, he was the father of the novelist Hon. Emma Tennant (1937–2017).