It is likely that she was Emily and Mary’s mother. She never spoke nor lifted her veil to acknowledge his family and they did not acknowledge her. While Oscar’s father lay dying, his mother permitted a woman, dressed in black and closely veiled, to sit at her husband’s bedside. They were mourned by their father William Wilde but it is unlikely that Oscar ever met them. Although fellow guests did what they could to save them, both died of their injuries several weeks later. When Mary rushed to her sister’s aid, her dress caught alight too. As Emily took a last turn around the dance floor with their host, her wide crinoline dress brushed against embers in the fireplace and caught alight. Wilde’s half-sisters, Emily and Mary Wilde died tragically, aged 24 and 22, in a macabre accident that occurred at a Halloween ball on October 31st, 1871. For a time, she was the bigger celebrity and Oscar was introduced to audiences as “the son of Lady Jane Wilde.” After her death in 1896, the Virginia Enterprise described Jane as “a brilliant woman who had contributed much to literature and social life in England and Ireland.” She was also a witty and accomplished poet and essayist, and author of several books. Standing over six feet tall, with lustrous black hair and “flashing brown eyes,” Oscar’s mother, Jane was considered a great beauty in her youth. Here are some rather surprising facts about some of the women he knew. This card became exhibit ‘A’ in the disastrous libel action Wilde launched against Douglas and ensured that, for decades to come, the name Oscar Wilde would be associated with what Lord Alfred Douglas dubbed “the love that dare not speak its name.” Yet, ironically, Wilde’s life and work was shaped by strong, colorful and ambitious women just as much as it was by the men who conspired to bring him down. As Wilde was not present that day, Douglas left his calling card scrawled on the back were the words: “For Oscar Wilde posing somdomite. His intention was to confront one member in particular, Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde, who he accused of carrying on with his son, Lord Alfred Douglas.

On this day, February 18, 1895, John Sholto Douglas, better known to us perhaps as the brutish 9th Marquess of Queensberry, arrived at the Albemarle Club, a private members club in the exclusive Mayfair district of London.

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