[Hardy-l] Trivia question

[Keith Wilson]

"Trenchard" was indeed the original Dorset family name.  Hardy modified
it to "Henchard," analogously with the actual "Turbervilles" becoming
the fictional "d'Urbervilles."  The question then becomes why Hardy made
these minor changes, since they are hardly sufficient to put an
over-earnest rooter-out of regional historical resonances off the scent.

 
It was almost certainly to establish that distance of the imaginative
from the actual/historical that Hardy's naming practices -- of both
people and places -- allow, without moving so far away from an
authentic-sounding original to damage the evocation in the whole
imaginative world of Wessex of a genuine local textural density.  As
well as allowing matched claims for both fictionality and authenticity
-- which could be variously advanced depending on whichever Hardy wanted
to lay claim to in any particular context -- it also granted some
evasion room should contemporary descendants of original families object
to his appropriation of their names or family stories (not that the
latter were a factor in The Mayor of Casterbridge).  The most obvious
instance in which this actually happened was in relation to "The First
Countess of Wessex," collected in A Group of Noble Dames, which caused
significant irritation to the Ilchester family on whose past the story
was, very approximately, based.  For a fascinating discussion of this,
see Kristin Brady's "Hardy's Use of History in 'The First Countess of
Wessex," which forms Appendix II to Wilson and Brady, eds., The Fiddler
of the Reels and Other Stories (Penguin, 2003). 
 
All best wishes,
 
Keith Wilson
 

 Was this an earlier version of the character's name?  Any idea of why
Powys's might have used this variation?  

Many thanks,
Kathie Bassett

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