Letters shine light on Thomas Hardy’s second marriage

Newly discovered letters written by Thomas Hardy’s second wife show never seen before details of their romantic union, and her sadness at his death.  The letters also highlight the media pressure the famous couple faced more than one hundred years ago, not dissimilar to celebrities today.

Writing shortly after their wedding, Florence Dugdale described Hardy as “one of the kindest, most humane men” and acknowledges how his fame led meant constant press attention.

In the first letter Florence wrote: “Perhaps you have read, if you have the English papers, that I am now the proud and very happy wife of the greatest living English writer – Thomas Hardy.

“Although he is much older than myself, it is a genuine love match – on my part, at least, for I suppose I ought not to speak for him. At any rate I know I have for a husband one of the kindest, most humane men in the world.”

Florence also wrote about how she was tired of celebrity culture exacerbated by the media:

“Accounts of me & my portrait have been printed in every paper, I think, in England. I have been shown in the Cinematograph, written about all over America & Europe. I am tired of this publicity.”

The letters were kept in the recipient’s family until they were passed to University of Exeter’s Prof Angelique Richardson who leads the Hardy’s Correspondents Project- in which letters connected to the author are being digitised.

Richardson said: “It is rare to find such significant letters. They give an intimate glimpse into life at Max Gate and the loves and losses Florence shared with Hardy. It also shows us more about Florence, how self-deprecating she was and how devoted she was to her husband.”

The second and third letters to Harold Barlow, Florence’s former pupil, were written four years after Hardy’s death.

She said: “I am writing this late in the evening alone, in the room where I first met my husband. A little French bull-dog is snoring by the fire – he is my faithful – & generally my only – companion.

“I thank you for your kind words of sympathy about my great loss. It was such a wonderful thing to live in close association with that great mind & that noble personality. After having lived 14 years with such a companion it is little wonder that I feel intolerably lonely – & find the world very empty.”

Harold’s 16-year-old daughter, Josephine, also wrote to Florence in absolute admiration for Hardy but unfortunately the letter arrived 10 years after Florence’s death and was returned to the sender.