Henry Tennent

Henry Tennant, better known as Harry, was a man of many talents, going from a keen all-round sportsman to a well-known West End impresario and producer.

Tennent was educated at Blackheath Collegiate College before going to Wadham College, Oxford. At Blackheath, he played for the rugby XV, cricket XI and was also a good racquets and fives player. He was also responsible for starting the school hockey team. He continued played hockey after going to Oxford, and in 1900, captained the team against Cambridge, when a half-blue was awarded. Despite continuing with other sports, hockey was his first love, and he got involved with the organisational aspect of the sport. In 1901 he founded the Oxford University Occasionals Hockey Club, and was a member of the Blackheath and Hampstead clubs. Tennent won representative honours with London, Kent and The South. He was appointed secretary of the Hockey Association in 1904, a post he held until 1907, when he resigning due to business commitments. Tennent was appointed chairman of the newly formed International Hockey Board in 1909. He was also on the council of the British Olympic Association and headed a three-man sub-committee responsible for organising the hockey tournament at the 1908 Olympics. Also that year, he umpired the ‘Varsity game.

At university Tennent became president of the Oxford University Dramatics Society, and after a spell working for the Ministry of Agriculture, he got the opportunity to move into the world he loved so much, that of music and entertainment, working with piano manufacturers John Broadwood and Sons. This gave Tennent the opportunity to utilise his musical talents. He stayed with them until the outbreak of World War I, and after the hostilities, became booking manager for Moss Empires Limited, and then Howard and Wyndham in a similar capacity, before becoming the general manager of the new Moss Empires and Howard and Wyndham Tours Limited.

In 1934, Tennent formed a partnership with “Binkie” Beaumont and H. M. Tennent Limited was formed. Between 1934-39 Tennent was the general manager, and later managing director, of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, taking over at a time when the theatre was struggling. Having failed to get Noël Coward to perform at Drury Lane, he succeeded in recruiting the services of Ivor Novello, and his Glamourous Nights, which opened in 1935, turned out to be the saviour of the Theatre Royal. H. M. Tennent Limited then went on to become one of the most successful and respected theatre production companies for over 30 years.

One of Tennent and Beaumont’s best known productions was Oscar Wilde’s The Important of Being Earnest at The Globe Theatre. It contained a star-studded cast including Edith Evans, John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Jack Hawkins and Margaret Rutherford. It opened to rave reviews in August 1939, but had to be cancelled shortly afterwards due to the outbreak of World War II. Less than two years later the Tennent-Beaumont partnership came to an end when Harry collapsed in a London street on 10 June 1941, and died in hospital later that same day.