Tom in Stur
Hardy’s stay in Sturminster Newton was brief but had a significant influence on him both personally and professionally, as Alan Chedzoy explains
Published in November ’21
ON 3 July 1876, the novelist Thomas Hardy and his wife came to live at ‘Riverside’ a semi-detached house overlooking the river Stour in the little Dorset market-town of Sturminster Newton. He was 36, his wife, Emma, some five months younger. They had been married almost two years but
were childless.
This was their first real home because previously they had moved about, living in furnished rooms. Before taking up residence, they were obliged to hurry off to Bristol for a day to buy £100 worth of furniture in two hours. They could afford this because Hardy had recently enjoyed a success with his novel, Far From the Madding Crowd, although his career had faltered a little since then. But on coming to Stur, he could look forward to the prospect of peaceful days in which he would write another successful book. He could also enjoy the garden which they shared with their neighbours, the Hallets, and in which he planted two monkey-puzzle trees.
Although Sturminster prided itself on being the ‘capital of the Blackmore Vale’, it afforded little in the way of suitable society for the Hardys, save for the company of the Dashwoods. The social character of Stur had changed very little since the early years of the century when, from a population of 1406, only four inhabitants described themselves as ‘gentlemen’. These included Thomas Dashwood, a local solicitor who had employed the Dorset poet, William Barnes, as his clerk. Now, 60 years later, Tom and Emma made friends with Thomas Dashwood’s…
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