Hadley Richardson

Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (November 9, 1891 – January 22, 1979) was the first wife of American author Ernest Hemingway. The two married in 1921 after a courtship of less than a year, and moved to Paris within months of being married. In Paris, Hemingway pursued a writing career, and through him Richardson met other expatriate American and British writers. In 1926, Richardson learned of Hemingway's affair with Pauline Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer had been Richardson's best friend and had lived and traveled with the Hemingways. Richardson divorced Hemingway in 1927. In 1933, Richardson married a second time, to journalist Paul Mowrer, whom she met in Paris. Early life Elizabeth Hadley Richardson was born on November 9, 1891, in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of five children. Richardson's mother, Florence Wyman Richardson (née Hadley), was an accomplished musician and singer, and her father James Richardson Jr., worked for a family-owned pharmaceutical company. As a child, Hadley fell out of a second-story window and consequently was bed-ridden for a year. After the accident, her mother became overly protective, not allowing Hadley to learn how to swim or engage in other physical activities. Hadley's father was less protective, but in 1903 he died by suicide in response to financial difficulties. As a teenager, Richardson became painfully shy and reclusive. She attended Mary Institute in St. Louis, and then attended college at Bryn Mawr. However, when her mother decided Richardson was "too delicate, both physically and emotionally," she left college. The death of her sister Dorothea in an apartment fire earlier that year may have contributed to Richardson's decision to leave college. Hemingway scholar Jamie Barlowe believes Richardson represented a "True Woman" as opposed to a "New Woman" of the early 20th century. The "True Woman" was "emotional, dependent, gentle—a true follower."