Oscar Wilde

On 29 May 1884, Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd, daughter of Horace Lloyd, a wealthy Queen's Counsel. The couple had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan.

In 1886, while Constance was pregnant with their second child, Wilde was seduced by seventeen-year-old Robert Baldwin Ross, the grandson of the Canadian reform leader Robert Baldwin. Subsequently, they developed a relationship and Ross became Wilde’s first male lover.

In 1891, Wilde met Alfred Douglas, son of John Douglas, 9th Marques of Queensberry, and developed an affair with him. Unable to stop the liaison, the Marques left his calling card at Wilde's club, inscribed: "For Oscar Wilde, posing sodomite” on 18 February 1895.

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Sir William Robert Wills Wilde, was a noted eye-ear surgeon. He also authored a number of books on medicine, archeology and folklore. In 1864, he was knighted for his services in the censuses of Ireland.

His mother, Jane Francesca Agnes (née Elgee) Wilde, was of Italian descent. She was a poetess, writing under the penname of ‘Speranza’, meaning hope. A supporter of Irish nationalist movement, many of her works were pro-Ireland and anti-British. She was also interested in Irish folktales and campaigned for women’s education.

Oscar was born second of his parents’ three children. His elder brother, William Charles Kingsbury Wilde, grew up to be a noted journalist and poet while his sister, Isola Francesca Emily Wilde, died of meningitis at the age of nine.

Oscar also had three half-siblings, Henry Wilson, Emily and Mary Wilde, born out of wedlock to Sir Wilde before his marriage to Jane. Henry William Wilde was later trained in medicine and assisted Sir Wilde in his practice in Dublin.

Up to the age of nine, Oscar Wilde was educated at home under a German governess and a French nurse. From them, he learned German and French respectively.

On his graduation in 1878, Oscar Wilde returned to Dublin for a brief period. By now, his father had died virtually bankrupt. The family now sold the house and with his share of legacy Wilde moved to London, where he put up with portraitist Frank Miles, popular in London’s high circle.

He wrote to various friends in Oxford and Cambridge, trying unsuccessfully for a position in classics. Concurrently, he concentrated on writing new poetry, expanding and revising old ones, which he published as ‘Poems’ in mid 1881. Although the work received mixed reviews it established him as an upcoming poet.

Also in 1881, he secured his first job as an art reviewer. However, he left it towards the end of the year, to embark on a lecture tour in the United States and Canada on the invitation of Richard D'Oyly Carte, an English talent agent and impresario.

Oscar Wilde reached New York City on 2 January 1882. Although the tour was originally planned for four months, because of its commercial success, it was extended for almost a year. During this period, he delivered around 140 lectures, mostly on aestheticism.

Wherever he went, he mixed with every class of people. He drank whiskey with miners in Leadville and Colorado and at the same time, visited the most fashionable salons in cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, dining with celebrities like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Walt Whitman.

Although the press was a little hostile to him, the public was intrigued by his dress code and odd character. He also admired many things about America, especially its democracy and universal education. He therefore, returned to Great Britain rich, both in money matters and experience.