ABSTRACT
Lord Alfred Tennyson was and is one of Britain’s best-known poets. He served as Poet Laureate throughout most of Queen Victoria’s reign. Tennyson loved nature and was well known as a conservationist, as evidenced by him being chosen to be the first president of the Selborne Society in 1888 and remaining in this position until his death. Tennyson’s tenure with the Selborne Society saw it move in a more educational and less political direction, perhaps partly reflecting his scientific leanings. Notions of evolution are hinted at (prior to its official popularization by Darwin) in citing the interconnectedness of nature as a means of coping with grief and understanding death and humanity’s place in the world. In 1908, the Selborne Society even opposed some aspects of the RSPB-sponsored Importation of Plumage Bill in 1908 on the grounds of it impeding scientific research.
