Today In History, 1895: Oscar Wilde Enters Bankruptcy

Jim Burroway

July 30th, 2016

A tiny notice appeared in The Guardian of London:

BANKRUPTCIES GAZETTED, July 30, 1895.– Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, late Tite-Street, now of her Majesty’s Prison at Petonville, author.

From the Commercial Gazette, September 4, 1895, page 35.

From the Commercial Gazette, September 4, 1895, page 35.

Wilde was arrested (Apr 5) after losing his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, the irate father of Lord Alfred Douglas. “Bosie,” as Wilde called Douglas, was Wilde’s lover, and Queensberry publicly accused Wilde of “posing as a somdomite” (Feb 18). Wilde sued Queensberry and lost, which meant that Wilde really must have been a “somdomite.” On that basis, he was charged with gross indecency. His first trial ended in a hung jury, but the second trial resulted in his conviction and sentencing to two years imprisonment at hard labor (May 25).

Wilde may have been in prison, but he still legally owed Queensberry £677/3/8d, to cover Queensbury’s legal expenses from the libel trial. Queensberry, not satisfied with just seeing the little bugger in jail, brought bankruptcy proceedings against Wilde for payment of the £677 and change owed by Wilde, who obviously now had no means of paying, what with his royalties having dried up and him being in prison and all. Wilde may have been in prison, but Queensberry made sure there would be another humiliating public trial where Wilde was subjected to insults from the sizable crowd.

When the Commercial Gazette published a listing of Wilde’s creditors, it listed Wilde’s total liabilities at £3,591/9/9d, of which only £914 was partially secured. The largest debt listed was £1558 owed to Sir H. Lloyd, the trustee of Wilde’s divorce settlement from his wife. Wilde also owed £71 to the Savoy Hotel, which was something of a second home for Wilde. He often stayed there for weeks at a time, whenever he wanted to entertain certain particular guests who couldn’t be so well entertained in the Tite Street home Wilde shared with his wife and children. Guests like Bosie and a few other special friends or tricks he would pick up from time to time. Other debts were to various vendors for tobacco, jewelry, wines, and to cover a theater rental.

It’s not clear what might have happened with those other debts if Queensberry hadn’t decided to pursue Wilde into bankruptcy. But as it happened, Wilde was never able to emerge from bankruptcy and he died peniless in Paris in 1900. His estate was finally discharged from bankruptcy in 1906.

[Sources: “Bankruptcies Gazetted.” The Guardian (London, August 7, 1895): page 15.

“Oscar F. O’F. W. Wilde” The Commercial Gazette (London, September 4, 1895): page 35.]

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