Thomas Hardy—biography (most relevant to understanding the novel) by Trevor Kennedy and Zack Hamblen

1. Thomas Hardy was born in the county town of Dorset in 1840. He lived his entire live there except for five years. Possible parallel to the life of those on the heath in addition to Clym Yeobright's short stint in Paris.
2. According to victorianweb.org, "Hardy's mother, Jemima, was a former maidservant and cook. She came from a poor family, but she had acquired from her mother a love of reading, and her literary tastes included Latin poets and French romances in English translation. She provided for her son's education. First she taught little Thomas how to read and write before he was four, and then she instilled in him a growing interest in literature." This could have served as Clym's inspiration to move back to the heath and become a schoolteacher.
3. The same desire of Clym to help educate those on the heath may be linked Hardy's educational experiences as a child. "Hardy recieved his early schooling at the local National School in Lower Bockhampton, which opened in 1848. The school was run by the 'National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church'".
4. Hardy's move to London in 1862 to work with the architect Arthur Blomfield most likely served as an inspiration for Clym's visit to Paris from Return of the Native, suggesting that Clym is at least somewhat based off on Hardy himself. It was in London where he was exposed to the exploding literary culture of the city, and he wrote his first pieces of prose and poetry. His first short story was called "How I Built Myself a House" in 1865.
5. After several years in the city, and with his writing career on it's feet, he moved back to Bockhampton in 1870, where he met his future wife Emma Lavinia Gifford, whom he married four years later. This newfound love of the returning native Hardy to his hometown, makes stark connections to Clym who comes back and stirs up trouble when he marries Eustachia Vye, setting in motion a chain of unfortunate events.
6. However, Hardy was more lucky and his marriage with Gifford proved successful. After he had several successes with his earlier works, he designed and built his cottage: "Max Gate" in Dorchester, where he wrote his most well-known novels from, including Return of the Native.
7. He went on to recieve many major awards in his later life, especially after the turn of the 20th century. His wife passed away in 1912, he decided to move on and remarry Florence Dugdale in 1914, but was continually plagued with sadness over his first wife's death, which inspired many of his later poems. Hardy died in 1928 due to complications from pleurisy. His heart was the only part of him spared from cremation, which is now buried at St. Michael's Church, where the remains of his two wives lie as well.