Tryphena Sparks (20 March 1851 – 17 March 1890), born in Puddletown, Dorset, the youngest child of James and Maria Sparks, was Thomas Hardy's cousin and possible lover, when she was 16 and he was 26.[1][2] Hardy's mother suggested that Tryphena was not actually his cousin but his niece and he was thus prevented from marrying her.[3] There are also suggestions that she had Hardy's child, a son called Randolph.[4][5][6] The relationship ended when Hardy became engaged to Emma Gifford. She is considered by John Fowles an "important figure in both his emotional and imaginative life"[7] and author Nicholas Hillyard considers that the affair is important in relation to Hardy's start as a novelist and poet.[8]

Sparks was the inspiration for Hardy's poem Thoughts of Phena at News of Her Death[9] in which Hardy describes her as his "lost prize".[10] She may also have inspired Hardy's story that later became Far from the Madding Crowd.[11] Other Hardy poems have been connected to Sparks, including In A Eweleaze Near Weatherbury,[12] At Rushy Pond, A Spot, The Wind's Prophecy, To an Orphan Child,[13] and To a Motherless Child, which is addressed to Tryphena's daughter whom he had met when visiting Topsham.[14] The character of Sue Bridehead in Hardy's book Jude The Obscure is also thought to have been based on Sparks[15][16][17] and in the book's preface Hardy says that the circumstances of the novel had been suggested by the death of a woman in 1890.

Sparks is the subject of ten separate 1960s publications[18] by author Lois Deacon including Tryphena, Thomas Hardy and Hardy's Sweetest Image and Providence and Mr Hardy published in 1966.[19]

Tryphena Gale's grave in Topsham Cemetery

Having attended Stockwell Training College from 1870 to 1871,[20] Sparks became headmistress of Plymouth Day School in 1872. In 1873 she met Charles Frederick Gale, a publican from Topsham, Devon and they were married on 15 December 1877 at Plymouth.[21][22] She was known in Topsham for the charitable work she did for the local fishermen.[22] She had four children: Eleanor, Charles, George and Herbert. She died from a rupture caused by childbirth and is buried in Topsham, Devon. Hardy and his brother Henry visited her grave, leaving a note saying "In loving memory -Tom Hardy".[23]

References

  1. ↑ Kalmanson Lauren (1996). Jude the Obscure (MAXNotes Literature Guides). Research & Education Association. p. 5. ISBN 978-0878910250.
  2. ↑ Millgate, Michael (2014). Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited - Michael Millgate - Google Books. ISBN 9780199275663. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2014). "119-2014-02-19-Thomas Hardy.pdf" (PDF). pdf.js. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Lost Prize Randy". montford-productions.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  5. ↑ Sharma, Rama Kant (2014). Hardy and the Rasa Theory - Rama Kant Sharma - Google Books. ISBN 9788176253772. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Deacon Lois (1966). Providence & Mr. Hardy. Hutchinson.
  7. ↑ Fowles John and Draper Jo (1984). Thomas Hardy's England. Jonathon Cape. p. 83.
  8. ↑ Hillyard Nicholas (2014). About Tryphena: Hardy and His Young Cousin. FastPrint Publishing. ISBN 978-1780357782.
  9. ↑ Millgate, Michael Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited (2004) Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-927566-1
  10. ↑ Harvey Geoffrey (2003). Thomas Hardy (Complete Critical Guide to English Literature). Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 978-0415234917.
  11. ↑ "montford-productions". montford-productions.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  12. ↑ "In A Eweleaze Near Weatherbury". segr-music.net. 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  13. ↑ "Deacon Reviews". people.stfx.ca. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  14. ↑ O'Sullivan Timothy (1975). Thomas Hardy an illustrated biography. Macmillan. p. 144.
  15. ↑ Rintoul M.C. (1993). Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. Routledge. pp. 850. ISBN 978-0415059992.
  16. ↑ Pite Ralph (2007). Thomas Hardy: The Guarded Life. Picador. pp. 354. ISBN 978-0330481878.
  17. ↑ Blake kathleen (1978). "Sue Bridehead, "The Woman of the Feminist Movement"". SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900. 18 (4): 703–726. doi:10.2307/450200. JSTOR 450200.
  18. ↑ Morgan, Rosemarie (2015). "Thomas Hardy". Victorian Poetry. 41 (3): 402–412. doi:10.1353/vp.2003.0039. S2CID 201777286.
  19. ↑ "Rare Books and Maps - Lois Deacon Collection - Library - University of Exeter". as.exeter.ac.uk. 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015. Lois Deacon
  20. ↑ Bartle, G. F. (August 1983). "Some Fresh Information About Tryphena Sparks – Thomas Hardy's Cousin". Notes & Queries. 30 (4): 320–322. doi:10.1093/nq/30-4-320.
  21. ↑ Simkin, John (2015). "Tryphena Sparks". spartacus-educational.com. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  22. 1 2 Cornforth, David. "Drakes in Topsham". exetermemories.co.uk. Exeter Memories. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  23. ↑ "ThomasHardy - thomashardy.pdf" (PDF). pdf.js. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
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