10 February 1914: Thomas Hardy marries for the second time

On 10 February 1914 English poet and novelist, Thomas Hardy married for the second time. His wife, Florence Dugdale was 39 years his junior.

Thomas Hardy, born 2 June 1840, was a prolific and highly respected writer. He wrote hundreds of poems in a great variety of forms, and novels because they brought in the money. Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Gifford, whom he married in Kensington in late 1874. The couple had a tumultuous relationship and although not always happy together, they remained married for nearly four decades until her death in 1912.

Florence Emily Dugdale, the daughter of Edward and Emma Dugdale, was born in 1879. In 1904 she was introduced to Hardy who was 64 at the time. He was attracted to Florence and invited her to help him with the research for his latest project. Dugdale spent long periods in Hardy’s home at Max Gate near Dorchester and was welcomed as part of the household by 1909, acting as his secretary. Florence and Emma were friends of a sort until Emma became mentally unstable before her death.

In 1914, Florence and Hardy married when she was 35 and he was 73. Hardy continued to remain preoccupied with Emma’s death trying to overcome his remorse by writing poetry. Sadly, most of his best love poems were written for Emma and penned during this time.

Florence was Hardy’s constant companion and support to him in his later years, helping to preserve his literary legacy after his death. She wrote several books about her life with Hardy and her own experiences and helped to organize Hardy’s manuscripts and letters, now housed at the Dorset County Museum.

Hardy died on 11 January 1928, aged 87, and Florence died of cancer 9 years later in 1937, aged 58.