Alfred, Lord Tennyson, died at Aldworth, his home near Haslemere, on 6 October 1892. He was 83 and had been Poet Laureate for more than four decades.

Tennyson had succeeded William Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850, the same year that In Memoriam A.H.H. was published. He became one of Victorian Britain’s best-known literary figures, with works including Idylls of the King and poems written in his official role as laureate.

His position brought him into contact with Queen Victoria, who admired his work and developed a personal friendship with him. In 1883, Tennyson accepted a peerage and became Baron Tennyson.

He continued writing into old age. At his death, he had held the laureateship for 42 years.

Tennyson’s funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on 12 October. They buried him in Poets’ Corner, near the graves of Robert Browning and Geoffrey Chaucer.

His death left the Poet Laureate’s office vacant after one of its longest tenures.