Willie Wilde
Encyclopedia
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and the older brother of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
.
Background
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
family, at 21 Westland Row, Dublin, to Sir William Wilde
William Wilde
Sir William Robert Wills Wilde MD, FRCSI, was an Irish eye and ear surgeon, as well as an author of significant works on medicine, archaeology and folklore, particularly concerning his native Ireland...
and his wife Jane Francesca Wilde
Jane Wilde
Jane Francesca Agnes, Lady Wilde was an Irish poet under the pen name "Speranza" and supporter of the nationalist movement; had a special interest on Irish Fairy Tales, which she helped to gather...
(née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Elgee) (her pseudonym being 'Speranza'). Their second son, Oscar
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, was born in the same house in 1854. Jane Wilde was a successful writer, being a poet for the revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848 and a life-long Irish nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. Sir William was Ireland's leading Oto
Otology
Otology is a branch of biomedicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear as well as its diseases, diagnosis and treatment....
-Ophthalmologic
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...
(ear and eye) surgeon and was knighted in 1864 for his services to medicine. William also wrote books on archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
. He was a renowned philanthropist, and his dispensary for the care of the city's poor, in Lincoln Place at the rear of Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, was the forerunner of the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, now located at Adelaide Road.
In June 1855, the family moved to 1 Merrion Square
Merrion Square
Merrion Square is a Georgian square on the southside of Dublin city centre. It was laid out after 1762 and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. It is considered one of the city's finest surviving squares...
in a fashionable residential area, where Wilde's sister, Isola, was born in 1856. Here, Lady Wilde held a regular Saturday afternoon salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
with guests including Sheridan le Fanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
, Samuel Lever, George Petrie, Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt Q.C. M.P. was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament , and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home...
and Samuel Ferguson
Samuel Ferguson
Sir Samuel Ferguson was an Irish poet, barrister, antiquarian, artist and public servant. Perhaps the most important Ulster-Scot poet of the 19th century, because of his interest in Irish mythology and early Irish history he can be seen as a forerunner of William Butler Yeats and the other poets...
.
In February 1864, Willie and Oscar were sent to board at the Portora Royal School
Portora Royal School
Portora Royal School for boys, and some 6th form girls, located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, is one of a number of 'free schools' founded by Royal Charter in 1608, by James I...
at Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
in Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
, where Willie became known for his good-humour and friendliness, later being described by a classmate as "clever, erratic and full of vitality". Oscar became known to his school fellows by the nickname ‘Grey Crow’, which he disliked, while Willie was ‘Blue Blood’. Willie was "an accomplished pianist and an artist of little talent’ Oscar Wilde later recalled that the headmaster, Dr Steele, had told him that “If I went on studying as I had been during the last year I might yet do as well as my brother Willie, and be an honour to the school and everyone connected with it.”
Willie was already a student at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
when Oscar joined him in 1871, the two sharing rooms during their second and third years there. In 1876 'Willie' published several of his poems in the College magazine Kottabos, which he also edited.
Life
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and was called to the Irish Bar
King's Inns
The Honorable Society of King's Inns , is the institution which controls the entry of barristers-at-law into the justice system of Ireland...
but never actually practised Law. On the death of his father in 1876 he and Lady Wilde moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in early 1879, where he became a journalist, serving as drama critic for Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
and Vanity Fair, as well as being the leader writer for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
and the editor of Christmas numbers of several magazines. Willie was a regular guest at London's 'Fielding Club', which during its short life opened its doors at eight o’clock in the evening and remained open all night. The club was famous for its grills, its brandy and its Pol Roger ‘74 at any time, though its tripe and onions on Saturdays were an especial draw. One member listed Willie among those who were ‘constant guests’ on Saturdays, along with Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
, J. Comyns Carr
J. Comyns Carr
Joseph William Comyns Carr was an English drama and art critic, gallery director, author, poet, playwright and theatre manager....
, Edward Dicey
Edward Dicey
Edward James Stephen Dicey was an English writer, journalist, and editor.Born at Claybrook Hall, Leicestershire, Dicey was the son of Thomas Edward Dicey, owner of the Northampton Mercury, and Anne Mary, née Stephen...
, Carlo Pellegrini
Carlo Pellegrini
Carlo Pellegrini "Ape", was an Italian caricaturist, born in Capua of aristocratic stock. His father came from an ancient land-owning family, while his mother was descended from the Medici. From 1869 to 1889 he was a caricaturist for Vanity Fair magazine, a leading journal of London Society...
, Frederic Clay
Frederic Clay
Frederic Emes Clay was an English composer known principally for his music written for the stage. Clay, a great friend of Arthur Sullivan's, wrote four comic operas with W. S...
and Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
himself.
Ralph Nevill, the son of Lady Dorothy Nevill, said of Willie Wilde:
"Willie Wilde was a clever journalist who, had he been less careless in his habits, might have achieved considerable success. As it was, a number of the articles which he wrote for the Daily Telegraph were little short of brilliant, while as a talker, few could equal him. He was, however, his own enemy, and could not resist the attractions of the moment or settle down long to regular work — in truth, though not very old in years, he belonged to the now almost extinct school of journalists which, taking ‘sufficient is the day for the evil there of’ as their motto, never gave a thought to the future (or anything else) if they happened to have a few pounds in their pockets."
By the time of Oscar's marriage in 1884 Willie was seriously in debt and drinking heavily. On 4 October 1891, aged 39, Willie married a wealthy widow, Mrs. Frank Leslie
Miriam Leslie
Miriam Leslie was an American publisher and author. She was the wife of Frank Leslie and the heir to his publishing business which she developed into a paying concern from a state of precarious indebtedness....
, (1836-1914), the owner of the Frank Leslie
Frank Leslie
Frank Leslie was an English-born American engraver, illustrator, and publisher of family periodicals.-English origins:...
Publishing Co. in New York. She was initially attracted by Willie's humour and wit; however, he spent much of his time in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's fashionable Lotos Club
Lotos Club
The Lotos Club is a gentleman's club in New York City. Founded in 1870 by a young group of writers and critics, Mark Twain, an early member, called it the "Ace of Clubs"...
drinking, gossiping about London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Society
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
and reciting parodies of his brother's poems, which strongly suggests that he was jealous of Oscar's success. The marriage was short-lived, Mrs Leslie starting divorce proceedings within a year of the marriage on the grounds of Willie's drunkenness and adultery. They were finally divorced on 10 June 1893. It was Mrs Leslie who approached Oscar Wilde with the idea that he give a series of lectures in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
On his return to London early in 1892, Willie found that Oscar was the toast of the town for his successful play Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...
. It is believed that Willie wrote the hostile review for the play which was published, unsigned, in Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine, historical)
Vanity Fair has been the title of at least five magazines, including an 1859–1863 American publication, an 1868–1914 British publication, an unrelated 1902–1904 New York magazine, and a 1913–1936 American publication edited by Condé Nast, which was revived in 1983.Vanity Fair was notably a...
on 27 February, 1892, for which magazine he had previously been a theatre reviewer. "The play", he wrote, was "brilliantly unoriginal," but the dialogue was "uniformly bright, graceful, and flowing." After describing the plot and pointing out some of its banalities, he went on to describe it as "an undeniably clever piece of work; and even though it has its weaknesses, it reflects credit on its author... It is emphatically a play to see." Oscar, recognising the hand of his brother behind the anonymous review, was by then writing A Woman of No Importance
A Woman of No Importance
A Woman of No Importance is a play by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The play premièred on 19 April 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre. It is a testimony of Wilde's wit and his brand of dark comedy...
, in which one character says: "After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."
Willie Wilde by now being in serious financial difficulties, Oscar began giving him money, but bad feeling between the brothers heightened when Oscar discovered that Willie was constantly pestering their far from well-off mother for money. Oscar once said of Willie ‘He sponges on everyone but himself’. Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
saw them as mirror images, and this is how he portrayed them in his caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
s. In a letter to the painter William Rothenstein
William Rothenstein
Sir William Rothenstein was an English painter, draughtsman and writer on art.-Life and work:William Rothenstein was born into a German-Jewish family in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His father, Moritz, emigrated from Germany in 1859 to work in Bradford's burgeoning textile industry...
, Beerbohm wrote, "...did I tell you that I saw a good deal of [Oscar's] brother Willie at Broadstairs
Broadstairs
Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...
? Quel monstre! Dark, oily, suspect yet awfully like Oscar: he has Oscar's coy, carnal smile & fatuous giggle & not a little of Oscar's esprit. But he is awful - a veritable tragedy of family-likeness".
Beerbohm later wrote:
"My sister ConstanceConstance BeerbohmConstance Beerbohm was the oldest daughter of Julius Ewald Edward Beerbohm , of Dutch, Lithuanian, and German origin, who had come to England in about 1830 and set up as a prosperous corn merchant. He married an Englishwoman, Constantia Draper, and the couple had four children...
came home one day and summoned my mother and me; she was quivering to tell us what had happened. She knew in advance it was the sort of thing my mother would adore. Well, Constance had been walking along the street and met Willie Wilde – Oscar’s brother. In one hand, he was carrying a huge leg of mutton by the narrow part; with his free hand he swept off his hat and bent over double in a grand, ceremonial bow. There was something so grotesquely funny in the way he did it, conveying both the mutton and the bow. We decided it was a first class thing."
Willie married Sophie Lily Lees (1859-1922) in January 1894, with whom he had been living. She has been described as "an emotional woman with a tendency to early panic... she believed (incorrectly) that she was pregnant" She tried to induce an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
by taking a powder. The marriage caused further distress to Lady Wilde
Jane Wilde
Jane Francesca Agnes, Lady Wilde was an Irish poet under the pen name "Speranza" and supporter of the nationalist movement; had a special interest on Irish Fairy Tales, which she helped to gather...
when the couple moved in with her. She wrote to Oscar on 4 February 1894, telling him of the marriage: "Miss Lees has but £50 a year and this just dresses her. She can give nothing to the house and Willie is always in a state of utter poverty. So all is left upon me". Willie and Lily had their only child, Dorothy Ierne Wilde, in July 1895.
The deteriorating relationship between Oscar and Willie is included in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, which has two characters pretending to be brothers, Jack, the protective guardian, and Algy, the alleged spendthrift. They later discover that they are, in fact, brothers. While Oscar was writing the play, Lady Wilde wrote him a lengthy letter asking him to be reconciled with Willie, who, she said, was "sickly and extravagant." She was "miserable at the present position of [her] two sons" and "at the general belief that you hate your brother." She then asks Oscar to hold out his hand to Willie, a request she repeats several times in the letter. "Come then & offer him yr. hand in good faith - & begin a new course of action".
Later years
Following Oscar's arrest and first trial in April 1895, Willie claimed that he gave his brother shelter when he was unable to find rooms in London. Willie said that Oscar "fell down on my threshold like a wounded stag". Standing by his brother, Willie wrote to Bram StokerBram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
, "Bram, my friend, poor Oscar was not as bad as people thought him. He was led astray by his Vanity - & conceit, & he was so 'got at' that he was weak enough to be guilty – of indiscretions and follies - that is all.... I believe this thing will help to purify him body & soul".
Willie did not meet Oscar when he was released from prison in 1897. On 13 March, 1899 Willie died aged 46 at 9, Cheltenham Terrace in Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
from complications related to his alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. After Robert Ross wrote to Oscar in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
informing him of Willie's death, Oscar wrote "I suppose it had been expected for some time.... Between him and me there had been, as you know, wide chasms for many years. Requiescat in Pace".