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The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. The war began over a dispute regarding the control of holy sites in the Holy Land, a conflict that ultimately served as a pretext for European powers to pursue their own territorial and political interests, leading to a Russian defeat and a significant decline in its military reputation.
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He was born Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde to Jane (an Irish poet) and Sir William (Ireland's leading oto-ophthalmologic (ear and eye) surgeon) Wilde at 21 Westland Row, Dublin. He was the second of three children, and was two years younger than his brother. He had 3 older paternal half-siblings born out of wedlock. -
With both Sir William and Lady Wilde's success and delight in social life, the home soon became the site of a "unique medical and cultural milieu". Guests at their salon included Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Lever, George Petrie, Isaac Butt, William Rowan Hamilton and Samuel Ferguson. (wikipedia) -
Oscar was homeschooled until he was 9, where a French nursemaid and a German governess taught him their languages.
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Oscar's younger sister, Isola, was described by him as "a golden ray of sunshine dancing about our home" -
The school was in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. His older brother Willie also attended.
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She died at the age of 9 of a febrile illness. Oscar was devastated. He goes on to write his poem "Requiescat" in her memory years later. -
They were 22 and 24 respectively, and were burned alive at a dance at Drumacon, Co Monaghan. -
He shared a room with his older brother, Willie. He was placed with several scholars such as his tutor, Professor J. P. Mahaffy, who inspired his interest in Greek literature. As a student, Wilde worked with Mahaffy on the latter's book Social Life in Greece. Wilde, despite later reservations, called Mahaffy "my first and best teacher" and "the scholar who showed me how to love Greek things".
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Here, he studied Literae humaniores-- nicknamed Greats-- which are undergraduate courses focused on classics (ancient Rome, ancient Greece, Latin, ancient Greek, and philosophy) at the University of Oxford and some other universities.
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It is awarded by the University of Oxford for the Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate student. He won it for his poem "Ravenna", which reflected on his visit there in the previous year, and he duly read it at Encaenia. -
He graduated Bachelor of Arts with a double first, having been placed in the first class in Classical Moderations (the first part of the course) and then again in the final examination in Literae Humaniores (Greats). Wilde wrote to a friend, "The dons are 'astonied' beyond words – the Bad Boy doing so well in the end!" -
With the last of his inheritance from the sale of his father's houses, he set himself up as a bachelor in London. The 1881 British Census listed Wilde as a boarder at 1 (now 44) Tite Street, Chelsea, where Frank Miles, a society painter, was the head of the household. -
Vera; or, The Nihilists, a tragic melodrama about Russian nihilism, and distributed privately printed copies to various actresses whom he hoped to interest in its sole female role. A one-off performance in London was advertised in November 1881 with Mrs. Bernard Beere as Vera, but withdrawn by Wilde for what was claimed to be consideration for political feeling in England. -
He had been publishing lyrics and poems in magazines since entering Trinity College, especially in Kottabos and the Dublin University Magazine. At 27 years old, he published Poems, which collected, revised and expanded his poems. -
Richard D'Oyly Carte, an English impresario, invited Wilde to make a lecture tour of North America, simultaneously priming the pump for the US tour of Patience and selling this most charming aesthete to the American public. Wilde journeyed on the SS Arizona, arriving on 2 January 1882, and disembarking the following day. Originally planned to last four months, the tour continued for almost a year owing to its commercial success. -
Oscar married Constance Lloyd, the daughter of a very wealthy lawyer. They were introduced in 1881, and she happened to be visiting Dublin in 1884 while Oscar was giving a lecture at the Gaiety Theater. They were married at the Anglican St James's Church, Paddington, in London. -
In 1886, Wilde met Robert Ross while at Oxford. Ross, who had read Wilde's poems before they met, was "determined to seduce" Wilde-- according to Richard Ellmann. According to Daniel Mendelsohn, Wilde, who had long alluded to Greek love, was "initiated into homosexual sex" by Ross, while his "marriage had begun to unravel after his wife's second pregnancy, which left him physically repelled". -
A collection of short stories for children which contains five stories: “The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, “The Selfish Giant”, “The Devoted Friend”, and “The Remarkable Rocket”. -
Wilde’s only full length novel, which brought critical scrutiny in his time, but endured to become a classic work of fiction, and an icon in the author’s cannon of literary works. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, while the novel-length version was published in April 1891. -
A five-act melodramatic tragedy set in Padua and written in blank verse. Its first performance was at the Broadway Theatre in New York under the title “Guido Ferranti” on this day. -
A farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play’s major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. The original production of The Importance of Being Earnest received a rapturous reception when it opened at St James's Theatre on 14 February, 1895. -
The Marquess of Queensberry, the father of Wilde's young lover Bosie, had accused Wilde of 'posing as a sodomite'. He had chased around London confronting Wilde at his home and elsewhere until the writer was driven to fight back. He initiated Queensberry's prosecution for criminal libel but abandoned the case when evidence incriminating him made defeat certain. It was a humiliating reversal and led to his own prosecution. -
After the Queensbury case was dismissed, a warrant for Wilde's arrest was released. Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency" under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, a term meaning homosexual acts not amounting to buggery (an offense under a separate statute). While the trials at the time were framed around his sexuality, nowadays he likely still would've been persecuted-- as a large amount of his lovers were under 18.
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Began in Newgate Prison for processing, then was moved to Pentonville Prison. A few months later he was moved to Wandsworth Prison. In November he collapsed during chapel from illness and hunger. His right ear drum was ruptured in the fall. Richard B. Haldane, the Liberal MP and reformer, had Wilde transferred to Reading Gaol. The transfer itself was the lowest point of his incarceration, as a crowd spat at him at Clapham Junction railway station. He spent the rest of his sentence there.
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Upon being released, Wilde sailed that evening for Dieppe, France. He never returned to the United Kingdom. -
He spent his last three years impoverished and in exile. Though Wilde's health had suffered greatly from the harshness and diet of prison, he had a feeling of spiritual renewal. He immediately wrote to the Society of Jesus requesting a six-month Catholic retreat; when the request was denied, Wilde wept. By 25 November 1900, Wilde had developed meningitis. Robbie Ross arrived on 29 November, sent for a priest, and Wilde was conditionally baptized into the Catholic Church.