Tryphena Sparks (20 March 1851 - 17 March 1890), born in Puddletown, Dorset, the youngest child of James and Maria Sparks, was Thomas Hardy's cousin and possible lover.[1] She was the inspiration for Hardy's poem Thoughts of Phena at News of Her Death.[2] She married Charles Frederick Gale, a publican, 15 December 1877. She had four children: Eleanor, Charles, George and Herbert.[3] She died from a rupture caused by childbirth and is buried in Topsham, Devon.