E. J. (Edward John) Hardy

Edward John Hardy was born in Armagh on May 7, 1849, and was educated at Portora Royal School and Trinity College Dublin, where he graduated with a gold medal. He was ordained in 1874 and went on to serve as a Church of Ireland clergyman and, from 1878 to 1908, an army chaplain.

That military chaplaincy took him across the British Empire, including time in Hong Kong and journeys to China and Japan. Those experiences fed a long writing career that mixed travel, observation, advice, and light social commentary.

Hardy is best remembered for readable late-Victorian books such as How to Be Happy Though Married, The Five Talents of Woman, The Business of Life, and Manners Makyth Man. Contemporary accounts describe him as witty and good-humored, which helps explain why he became known as “Happy Hardy.”