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In Thomas Hardy's “Far from the madding crowd” there is reference to the barracks where Sergeant Troy is quartered, as being on 'the outskirts of a certain town and military station, many miles north of Weatherbury'. Have you any idea where this might be?

Question asked on

04 July 2011

Answer

In the general preface to the “Wessex Edition” (1912) of his novels, Hardy had this to say. 'It is advisable also to state here, in response to inquiries from readers interested in landscape, prehistoric antiquities, and especially old English architecture, that the description of these backgrounds has been done from the real…. Many features of the first two kinds have been given under their existing names; for instance, the Vale of Blackmoor … and Stonehenge. … And the further idea was that large towns and points tending to mark the edge of Wessex - such as Bath, Plymouth, The Start, Portland Bill, Southampton, etc. - should be named clearly. … In respect of places described under fictitious or ancient names in the novels … discerning people have affirmed … that they clearly recognise the originals: such as Shaftesbury in 'Shaston' … Dorchester in 'Casterbridge' … [etc.]. Subject to the qualifications above given, that no detail is guaranteed - that the portraiture of fictitiously named towns and villages was only suggested by certain real places, and wantonly wanders from inventorial descriptions of them - I do not contradict these keen hunters for the real'.

So, in “Far from the madding crowd”, we have real places, explicitly named, like Bath, where Troy and Bathsheba were married, and 'Weatherbury', the fictional equivalent of Puddletown; and, in the opening pargraphs of Chapter 11, the mysterious barracks on the outskirts of a certain town far to the north of Puddletown, and of which the only other topographical clue is that the barracks is by a river. Elsewhere in the chapter Fanny Robin is said to have reached the town partly on foot and partly by carrier. What adds to the difficulty is that “Far from the madding crowd” was set in the 1840s, and until Edward Cardwell's reforms of the army - specifically the infantry - between 1868 and 1874, the association between regiments and localities which would give rise to the notion of a 'garrison town', was incidental and sporadic. That said, Dorchester, Hardy's 'Casterbridge' had a barracks for the local militia which was from 1877 redeveloped as the home of the Dorsetshire Regiment. Even the great military base at Aldershot began as tented accommodation, with the earliest permanent accommodation being built in the late 1850s.

Devizes is a plausible candidate: it is actually NNExN of Puddletown, and, whilst 44 miles as the crow flies from Puddletown, it is only 20 miles east of Bath, where Troy was on furlough and where he and Bathsheba were married, and was a garrison town well before Hardy's novel was published. The preamble to the entry in Kelly's Directory of 1855 records that 'The erection of the Wilts Militia Stores, from the plans of Mr. Thomas Henry Wyatt … was determined on in 1855. The site is a field between the Bath-road turnpike gate and the New Prison. The building is oblong in plan, having at each end a flanking tower to facilitate its defence. The interior will consist of a large quadrangle, to be used as a muster and drill ground, with sheds at each side for the cleaning of arms and accoutrements, and quarters for the respective non-commissioned officers forming the staff.' The edition of 1867 records 'The Militia Stores, on the Bath Road, are an extensive range of buildings, affording stores, quarters, and cottages for a staff of 28 sergeants and 10 drummers. A corps of Rifle Volunteers (the 5th Wilts) has been established, the total force numbering some 90 members, of which number 75 are effectives. Finally, the edition of 1875 states 'Devizes having been constituted a military centre, barracks are in course of erection on the London Road: the building will be in the Early English style, and is to be completed in July, 1876; Mr. J. Finch, of Plymouth, is the contractor. There will be accommodation for 228 single men, 32 married, 8 officers, 2 field officers, quarter-master, and an infirmary to contain 28 patients.' The presence of the Militia Stores and of the fifth battalion of the Rifle Volunteers was recorded as before. Hardy, as a professional architect, may have learned of plans to site the Wiltshire Regiment's barracks on the outskirts of Devizes by the time he was serialising “Far from the madding crowd” in 1874; the Le Marchant Barracks were completed in 1878.

As for Fanny Robin's travels to Devizes, Pigot's directory of 1830 for the Western Circuit records carriers plying from Dorchester to Bath on Tuesdays, and from Bath to Devizes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; in reverse, a daily service from Devizes to Bath and from Bath to Dorchester on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Bibliography

Hardy, T.: Far from the madding crowd (Macmillan, 1974. - The New Wessex Edition), introduction, p. 20, ch. 11, passim, map of Wessex, p. 36, Hardy's preface to the Wessex Edition, pp. 445-446.

Kelly, E.R.: Post Office directory, editions of 1855, 1867, 1875, entries for Devizes.
Pigot, J. and Co.: National commercial directory [for] Cornwall, Devon, Dorset … Wiltshire, 1830 [facsimile reprint]. King’s Lynn: M. Winter, 1992.