A Wilde Irish Tale- the Medical Roots of Oscar Wilde
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A WILDE IRISH TALE- THE MEDICAL ROOTS OF OSCAR WILDE ARTHUR H. KEENEY. M.D. The Wilde family, anchored in Dublin, Ireland, has generated over 1000 volumes of original writings and critiques. Oscar (1856-1900) was the brilliant, affected, bisexual author, and advocte of “art for art’s sale”. His most successful plays were social comedies, such as, Lady Windemere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). His most lasting novel was The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) and his most lasting poem, The Ballad of Redding Gaol (1898). Dotting his flamboyant checkerboard was marriage, in 1884, to a gifted and pensive Irish lass, Constance Lloyd (1858-98); they had two sons, Cyril (1885-1915) and Vivyan (1886-1967), both officers in World War I- the older dying in combat, the younger living a staid life publishing two biographies under his grandmother’s name, Holland. Oscar inherited brilliant traits from intense and well-educated parents of Bohemian orientation. His grandfather was a physician, who practiced during a long, hard life in Ireland. His mother, Jane Elgee Wilde, was a tall, strange, sometimes nationalistic poet, writing under the name, Speranza, and perpetuating mysteries of her lineage, date of birth, and perhaps offspring. She was scholarly and fluent in about 6 languages. Her historical references, however, were wildly inaccurate. Her older brother was a successful judge in New Orleans, and her older sister was a strong unionist married to a British Army officer. Oscar’s father, William, was a scholar of Irish archeology and antiquities. His medical education began in Dublin at age 17; he later apprentice to Dr. Abraham Colles. For 4 years he essentially lived in Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin’s first and best regarded hospital. William Wilde was bright, extensively read, a quick student, who graduated in 1837 at age 22, and became a Fellow of the R.C.S.I. in 1844. Productively, he seized travel opportunities, and made pioneering findings in a world hungry for travel literature. Wilde’s “Madeira” (1840) recounts an extensive Mediterranean cruise and exploration, which was affectionately received. Unfortunately, the year 1838 was marred by the birth of a son without the preliminaries of marriage. The surname Wilson was contrived as a contraction of “Wilde’s son”. The given name was Henry, and William provided his classical and medical education. William’s life was devoted to the eye and ear beginning before the advent of the ophthalmoscope, but strengthened by his development of a practical otoscope. He created St. Marks Eye and Ear Hospital in 1841, which was enlarged in 1844 and in 1850. From continental studies he published a successful volume, Austria and Its Literary, Scientific, and Medical Institutions (1845). His profound interest in epidemiology led to a appointment as commissioner to the Irish Census of 1841, and a pioneering, massive public Health study. He continued this for 10 years, forgoing a complete history of Irish medicine to 600 folio pages, including analysis of the Irish famine. He further extended the Census in 1861, and, thereby, was knighted in 1864. He frequently contributed to the Dublin Journal of Medical Science, the most important Irish medical publication, and became Editor in 1845. He converted this (1846) to the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science which grew in quality, size, and circulation with articles from other medical capitals. His vitriolic rival, Arthur Jacob (1790-1874), unfortunately, plunged into conflict with Wilde, whose greatest failures were short temper, and promiscuity. The latter surfaced again in the late 1840’s with the birth of two illegitimate daughters, whom he provided for and loved. These were placed as wards of his oldest brother, Reverend Ralph Wilde (1798- 1882). Their common death in a fire in 1871 was a enormous blow. Of the three children born to Sir William and Speranza, a treasured daughter, Isola, died at nine. A bright, but wasteful Willy (1852-1899) contributed little to history or literature. In 1853, Wilde produced a landmark scientific text of nearly 500 pages on aural surgery. This quickly appeared in American, British, and German editions. He also produced six monographs on Irish antiquities, and archaeology, and was appointed (1853) Surgeon Oculist to the Queen. Singlehandedly, he developed a major catalog of some 10,000 artifacts in the Royal Irish Academy. By this time Sir William had crested with 18 scientific papers on the eye, and the excellent assistance of his son, Henry Wilson. He received the Order of the Polar Star from King Charles XV of Sweden, concurrently with the decision of a young patient, Mary Travers, whom he had long treated, to bring suit against Speranza for libel and, in effect, Sir William was joined as a defendant. Charges included chloroform and rape in Wilde’s office. Though a cause celebre in Dublin, the jury found the charges false – the antics “of a deranged girl”. Largely vindicated, Wilde’s career was clouded by the fanning of Arthur Jacob. Speranza remained fiercely loyal to Sir William and their two sons. This oddly matched pair were even physically incogruous. He, slight and untidy, she, large, handsome, exotic, and possibly ten years his junior. Their sons, Willy and Oscar, tracked as brothers through Pretoria Royal School and Trinity College, where Oscar flourished and advanced to Oxford. Speranza became a compelling attraction at weekly receptions for the Dublin elite. Her genius was characterized by immoderateness, but a desire to “bring out” each guest in her salons. They ultimately moved to Dublin’s elegant Merrion Square, though after Sir William’s death (1876), there was mounting penury: the large house was sold to pay off mortgages. She moved to London to be closer to Oscar, where with fading draperies and worn carpets, she concealed her own twilight in near darkness. A bit of a tarnished Gypsy queen, she still engendered so much attention that her salons were increased from once to twice a week. The tragedy of Oscar’s three trials, and conviction of sodomy (1885) were borne heroically, but fatefully. The alcoholic death of Willy, ranked only slightly below Oscar’s tragedies. She received a small government pension until death in 1896, and her ultimate burial site remains unknown. Fortunately, Henry Wilson gave solid, conventional strength to this melange. Though sometimes identified as Sir William’s “nephew”, his physical features, intellectual intensity, and near genius, strongly resembled Sir William. Henry became a respected successor oculist, and published one of the first English language treatises on Theory and Practice of the Ophthalmoscope (1868). Though never married, he enjoyed personal and professional reputation, and supported his father unwaveringly. His estate was the largest within his family, and was left to St. Mark’s Hospital, rather than to his surviving half-brother. From these mixed virtues, streaks of success, and trial of tragedy, Oscar took the good and the bad. How great was George Bernard Shaw’s (1856-1950) exaggeration in suggesting Sir William had a family on every farm in Ireland? Probably the Wildes were, as Eric Lambert wrote in 1967, Mad With Much Heart. .