Английский язык. Литературное наследие Великобритании XIX в.. Практикум для бакалавров укрупненных групп направлений подготовки «Науки об обществе», «

Hardy was the eldest of the four children of Thomas Hardy, a stonemason and builder, and his wife, Jemima. He grew up in an isolated cottage on the edge of open heath land. Though he was often ill as a child, his early experience of rural life, with its seasonal rhythms and oral culture, was fundamental to much of his works. His mother Jemima was well-read, and she educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at age eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last’s Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester. Here 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. Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862; there he enrolled as a student at King’s College London. He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. Hardy was in charge of the excavation of the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church prior to its destruction when the Midland Railway was extended to a new terminus at St. Pancras.