Tryphena Sparks

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 Rice University. 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.
  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. 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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