HARDY’S BURIAL.

Grey River Argus, 16 January 1928, Page 5

HARDY’S BURIAL.

IN POETS CORNER. Heart to be Interred at p. Stinsford. RELATIVES AND VILLAGERS PROTEST AGAINST BURIAL IN ABBEY T . / A vM NZ. CAhie (Received January 15 at 5 p.m.) LONDON. January 13. The nation was so moved by Mr Hardy’s death that there was no surprise when it was announced that an Abbey burial was offered and accepted. The remains will be cremated at Woking, and the ashes will be interred in the Abbey on Monday. It is understood that Sir Janies Barrie, who frequently visited Mr Hardy, saw the Prime Minister others in reference to this tribute. The Dean of Westminster sent a letter to Mrs Hardy. t hl offer and acceptance were exchange 1 by telephone. The decision was rendered difficult owing to the first sentence of Mr Hardy’s will:—“I desire burial at Stinsford Church,” hut Mrs Hardy felt she must defer to the gen eral wish that her husband should re. ceive the greatest honour in the power of England to give. The villagers at Stinsford are disappointed, for buried in the churchyard are Mr Hardy’s grandparents, father, mother, sister and first wife. LATER. Dorchester people are surprised at the decision that the late Mr Thomas Hardy should be buried in Westminster Abbey, instead, of in his own beloved Dorset. The late Mr Hardy’s brother, sistc*. and cousin expressed the opinion that his request to be buried among his own folk should have been respected. In view of the strength of this feeling locally, the Rector of Stinsford has approached the widow, and suggested that, instead of Mr Hardy’s memory being perpetuated merely by a tablet, his heart should be buried in Stinsford Churchyard. The widow gladly consented.

The late Mr Hardy will leave his beloved Wessex with no pageantry to bid him farewell, at eight o’clock on Sunday morning. The coffin will be carried from his home, and taken direct to Woking, where the body will be cremated, the ashes going thence to Westminster Abbey to await burial in the Poet’s Corner, near the grave of Dickens.

The burial of the heart in Wessex effects a compromise dear to the hearts of Dorset people. They felt deeply tlipt the arrangement whereby a writer so peculiarly their own should not rest, in accordance with Mr Hardy’s own dearest wish, among them after his death. His brother and sister, however, are still convinced that Mr Hardy’s spoken and written desire, to be buried not further than a few fields from his birthplace, should be honoured. Mrs Hardy was entirely with them, and it was only after much perplexed discussion that she decided to allow her husband to be regarded as a national possession. Throughout Dorset the same opinion prevailed. Miss Teresa Hardy, his sister, who grew up with him, and knew him better than anybody, said: “It is cruel to take Tom away.” i The Mayor of Dorchester says a mistake is being made in removing MiHardy’s remains. He was Dorset born and it is wrong that he should be taken from Dorset. The body lies to-night in I a bedroom which he had not left since

Christmas, covered with the scarlet robe of a Doctor of Literature (Cambridge), which will be his funeral shroud. On his breast lies the Order of Merit. There has been a stream of visitors all day to the remote cottage, only a mile away from the spot where the late Mr Hardy was born, and where he wrote his earliest works.