168-422: The Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880 , and his only historical novel . Hardy included it with his "romances and fantasies". It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. Unusually for
336-639: A dry dock for the construction. The master shipwright in charge of construction was initially John Lock who died in 1762 and was replaced by Edward Allin , son of Sir Joseph Allin , former Surveyor of the Navy. The keel was laid on 23 July 1759 in the Old Single Dock (since renamed No. 2 Dock and now Victory Dock), and the name Victory was chosen in October 1760. In 1759, the Seven Years' War
504-411: A troopship between December 1810 and April 1811. In 1812, she was relocated to the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour off Gosport , for service as a floating depot and, from 1813 to 1817, as a prison ship . Major repairs were undertaken in 1814, including the fitting of 3 ft 10 in (1.2 m) metal braces along the inside of her hull, to strengthen the timbers. This was the first use of iron in
672-725: A 500 lb. bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe broke her keel, as can be seen in Plate 1 in The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships by C. Nepean Longridge (1955), destroyed one of the steel cradles and part of the foremast. On one occasion, German radio propaganda claimed that the ship had been destroyed by a bomb, and the Admiralt had to issue a denial. After the Second World War, the frames of HMS Victory had rotted in situ, and in
840-596: A Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters. The novel is set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars ; the town was then anxious about the possibility of invasion by Napoleon. Of the two brothers, John fights with Wellington in the Peninsular War , and Bob serves with Nelson at Trafalgar . The Napoleonic Wars
1008-640: A Journey", "The Voice" and others from this collection "are by general consent regarded as the peak of his poetic achievement". In a 2007 biography on Hardy, Claire Tomalin argues that Hardy became a truly great English poet after the death of his first wife Emma, beginning with these elegies, which she describes as among "the finest and strangest celebrations of the dead in English poetry." Many of Hardy's poems deal with themes of disappointment in love and life, and "the perversity of fate", presenting these themes with "a carefully controlled elegiac feeling". Irony
1176-533: A close friend of Hardy's for the rest of his life, and introduced him to new scientific findings that cast doubt on literal interpretations of the Bible, such as those of Gideon Mantell . Moule gave Hardy a copy of Mantell's book The Wonders of Geology (1848) in 1858, and Adelene Buckland has suggested that there are "compelling similarities" between the "cliffhanger" section from A Pair of Blue Eyes and Mantell's geological descriptions. It has also been suggested that
1344-494: A column to its review of the play and a leading article two days later: extraordinary exposure for an amateur company in a small county town, but clear evidence of Hardy's status as an author of international standing. The reviews were so numerous that the company produced a souvenir programme containing extracts of them all. It runs to thousands of words: ten pages, double-columned and in very small print. As Captain Acland, curator of
1512-441: A consensus. Once, when asked in correspondence by a clergyman, Dr. A. B. Grosart , about the question of reconciling the horrors of human and animal life with "the absolute goodness and non-limitation of God", Hardy replied, Mr. Hardy regrets that he is unable to offer any hypothesis which would reconcile the existence of such evils as Dr. Grosart describes with the idea of omnipotent goodness. Perhaps Dr. Grosart might be helped to
1680-812: A diplomatic solution was found. When the French Revolutionary War broke out in 1793, Victory joined the Mediterranean Fleet as the flagship of Vice-admiral Samuel Hood and took part in the occupation of Toulon in August, an action agreed with the Bourbon loyalists who held the town. When the British were forced to withdraw in December, they destroyed as much of the dockyard and as many enemy ships as they could and sailed to
1848-461: A few small houses which will provide Festus with a living, but not luxury. Festus and Matilda are married, Anne and Bob are to be engaged, and John's regiment is posted away to battle in Spain, where, we are told, he will die. Hardy, who distrusted empiricism when it come to novels and history, as he felt it marginalized many important aspects of human elements. The Trumpet-Major tells the tale of
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#17327794772122016-714: A floating plinth atop which she could be preserved as a monument, either in Portsmouth or adjacent to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich . Others proposed a berth beside Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames, or a land-based structure in Trafalgar Square . Despite popular support, these options were not seriously entertained by the Admiralty. The naval architects who had surveyed the ship reported that she
2184-426: A force of around twenty-nine ships of the line and, on 23 July, sighted a French fleet of roughly equal force 100 miles (160 km) west of Ushant . The French admiral, Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers , who had orders to avoid battle, was cut off from Brest , but retained the weather gage . Manoeuvring was made difficult by changing winds and driving rain, but eventually a battle became inevitable, with
2352-466: A leak and sank. All on board were rescued and the ship was subsequently raised. In 1887, she sprang a catastrophic leak, and it was only with some difficulty that she was prevented from sinking at her mooring. The Admiralty thereafter provided a small annual subsidy for maintenance, and in 1889 Victory became the home of a signal school in addition to being a tender. The impact of so much human traffic also left her increasingly decrepit, particularly in
2520-599: A local amateur group, at the time known as the Dorchester Dramatic and Debating Society, but that would become the Hardy Players . His reservations about adaptations of his novels meant he was initially at some pains to disguise his involvement in the play. However, the international success of the play, The Trumpet Major , led to a long and successful collaboration between Hardy and the Players over
2688-422: A major restoration in 2017, it was discovered that the hull had been moving at a rate of half a centimetre each year, for a total of around 20 cm since the 1970s. To combat this, a new prop system was installed over a period of three years from 2018 to 2021, which allows for precise readings of the stresses on the hull and a more even distribution of the stress, which will help preserve the ship. From this work
2856-1097: A miller's son. Into all this walks Bob Loveday, the miller's younger son, home from a life in the merchant navy. Anne has a secret passion for him (they were childhood sweethearts), but he has brought home Matilda, a prospective bride whom he met just two weeks earlier in Southampton. John and Matilda recognise each other, and after a private conversation about her past she does a midnight flit. John tells Bob what's happened, and although Bob understands, he can't help resenting John's intervention. Miller Loveday and Mrs Garland marry, John's regiment moves away (with neither Anne, Bob nor Festus sorry to see him go), and Anne turns her focus to Bob. Anne plays hard to get with Bob, while Festus continues to pester her. She discovers that John sent Matilda away for honourable reasons (she'd previously thought he'd done it to elope with her), and writes him an apologetic letter, which he misinterprets as encouragement. Festus's uncle insists on telling Anne where he's hidden his will and other documents, but she drops
3024-429: A new walkway was installed under the hull of HMS Victory to enable visitors to explore under the hull of the ship and stern itself. The lower mainmast of Victory was removed in 2021 for conservation which was the beginning of a major set of works to construct a large scaffold over the ship to allow for hull replanking over the next decade. The scaffold allows shipwrights access to the ship's hull to remove and replace
3192-609: A novel structured around contrasts, the main opposition is between Swithin St Cleeve and Lady Viviette Constantine, who are presented as binary figures in a series of ways: aristocratic and lower class, youthful and mature, single and married, fair and dark, religious and agnostic...she [Lady Viviette Constantine] is also deeply conventional, absurdly wishing to conceal their marriage until Swithin has achieved social status through his scientific work, which gives rise to uncontrolled ironies and tragic-comic misunderstandings. Fate or chance
3360-423: A provisional view of the universe by the recently published Life of Darwin and the works of Herbert Spencer and other agnostics. Hardy frequently conceived of, and wrote about, supernatural forces, particularly those that control the universe through indifference or caprice, a force he called The Immanent Will. He also showed in his writing some degree of fascination with ghosts and spirits. Even so, he retained
3528-430: A school, Victory continued to deteriorate at her mooring. In 1903 she was accidentally rammed by HMS Neptune , a successor to the vessel that had towed her to Gibraltar. Emergency repairs prevented her from sinking, but the Admiralty again proposed that she be scrapped, and it was only the personal intervention of Edward VII that prevented this from occurring. Interest in the ship revived in 1905 when, as part of
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#17327794772123696-514: A strong emotional attachment to the Christian liturgy and church rituals, particularly as manifested in rural communities, that had been such a formative influence in his early years, and Biblical references can be found woven throughout many of Hardy's novels. Hardy's friends during his apprenticeship to John Hicks included Horace Moule (one of the eight sons of Henry Moule ) and the poet William Barnes , both ministers of religion. Moule remained
3864-535: A team of riggers and cranes; this allowed weight to reduce the pressure on the ship's hull to reduce the stress the upper masts placed upon the hull. This had not been the first time the masts had been worked on with each mast de-rigged throughout the 20th Century, but this was the first time they had been fully dismantled since the Second World War. In December 2011, Defence Equipment and Support awarded an initial five-year project management contract to BAE Systems , with an option to extend to ten years. The restoration
4032-412: A three-volume epic closet drama The Dynasts (1904–08), and though in some ways a very traditional poet, because he was influenced by folksong and ballads, he "was never conventional," and "persistently experiment[ed] with different, often invented, stanza forms and metres," and made use of "rough-hewn rhythms and colloquial diction". Hardy wrote a number of significant war poems that relate to both
4200-427: A time of war, serves to make the lightness and comedy that runs through The Trumpet-Major bittersweet, but the novel is all the deeper and richer for that sense of a tragic epilogue. The feeling that the characters are playing out a complex dance is not a coincidence. The story can be read as a variation on the traditional harlequinade , which in turn came from the old Italian Commedia dell'arte . In Victorian times,
4368-701: A watercolour of the Tudor gatehouse while visiting his father, who was repairing the masonry of the dovecote. He moved to London in 1862 where he enrolled as a student at King's College London . He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association . He joined Arthur Blomfield 's practice as assistant architect in April 1862 and worked with Blomfield on Christ Church, East Sheen Richmond, London where
4536-635: A woman, who is courted by three men during the early 19th Century in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars , during the backdrop of an much anticipated and amphibious landing of Napoleon's army on the British isles. In this setting, in which he explores the subversive effects and nature of ordinary human beings such when desire and conflicting loyalties on the systemized versions of history. As Hardy's only novel of historical fiction, it makes stand out among some of Hardy's more moral works. Like some of Hardy's other famous and popular novels such as Tess of
4704-477: A year. In 1885 Thomas and his wife moved into Max Gate in Dorchester , a house designed by Hardy and built by his brother. Although they became estranged, Emma's death in 1912 had a traumatic effect on him and Hardy made a trip to Cornwall after her death to revisit places linked with their courtship; his Poems 1912–13 reflect upon her death. In 1914, Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale , who
4872-463: Is an experienced sailor. The press gang come to the mill, but Bob escapes, with help from Matilda, who regrets her earlier action. Bob, however, feels increasing guilty about not serving his country. Discovering that John still loves Anne tips the balance, and Bob persuades local man Captain Hardy (real-life captain of Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory ) to take him on board, thus doing his duty and leaving
5040-622: Is an important element in a number of Hardy's poems, including "The Man He Killed" and "Are You Digging on My Grave". A few of Hardy's poems, such as " The Blinded Bird ", a melancholy polemic against the sport of vinkenzetting , reflect his firm stance against animal cruelty, exhibited in his antivivisectionist views and his membership in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . Although his poems were initially not as well received as his novels had been, Hardy
5208-491: Is another important theme. Hardy's characters often encounter crossroads on a journey, a junction that offers alternative physical destinations but which is also symbolic of a point of opportunity and transition, further suggesting that fate is at work. Far from the Madding Crowd is an example of a novel in which chance has a major role: "Had Bathsheba not sent the valentine, had Fanny not missed her wedding, for example,
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5376-660: Is now recognised as one of the great poets of the 20th century, and his verse had a profound influence on later writers, including Robert Frost , W. H. Auden , Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin . Larkin included 27 poems by Hardy compared with only nine by T. S. Eliot in his edition of The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse in 1973. There were fewer poems by W. B. Yeats . Poet-critic Donald Davie 's Thomas Hardy and English Poetry considers Hardy's contribution to ongoing poetic tradition at length and in creative depth. Davie's friend Thom Gunn also wrote on Hardy and acknowledged his stature and example. Hardy's family
5544-485: Is the intensely maturing experience of which Hardy's modern man is most sensible? In my view it is suffering, or sadness, and extended consideration of the centrality of suffering in Hardy's work should be the first duty of the true critic for which the work is still waiting [...] Any approach to his work, as to any writer's work, must seek first of all to determine what element is peculiarly his, which imaginative note he strikes most plangently, and to deny that in this case it
5712-559: Is the sometimes gentle, sometimes ironic, sometimes bitter but always passive apprehension of suffering is, I think, wrong-headed. In Two on a Tower , for example, Hardy takes a stand against these rules of society with a story of love that crosses the boundaries of class. The reader is forced to reconsider the conventions set up by society for the relationships between men and women. Nineteenth-century society had conventions, which were enforced. In this novel Swithin St Cleeve's idealism pits him against such contemporary social constraints. In
5880-467: Is unusual for being the only one of novels for which he wrote preliminary notes, in a pocket book traditionally labelled as 'The Trumpet-Major Notebook'. It is also perhaps extraordinary in the extent to which Hardy aimed for historical accuracy; to that end, he conducted research at the British Museum and consulted various periodicals and newspaper accounts of the time. Richard H. Taylor has noted
6048-522: Is waiting outside; he comes in, Anne flees, and watching from a hole in the floor of the room above, sees Squire Derriman sneak in and try to retrieve the box. Festus catches him, but Bob intervenes. Derriman snatches the box and disappears, with Festus and Matilda in pursuit. The next morning Squire Derriman is found dead from exhaustion, but the box has disappeared. It's eventually found hidden in Anne's room. Derriman has left all his property to Anne, except for
6216-443: Is worried that he'll do something stupid, but is distracted by Squire Derriman, who arrives asking her to hide his deeds box, as Festus and his new fiancée Matilda are searching the house for it. She hides it in a window seat. Bob returns in good temper; he's been drinking with his new best friend, Festus. Anne yields to Bob, saying that if he can behave himself with the ladies for six months she'll be his. Then it turns out that Festus
6384-543: Is worth £16 million over the life of the contract and will include work to the masts and rigging, replacement side planking, and the addition of fire control measures. It is expected to be the most extensive refit since the ship returned from Trafalgar. Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet , Victory has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012. Prior to this, she
6552-558: The Baptist Church . Hardy flirted with conversion, but decided against it. Bastow went to Australia and maintained a long correspondence with Hardy, but eventually Hardy tired of these exchanges and the correspondence ceased. This concluded Hardy's links with the Baptists. The irony and struggles of life, coupled with his naturally curious mind, led him to question the traditional Christian view of God: The Christian God –
6720-529: The Boer Wars and World War I , including "Drummer Hodge", "In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations'" and " The Man He Killed "; his work had a profound influence on other war poets such as Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon . Hardy in these poems often used the viewpoint of ordinary soldiers and their colloquial speech. A theme in the Wessex Poems is the long shadow that the Napoleonic Wars cast over
6888-688: The Dorset County Museum wrote to Evans after watching the play: ‘thanks, not only for the genuine treat it was to us all, but because you and your talented company have proved afresh to the world what Dorchester folk can do.’ In 1910, the play was revived at the Weymouth Pavilion , and Hardy was able to attend, travelling there by train with Albert Evans and his family. He wrote personal congratulations afterwards to Mr Bawler (Miller Loveday) and Mayor of Dorchester Mr Tilley (Cripplestraw) on playing their roles so realistically. The play
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7056-514: The Dorset Museum ). Hardy also met with Chelsea pensioners who had experienced the war first-hand. The Trumpet-Major , published in 1880 was born of that research. Evelyn Evans, daughter of the man who produced Hardy's plays, mentions that, shortly after the publication of The Dynasts , and while the first theatrical production of The Trumpet-Major was in rehearsal, in 1908, Hardy talked with veterans of Waterloo still alive and living in
7224-533: The Hyeres Islands from where Hood plotted a blockade of Corsica . Resentment at French rule there had sparked a revolt led by Pasquale Paoli whose guerrillas had driven the invaders into three fortified towns in the north of the island; Calvi , San Fiorenzo and Bastia . Hood despatched a proportion of his fleet to prevent the French from shipping in supplies. On 24 January, Hood received word that
7392-624: The National Trust . Hardy's first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady , finished by 1867, failed to find a publisher. He then showed it to his mentor and friend, the Victorian poet and novelist George Meredith , who felt that The Poor Man and the Lady would be too politically controversial and might damage Hardy's ability to publish in the future. So Hardy followed his advice and he did not try further to publish it. He subsequently destroyed
7560-552: The Nobel Prize in Literature . He was nominated again for the prize 11 years later and received a total of 25 nominations until 1927. He was at least once, in 1923, one of the final candidates for the prize, but was not awarded. Hardy's interest in the theatre dated from the 1860s. He corresponded with various would-be adapters over the years, including Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886 and Jack Grein and Charles Jarvis in
7728-572: The Royal Naval Museum . In November 2007, Victory ' s then-commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John Scivier, paid a visit to USS Constitution of the US Navy , which is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. He met Constitution ' s commanding officer, Commander William A. Bullard III. In August 2011 the upper masts and rigging of HMS Victory were dismantled entirely across all three masts by
7896-530: The "Authors' Declaration", justifying Britain's involvement in the First World War . This manifesto declared that the German invasion of Belgium had been a brutal crime, and that Britain "could not without dishonour have refused to take part in the present war." Hardy was horrified by the destruction caused by the war, pondering that "I do not think a world in which such fiendishness is possible to be worth
8064-462: The (cryptic) details in a field, where they're found by a mysterious woman. The invasion beacons are lit, although it's a false alarm. In the chaos Festus almost has Anne at his mercy in an isolated cottage. She escapes and is found by John. He finds Festus and beats him, but drunken Festus thinks he's Bob. John thinks he has a chance with Anne but discovers she's with Bob, so to cover his embarrassment he pretends to be in love with an unnamed actress at
8232-490: The 1820s, and research into these has provided insight into how Hardy used them in his works. The opening chapter of The Mayor of Casterbridge , for example, written in 1886, was based on press reports of wife-selling. In the year of his death Mrs Hardy published The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1841–1891 , compiled largely from contemporary notes, letters, diaries and biographical memoranda, as well as from oral information in conversations extending over many years. Hardy's work
8400-463: The 18th century, Victory was one of ten first-rate ships to be constructed. The outline plans were based on HMS Royal George , which had been launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1756, and the naval architect chosen to design the ship was Sir Thomas Slade , the Surveyor of the Navy . She was designed to carry at least 100 guns. The commissioner of Chatham Dockyard was instructed to prepare
8568-518: The 1950s, a number of preventive measures were instigated, including the removal of bulkheads to increase airflow and the fumigating of the ship against the deathwatch beetle which when emerging cause hundreds of bore holes weakening the oak frames and timbers. The following decade saw the replacement of much of the decayed oak with oily hardwoods such as teak and iroko , which were believed to be more resistant to fungus and pests. The decision to restore Victory to her Battle of Trafalgar configuration
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#17327794772128736-432: The 19th century, as seen, for example, in "The Sergeant's Song" and "Leipzig". The Napoleonic War is the subject of The Dynasts . Some of Hardy's more famous poems are from Poems 1912–13 , which later became part of Satires of Circumstance (1914), written following the death of his wife Emma in 1912. They had been estranged for 20 years, and these lyric poems express deeply felt "regret and remorse". Poems like "After
8904-699: The 42-pounders were reinstated in April 1779; however, there were insufficient 42-pounders available and these were replaced with 32-pounder cannon once again. Victory was commissioned (put on active duty) in March 1778 under Captain Sir John Lindsay . He held that position until May 1778, when Admiral Augustus Keppel made her his flagship , and appointed Rear Admiral John Campbell (1st Captain) and Captain Jonathan Faulknor (2nd Captain). Keppel put to sea from Spithead on 9 July 1778 with
9072-492: The 98-gun HMS Temeraire , whose broadside devastated the French ship. Nelson's last order was for the fleet to anchor, but this was countermanded by Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. Victory suffered 57 killed and 102 wounded. Victory had been badly damaged in the battle and was not able to move under her own sail, so HMS Neptune towed her to Gibraltar for repairs. Victory then carried Nelson's body to England, where, after lying in state at Greenwich , he
9240-490: The Admiralty issued orders for Victory to be broken up and her timbers reused in other vessels. A public outcry against the destruction of so famous a ship led to the order being held in abeyance and Victory was left, largely forgotten, at a Portsmouth mooring. The Admiralty officially designated the ageing vessel as a tender for the port admiral ' s flagship, HMS Wellington , and permitted civilian visitors to come aboard for tours. The ship briefly returned to
9408-694: The Amphion and hoisted his flag and made sail – Log." On 28 May, Captain Sutton captured the French Ambuscade of 32 guns, bound for Rochefort . Victory rejoined Lord Nelson off Toulon, where on 31 July, Captain Sutton exchanged commands with the captain of Amphion , Thomas Masterman Hardy and Nelson raised his flag in Victory once more. Victory was passing the island of Toro, near Majorca , on 4 April 1805, when HMS Phoebe brought
9576-445: The British van which fired back, forcing the French ship Alcide to surrender. Culloden and Cumberland did not stop to take possession of the stricken French ship but Victory had been much damaged in the action: all the running rigging along with much of her standing rigging, the main topgallant mast, the topsail yardarms on the foremast and the spritsail yardarms had all been shot away, and considerable damage had been done to
9744-417: The British more or less in column and the French in some confusion. However, the French managed to pass along the British line with their most advanced ships. At about a quarter to twelve, Victory opened fire on Bretagne of 110 guns, which was being followed by Ville de Paris of 90 guns. The British van escaped with little loss, but Sir Hugh Palliser 's rear division suffered considerably. Keppel made
9912-606: The Budmouth theatre. Pressed to show Anne and Bob his sweetheart, John buys them tickets for the play, which is also attended by the King and Queen, who are staying in Budmouth. Matilda appears on stage, and John's shocked expression is mistaken for passion. Festus, lurking as always, encounters Matilda (who is also the mysterious woman from earlier) out for a late-night walk. The press gang (naval recruiters who force men into service) are in town, and Festus and Matilda tip them off that Bob
10080-520: The Corsicans wished for the governance and protection of Britain and set off with his remaining ships. They were caught in a storm however and had to spend several nights sheltering off the island of Elba before heading into Portoferraio on the 29 January for repairs. The fleet eventually arrived on 7 February at San Fiorenzo, where an attack was carried out on the Torra di Mortella at the west end of
10248-621: The Everyman Theatre in Reading . With book, music and lyrics by Michael Wild, the piece was a musical comedy "suggested" by The Trumpet Major and it featured all the major characters of the book. It was given six performances from 24 to 29 November 1958. A note of apology in the programme suggests that it was not authorised by the Hardy Estate. The Napoleonic Wars , and in particular the fear of invasion that pervaded Dorset at
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#173277947721210416-458: The French threat. This included arming her with a full complement of smoothbore , cast iron cannon . Her weaponry was intended to be thirty 42-pounders (19 kg) on her lower deck, twenty-eight 24-pounder long guns (11 kg) on her middle deck, and thirty 12-pounders (5 kg) on her upper deck, together with twelve 6-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle . In May 1778, the 42-pounders were replaced by 32-pounders (15 kg), but
10584-596: The Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians ) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound , W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin . Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances, and they are often set in
10752-502: The Native (1878). In 1880, Hardy published his only historical novel, The Trumpet-Major . A further move to Wimborne saw Hardy write Two on a Tower , published in 1882, a romance story set in the world of astronomy. Then in 1885, they moved for the last time, to Max Gate , a house outside Dorchester designed by Hardy and built by his brother. There he wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887) and Tess of
10920-633: The Spanish ships became visible to him, Calder reported the numbers to Jervis, but when he reached 27, Jervis replied, "Enough, Sir. No more of that. The die is cast and if there are 50 sail, I will go through them". The Spanish were caught by surprise, sailing in two divisions, with a gap that Jervis aimed to exploit. The ship's log records how Victory halted the Spanish division, raking ships both ahead and astern, while Jervis' private memoirs recall how Victory ' s broadside so terrified Principe de Asturias that she "squared her yards, ran clear out of
11088-478: The abbey's famous Poets' Corner . A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in Poets' Corner. Hardy's estate at death was valued at £ 95,418 (equivalent to £7,300,000 in 2023). Shortly after Hardy's death, the executors of his estate burnt his letters and notebooks, but twelve notebooks survived, one of them containing notes and extracts of newspaper stories from
11256-525: The absence of Admiralty funding for repairs. Sir Edward Seymour visited the vessel in 1886 as flag captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth and recalled in 1911 "a more rotten ship than she had become probably never flew the pennant. I could literally run my walking stick through her sides in many places." The school remained in Victory until 1904, when training was transferred temporarily to HMS Hercules . Despite her reuse as
11424-414: The accuracy of Hardy's details in the novel. The novel is set during a time of great national fervour and patriotism when a French invasion of Britain was anticipated. The novel also highlights as the French could anytime invade Britain, the emotions of the British people who feared an invasion were already cautious mid way through the novel. This novel is based on stories told by his grandmother when he
11592-531: The age of eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last's Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester, where he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential. Because Hardy's family lacked the means for a university education, his formal education ended at the age of sixteen, when he became apprenticed to James Hicks, a local architect. He worked on the design of the new church at nearby Athelhampton, situated just opposite Athelhampton House where he painted
11760-464: The battle and did not return". Jervis, realising that the main bulk of the enemy fleet could now cross astern and reunite, ordered his ships to change course, but Sir Charles Thompson , leading the rear division, failed to comply. The following ships were now in a quandary over whether to obey the Admiral's signal or follow their divisional commander. Nelson, who had transferred to HMS Captain ,
11928-451: The battle. When he noted the French superiority, he contented himself with capturing fifteen sail of the convoy. The French were dispersed in a gale and forced to return home. Victory ' s armament was slightly upgraded in 1782 with the replacement of all of her 6-pounders with 12-pounder cannon. Later, she also carried two carronade guns , firing 68-lb (31 kg) round shot. In October 1782, Victory under Admiral Richard Howe
12096-438: The bay. Victory did not play much of an active role in the attack and on 11 February was blown off station by a strong wind. After sheltering off Cap Corse , she returned on 17 February in time to see the tower captured and, soon after, the town capitulate. Hood next sailed his ships to Bastia joining with a squadron under Horatio Nelson which had been blockading the town since 7 February. Despite this additional show of force,
12264-537: The beginning of the 19th century, were a source of fascination to Hardy from boyhood onwards. Hardy's interest in the Napoleonic Wars continued throughout his life. While writing The Return of the Native , in 1878, Hardy visited the Reading Room of the British Museum and read contemporary accounts of the Napoleonic Wars. He noted his findings in what became known as ‘The Trumpet-Major Notebook’ (now in
12432-399: The book: "After these [hostile] verdicts from the press its next misfortune was to be burnt by a bishop – probably in his despair at not being able to burn me". Despite this, Hardy had become a celebrity by the 1900s, but some argue that he gave up writing novels because of the criticism of both Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure . The Well-Beloved , first serialised in 1892,
12600-450: The cause of death was cited, on his death certificate, as "cardiac syncope", with "old age" given as a contributory factor. His funeral was on 16 January at Westminster Abbey , and it proved a controversial occasion because Hardy had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. His family and friends concurred; however, his executor, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell , insisted that he be placed in
12768-543: The centenary celebrations of the Battle of Trafalgar, she was decorated with electric lights powered by a submarine moored alongside. In 1910, the Society for Nautical Research was created to try to preserve her for future generations, but the Admiralty was unable to help, having become embroiled in an escalating arms race; thus by the time Frank H. Mason published The Book of British Ships in 1911, Victory ' s condition
12936-434: The character of Henry Knight in A Pair of Blue Eyes was based on Horace Moule. Throughout his life, Hardy sought a rationale for believing in an afterlife or a timeless existence, turning first to spiritualists, such as Henri Bergson , and then to Albert Einstein and J. M. E. McTaggart , considering their philosophy on time and space in relation to immortality. Sites associated with Hardy's own life and which inspired
13104-778: The combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 17 ships. They arrived in the West Indies to find that the enemy was sailing back to Europe, where Napoleon Bonaparte was waiting for them with his invasion forces at Boulogne . The Franco-Spanish fleet was involved in the indecisive Battle of Cape Finisterre in fog off Ferrol with Admiral Sir Robert Calder's squadron on 22 July, before taking refuge in Vigo and Ferrol. Calder on 14 August and Nelson on 15 August joined Admiral Cornwallis 's Channel Fleet off Ushant. Nelson continued on to England in Victory , leaving his Mediterranean fleet with Cornwallis who detached twenty of his thirty-three ships of
13272-484: The d'Urbervilles (1891), the last of which attracted criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen woman", and initially it was refused publication. Its subtitle, A Pure Woman: Faithfully Presented , was intended to raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle classes. Jude the Obscure , published in 1895, met with an even stronger negative response from the Victorian public because of its controversial treatment of sex, religion and marriage. Its apparent attack on
13440-484: The d'Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge such often implore and deal with deep concepts such as disappointment in love and the "perversity of life", but The Trumpet-Major also deal with these very themes present in many novels and poems which are often laid with a carefully controlled elegiac feeling and much irony in them that make them stand out among the Victorian classical works of literature . The book
13608-513: The decent and thoughtful son of the miller, and Yeomanry officer Festus Derriman, the boastful and aggressive nephew of the skinflint local squire. Anne favours John and loathes Festus, but Festus pesters her, a situation not helped by her mother's desire for her to marry him on account of his rank and (assumed) wealth. However, when her mother changes her view (partly due to the miller's courting of her) and favours marriage to John, Anne changes her mind and favours Festus, thinking herself too ‘high’ for
13776-638: The end of 1796, the British position in the Mediterranean had become untenable. Jervis had stationed his fleet off Cape St Vincent to prevent the Spanish from sailing north, whilst Nelson was to oversee the evacuation of Elba. Once the evacuation had been accomplished, Nelson, in HMS Minerve , sailed for Gibraltar. On learning that the Spanish fleet had passed by some days previous, Nelson left to rendezvous with Jervis on 11 February. The Spanish fleet, which had been blown off course by easterly gales,
13944-473: The enemy line some two or three ships ahead of their commander-in-chief in the centre and achieve victory before the van could come to their aid. At 0600 hours, Nelson ordered his fleet into two columns. Fitful winds made it a slow business, and for more than six hours, the two columns of British ships slowly approached the French line before Royal Sovereign , leading the lee column, was able to open fire on Fougueux . Around 30 minutes later, Victory broke
14112-595: The external personality – has been replaced by the intelligence of the First Cause...the replacement of the old concept of God as all-powerful by a new concept of universal consciousness. The 'tribal god, man-shaped, fiery-faced and tyrannous' is replaced by the 'unconscious will of the Universe' which progressively grows aware of itself and 'ultimately, it is to be hoped, sympathetic'. Scholars have debated Hardy's religious leanings for years, often unable to reach
14280-618: The first novel by John Cowper Powys , who was a contemporary of Lawrence, was "Dedicated with devoted admiration to the greatest poet and novelist of our age Thomas Hardy". Powys's later novel Maiden Castle (1936) is set in Dorchester , which was Hardy's Casterbridge , and was intended by Powys to be a "rival" to Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge . Maiden Castle is the last of Powys's so-called Wessex novels, Wolf Solent (1929), A Glastonbury Romance (1932) and Weymouth Sands (1934), which are set in Somerset and Dorset. Hardy
14448-423: The flag of Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt , sailed with eleven other ships of the line, a 50-gun fourth-rate , and five frigates , to intercept a French convoy that had sailed from Brest on 10 December. Not knowing that the convoy was protected by twenty-one ships of the line under the command of Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen , Kempenfelt ordered a chase when they were sighted on 12 December and began
14616-529: The following month under her new captain, Samuel Sutton . Vice-Admiral Nelson hoisted his flag in Victory on 18 May 1803, with Samuel Sutton as his flag captain . The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson (Volume 5, page 68) record that "Friday 20 May a.m. ... Nelson ... came on board. Saturday 21st (i.e.the afternoon of the 20th) Unmoored ship and weighed. Made sail out of Spithead ... when H.M. Ship Amphion joined, and proceeded to sea in company with us" – Victory's Log. Victory
14784-433: The garrison would not surrender. Troops were landed and the town was invested, leading to a protracted siege which only ended when a reinforcement of troops from Gibraltar forced the French to seek honourable terms. By June, the French had repaired much of the damage caused by the retreating British, and sailed from Toulon with seven ships-of-the-line. On hearing this, Hood left Corsica with thirteen ships of his own with
14952-522: The harlequinade had become a popular form of theatre, burlesque and ballet. The characters and action in The Trumpet-Major mirror closely the characters and themes of this traditional form, as shown below. Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot , he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism , including
15120-554: The hope of bringing them to action. When the French sighted Hood's fleet on 10 June, they took refuge in Golfe Juan near Antibes and anchored in a tight crescent formation. Hood was disinclined to attack, considering the position too well defended, and returned to Corsica. Hood took his ships back to Toulon where he strengthened the blockade of the port. In November, after two years at sea, Hood returned home in Victory . Arriving off Portsmouth on 5 December, Hood struck his flag and
15288-464: The importance of Hardy for him, even though this work is a platform for Lawrence's own developing philosophy rather than a more standard literary study. The influence of Hardy's treatment of character, and Lawrence's own response to the central metaphysic behind many of Hardy's novels, helped significantly in the development of The Rainbow (1915) and Women in Love (1920). Wood and Stone (1915),
15456-453: The institution of marriage caused strain on Hardy's already difficult marriage because Emma Hardy was concerned that Jude the Obscure would be read as autobiographical. Some booksellers sold the novel in brown paper bags, and Walsham How , the Bishop of Wakefield , is reputed to have burnt his copy. In his postscript of 1912, Hardy humorously referred to this incident as part of the career of
15624-427: The landscape of Hardy's novels include Ireland's Mai-Dun (1921) and Holst's Egdon Heath: A Homage to Thomas Hardy (1927). Hardy has been a significant influence on Nigel Blackwell, frontman of the post-punk British rock band Half Man Half Biscuit , who has often incorporated phrases (some obscure) by or about Hardy into his song lyrics. HMS Victory HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of
15792-424: The launch. Larkin asked for the assistance of every available shipwright, and they hewed away enough wood from the gates with their adzes for the ship to pass safely through. However, the launch itself revealed significant problems in the ship's design, including a distinct list to starboard and a tendency to sit heavily in the water such that her lower deck gunports were only 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) above
15960-591: The line of the Royal Navy . She was ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759, and launched in 1765. With 246 years of service as of 2024, she is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission . Victory is best known for her role as Horatio Nelson 's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. She had previously served as Keppel 's flagship at Ushant , Howe 's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis 's flagship at Cape St Vincent . After 1824, she
16128-488: The line and sent them under Calder to find the combined fleet at Ferrol. On 19 August came the worrying news that the enemy had sailed from there, followed by relief when they arrived in Cádiz two days later. On the evening of Saturday, 28 September, Lord Nelson joined Lord Collingwood 's fleet off Cádiz, quietly, so that his presence would not be known. After learning he was to be removed from command, Villeneuve put to sea on
16296-586: The line between the 80-gun French flagship Bucentaure and 74 gun Redoutable and fired her guns at such close range that the flames of the guns were singeing the windows of the French flagship before the shockwave and cannonballs arrived. Victory ' s port guns unleashed a devastating broadside, raking Bucentaure and blowing a hole in the ship described as "large enough to drive a coach and four horses through." The maelstrom of cannonballs and grapeshot dismounted Bucentaure' s guns and shredded her crew, killing and wounding somewhere between 300 and 450 men of
16464-543: The manuscript, but used some of the ideas in his later work. In his recollections in Life and Work , Hardy described the book as "socialistic, not to say revolutionary; yet not argumentatively so." After he abandoned his first novel, Hardy wrote two new ones that he hoped would have more commercial appeal, Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), both of which were published anonymously; it
16632-699: The masts that remained. When two French frigates arrived to tow away the crippled Alcide , Victory saw them off, sinking one of their boats in the process. Hotham ordered a withdrawal of his fleet when the French took refuge in Frejus Bay; by then it was dark and a lee shore wind meant the British would be trapped if they continued their pursuit. In 1796, Captain Robert Calder (First Captain) and Captain George Grey (Second Captain), commanded Victory under Admiral Sir John Jervis 's flag. By
16800-577: The mistaken belief that this will upset John. Over a year or more, Anne begins to warm to John, and he is ecstatic – until a letter comes from Bob, saying he still wants Anne. John tries to be cold towards Anne, but this only makes her warmer towards him, until she virtually proposes to him, just as Bob, newly promoted to Naval Lieutenant, writes to say he's coming home for her. Bob arrives and John withdraws. Anne rejects Bob, but he wears her down with his naval tales and fine uniform. However, when he makes his big move, she rejects him again, and he storms out. Anne
16968-494: The morning of 19 October and when the last ship had left port, around noon the following day, he set sail for the Mediterranean. The British frigates, which had been sent to keep track of the enemy fleet throughout the night, were spotted at around 1900 hours and the order was given to form line of battle. On the morning of 21 October, the main British fleet, which was out of sight and sailing parallel some 10 miles away, turned to intercept. Nelson had already made his plans: to break
17136-495: The neighbourhood. Unlike most Hardy novels, in which the essence of the story is fictional – though often with reference to contemporary matters (such as changes in divorce law playing a part in The Woodlanders ) – the real events of 1804-5 when Dorset was preparing for the palpable threat of French invasion near Weymouth (Budmouth) permeate The Trumpet Major , a danger that only receded with victory at Trafalgar . Hardy
17304-421: The news freshly brought of the Battle of Trafalgar and death of Nelson , told with both intimacy and a sense of its historical momentousness. The love story at the centre of the novel plays like a complex dance, with the two brothers, John and Bob Loveday and the villainous Festus Derriman all trying to gain the hand of Anne Garland. The sense of impending peril, with the ultimate fate of the young men unknown, in
17472-542: The news that the French fleet under Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon. While Nelson made for Sicily to see if the French were heading for Egypt , Villeneuve was entering Cádiz to link up with the Spanish fleet. On 9 May, Nelson received news from HMS Orpheus that Villeneuve had left Cadiz a month earlier. The British fleet completed their stores in Lagos Bay, Portugal and, on 11 May, sailed westward with ten ships and three frigates in pursuit of
17640-440: The night of 12 July the British were caught in a storm and several ships, including Victory were damaged. The French were seen at dawn, as Victory was having new sails fitted but was ready by 08:00 when Hotham ordered a general chase. Victory made good progress and along with Culloden and Cumberland was catching up on the French rear. A sudden shift in the wind allowed the trailing three French ships to turn and open up on
17808-482: The novel: while the novel ends of a tragic note, with John Loveday going off to his death on the battlefields of Spain, as Evelyn Evans writes: ‘the curtain of the re-written play fell on laughter, song and dancing.’ Hardy attended some rehearsals at the Corn Exchange, remarking on the fact that many of the performers were direct descendants of Dorset inhabitants who had lived through those turbulent times. Indeed,
17976-411: The officers on Victory ' s quarterdeck how, "A victory to England is very essential at the moment". Jervis was not aware of the size of the fleet he was facing, but at around 0630 hours, received word that five Spanish warships were to the south-east. By 0900 hours, the first enemy ships were visible from Victory ' s masthead, and at 1100 hours, Jervis gave the order to form line of battle. As
18144-409: The oldest dry dock in the world still in use. A naval survey revealed that between a third and a half of her internal fittings required replacement. Her steering equipment had also been removed or destroyed, along with most of her furnishings. The relocation to No. 2 dock sparked public discussion about Victory ' s future location. Suggestions in contemporary newspapers included the creation of
18312-531: The original Hardy Players put on a dramatised version of The Trumpet-Major at the Corn Exchange in Dorchester. Hardy was very involved with the play, working closely with its producer, Alfred Evans, whose daughter Evelyn later recounted that the two had many discussions in the study at Max Gate ‘deciding on the outline of the play, writing additional dialogue’ and discussing whether particular scenes should be retained or left out. There were departures from
18480-443: The parish church at Puddletown, close to his home at Max Gate. He became a frequent visitor at Athelhampton House , which he knew from his teenage years, and in his letters he encouraged the owner, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine, to conduct the restoration of that building in a sensitive way. In 1914, Hardy was one of 53 leading British authors—including H. G. Wells , Rudyard Kipling and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle —who signed their names to
18648-507: The play as he was suffering from a chill, but Emma Hardy was there. He was, however, delighted by its reception. The production caused quite a stir. As the Dorset County Chronicle reported: ‘there were to be observed in the front seats a posse of leading dramatic critics who had come down from London especially’, writing ‘critiques, to be wired to Town piping hot from their busily plying pencils.’ The Times devoted nearly
18816-469: The poetry of William Wordsworth . He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain such as those from his native South West England . While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, he gained fame as the author of novels such as Far from
18984-480: The production was thoroughly Dorchester-based: ‘the scenery painted from designs by local artists; the uniforms made by a local tailor after originals that had been worn by the Dorset Rangers’ and other local militia groups (the originals ‘still preserved in the attics of local folk’). Music was composed by a local musician, Frederick Boynton Smith. Unfortunately, Hardy, who was now 68 years old, couldn't attend
19152-401: The protagonists, is left literally hanging off a cliff. Elements of Hardy's fiction reflect the influence of the commercially successful sensation fiction of the 1860s, particularly the legal complications in novels such as Desperate Remedies (1871), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) and Two on a Tower (1882). In Far from the Madding Crowd , Hardy first introduced the idea of calling
19320-618: The public gaze on 18 July 1833 when the queen in waiting, Princess Victoria , and her mother, the Duchess of Kent , made a visit to her quarterdeck to meet veterans of the Trafalgar campaign. This generated a surge of interest in the vessel, and an increase in civilian visitor numbers to between 10,000 and 12,000 a year. Victoria returned for a second visit on 21 October 1844, creating a further burst of interest that lifted annual visitors to more than 22,000. In late April 1854, Victory sprang
19488-461: The region in the west of England, where his novels are set, Wessex . Wessex had been the name of an early Saxon kingdom, in approximately the same part of England. Far from the Madding Crowd was successful enough for Hardy to give up architectural work and pursue a literary career. Over the next 25 years, Hardy produced 10 more novels. Subsequently, Hardy moved from London to Yeovil , and then to Sturminster Newton , where he wrote The Return of
19656-662: The remaining years of his life. Indeed, his play The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse (1923) was written to be performed by the Hardy Players. From the 1880s, Hardy became increasingly involved in campaigns to save ancient buildings from destruction, or destructive modernisation, and he became an early member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings . His correspondence refers to his unsuccessful efforts to prevent major alterations to
19824-514: The same decade. Neither adaptation came to fruition, but Hardy showed he was potentially enthusiastic about such a project. One play that was performed, however, caused him a certain amount of pain. His experience of the controversy and lukewarm critical reception that had surrounded his and Comyns Carr 's adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd in 1882 left him wary of the damage that adaptations could do to his literary reputation. So, in 1908, he so readily and enthusiastically became involved with
19992-425: The same inspiration that we have drawn ourselves, and our fathers before us." During the initial restoration period from 1922 to 1929, a considerable amount of structural repair work was carried out above the waterline and mainly above the middle deck. On 8 April 1925, Victory was temporarily refloated within Portsmouth's No. 2 dock, to adjust the supporting cradle and so that Victory ' s waterline would be at
20160-555: The same level with the top of the dry dock. This last refloating of Victory was recorded by Pathé news cameras. In 1928, King George V was able to unveil a tablet celebrating the completion of the work, although restoration and maintenance still continued under the supervision of the Society for Nautical Research. Restoration was suspended during the Second World War , and in 1941, Victory sustained further damage when
20328-533: The saving" and "better to let western 'civilization' perish, and let the black and yellow races have a chance." He wrote to John Galsworthy that "the exchange of international thought is the only possible salvation for the world." Shortly after helping to excavate the Fordington mosaic , Hardy became ill with pleurisy in December 1927 and died at Max Gate just after 9 pm on 11 January 1928, having dictated his final poem to his wife on his deathbed;
20496-470: The semi-fictional region of Wessex ; initially based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in south-west and south central England. Two of his novels, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd , were listed in the top 50 on the BBC 's survey The Big Read . Thomas Hardy
20664-534: The settings of his novels continue to attract literary tourists and casual visitors. For locations in Hardy's novels see: Thomas Hardy's Wessex , and the Thomas Hardy's Wessex research site, which includes maps. Hardy corresponded with and visited Lady Catherine Milnes Gaskell at Wenlock Abbey and many of Lady Catherine's books are inspired by Hardy, who was very fond of her. D. H. Lawrence 's Study of Thomas Hardy (1914, first published 1936) indicates
20832-540: The ship was taken in for much needed repairs. By July the following year, Victory had rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet, now commanded by Admiral William Hotham in the 100-gun Britannia . Shortly after her arrival, Victory received Rear-Admiral Robert Mann , who moved his flag from Cumberland , and on the 8 July the fleet set off in pursuit of a French force near the Hyeres Islands. On
21000-414: The ship's 750- to 800-man complement in a matter of seconds, putting the French flagship out of action. At a quarter past one, Nelson was shot, the fatal musket ball entering his left shoulder and lodging in his spine. He died at half past four. Such killing had taken place on Victory ' s quarterdeck that Redoutable attempted to board her, but they were thwarted by the arrival of Eliab Harvey in
21168-511: The signal to follow the French, but Palliser did not conform, and the action was not resumed. Keppel was court martialled and cleared, and Palliser criticised by an inquiry before the affair turned into a political argument. In March 1780, Victory ' s hull was sheathed with 3,923 sheets of copper below the waterline to protect it against shipworm . On 2 December 1781, the ship, now commanded by Captain Henry Cromwell and bearing
21336-518: The smaller fittings. Once the ship's frame had been built, it was normal to cover it up and leave it for several months to allow the wood to dry out or " season ". French naval power had been severely weakened by the events in Quiberon Bay and there was no immediate need for Victory which remained in this condition for nearly three years. This additional seasoning in the frame helped her subsequent longevity. Work restarted in autumn 1763 and she
21504-450: The story would have taken an entirely different path." Indeed, Hardy's main characters often seem to be held in fate's overwhelming grip. In 1898, Hardy published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems , a collection of poems written over 30 years. While some suggest that Hardy gave up writing novels following the harsh criticism of Jude the Obscure in 1896, the poet C. H. Sisson calls this "hypothesis" "superficial and absurd". In
21672-628: The tower collapsed in 1863, and All Saints' parish church in Windsor, Berkshire , in 1862–64. A reredos , possibly designed by Hardy, was discovered behind panelling at All Saints' in August 2016. In the mid-1860s, Hardy was in charge of the excavation of part of the graveyard of St Pancras Old Church before its destruction when the Midland Railway was extended to a new terminus at St Pancras . Hardy never felt at home in London, because he
21840-513: The twentieth century Hardy published only poetry. Thomas Hardy published Poems of the Past and the Present in 1901, which contains " The Darkling Thrush " (originally titled "The Century's End"), one of his best known poems about the turn of the century . Thomas Hardy wrote in a great variety of poetic forms, including lyrics , ballads , satire, dramatic monologues and dialogue, as well as
22008-545: The vessel structure, other than small bolts and nails. Active service was resumed from February 1817 when she was relisted as a first-rate carrying 104 guns. However, her condition remained poor, and in January 1822, she was towed into dry dock at Portsmouth for repairs to her hull. Refloated in January 1824, she was designated as the Port admiral 's flagship for Portsmouth Harbour, remaining in this role until April 1830. In 1831
22176-524: The waterline. The first of these problems was rectified after launch by increasing the ship's ballast to settle her upright on the keel. The second problem, regarding the siting of the lower gunports, could not be rectified. Instead it was noted in Victory ' s sailing instructions that these gunports would have to remain closed and unusable in rough weather. This had potential to limit Victory ' s firepower, though in practice none of her subsequent actions would be fought in rough seas. Because there
22344-611: The way clear for John. Anne goes to Portland Head to watch the Victory sail past. In Budmouth she sits crying, and is comforted by the King, who is passing by. The Loveday family endure a long wait for news of the Victory, eventually hearing of the Battle of Trafalgar, but not whether Bob has survived. Finally a sailor comes to tell them that Bob is unharmed – but also that he's engaged to a baker's daughter in Portsmouth. John sees his chance, but Anne rejects him. Meanwhile, Festus discovers that John, not Bob, beat him up, and courts Matilda in
22512-429: Was Anglican , but not especially devout. He was baptised at the age of five weeks and attended church, where his father and uncle contributed to music. He did not attend the local Church of England school, instead being sent to Mr Last's school, three miles away. As a young adult, he befriended Henry R. Bastow (a Plymouth Brethren man), who also worked as a pupil architect, and who was preparing for adult baptism in
22680-659: Was Victory's last action of the war; hostilities ended in September 1783 and she was placed in ordinary. In 1787, Victory was ordered to be readied for service following a revolt in the Netherlands but before she could put to sea, a Prussian invasion , leading to the signing of the Triple Alliance treaty removed the threat. Victory was seaworthy for the Nootka Crisis in 1790 however, when she
22848-454: Was floated on 7 May 1765, having cost £63,176 and 3 shillings , the equivalent of £10.9 million today. On the day of the launch, shipwright Hartly Larkin, designated "foreman afloat" for the event, suddenly realised that the ship might not fit through the dock gates. Measurements at first light confirmed his fears: the gates were at least 9½ inches too narrow. He told his superior, master shipwright John Allin, who considered abandoning
23016-511: Was 39 years his junior. He remained preoccupied with his first wife's death and tried to overcome his remorse by writing poetry. In his later years, he kept a Wire Fox Terrier named Wessex, who was notoriously ill-tempered. Wessex's grave stone can be found on the Max Gate grounds. In 1910, Hardy had been appointed a Member of the Order of Merit and was also for the first time nominated for
23184-766: Was a child and he fondly remembered her for the storyteller she was. Other sources include that Hardy, as a young man, would visit and spoke to the Chelsea Pensioners about the Peninsular War and the Hundred Days campaign in which Napoleon was utterly defeated by the British army of the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo . Thomas Hardy's novel provided the source of Alun Hoddinott 's opera The Trumpet Major , with libretto by Myfanwy Piper , first performed in Manchester on 1 April 1981. In 1908,
23352-526: Was a setting that Hardy would use again in his play, The Dynasts , and it borrows from the same source material. Edward Neill has called the novel an attempt to repeat the success of his earlier work Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), after the limited success of his intervening works. The novel originally appeared in 1880 in the Evangelical serial Good Words (January–December) with 33 illustrations by John Collier . The three-volume first edition
23520-428: Was a suitable name, since the previous Victory had been lost with all hands in 1744. A team of 150 workmen was assigned to construct Victory ' s frame. Around 6,000 trees were used in her construction, of which 90% were oak and the remainder elm , pine and fir , together with a small quantity of lignum vitae . The wood of the hull was held in place by six-foot copper bolts, supported by treenails for
23688-427: Was acutely conscious of class divisions and his own feelings of social inferiority. During this time he became interested in social reform and the works of John Stuart Mill . He was introduced by his Dorset friend Horace Moule to the works of Charles Fourier and Auguste Comte . Mill's essay On Liberty was one of Hardy's cures for despair, and in 1924 he declared that "my pages show harmony of view with" Mill. He
23856-527: Was admired by many younger writers, including D. H. Lawrence , John Cowper Powys and Virginia Woolf . In his autobiography Good-Bye to All That (1929), Robert Graves recalls meeting Hardy in Dorset in the early 1920s and how Hardy received him and his new wife warmly, and was encouraging about his work. Hardy's birthplace in Bockhampton and his house Max Gate , both in Dorchester, are owned by
24024-498: Was again revived in 1912, for a performance at the Cripplegate Institute in London, which came with a very fine programme, including photos of the principal actors, engravings of Hardy's birthplace and ‘Casterbridge from Ten Hatches’ and the songs from the play, written by Hardy and with music by Harry Pouncy and Boyton Smith. In 1958 The Musicmakers presented a "new musical in three acts" titled Farewell my Fancy at
24192-607: Was also attracted to Matthew Arnold 's and Leslie Stephen 's ideal of the urbane liberal freethinker. After five years, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset, settling in Weymouth , and decided to dedicate himself to writing. In 1870, while on an architectural mission to restore the parish church of St Juliot in Cornwall, Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Gifford , whom he married on 17 September 1874, at St Peter's Church, Paddington , London. The couple rented St David's Villa, Southborough (now Surbiton ) for
24360-520: Was born in 1840, some 35 years after this period, and it's not hard to imagine him sitting, as a child, listening to first-hand accounts of life in Dorset during that time and the way in which it dominated local people's lives. The sense of these real recollections is woven into The Trumpet-Major – from Anne Garland and the old sailor watching out for the Victory in the English Channel, to the pervasive fear of press-gangs and imminent invasion, to
24528-504: Was born on 2 June 1840 in Higher Bockhampton (then Upper Bockhampton), a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England, where his father Thomas (1811–1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder. His parents had married at Melbury Osmond on 22 December 1839. His mother, Jemima (née Hand; 1813–1904), was well read, and she educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at
24696-453: Was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral on 9 January 1806. The Admiralty Board considered Victory too old, and in too great a disrepair, to be restored as a first-rate ship of the line. In November 1807, she was relegated to second-rate, with the removal of two 32-pounder cannon and replacement of her middle deck 24-pounders with 18-pounders obtained from other laid-up ships. She was recommissioned as
24864-888: Was clearly the starting point for the character of the novelist Edward Driffield in W. Somerset Maugham 's novel Cakes and Ale (1930). Thomas Hardy's works also feature prominently in the American playwright Christopher Durang 's The Marriage of Bette and Boo (1985), in which a graduate thesis analysing Tess of the d'Urbervilles is interspersed with analysis of Matt's family's neuroses. A number of notable English composers, including Gerald Finzi , Benjamin Britten , Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst set poems by Hardy to music. Others include Holst's daughter Imogen Holst , John Ireland , Muriel Herbert , Ivor Gurney and Robin Milford . Orchestral tone poems which evoke
25032-410: Was declared unfit for active service and left anchored off Chatham Dockyard. In December 1798 she was ordered to be converted to a hospital ship to hold wounded French and Spanish prisoners of war . However, on 8 October 1799, HMS Impregnable was lost off Chichester , having run aground on her way back to Portsmouth after escorting a convoy to Lisbon . She could not be refloated and so
25200-472: Was described as "nothing short of an insult". A few glimpses of the ship in 1918 are to be seen towards the end of Maurice Elvey's biopic of Nelson created in that year. By 1921 the ship was in a very poor state, and a public Save the Victory campaign was started, with shipping magnate Sir James Caird as a major contributor. On 12 January 1922, her condition was so poor that she would no longer stay afloat, and had to be moved into No. 2 dock at Portsmouth,
25368-485: Was going well for Britain; land victories had been won at Quebec and Minden and naval battles had been won at Lagos and Quiberon Bay . It was the Annus Mirabilis , or Wonderful Year, and the ship's name may have been chosen to commemorate the victories or it may have been chosen simply because out of the seven names shortlisted, Victory was the only one not in use. There were some doubts whether this
25536-532: Was no immediate use for her, she was placed in ordinary and moored in the River Medway . Internal fitting out continued over the next four years, and sea trials were completed in 1769, after which she was returned to her Medway berth. She remained there until France joined the American War of Independence in 1778. Victory was now placed in active service as part of a general mobilisation against
25704-478: Was one fatality aboard Victory ; a cannonball narrowly missed Jervis and decapitated a nearby sailor. "I have also observed that the ship is very weak abaft ; the transoms between the lower and middle decks work [bend] exceedingly." — Naval architect Sir Robert Seppings , describing defects aboard Victory , September 1796 On her return to England, Victory was examined for seaworthiness and found to have significant weaknesses in her stern timbers. She
25872-474: Was published in 1897. Considered a Victorian realist, Hardy examines the social constraints on the lives of those living in Victorian England , and criticises those beliefs, especially those relating to marriage, education and religion, that limited people's lives and caused unhappiness. Such unhappiness, and the suffering it brings, is seen by poet Philip Larkin as central in Hardy's works: What
26040-449: Was published in October 1880. It's 1804 and England expects an invasion attempt by Napoleon Bonaparte's armies. Near Budmouth (Weymouth) Anne Garland lives with her widowed mother in part of a flour mill, next to their landlord and friend miller William Loveday. Thousands of soldiers pitch camp on the downs nearby, ready to meet the invasion. Anne attracts the admiration of two of them, both with local connections: Trumpet Major John Loveday,
26208-459: Was relegated to the role of harbour ship. In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth , England , and preserved as a museum ship . She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012. In December 1758, William Pitt the Elder , as head of the British government, placed an order for the building of 12 ships, including a first-rate ship that would become Victory . During
26376-411: Was replaced along with her masts and the paint scheme changed from red to the black and yellow seen today. Her gun ports were originally yellow to match the hull, but later repainted black, giving a pattern later called the "Nelson chequer" , which was adopted by most Royal Navy ships in the decade following the Battle of Trafalgar. The work was completed in April 1803, and the ship left for Portsmouth
26544-668: Was stationed in the Channel. The crisis was resolved peacefully and after taking part in several patrols, Victory returned to Spithead on 1 September 1790. Despite paying off, she remained anchored there into the new year when she was refitted in preparation for the Russian Armament . Pilots with a specific knowledge of the Baltic Sea were taken on board in case the fleet was sent there to thwart Russian ambition but in July,
26712-564: Was stripped and dismantled. Now short of a three-decked ship of the line, the Admiralty decided to recondition Victory . Work started in 1800, but as it proceeded, an increasing number of defects were found and the repairs developed into a very extensive reconstruction. The original estimate was £23,500, but the final cost was £70,933. Extra gun ports were added, taking her from 100 guns to 104, and her magazine lined with copper. The open galleries along her stern were removed; her figurehead
26880-492: Was taken in 1920, but the need to undertake these important repairs meant this was not achieved until 2005, in time for the Trafalgar 200 celebrations of which HMS Victory was centre stage for the event. Victory ' s fore topsail was severely damaged during the Battle of Trafalgar, perforated by upwards of 90 cannonballs and other projectiles. It was replaced after the battle, but was preserved and eventually displayed in
27048-470: Was that night working its way to Cadiz. The darkness and a dense fog meant Nelson was able to pass through the enemy fleet without being spotted and join Jervis on 13 February. Jervis, whose fleet had been reinforced on 5 February by five ships from Britain under Rear-Admiral William Parker , now had 15 ships of the line. The following morning, having drawn up his fleet into two columns, Jervis impressed upon
27216-468: Was the first to break off and attack the main fleet as Jervis had wanted, and other ships soon followed his example. The British fleet not only achieved its main objective, that of preventing the Spanish from joining their French and Dutch allies in the channel, but also captured four ships. The dead and wounded from these four ships alone amounted to 261 and 342, respectively; more than the total number of British casualties of 73 dead and 327 wounded. There
27384-515: Was the flagship of the Second Sea Lord . She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and attracts around 350,000 visitors per year in her role as a museum ship. The current and 101st commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Brian Smith, who assumed command in May 2015. Since this contract was placed, the most significant change has been on 5 March 2012, when ownership of the ship
27552-456: Was the fleet flagship of a powerful escort flotilla for a convoy of transports which resupplied Gibraltar in the event of a blockade by the French and Spanish navies. No resistance was encountered on entering the straits and the supplies were successfully unloaded. There was a minor engagement at the time of departure, in which Victory did not fire a shot. The British ships were under orders to return home and did so without major incident. This
27720-579: Was too damaged to be moved; the Admiralty formally adopted their advice, and No. 2 dock thereafter became Victory ' s permanent home. On 21 October 1922 the Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee issued a further public plea for "many thousands of pounds" of public donations in The Times . He wrote: "The value of the Victory is no transitory thing. She must be preserved in order that our children's children may draw from her
27888-717: Was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to a dedicated HMS Victory Preservation Trust, established as part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy . According to the Royal Navy website, the move was "heralded by the announcement of a £25 million capital grant to support the new Trust by the Gosling Foundation – a donation which has been matched by a further £25 million from the MOD". Victory underwent
28056-410: Was under orders to meet up with Cornwallis off Brest, but after 24 hours of searching failed to find him. Nelson, anxious to reach the Mediterranean without delay, decided to transfer to Amphion off Ushant. The Dispatches and Letters (see above) record on page 71 "Tuesday 24 May (i.e. 23 May p.m.) Hove to at 7.40, Out Boats. The Admiral shifted his flag to the Amphion. At 7.50 Lord Nelson came on board
28224-515: Was while working on the latter that he met Emma Gifford, who would become his wife. In 1873 A Pair of Blue Eyes , a novel drawing on Hardy's courtship of Emma, was published under his own name. A plot device popularised by Charles Dickens , the term " cliffhanger " is considered to have originated with the serialised version of A Pair of Blue Eyes (published in Tinsley's Magazine between September 1872 and July 1873) in which Henry Knight, one of
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