    richard doddridge blackmore (7 june 1825 â 20 january 1900), known as r. d. blackmore, was one of the most famous english novelists of the second half of the nineteenth century. he won acclaim for vivid descriptions and personification of the countryside, sharing with thomas hardy a western england background and a strong sense of regional setting in his works.michael millgate, thomas hardy: a biography (new york: random house, 1982), 179, 249. blackmore, often referred to as the "last victorian", was a pioneer of the movement in fiction that continued with robert louis stevenson and others. he has been described as "proud, shy, reticent, strong-willed, sweet-tempered, and self-centred." apart from his novel lorna doone, which has enjoyed continuing popularity, his work has gone out of print. == biography == richard doddridge blackmore was born on 7 june 1825 at longworth in berkshire (now oxfordshire), one year after his elder brother henry (1824â1875), where his father, john blackmore, was curate-in-charge of the parish.  the five lives of r.d. blackmore. his mother died a few months after his birth â the victim of an outbreak of typhus which had occurred in the village. after this loss john blackmore moved to bushey, herts, then to his native devon, first to kings nympton, then culmstock, tor mohun and later to ashford, in the same county. richard, however, was taken by his aunt, mary frances knight, and after her marriage to the rev. richard gordon, moved with her to elsfield rectory, near oxford. his father married again in 1831, whereupon richard returned to live with him. having spent much of his childhood in the lush and pastoral "doone country" of exmoor, and along the badgworthy water (where there is now a memorial stone in blackmore's honour), blackmore came to love the very countryside he immortalised in lorna doone. === scholarly career === in 1837, blackmore entered blundell's school in tiverton. he excelled in classical studies, and later won a scholarship to oxford university, where he took his degree in 1847. {{cite w
1825_births 1900_deaths 19th-century_British_novelists Alumni_of_Exeter_College,_Oxford English_historical_novelists English_novelists People_educated_at_Blundell\'s_School People_from_Berkshire_(before_1974) People_from_Devon Victorian_novelists