Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, in 1840. He did not start school until he was eight years old. At the age of sixteen Hardy was hired as an apprentice to an architect who was impressed by the architectural drawings he helped his father with.

Hardy moved to London to continue his career in architecture and started to write poetry, which was dismissed by several publishers. Hardy enjoyed life in London but returned to Dorset after suffering from ill health.

In 1870 Hardy’s wife-to-be encouraged him and his writing and in 1871 his first novel was published - Desperate Remedies. This was not a great success but his next novel Under the Greenwood Tree bought him popular acclaim and was based around Dorset and the village they grew up in.

Hardy’s success grew and grew from here and he wrote many further novels set in Dorset such as Far From The Madding Crowd which was set in Puddletown but renamed it Weatherby. After several novels Hardy chose to focus on poetry and produced some of his best works after the death of his wife in 1912.

Thomas Hardy died in 1928 in his home in Dorchester. He had requested that his remains be buried beside his first wife but his wishes were only partly fulfilled. His body was laid to rest in poet’s corner in Westminster Abbey and his heart was buried with his wife in Stinsford Dorset.

	Other Dorset characters: H & W Head Brewer  /  Thomas Hardy  /  Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall Sir Walter Raleigh  /  Mary Shelly