Trials of Oscar Wilde

402 Pages·1974·31.488 MB·English

by  H. Montgomery Hyde

OSCAR WILDE AT THE TIME OF THE TRIALS
By Count Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
(From the portrait in the collection of Mr. Conrad Lester in
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.)
THETRlllbS
OF DSCllR WlbDE
H. MONTGOMERY HYDE
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
NEW YORK
To the Memory of
SIR EDWARD CLARKE
Copyright © 1962 by H. Montgomery Hyde.
All rights reserved under Pan American and In
ternational Copyright Conventions.
This Dover edition, first published in 1973, is an
unabridged republication of the new and enlarged
second edition entitled Famous Trials, Seventh
Series: Oscar Wilde, originally published by Pen
guin Books Ltd. in 1962. The five appendices and
several illustrations have been added from the first
edition, published by William Hodge and Company,
Limited, in 1948.
International Standard Book Number: 0-486-20216-X
Library of Co11gress Catalog Card Number: 7J-77J78
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc.
180 Varick Street
New York, N.Y. 10014
CONTENTS
FOREWORD 7
by the Rt. Hon. Sir Travers Humphreys, P.C.
PREFACE 15
1 THE BACKGROUND 23
2 THE PRELUDE 62
3 THE FIRST TRIAL 97
4 THE SECOND TRIAL 150
5 THE THIRD TRIAL 222
6 THE AFTERMATH 274
LEADING DATES 317
APPENDIX A: Plea of Justification Filed by the
Defendant in Regina (Wilde) v. Queensberry 323
APPENDIX B: Lord Alfred Douglas and
Sir Edward Clarke 328
APPENDIX C: Bankruptcy Proceedings 334
APPENDIX D: Lord Alfred Douglas and the
Aftermath of the Wilde Trials 339
APPENDIX E: The Prevalence of Male
Homosexuality in England 349
INDEX 359
s
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece
Oscar Wilde at the time of the Trials, by Count Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec, from the portrait in the collection of Mr.
Conrad Lester in Los Angeles, California.
FACING PAGE
Oscar Wilde, from a contemporary photograph 62
Lord Alfred Douglas, from a contemporary photograph 63
The Eighth Marquess of Queensberry, by "Spy" 76
Letter written on 28th February, 1895, from Oscar
Wilde to Robert Ross indicating his intention to
prosecute the Marquess of Queensberry for criminal
libel, from the original in the William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library, University of California, Los
Angeles 77
Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P., by "Spy" 98
Front and back of the visiting card which the Marquess
of Queensberry left at the Albemarle Club 99
Edward Carson, Q.C., M.P., by "Lib" 134
Mr. Justice Henn Collins, by "Quiz" 135
Willie Matthews, by "Spy" 160
Travers Humphreys, from a contemporary photograph 161
Charles Gill, by "Spy" 178
Sketches of witnesses and Wilde's fellow defendant,
Alfred Taylor, from the contemporary
Reynolds Newspaper 178 and 179
Horace Avory, by "Spy" 179
Mr. Justice Charles, by "Spy" 254
Sir Frank Lockwood, Q.C., M.P., by "Spy" 255
Letter from Lord Alfred Douglas to
Sir Edward Clarke, 26th May, 1895 272
Mr. Justice Wills, by "Spy" 323
6
FOREWORD
By the Rt Hon. SIR TRAVERS HUMPHREYS, P.C.
I HA VE been asked to contribute a Foreword to this volume of
the excellent series of Notable British Trials published by
Messrs Hodge & Co., Ltd.1 The reason apparently for my being
selected is that I had a complimentary brief in the case, as junior
to Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C. and C. W. Mathews, delivered by my
father, who was acting as solicitor to Oscar Wilde. Everyone else
connected with the trials, which took place fifty-three years ago,
appears to be dead.
I have accepted the invitation, although I doubt whether I can
add any new fact or otherwise improve upon the story of the three
trials so admirably told by my friend Mr Montgomery Hyde.
That gentleman relies for his facts upon a transcript of shorthand
notes, and for his comments upon letters and other writings
extending over many years. If I do not always see eye to eye with
him in regard to those comments, we differ only in matters of
opinion and we shall agree that de opinionibus, just as de gustibus,
non est disputandum.
What perhaps I can do is to supply something for the back
ground of the picture which Mr Montgomery Hyde has painted,
and at least I hope to dispel once and for all some of the ridiculous
suggestions put forward from time to time to account for the
course pursued by Oscar Wilde's legal advisers.
From the point of view of the man in the street, the first of
these trials undoubtedly exhibited all the features of a cause
celebre. It is not every day that a Marquess can be seen in the
1. Sir Travers Humphreys, who died in 1956, wrote this Foreword in
1948 for the original edition of The Trials of Oscar Wilde, which I edited
for the Notable British Trials series. It is reprinted here on account of its
valuable comments by the last surviving lawyer who took part in the three
trials.
7
Foreword
dock at the Old Bailey charged with libel, and the Marquess of
Queensberry was a well-known figure in sporting circles. The
prosecutor, Mr Oscar Wilde, moreover, was a man whose name
at least was well known as the author of successful plays, one of
which was running at the Haymarket Theatre and another at the
St James's. It was understood that the libel involved an attack
upon the decency and fitness for publication of some of the books
or writings of Oscar Wilde. Small wonder then that all classes of
society clamoured for admission to the Court, which afforded
much greater accommodation for the public both on and off the
bench than is to be found in the present Court, completed and
opened in 1907.
Those who obtained admission certainly had their fill of
sensation and had the opportunity of listening to as brilliant and
damaging a cross-examination by Edward Carson as was ever
administered to a prosecutor in a criminal case. The witness was
in every respect the equal in ability of the counsel; and, so long
as the cross-examination was confined to the subject of his
writings, many thought that Wilde had scored as many points as
Carson. But then came a change. Leaving literature, Carson came
to the private life and habits of the witness; and the admissions
which Wilde was forced to make as to his association with boys
and young men of a class far beneath him left no doubt, I think,
in the minds of those present, that he was a homosexual. As name
after name was put to him, the names of blackmailers, of boys
of the humblest class, and as the story was unfolded of such
youths being invited to champagne dinners or suppers in Wilde's
own rooms or in a private room at expensive restaurants, the
explanation that Wilde's interest in such persons was no more
than an expression of his innocent love for youth in all its aspects
began to ring terribly hollow, and we at least who were represent
ing him realized that the case was lost.
He had saved his reputation as a writer of books and plays, but
as a man he had almost confessed to having at least 'posed', as
the libel alleged. Carson had made it clear that he had statements
from the two Parkers, from Wood, from Shelley, and others, and
was intending to call them as witnesses. Wilde had afforded in
8
Foreword
advance such deadly corroboration of the stories they would tell
that we could not hope that they would be altogether disbelieved,
and Clarke was convinced that the only course to take in the
interest of Wilde was to bring the case to an end before any
evidence could be given in support of the plea of justification.
Wilde was given every opportunity to leave the country if he
so desired. He elected to stay; or more accurately, he could not
make up his mind to go, though he drew money from his bank
and had his bag half packed when arrested late in the afternoon.
The authorities would, I believe, have been quite willing that he
should go abroad; but, since he did not avail himself of the delay
in issuing the warrant, his prosecution was inevitable. Before
making some observations upon the two trials that followed, let
us see how it was that the unfortunate proceedings against Lord
Queensberry came to be taken.
The eighth Marquess of Queensberry no doubt deserved all
the unpleasant things which were said about him; but the very
fact that he was a coarse-minded and violent-tempered individual,
filled with envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness towards
the members of his family, made it all the more certain that he
would not desist from his persecution of Wilde unless compelled
to do so, or unless the cause of his enmity was removed by the
parting of his son, Alfred Douglas, and the 'poseur', as he
regarded Oscar Wilde. When, therefore, Wilde instructed his
solicitor to apply for criminal process against Lord Queensberry,
that very ex_perienced criminal lawyer had three possible courses
open to him. He could advise Wilde to ignore this particular
insult, which would mean waiting for the next attack which would
surely follow; he could refuse to accept Wilde's instructions, and
invite him to consult some other solicitor; or he could take the
step which he, in fact, did. It may be taken for granted that he
had not the faintest idea that Wilde had laid himself open to
charges such as those upon which he was ultimately convicted.
It is always easy to be wise after the event, but at the time, and
with the knowledge of the parties which he then possessed, I
venture to think that the action of the solicitor was the natural
and proper one. That at least was the view of Mr Justice Wills,
9
Foreword
who presided over the last trial, and who in the course of his
summing up observed that 'the action of Lord Queensberry was
one which no gentleman would have taken and left Wilde no
alternative but to prosecute or to be branded publicly as a man
who could not deny a foul charge'.
In giving to his solicitor, as he afterwards admitted, his solemn
assurance of his innocence, Wilde lied, as did Lord Alfred
Douglas, who accompanied him. None of Wilde's friends came
forward to give to the solicitor even a hint of the life Wilde had
been leading, though they were ready enough at a later stage to
offer information upon it. Three of them came to my chambers
just after Wilde had been committed for trial with the suggestion
that the defence should be that 'dear Oscar could not help himself,
he had always had these tendencies'. The truth· is that the two
persons responsible for the debacle were Oscar Wilde himself and
his friend Lord Alfred Douglas.
Alfred Douglas was very annoyed that he was not allowed to
give evidence against his father. Suggestions were made then and
since that his evidence would have helped Wilde by 'showing up'
Lord Queensberry. Such criticisms merely serve to expose the
ignorance of the critics. There was no admissible evidence which
Douglas could have given, since the issue was not concerned
with the treatment of his family by the Marquess. but simply -
was it true that Wilde had posed as alleged?
As to the reason why Clarke decided to end the trial before
the defence had called their witnesses, I have already explained
that in his opinion there was just a chance that the Treasury
Solicitor, who then acted as the Director of Public Prosecutions,
might be satisfied to leave things as they were. So matters might
indeed have turned out if Lord Queensberry had been less vin
dictive than he in fact was, or if Wilde had decided to leave the
country for a time. As it was, the Treasury Solicitor's hand was
forced, and he had no choice but to prosecute.
Wilde showed considerable courage in remaining to face his
accusers, both then and later when, after the disagreement of the
jury at the first trial, he was admitted to bail. The £5,000 bail was
in fact put up in cash, and Wilde was told, so I was afterwards
10