WILDE’S WOMEN How Oscar Wilde Was Shaped by the Women He Knew Eleanor Fitzsimons WITH 24 BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS O scar Wilde famously insisted that “there should be no law for anybody,” and his devotion to personal liberty made him a staunch defender of gender equality. Women were central to his life and career. Wilde’s Women is the first book to tell the story of the female family members, friends, and colleagues who traded witticisms with Wilde, who gave him access to vital publicity, and to whose ideas he gave expression through his social comedies. In this essential new work, Eleanor Fitzsimons reframes Wilde’s story and his legacy through the women in his life, including such scintillating figures as Florence Balcombe; actress Lillie Langtry; and his tragic and witty niece, Dolly, who, like Wilde, loved fast cars, cocaine, and foreign women. Fresh, revealing, and entertaining, full of fascinating detail and anecdotes, Wilde’s Women relates the untold story of how a beloved writer and libertine played a vitally sympathetic role on behalf of many women, and how they supported him in the midst of a Victorian society in the process of changing forever. ELEANOR FITZSIMONS is a researcher, writer, journalist and occasional broadcaster specialising in historical and current feminist issues. She has an MA in Women, Gender and Society from University College Dublin. Her work has been published in a range of newspapers and journals including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, History Today and The Irish Times, and she is a regular radio and television contributor. Copyright First published in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2016 by Overlook Duckworth, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. NEW YORK 141 Wooster Street New York, NY 10012 www.overlookpress.com For bulk and special sales please contact [email protected], or to write us at the above address. LONDON 30 Calvin Street, London E1 6NW T: 020 7490 7300 E: [email protected] www.ducknet.co.uk For bulk and special sales please contact [email protected], or to write us at the above address. © 2015 by Eleanor Fitzsimons All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-4683-1326-0 C ONTENTS Copyright List of Illustrations Introduction 1 The Real Mrs Erlynne 2 The Precocious Miss Elgee 3 Taming Speranza 4 Lost Sisters and an Earlier Libel Trial 5 ‘The Sweetest Years’ 6 ‘Tea and Beauties’ 7 ‘How Different an Actress Is!’ 8 ‘The Paradise for Women’ 9 The Revolutionary and the Duchess 10 Speranza’s Saturdays 11 Married Life 12 Entering the Woman’s World 13 Stories for Girls 14 In the Footsteps of Ouida 15 The Perfect Salomé 16 Deadly Serious Social Comedies 17 A Less than Ideal Husband 18 The Wittiest Woman in the World 19 ‘Death Must Be So Beautiful’ 20 Not Much to Laugh About 21 ‘The World Rings with His Infamy’ Epilogue: A Wilde Legacy Acknowledgements Selected Bibliography Notes and References Index About the Author L I IST OF LLUSTRATIONS 1 Lillie Langtry by Edward John Poynter. This is the painting displayed by Oscar in the sitting room of 13 Salisbury Street 2 Watercolour portrait of Lady Jane Wilde by Bernard Mulrenin painted for the Royal Hibernian Academy Exhibition of 1864 3 Envelope containing strands of Isola Wilde’s hair, with the inscription ‘My Isola’s Hair’ 4 Sketch of Florence Balcombe by Oscar Wilde 5 Watercolour of View from Moytura House painted in 1876 by Oscar Wilde and presented by him to Florence Balcombe 6 Cartoon from Time magazine, April 1880 7 Lillie Langtry and Sarah Bernhardt 8 Helena Modjeska 9 Constance Lloyd before her marriage to Oscar Wilde 10 Warner Brothers Trade Card 11 Love letter from Oscar Wilde to his wife Constance, written on 16 December 1884, shortly after their marriage 12 Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth by John Singer Sargent, 1889 13 Cover of The Woman’s World 14 Ouida 15 Sarah Bernhardt 16 Salome Dancing before Herod by Gustave Moreau, 1876 17 Photograph taken at the home of Jean and Walter Palmer in 1892 18 Lady Jane Wilde in old age 19 Grave of Constance Wilde in Genoa 20 Maud Allan as Salomé 21 Dolly Wilde dressed as Oscar Wilde ILLUSTRATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The portrait of Lillie Langtry by Edward John Poynter is included courtesy of the Jersey Heritage Collections. The watercolour portrait of Lady Jane Wilde by Bernard Mulrenin; the image of the envelope containing strands of Isola Wilde’s hair; the sketch of Florence Balcombe by Oscar Wilde; the watercolour of View from Moytura House by Oscar Wilde; the photograph of Constance Lloyd before her marriage; the letter from Oscar Wilde to Constance, written on 16 December 1884; the photograph taken at the home of Jean and Walter Palmer in 1892; and the photograph of Lady Jane Wilde in old age are all included in the Merlin Holland Picture Archive and are used with the kind permission of Merlin Holland. The image of the Warner Brothers Trade Card depicting Oscar Wilde looking on as a cherub presents a corset was kindly supplied to me by Michael Seeney of the Oscar Wilde Society. The portrait of Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, painted by John Singer Sargent 1889, is included in the Tate collection (currently on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, London) and is used with the kind permission of Tate Images. The image of Salome Dancing before Herod by Gustave Moreau, 1876, is included in the Armand Hammer Collection, Gift of the Armand Hammer Foundation, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and is used with the kind permission of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. The photograph of Sarah Bernhardt is from the Folger Shakespeare Library. The photograph of Constance’s grave in Genoa is used with the permission of Outi Määttänen-Bourke/G is for Genoa. The photograph of Dolly Wilde dressed as Oscar Wilde is the property of Joan Schenkar and is used with her kind permission. I NTRODUCTION Given the nature and magnitude of the monstrous injustice perpetrated against him, Oscar Wilde’s life is often examined in terms of his relationships with men, Lord Alfred Douglas in particular. Yet, he was genuinely fond of many women and this affection was usually reciprocated. As Oscar’s friend Vincent O’Sullivan confirmed in Aspects of Wilde, his warm and frank biography: I have always found, and find today, his [Wilde’s] warmest admirers among women. He, in his turn, admired women. I never heard him say anything disparaging about any woman, even when some of them required such 1 treatment! Ever since I first encountered Lady Jane Wilde, Oscar’s flamboyant mother and an enduring heroine in his native Ireland, I have been intrigued by the influence she had on her son’s life and work. This fascination led me to examine his attitude towards women in the context of a society that was determined to keep them down, something that was anathema to both Oscar and his mother. As an individualist who believed that few limits should be placed on anyone’s life, man or woman, Oscar chose, as some of his closest friends, freethinking, influential, enterprising and intelligent women who challenged conventional gender roles and operated in the public sphere. Jane Wilde was deeply unconventional and determined to shine bright. Oscar admired her brilliance and her appetite for life, and it was she who taught him that a woman could be as intuitive and inventive as any man. Yet, she was contradictory in her approach to what we label feminism. While she campaigned vociferously for women to be granted access to education and the professions, and welcomed progressive legislation such as The Married Women’s Property Act (1870), she also believed that a loyal wife should accommodate any indiscretions perpetrated by her husband, particularly if he was a genius as Oscar’s father was. This contradictory approach surely influenced Oscar’s choice of wife and his subsequent behaviour during their marriage. Oscar Wilde is, quite correctly, held up as a gay icon who railed against the ignorance and prejudice of those who would deny the authenticity and appropriateness of love between two men. Yet, like every aspect of his life, his sexuality is complex. It seems that from the early 1890s onward, he was attracted exclusively to men. Yet, before this, he was involved with several women. Oscar lost his first girlfriend, Florence Balcombe, to Bram Stoker, but won her back as a friend. His wife, Constance Lloyd, was highly accomplished, politically active and hugely supportive of him. She held strong proto-feminist views and advocated the adoption of rational clothing that would allow women to lead more comfortable and effective lives. Throughout their marriage, she supported Oscar emotionally and financially and she gave birth to their two beloved sons. Although deeply saddened by his duplicity, she did everything she could to help him after his arrest and imprisonment. He loved her and he mourned her deeply when she died. Oscar also had dozens of women friends, among them socialite and astute businesswoman Lillie Langtry; and acclaimed actresses Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. He provoked extraordinary loyalty in women we have largely forgotten today: the witty and vivacious Ada Leverson and the hugely popular and influential Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, who published her bestselling novels as ‘John Strange Winter’. He traded witticisms with women, promoted their work, collaborated with them on theatrical productions and drew inspiration from their lives. Many of the most outspoken and memorable characters in his plays are women. Nowhere was the support of powerful women more important than in America, where Oscar toured in 1882 as a young poseur with only a poorly reviewed collection of poetry to his name. Dozens of wealthy and influential women who could make or break the reputation of a young writer delighted in his compelling personality and promoted him with enthusiasm. One of them even married his brother. One of the most illuminating periods in Oscar’s life in terms of his attitude towards women was his tenure as editor of proto-feminist magazine The Woman’s World. Under his editorship, he insisted, this publication would concern itself ‘not merely with what women wear, but with what they think, and what they feel’. He encouraged contributors to write about women in the public sphere and he demonstrated a nuanced and progressive attitude towards gender expectations and control. Oscar acted as a conduit for women’s ideas and used his social comedies to expose the deep-rooted hypocrisy that prevailed in patriarchal Victorian society. He facilitated the introduction of female-centric European culture to a London audience by collaborating with Polish actress Helena Modjeska and American