Born: 2 June 1840 · Died: 11 January 1928 · Age at death: 87
How old was Thomas Hardy when he died?
Thomas Hardy died aged 87. He was born on 2 June 1840 and died on 11 January 1928.
English novelist and poet of Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, set in his fictional Wessex
Did you know?Although he is buried in Westminster Abbey, his heart was removed and buried separately in his beloved home county of Dorset.
Quick facts
Date of birth2 June 1840
Date of death11 January 1928
Age at death87
NationalityBritish
BirthplaceDorchester, United Kingdom
Occupationwriter, novelist, screenwriter
Editor's Take:
Thomas Hardy wrote about fate, love and loss in rural England. The son of a stonemason in Dorset, he trained and worked as an architect. His novels are set in Wessex, an imagined version of south-west England. Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge are classics. Jude the Obscure caused such outrage that he gave up novels. He spent his last 30 years writing poetry, which many rate as highly as his fiction. His heart is buried in Dorset.
Key Milestones
1874: Madding Crowd – novel
1878: Return of the Native – novel
1886: Mayor of Casterbridge – novel
1891: Tess – novel
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist, poet and architect. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wordsworth.
