Stephen Tennant Resources
This will be an ever-expanding list of books and other resources so that they can all be found in one place. These items all have information about Stephen.
This is a massive list! I didn't want to overwhelm TLs. So click below to see all of it.
It includes books, physical locations, info about Wilsford, and more.
LAST UPDATED: 3/15/2026
Added a copy of Stephen's travel diary under Journals
Added In Search of Rex Whistler under Minor Books
Added dividers
Added "The Sayings of the Children" under Major Books
Added Pinterest galleries (at the bottom)
=STEPHEN FACTS=
Name: Stephen James Napier Tennant
Nicknames: Steenie, and Napier for a time.
Eyes: Blue-green
Hair: Blond (the color of a brass bed knob)
Height: 6'2"
Occupation: Artist, Poet, Diarist, Writer, Fashion designer, and a research resource due to his excellent memory.
Diagnosed Illnesses (1930s Swaylands terms may be outdated):
Tuberculosis (childhood-1930s; became latent, never cured)
Anxiety (lifetime)
Severe Depression (post-death of all parental figures)
Seasickness (says Edith Lewis)
"Romantic Liar" (Swaylands)
"Infantilism" (Swaylands; modern interpretation unclear)
"Protective obsession" (Swaylands; protecting himself from harm)
(Dr. Thomas Arthur Ross, Cassel Hospital, Swaylands, Penshurst, Kent, UK. Early 1930s)
Favourite Colour:
White (but fond of sapphire/silver, and pink)
Loves:
Animals (reptiles), Ancient Greece & Roman mythology, botany, fancy dress, performing (theatre), ballet, Hollywood films, conchology, poetry, books/research, writing, art (painting/sketching), music, beauty & fashion. Love Languages:
Gifts - Giving gift art is his favourite way to reach out to strangers that he is curious about as well as close friends. He has also given away things he's owned.
Quality time - Throwing parties with people in mind, once he had a circus themed dinner in honor of Cecil to repay him for his Fete Champetre. School children on a field trip were stranded and he entertained them at Wilsford and bought them each a set of winter accessories, combining two of his best love languages together.
Acts of service - He is a people-pleaser at heart. He wants to assist and feel useful to people. He knows that he has acquired a lifetime of memories, ideas, and a wealth of book-learned knowledge and others have taken note of it, coming to him when in need. Cecil Beaton has used his mind countless times for ideas or memories, including Ascot dresses for "My Fair Lady," and also Chanel dresses for "Coco" for which Stephen hastily sketched up and delivered to his doorstep with ink still wet. Both of these he has never been given credit for, by the way, he was helping his friend. He gave Edith Olivier a makeover to bring her from an 1900s spinster to a lady of the 1920s.
Unofficial Would-be Life Partner: Siegfried Sassoon. They were together for 6 years. It is documented by Siegfried that Sicily was their honeymoon and that Stephen gave Siegfried a silver band with a heart on it on July 19, 1930. They couldn't be "engaged" or "married" due to social conventions and laws, it was illegal. Before Siegfried left for Ascona to run from the painful thought that Stephen didn't want him anymore, he took out the silver ring from storage in hopes that Stephen would love him again, along with photos of them together in Versailles. When he came back, he waited nearby with dwindling hope for two years. Stephen was going through one health scare after the next with no adult figure to make him feel safe, his fate was in his own hands which terrified him to the point of a severe mental breakdown. His split from Sieg played out like a very long messy divorce with friends forced to pick sides. Read Max Egremont's book to know more. Even after the divorce, they couldn't seem to fully let go of one another for years. I'm still wondering what a "passionate liée" is! WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN, STEPHEN! (good sources: Max's book, Serious Pleasures by Philip Hoare, and Siegfried's 1931 journal - Cambridge)
Plush Friends:
"Monkey" the French sailor monkey and various dogs (1930s), a pink fuzzy monkey "on strings" (marionette?; 1930s), a grey monkey (name unknown, seen 1970s)
Make-up:
Green eye shadow (Sicily). Pink lipstick (Lancret affair, Wilsford). Face powder in glass jars found along the stairs at Wilsford. Brown eyeliner/mascara. Vaseline on eyelids for photos. Very adamant about never using magenta lipstick.
Perfume:
Worth (His favourite! Scent unknown at this time). Cody Emeraude (Boston, Nov-Dec 1935). Molinard Habanita, L'Oeillet de Molinard, Molinard Bath Essence (all 3 bought Oct 1934 at Fortnum & Mason, London). Shaved with Roger et Gallet "Savon a la Violette".
A visitor mentioned a waft of roses in the air when attending Wilsfords auction. Being an anthophile, floral scents are most common.
Hair Dyes/Alterations:
Gold dust on his natural blond hair to enhance the shine, and would lighten his dark blonde roots to match the rest of his hair. But he turned grey early, so he dyed it his natural color as long as he could. Later in life, he dyed it fun colors like purple, deep red/Auburn, and became a vibrant redhead (using henna). The photos with David Hockney appear to be henna'd.
=RESOURCES=
=BOOKS WITH MAJOR MENTIONS= (Anecdotes, large swaths of info, photo albums)
"Serious Pleasures" by Philip Hoare.
Obviously this is the best starting point to learn about Stephen. All the other books below will add elaborate details to this story.
"Siegfried Sassoon" by Max Egremont.
The best companion piece to "Serious Pleasures" that I'm aware of. Siegfried recorded every detail about Stephen in his diaries and this book takes us through all of it, even very private details.
Max was in the unique position of being granted access to letters and papers that Sieg's son George kept, and no one else was given the privilege, so says Max.
Stephen's relationship with Sieg explained. Stephen learns how to spark Sieg's sadomasochistic passion, and Sieg finds out about Stephen's bedroom issues.
Their time spent in 'beloved Sicily'
Several of Stephen's interactions AFTER Siegfried's desperate marriage to Hester. During this time, Siegfried mind is chaotic and it's thrilling following his emotional journey. Stephen's communication with Siegfried increased and also made surprise visits to Heytesbury House. (Even MORE info on their divorce can be found in Sieg's 1931 journal as he spills all the tea, day by day)
"Edith Olivier: from her Journals 1924-48" by Penelope Middelboe.
Edith's diaries transcribed by Penelope, her great-great niece.
Edith heard every bit of news, and so she was an amazing finger-on-the-pulse of what was going on. If you love Rex Whistler, this is a day by day account of what was going on in his life, too. Edith was like a surrogate mother to Rex and they were inseparable. She heard from Cecil, Brian Howard, Laurie Whistler (Rex's brother), and many more young between-wars BYTs as well as Siegfried and the rest of the WW1 BYTs. She knew everyone and told her impressions of every person she knew.
It was eye-opening that the incident at Lady Ellesmere's party didn't end there. Cecil immediately wrote the paper to defend his sister, making him a target, and then Stephen politely wrote to the paper to quell the situation and eventually chose to travel abroad to escape it. Edith claims that it permanently marked Stephen and Cecil as outcasts and divided polite society into camps who were either for or against these makeup-wearing boys. When Cecil was dunked into the River Nadder at another party, it was due to that same hatred which was still held over from the Lady Ellesmere scandal, which I didn't realize. It was more than Aesthetes vs Hearties.
The Christmas Blizzard of 1927 (up to 2 feet of snow across the lower half of England and Wales). Snow melted and flooded the Thames as well as the basement of Tates Gallery a week after Rex's art was installed in the restaurant. When able, he ran to look at the wreckage. Edith was snowed in and her car was stuck a mile down the road.
I'm still reading this one, but so far it's been worth it.
"Splendours and Miseries: A Life of Sacheverell Sitwell" by Sarah Bradford.
Includes stories about Stephen and Siegfried.
The incident of them missing Edith's "Facade" in Italy is elaborated on.
There is a love letter from Sieg to Osbert, revealing a brief mini-relationship before Sieg was with Stephen.
The Lancret party at Wilsford, the silliness when applying make-up before the famous shepherd photo shoot.
The Osbert-Zita-Sachie-Georgia love triangle (square?) situation is explained in thorough detail.
(Internet Archive Library) There is a search option to type in names!
"The Authorized Biography of Cecil Beaton" by Hugo Vickers.
From pages XIX to XXI in the beginning, it shares Stephen's impression of Cecil, of course sent to Hugo through multiple letters in a heap as memories poured out of him. lol
Stephen is mentioned throughout the book as they meet up with each other throughout their lives.
"The Sayings Of The Children" by Pamela Glenconner (1918) and "The Sayings of the Children by Pamela Grey (1926)
Stephen's mother jotted down anecdotes of her children and published them in a book. Each child is assigned a number instead of a name in order of birth, so Stephen is named "Five."
There are two versions of this book. The title is the same, but she changed her name, so take note when attempting to find it. The 1926 release has been updated to include more about Stephen & David since they were too young at the time of the first release to gather good anecdotes about, Pam said.
Worth noting, she never tells his age at any point. So it's difficult to tell if he's developmentally ahead, behind, or on-target. You must judge by the way that Pam quoted him to know generally how old he might be at the time. (if he speaks very simply and words are missing, he's a toddler, for example)
He's really cute. Find this book if you can.
=BOOKS WITH MINOR MENTIONS= (A photo, a letter, a small recollection of Stephen)
"Cecil Beaton At Home: An Interior Life" by Andrew Ginger.
This massive book features a photo of Stephen and Cecil, and detailed information about the Cecil's Fete Champetre that Stephen attended, dressed as a sailor. A "thank you" letter written to Cecil from Stephen after attending it, stating all of his favourite things and who he met. You can see both of these items on my Instagram. Wonderful book about Cecil and his relationships, with plenty of photos. More than just about his houses.
"Malice In Wonderland" by Hugo Vickers.
I happened to find a new photo of Wilsford's interior in the photos section. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but it looks very good. "A Chequered Past" by Peter Schlesinger I have no other insight than what is posted on this persons blog in which they wrote a small blurb of when someone, perhaps Peter, visited Stephen. I adore the quote "With flowing hennaed locks, Stephen received us in bed, serving champagne and singing campy old music-hall songs with back-up by his butler George."
"Solid Ivory: A Memoir about James Ivory" by James Ivory
He made films of EM Forster's books. This New York Times article about Ivory's book had this to say about James' meeting with Stephen: We are admitted into the elegant homes of Stephen Tennant, the tarnished Bright Young Thing who was an early proponent of working from bed (“like some outlandish work of art that you cannot put anywhere,” Ivory describes him, “but which has its own terrible integrity”). I found it by accident while searching museums. I have no idea of how much is written about his visit to Wilsford, but in Serious Pleasures pg 400, James said that Stephen's life would make a good film.
"RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR" by Philip Hoare He has a small anecdote of being in Southampton and the history surrounding that. It might have more. I haven't looked into it yet.
"In Search of Rex Whistler" by Hugh and Mirabel Cecil
I have been told by Signofthedayseye that it "has quite a few passages and photographs of him in it!" I would imagine that it has a fair amount, since they were together throughout the mid to late 20s.
=HANDWRITTEN JOURNALS=
Siegfried's Diaries at Cambridge. Digitally we are allowed to see a scan of his 1927 and 1931 journals, capping his relationship with Stephen. The 1927 journal features the first time that they'd met, his first impression of Stephen and the entire day leading up to it (Reresby's christening), and also the second meeting where Stephen was leaving as Siegfried just arrived, and then Stephen called Osbert on the phone while Sieg stood by, listening in. There was a hint here that Stephen was in love with Osbert. Very revealing if its true, due to how Osbert behaves when Sieg and Stephen are together.
The 1931 journal at Cambridge is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. It starts with Siegfried being coaxed by Willie Walton and Imma to flee to Ascona to escape the thoughts of being banned from Wilsford until further notice. We see every exchange of information handed to Siegfried by friends who had visited Wilsford. We hear about Syrie's transformative design of Wilsford. Throughout he mentions his dreams which are very telling, and at one point there was a phone call between Stephen and Sieg. Overall we see Sieg's slow descent into madness as the weeks pass by beginning with feeling heartbroken and desperation to be with Stephen, to plummeting into feeling spiteful and infuriated. He was completely at the whim of what his friends told him to do, and isolated with only letters to tell him the goings-on. A notable detail in the first entry is that he was given a silver heart-shaped ring by Stephen, which could be an engagement/wedding ring, as he took it off when he was banned from Wilsford, but chose to put it back on in hopes of getting back together. Since gay marriage wasn't possible back then, that is all we can speculate.
I have digitally transcribed both journals here to the best of my ability. Some words escaped me due to his handwriting. If I find more journals which are relevant, i will add them here. If you are on a handheld device, use the drop-down menu at the bottom to select each year.
~ * ~
Stephen's Journals One source is an archive at Yale. Stephen's collection is listed on their site, also seen as an easy-to-read PDF Finding Aid which mentions:
b. 2 Miscellaneous writings: diaries, journals, and notes on poems circa 1920s-1940s
What part of his history is in this box? I haven't delved into it yet. You are able to obtain a digital copy by using the email at the top. So many things are in box 2, more than listed above, so be very specific about what you want. He also kept smaller travel journals, some of which have been auctioned to private owners. One such journal is from his holiday in Gibralter and Tangier.
=ABOUT WILSFORD=
Sotheby's Auction guide - A rare book that was handed to those who attended the auction of Stephen's things at Wilsford after his death in 1987. There is a digital copy of this at Lilum's Compendium.
Wilsford Theatre by Rex Whistler - A VERY rare book that is worth more than I can pay to see what's inside. It supposedly has drawings, floor plans, and more from 1931 when Syrie was redesigning Wilsford. It was a gift to Stephen and all hand-drawn. Some of it is said to remain incomplete. The location of the theatre within Wilsford is unknown to me.
The site claims: "It seems that this incomplete gift was never presented to Tennant. In 1931 he was quite seriously tubercular and was in need of the sort of cheering up that the thought of such a project would bring. He was being looked after assiduously by Siegfried Sassoon, and in a familiar scenario Tennant’s friends believed that Sassoon was taking the opportunity offered by the illness to ward off potential rivals, keeping his beautiful (if effete) friend to himself. Whistler didn’t waste the efforts entirely, and some years later recycled the title page design to form the wrappers of the little periodical The Masque, altering it by the removal of lettering and the initials of S & R."
Historic England - A site which tells in detail about the structure as well as some internal details of corridors and where the dining room is located. Valuable in learning how Wilsford is structured and pathways.
"Country Life" Magazine 1906 - The year that construction on Wilsford was completed as well as Stephen's birth year. This is a multi-page article showing many new photos of Wilsford at the time. Note the hedge row (which would later disappear) leading up the path to the Stone Parlour and the fact that the loggia above is absent! It also labels the gardens which is helpful, and shows a curious path on the last page that I have yet to identify.
=PHYSICAL LOCATION RESOURCES=
Cambridge Library - Has over 200 unseen photos, ALL of Siegfrieds journals (the years with Stephen included) some of which are stuffed with newspaper clippings and photos of Stephen, among other things. There is also a small digital library sans 1928-1930.
Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, London - A museum which has a wall and ceiling dedicated to Stephen. Viktor has bought dozens of paper items of Stephen's after his death, and has sold several extra paper items that he did not hang up on eBay. He also sells prints on eBay, and sells a book of Stephen's poetry called "Spring is the Harsh God & Other Poetry." This book can be bought in his museum or on his online shop. It does seem like a limited printing, so it may run out. Inside the museum are a few handwritten letters, a formal invitation from Cecil to Stephen to come to an event.
Beinecke Library, Yale, US - Has letters and another things. Most notably it has all drafts of Stephen's lifelong book "Lascar." Items from many other Bright Young Things are also housed here, such as Siegfried, Vita, etc. They do allow requests for things to be digitally scanned and send by email to you! So this is a wonderful resource for non-UK fans!
The National Portrait Gallery - Photos! They have a massive digital library of all of their photos. Type in anyone from Stephens friend group, family, or from the Bright Young Things, and there will be photos of them. As far as the physical location, I'm unsure of what is exhibited.
London Cecil Beaton Exhibitions - Where there is Cecil, you most likely will find Stephen. When there is an opening of an exhibition, usually they will have a pre-opening event beforehand by selling tickets to a panel about the person. The Cecil Beaton "Garden Party" at the Garden Museum has just ended. Right now there is a fashion exhibition at the NPG, which had a panel about "Cecil and his friends" with multiple speakers who had talked of Stephen, no doubt. Cecil is a popular person in London right now, so keep your eyes open!
=WEB SOURCES=
If you have a blog or site dedicated to Stephen, please comment or DM me and I will add it here!
StephenTennant.org - The main source for all things Stephen. The address has recently changed, it now uses Lilium's Compedium's address. It caused a minor panic in me when it disappeared. xD Hon_Stephen_Tennant on IG - Photos, art. Owned by Lilium. Please do read the comments! They are a wealth of information! Some, such as the handpainted shell photos, had a person tell of his experience at the Wilsfords auction. Many auction/antiquary IG's flock here. A wonderful source of knowledge!
Lilium's Compendium - The entire site is dedicated to all of the Bright Young Things, make sure to read them.
Stephen's Library more than once which also features the entire Wilsford auction catalog!
About Stephen
QueerPlaces - Most importantly, this site has information about the lesser-known Bright Young Things. If you don't know everyone in the BYT's, it can be daunting to know who to click on. You can either use the Wiki link below, or start with a favourite such as Stephen and keep clicking on names to hop from profile to profile until you've clicked everyone. The Queerplaces list is alphabetical by First name. Control+F is your friend. Elisa Rolle also has several books published.
Bright Young Things wiki - A good list of names! If this wiki is light on information about a person, QueerPlaces usually fills in the gaps. They are a wonderful combination.
Pinterest - Photos! I have uploaded and collected most of the ones that I have found into my Pinterest folders which can be found here.
Stephen Tennant
Cecil Beaton
Bright Young Things
=DOCUMENTARY FILMS=
Stephen & Cecil Short Film at Mosley's Savay Farm - 1927
Only some segments have surfaced. It was an entire film!
"The Beaton Image" - BBC, Radio Times, BFI Archives
He talks! It was on TV years ago. Can't be accessed online.
Unnamed Stephen interview - Henry Herbert w/Nicky Haslam
He talks! Unable to be seen. Must be hidden in someones home.
“Stephen Tennant Homage” T.J. Wilcox - 1998
Features Stella Tennant as Stephen. Unknown info about it.
"Love, Cecil" by Lisa Immordino Vreeland - 2017
Short segment. Photographs of Stephen, Savay Farm footage
=HOLLYWOOD FILMS=
"Benediction" Terence Davies - 2021 Touches upon Siegfried's relationship with Stephen
~Contact me~ Do you know of a good resource that isn't mentioned here? Please send a DM and I will add it! Only we can help each other. ❤️
Thank you!
Art nouveau dividers by Saradika Graphics