Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Thomas Hardy Websites

A Thomas Hardy Chronology

1840: June 2, Thomas Hardy born at Upper Bockhampton in the parish of Stinsford, Dorset, close to the heath later named "Egdon."
1848: First schooling at Bockhampton.
1849: To a day school in Dorchester, three miles from home: Mr. Last's Academy for Young Gentlemen, where he studied until 1856.
1855: Began teaching in Stinsford Sunday School.
1856: July. Entered office of John Hicks, architect, in Dorchester. Studied architecture and continued his reading in English and Latin.
1862: To London. Assistant to Arthur Blomfield in designing church restorations.
1863: Won two architectural prizes.
1865: March 18. Hardy's first published work, a sketch entitled "How I Built Myself a House," published in Chambers Journal. Writing poems at this time.
1868: Wrote The Poor Man and the Lady: on the advice Of George Meredith, never published.
1871: Desperate Remedies, first published novel, anonymous.
1872: Under the Greenwood Tree, more successful than Desperate Remedies but also published anonymously.
1873: A Pair of Blue Eyes. Gave up architecture to devote him-self entirely to writing.
1874: Married on September 17 to Emma Lavinia Gifford of St. Juliot in Cornwall.
1874: Far From the Madding Crowd. Great success. Hardy definitely launched on literary career.
1875-83: Frequent changes of residence; finally settled outside Dorchester, where he built Max Gate in 1885.
1876: The Hand of Ethelberta. Toured in Germany.
1878: The Return of the Native. Much public acclaim and much harsh criticism.
1879: Began writing short stories for magazines, and continued this practice until end of century.
1880: The Trumpet-Major.
1881: A Laodicean. Lengthy illness.
1882: Two on a Tower. Death of Darwin. Hardy began to read widely in science and philosophy.
1883: Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid.
1886: The Mayor of Casterbridge.
1887: The Woodlanders. Toured on Continent.
1888: Wessex Tales.
1891: Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Hue and cry over its "immorality" but large sales. A Group of Noble Dames.
1892: The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved. Published as book in 1897.
1894: Life's Little Ironies.
1895: Jude the Obscure. Hardy abandoned novel writing for poetry.
1895-97: Work on collected edition for Osgood and McIlvaine, making extensive revisions.
1898: Wessex Poems.
1903-08: The Dynasts.
1909: Time's Laughingstock and Other Verses.
1910: Received Order of Merit.
1912: Death of Mrs. Hardy. "Poems of 1912-13." A Changed Man and Other Tales. Macmillan's Wessex Edition published, with further revisions by Hardy.
1913: Received Cambridge honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
1914: Satires . . . Lyrics and Reveries. Married Florence Emily Dugdale.
1917: Moments of Vision.
1922: Late Lyrics and Earlier.
1923: The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall.
1925: Human Shows.
1928: Died on January 11. His ashes placed in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, next to those of Dickens.

(This extract is taken from Richard C. Carpenter, Thomas Hardy [New York: Twayne Publishers, 1964])

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