Shortly after 9 o'clock on the evening of 11th January 1928 Thomas Hardy died of a sharp heart attack. This was after a brief and 'not too serious' illness which had begun one month earlier on the 11th Dcember 1927 when he had become weak and unwell.

Thomas had left instruction that he should be buried with his 'beloved' Emma at Stinsford Church but the countries interest in marking his immortality chose for him to be buried in Westminster Abbey. Eventually a compromise was agreed and dispite Florence's disapproval his heart would be buried at Stinsford and his further remains would be laid to rest at Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey 16th January 1928
The ceremony took place at 2 o'clock. Florence Hardy and Kate Hardy (Thomas's only surviving sister) were the chief mourners. The pall-bearers were (Prime Minister) Stanley Baldwin, (Leader of the Opposition ) Ramsay MacDonald, (Government representatives) Sir James Barrie, John Galsworthy, Sir Edmund Gosse, and (from literature) Prof. A.E. Housman, Rudyard Kipling and Bernard Shaw and (from the colleges where Hardy had an honorary fellowship) AS Ramsay, Dr E.M. Walker.

A spadeful of earth from his much loved Dorset was sent by Dorset farmers and sprinkled on the casket of his ashes at Poets Corner.

Stinsford Church 16th January 1928
At 2 o'clock in the church of St Michael's, where Hardy himself had been baptized his brother Henry was the chief mourner. The service was attended by the people of Stinsford where the casket containing his heart was placed in the grave of his first wife Emma.

Dorchester 16th January 1928
At 2 o'clock in the church of St Peter's, Dorchester amemorial service was held for the people of Dorchester. All of the shops and businesses where closed for an hour with their blinds drawn and the streets deserted except for the crowd unable to squeeze into the churchyard.