Tryphena Sparks
1851–1890 (age 39)
Biography
Tryphena Sparks (20 March 1851 – 17 March 1890), born in Puddletown, Dorset as the youngest child of a cabinet-making journeyman James Sparks and his wife Maria, overcame the barriers of her modest rural background to achieve professional success, becoming headteacher of one of the largest schools outside London. She was a cousin of Thomas Hardy and was romantically involved with him, inspiring a number of his well-known poems.