Trumpet Major, The

Trumpet Major, The, a novel by T. Hardy, published 1882. The story is set during the Napoleonic wars. It tells of the wooing of Anne Garland, whose mother is tenant of a part of Overcombe Mill, where the dragoons come down from the nearby camp to water their horses. One of these dragoons is John Loveday, the trumpet-major, the son of the miller. He loves Anne Garland, but has a rival in his brother Bob, a lighthearted sailor. Her third suitor is the boorish yeoman Festus Derriman. The story ends with the discomfiture of Festus and the success of Bob's courtship, while John marches off with his dragoons, to die on a battlefield in Spain.