This day in History May 27, 1895 Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for sodomy
 

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1895 Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for sodomy

Playwright Oscar Wilde is taken to Holloway Prison in London after being convicted of sodomy. The famed writer of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest brought attention to his private life in a feud with John Douglas, the Marquess of Queensbury, whose son was intimately involved with Wilde.
Homosexuality was a criminal offense and serious societal taboo at this time in Britain. Wilde had gone back and forth between hiding his sexual orientation and attempting to gain some measure of public acceptance. After Queensbury, a furious homophobe, began spouting his objections to Wilde's behavior to the public, Wilde felt compelled to sue Queensbury for libel.
Although advised that he was sure to lose, especially given the fact that Queensbury's charges were indeed true, Wilde insisted on going forward with the case. In his defense, Queensbury argued that Wilde had solicited 12 boys to commit sodomy between 1892 and 1894. The overwhelming evidence proving Wilde was homosexual produced a victory for Queensbury.
This civil trial drew a great deal of public attention to Wilde's private life. Immediately after it was over, he was charged with indecency and sodomy by England's criminal courts. Rather than flee to France, Wilde decided to remain and stand trial. At a preliminary bail hearing, chambermaids testified that they had seen young men in Wilde's bed and a hotel housekeeper stated that there were fecal stains on his bed sheets. Wilde was denied bail.

At Wilde's first criminal trial, he was cross-examined extensively on the "love that dare not speak its name." Wilde managed to secure a mistrial when a lone juror refused to vote to convict. The second trial began on May 21. Although many of the potential witnesses refused to betray Wilde by testifying, he was convicted. The judge remarked at his sentencing, "It is the worst case I have ever tried. I shall pass the severest sentence that the law allows. In my judgment it is totally inadequate for such a case as this. The sentence of the Court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for two years."

Wilde served his two years and then spent the last three years of his life in exile. He died at the age of 45 and was buried in Paris.


I didn't know anything about Oscar Wilde's life. And I found this very intresting.
How have things changed - or have they at all?


Also today:
1703 St. Petersburg founded by Peter the Great
1905 The Battle of Tsushima Strait
1941 Bismarck sunk by Royal Navy
1994 First International World Wide Web Conference ends

Thanks for the history lesson :)

Poor Oscar Wilde.

There is something fitting in the fact that he was effectively killed by a dead-hearted society for commiting the "crime" of love.

someone wrote a play [very fitting] about the trials of oscar wilde called "gross indecency"... i've heard it's really very good.
and i adore oscar wilde's work.

"Gross Indecencies: The Trials of Oscar Wilde" was written by Moises Kauffman (best known for "The Laramie Project"). I saw it a few years back at the Court Theatre in Chicago...

The battle of Tsushima Strait, also fought on this day in 1905 (also on the list above), is a great one for history buffs. The Japanese Navy obliterated the Russian fleet- the first time in modern history that an Asian nation had defeated a European power at sea.
The Russian fleet had actually sailed around the world to meet the Japanese, as their Eastern fleet (based in Port Arthur) had been lost to the Japanese eariler. Nine months at sea to get comprehensively whupped...

Baaah. He got what he deserved, the pervert. I truly miss the good old days when morals were enforced, and the common man knew his place. Despicable, the times have become.

That I've sodomized has nothing to do with it. I'm privileged.

That was interesting. Thanks. I was an English major and didn't know the details.

I went to his tomb at Pere Le Chaise cemetary in Paris.

Bloody genius.

Rent the movie Wilde for a crash course in his life. I thought it was an excellent film...although all the sex could've been left out or otherwise alluded to. Stephen Fry does a great job as Oscar Wilde, and Jude Law is excellent as his spoiled pretty boy lover. Look for a brief appearance by Orlando Bloom as one of the "rent boys".

The interesting thing about Tsushima is that western nations pretty much felt it was a fluke; the truh is ,it was one of the most one-sided naval victories in history; after Tsushima, the Japanese became a major naal power, they pretty much controlled the northern Pacific admiral Togo was called the Japanese Nelson; he should have been the man was a brilliant tactician. Interesting fact; Isoroku Yamamoto, who became Admiral of the combined fleet in 1940 and was the driving force behind the attack on Pearl Harbor, was a mid-shipman on Togo's flagship at Tsushima.

Sodomy is one thing, but how old were the boys? the did say young boys...that might change things a bit, esp. if they are say thirteen.