Skip to main content
Log in

William Wilde in the West of Ireland

  • Historical and Literary
  • Published:
Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is widely believed that Sir William Wilde’s forebears were in Ireland for just two or three generations. This belief stems from a number of short biographies of Wilde which were published during his lifetime. These biographies gave different versions of the origin of the Wilde family and appear to have been generated by the creative imagination of Lady Jane Wilde or, as she was better known by her nom de plume, Speranza. She was equally imaginative in creating narratives about her own family background and in one she claimed descent from the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. So it was not a great challenge for her to invent biographies of her husband which she deemed suitable for a knight living at the prestigious address of 1 Merrion Square, leading many to believe that William and his son Oscar were more English than Irish. It was also important for Speranza to distance Sir William from any connection which the Wilde family might have had with trade. In this paper published and unpublished material are used, together with a careful examination of family deeds in the Registry of Deeds office, to elucidate the real roots of the Wilde family in Dublin and in the West of Ireland.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Anon (1864) Sir William Wilde. Duffy’s Sixpenny Hibernian Mag 5:201–203

    Google Scholar 

  2. Anon (1875) Our portrait gallery—Sir William Wilde. Dublin Univ Mag 85:570–583

    Google Scholar 

  3. De White TV (1967) The parents of Oscar Wilde. Hodder and Stoughton, London, p 21

    Google Scholar 

  4. O’Sullivan V (1938) Aspects of Wilde. Constable, London, pp 79–80

    Google Scholar 

  5. Holland V (1954) Son of Oscar Wilde. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 13–14

    Google Scholar 

  6. De Breffny B (1973) The paternal ancestry of Oscar Wilde. Irish Ancestor 5:96–99

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sadleir T (1918) Ladytown and the Allens. J Kildare Archaeol Soc 9:60–69

    Google Scholar 

  8. Clark M (1994) Dublin city pipe water accounts 1704/5. Irish Geneal 9(1):76–88

    Google Scholar 

  9. Costello C (1991) Kildare: saints, soldiers and horses. Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, p 49

    Google Scholar 

  10. Elwood JR letter to Mr Kelly, 1914 August 20. Oscar Wilde and his literary circle collection: correspondence. MS Wilde. Box 25 Folder 14, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA

  11. Clarke A (2000) The Old English in Ireland 1625–42. Four Courts Press, Dublin, p 15

    Google Scholar 

  12. The Fifteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (1883) Stationery Office, Dublin

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Coakley.

Ethics declarations

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Conflict of interest

None.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Coakley, D. William Wilde in the West of Ireland. Ir J Med Sci 185, 277–280 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-016-1433-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-016-1433-7

Keywords

Navigation