Oscar
Wilde's arrest location, Chelsea, London
The current trajectory of UK liberalism
suggests it won’t be long until you can marry your uncle/pet donkey/twin/mobile
phone and have kids with your aunty. It wasn’t long ago that things were
different and homosexuality was illegal. The famous bisexual dramatist Oscar
Wilde was sent to prison between 1895 and 1897 for sodomy and gross indecency. Here
I am at the posh hotel in Chelsea where he was arrested and his life was ruined.
Victorian society knew homosexuals occupied a
private world but how did Oscar Wilde who was at his literary zenith go to
prison for being one? He had hit plays on in London theatres, was lauded in the
literary world and in demand at the best parties. His boyfriend was Lord Alfred
Douglas but the problem was that Alfred's dad was the ninth Marquess of
Queensberry (creator of modern boxing rules) who opposed the relationship. He threatened
to disown his son but when that didn’t work he did all he could to damage Oscar's
reputation. In June 1894 he visited Oscar at his home on Tite Street in Chelsea
without an appointment and said: "If I catch you and my son again in any
public restaurant I will thrash you." The relationship continued.
Oscar's demise started from a small note with five
words on it. One day the Marquess of Queensberry called at Oscar’s club and
left his calling card. On it were written the words "For Oscar Wilde,
posing sodomite." Perhaps because he was married with children Oscar
started a private prosecution against Queensberry and had him arrested on a
charge of criminal libel. The only way Queensberry could only avoid conviction
for libel was to prove Oscar was a practising homosexual. The whole thing went
to court and Queensbury found several male prostitutes who would testify to
bumming Oscar. Unnerved Oscar dropped the libel prosecution but was he was liable
for the court costs which this left him bankrupt. Worse still the court issued
a warrant for to arrest him for sodomy.
Oscar could have escaped arrest and prison. He
was staying in room 118 at The Cadogan Hotel where friends advised him to flee
to France (his mum advised him to stay and fight like a man.) He didn’t go
though and was arrested here at 6.20pm even though there were still four more
trains due to leave for Paris. He was prosecuted and, aged 40, was sentenced to
two years hard labour in prison. Though reasonably healthy endless hours
walking on a treadmill in Pentonville and Wandsworth prisons wrecked his
health. One day he collapsed from illness and hunger and an ear drum was
ruptured in the fall (this later contributed to his death.) He spent two months
in the infirmary. When he was released
from prison he sailed to Dieppe in France and never returned to the UK. He spent
his final three years impoverished and in exile, dying of meningitis in a hotel
room aged 46.
I had a walk around the outside of the hotel -
now called the Belmond Cadogan Hotel and realised I'd walked passed it a few
times on previous visits. It was warm enough for guests to be eating outside.
It looked expensive; I'm sure breaded mushrooms would be about £10 (or £2.50
per mushroom). Just around the corner at 21
Pont Street is a blue plaque bolted onto the former home of Lillie Langtry, the
phenomenally successful late Victorian actress. In 1895 the home became part of
the hotel but, oddly, she continued to live in her old bedroom.
Oscar with Lord Alfred Douglas...
