UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The Corresponence of James McNeil Whistler

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Constance Mary Wilde, 1858-1898

Nationality: Irish
Date of Birth: 1858.01.02
Place of Birth:
Date of Death: 1898
Place of Death: Germany

Identity:

On 29 May 1884, Oscar married Constance Mary Lloyd, daughter of an Irish mother and a prominent English barrister who died when she was sixteen. She was four years younger than Oscar. The Wildes honeymooned in Paris. Their first son, Cyril, was born in 1885, and their second, Vyvyan, was born the next year.

Life:

Constance was active as a writer of children's books, in a variety of women's social and political associations, and as a hostess of their distinguished dinner parties. Guests included Whistler, Sargent, Burne-Jones, Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, Lillie Langtry, Swinburne, Ruskin, and Browning.

After the trial of Wilde in 1895, his wife and sons changed their last name to 'Holland' and moved to the country.

Bibliography:

Wilde, Oscar, The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde, New York, 1968; Holland, Merlin and Rupert Hart-Davis, eds, The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, London, 2000.