The Henniker/Dillon/Hardy Affair: Florence Henniker's Letters to John Dillon, 1894–1896

Abstract Thomas Hardy met Florence Henniker at Dublin Castle in 1893 and soon after fell in love with her. Between 1893 and 1895, especially, he pursued her, offering architectural lessons, urging meetings, promoting her creative work, and collaborating with her on two short stories, which appeared in Henniker's 1896 In Scarlet and Grey: Stories of Soldiers and Others. Scholars have assumed that while Henniker did not reciprocate Hardy's feelings, she eagerly accepted his attention and help, but the first story of the collection, "The Heart of the Colour Sergeant," together with thirty-five unpublished letters from Henniker to John Dillon, indicate that during the years of Hardy's most ardent interest in her, she was working through other interests — Dillon, in particular. Her letters to Dillon indicate that she not only became a serious student of Irish politics under his tutelage, but also, was tempted by the prospect of an exciting, deeply personal friendship. Dillon was a third party in the Hardy/Henn...