1. Emma Lavinia Gifford was an English writer and suffragist.
12 Facts About Emma Gifford
1. 2.
Emma Gifford was the first wife of the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy.
3.
Emma Gifford was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 24 November 1840 The second youngest of five children, her father was John Attersoll Gifford, a solicitor, and she was named after her mother, Emma Gifford.
4.
Emma Gifford joined her in 1868 to help with housekeeping and to run the parish.
5.
Emma Gifford met the writer Thomas Hardy in 1870 when he was working as an architect.
6.
Emma Gifford is not agreeable to her either, but his patience must be incredibly tried.
7.
Emma Gifford is so queer, and yet has to be treated as rational, while she is full, I imagine, of suspicions and jealousies and affronts which must be half insane.
8.
In 1899, Emma Gifford became a virtual recluse and spent much of her time in attic rooms, which she asked Thomas Hardy to build for her and were what she called "my sweet refuge and solace".
9.
An active suffragist and supporter of women's suffrage, in 1907 Emma Gifford Hardy joined George Bernard Shaw and his wife in a march in London.
10.
Emma Gifford Hardy died at Max Gate, the house she shared with Hardy near Dorchester on 27 November 1912 at the age of 72.
11.
Emma Gifford was buried three days later at the church of St Michael, Stinsford, Dorset.
12.
Emma Gifford was an occasional writer throughout her life, working for example on her unpublished short story "The Maid on the Shore" during her engagement to Hardy.