The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and his family
EMER O’SULLIVAN

The parents of a genius are seldom remembered for their own achievements: the vast majority have to make do with “mother of” or “father of”. It was a formula Oscar Wilde’s mother hated, and with good reason: as Emer O’Sullivan argues, both Jane and William Wilde would be far more celebrated if their son had not first outshone them and then become one of the most derided figures of the Victorian era.

Not that they were strangers to scandal. William’s medical career was almost ruined when his affair with a former patient, Mary Travers, came to light after some spectacularly vindictive behaviour on her part. But though Mary won a court case over accusations of blackmail, she received only a farthing in damages, and the Establishment and newspapers largely sided with William. Oscar was not to have his father’s luck.

Sir William, as he became in 1864, combined a voracious mind with enormous energy. As well as pioneering the modern treatment of ear diseases, he conducted a medical census of Ireland, travelled extensively in the Mediterranean and North Africa, designed his own house and was an early promoter of the Celtic Revival. Jane Wilde was also a formidable figure: a poet who translated from nine languages, and an ardent nationalist. The salons she held in Dublin – and later as a widow in London – attracted writers including W.B. Yeats and Robert Browning.