[2] He was initially educated in Australia at Melbourne Grammar School, where he first played cricket,[3] before attending Eton College in England.

[6] Tennyson was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards as a second lieutenant in August 1909,[7] before transferring to the Rifle Brigade in December 1912.

[8] His transfer allegedly came about from an agreement he reached with his father after losing £12,000 in the space of a week betting on horse racing, which had left him with £7,000 debt.

[13] Having recovered from his wound, Tennyson was seconded to headquarters as a staff captain to General Roy in March 1915,[14] and returned to the Western Front in July 1915.

[15] Tennyson saw action in the allied defeat at the Battle of Loos in September–October 1915,[16] with his promotion to captain occurring shortly after, but was not gazetted until March 1916.

[17] Upon his promotion to captain, Tennyson undertook a machine gun course at Wisques and was shortly thereafter ordered to join the staff of General William Pulteney; however, his appointment to Pulteney was short-lived, as his brigade was ordered to the Ypres Salient and General Roy requested his return to his staff.

[20] Tennyson resigned his commission in November 1919,[21] one year after the conclusion of war, at which point he was granted the rank of major.

[5] Following his successful first season, the MCC offered him a place on the winter tour to South Africa as a replacement for Frederick Fane,[27] which he accepted.

[25] He played in the match between the MCC South African Touring Team against The Rest, which celebrated Lord's centenary.

In 1921, England having lost six Test matches in succession to the Australians under Warwick Armstrong, Tennyson was recalled to the side for the second Test at Lord's, and though the game was again lost, he scored an undefeated 74 in the second innings against Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald at their fastest.

At Headingley in the first of these three games as captain, Tennyson split his hand while fielding in the Australians' first innings but, patched up with what Wisden called a "basket guard", he made 63 and 36.