Question 1:
I wonder whether any of your readers knows the source of the name FARNFIELD which Hardy used for the Sussex estate in "The Hand Of Ethelberta"?' Could it have been because he knew my great-grandmother, Frances Shore Pope?. She married, as her second husband, Dr Walter Edmund FARNFIELD, a Londoner, on 6 August 1872. I believe this was around the time Hardy was beginning to collect material for 'The Hand of Ethelberta'. Her brother Edmund and Dr Farnfield had been fellow medical students. Frances Shore Pope was baptised in Stinsford, 19 September 1833. The 1841 census shows her living with her family at 'Old Kingston Mansion House' in Kingston Maurward, aged 8. If anyone can give me any information, however slight, I shall be most interested. For my part, I have extensive records of the Pope and Farnfield families. From Miriam Scott
Question 2:
I need an appropriate quotation of about 2/3 lines from a poem or novel where a candle (or candles) is mentioned. So far, I have not been very successful from my own research, so am now appealing to the experts. Do let me know if you can come up with something. From Heather Shean
Answer to Question 2:
From 'The Three Strangers':
"The room was lighted by half-a-dozen candles......two of them standing on the chimney-piece. This position of candles was in itself significant. Candles on the chimney-piece always meant a party."
From 'Under The Greenwood Tree' - Autumn 11 Honey-taking and Afterwards
'All right, friend; I'll hold the candle whilst you are gone,' said Mr Shiner, leisurely taking the light and allowing Geoffrey to depart, which he did with his usual long paces.
He could hardly have gone round to the housedoor when other footsteps were heard approaching the outbuilding: the tip of a finger appeared in the hole through which the wood latch was lifted, and Dick Dewy came in, having been all this time walking up and down the wood vainly waiting for Shiner's departure.
Fancy looked up and welcomed him rather confusedly. Shiner grasped the candlestick more firmly...
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Question 3:
Did Thomas Hardy have a middle name?
Question 4:
Sue from Dorchester asks: When was Hardy born?
Answer to Question 4:
He was born in 1840.
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Question 5:
My niece remembers a "story" going around the family that her great grandfather was related to Thomas Hardy. We realise that not all Hardys are related. However after many years of doing Family History I have found occasions when the most unlikely of "stories" has been true. So here goes is this person related to Thomas Hardy? - George Hawley Ernest Watkins Hardy born 4th September 1870, died 14th July 1950 Married Mary Anne Ashford date unknown. The family did reside in Dorset and it is believed that two Aunts lived in " Quiet splendour" in Swanage and that one relative was a County Constable in Surrey. I would love to provide my sister who is over 80 with the connection if it is true. Can anyone help?
thank you
Anne Pearlman
Question 6:
Penny asks:
Does anyone know the origins of the lines quoted by Knight in A PAIR OF BLUE EYES
"To set as sets the morning star, which goes not down behind the darken'd west.
Is it a Hardy poem?
Answer to Question 6:
Tony Fincham says:
It is by Robert Pollok - from 'The Course of Time', V, published in 1827. This poem was in Hardy's copy of Palgrave's Golden Treasury.
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Question 7:
I am looking for nos. 31,40,55, 62 and 63 of The Toucan Press 'Monographs on the Life of Thomas Hardy' editor J.Stevens Cox. Does anyone have a spare copy to sell?
Tony Daniels
Question 8:
Lilian asks: I need a full list of studies dedicated to Hardy's short stories . i have found some texts and criticism about Hardy's short stories which listed in TTHA hosted by Martin Ray, but the list does not conclude the new information. who can offer some informations about the studies on TH's short stories after 21th century? thank you.
Answer to Question 8:
I am not quite clear what is meant in the question about 'after the 21st century'. Here anyway are details of the three books devoted exclusively to Hardy's short stories:
- The Short Stories of Thomas Hardy: Tales of Past and Present, by Kristin Brady, published by Macmillan 1982
- Thomas Hardy: A Textual Study of the Short Stories, by Martin Ray, published by Ashgate 1997
- Thomas Hardy's Shorter Fiction: A Critical Study, by Sophie Gilmartin and Rod Mengham, published by Edinburgh University Press 2007. Hope it helps. Regards Patrick Tolfree
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Question 9:
Terri Plemons asks:
Which was Hardy's last poem, the one he dictated to Florence?
Question 10:
Good evening!
I am writing to you as I am aware thus I will have the right answers. Would you be so kind as to guide me concerning the fact I need to write a PhD thesis on Thomas Hardy's art of portrait and love and I would like to gather more genuine information and even photos.
Thank you so much!
Respectfully,
Simona Rosca
Question 11:
Lucy says:
This is a rather obscure question, we've recently moved into a house in Dorchester that we believe was once owned by a Charles Lacey, who also wrote 'Memories of Thomas Hardy as a Schoolboy' - can anyone tell me more about Charles Lacey and his relation to Thomas Hardy, its just out of personal interest!
Many thanks x
Question 12:
John David Evans asks:
Did T.E.Lawrence meet or correspond with Thomas Hardy?
Thanks in anticipation.
Question 13:
Why did Hardy - in some versions - date 'Wessex Heights' 14th December 1896? Tony Fincham