Editing Jane Wilde (section)

== Widowhood ==
When her husband died in 1876, the family discovered that he was virtually bankrupt.<ref>Terence de Vere White, ''The Parents of Oscar Wilde'', Hodder & Stoughton, 1967.</ref> Jane Wilde - now Lady Wilde, following the knighting of her husband in 1864 - joined her sons in London in 1879. She lived with her older son in poverty, supplementing their meagre income by writing for fashionable magazines and producing books based on the research of her late husband into Irish [[folklore]]. She wrote several books, including 'Ancient legends, mystic charms, and superstitions of Ireland' (1887). Her poems are said to have influenced her son Oscar's own work. For example, his 'Ballad of Reading Gaol' has been compared to her poem 'The Brothers' (based on a true story of a trial and execution in the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|1798 Rebellion]]).<ref name="Like Mother, Like Son">{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/like-mother-like-son-1.26539 | title=Like Mother, Like Son |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref>

In January 1896, Lady Wilde contracted [[bronchitis]] and, dying, asked for permission to see Oscar, who was imprisoned in [[Reading Gaol]]. Her request was refused. It was claimed that her "[[Fetch (folklore)|fetch]]" (i.e. her apparition) appeared in Oscar's prison cell as she died at her home, 146 [[Oakley Street, Chelsea|Oakley Street]], Chelsea, on 3 February 1896. Her funeral was held on 5 February at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]] in London. It was paid for by Oscar, as her older son, Willie Wilde, was penniless.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tandem-uk.com/exile.htm |title=Cemetery |access-date=11 April 2008 |archive-date=26 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226065251/http://www.tandem-uk.com/exile.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> She was buried anonymously in common ground without a headstone. In 1996, she was memorialised in the form of a plaque on the grave of Sir William Wilde in Dublin as 'Speranza of The Nation, writer, translator, poet and nationalist, author of works on Irish folklore, early advocate of equality for women, and founder of a leading literary salon'.<ref name="Like Mother, Like Son"/> In 1999, a monument to her, in the form of a Celtic cross, was erected at Kensal Green Cemetery by the Oscar Wilde Society. (It is located at grid square 147 – Cambridge Avenue South (near Canalside), set back 20 metres from the curved path – opposite SQ.148.)