Editing Jane Wilde

{{short description|Irish poet and writer (1821-1896)}}
{{For|the English author and teacher born Jane Wilde|Jane Hawking}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name               = Jane Wilde
| image              = Speranza-wilde-mother.png
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1821|12|27}}
| birth_place        = [[Wexford]], Ireland
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1896|02|03|1821|12|27}}
| death_place        = [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London, England
| language         = English
| notable_works    = ''Ancient Legends Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland''
| pseudonym        = Speranza 
| occupation         = Poet, writer
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Sir William Wilde]]|1851|1876|end=d.}}
| children           = [[Oscar Wilde]]<br>[[Willie Wilde]] <br>Isola Wilde
| relatives          = [[John Elgee]] (grandfather)<br/>[[Robert McClure]] (cousin)<br/>[[Basil Maturin]] (first cousin, once removed)
| resting_place    = 
| domesticpartner    = 
| website            = 
}}
[[Image:Will-Wilde memorial.JPG|right|thumb|Memorial to Lady Wilde and her husband located in [[Mount Jerome Cemetery]], Dublin]]

'''Jane Francesca Agnes Wilde, Lady Wilde''' (née '''Elgee'''; 27 December 1821 – 3 February 1896)<ref>Marhorie Howes, "Lady Wilde and the Emergence of Irish Cultural Nationalism," in  ''Ideology and Ireland in the Nineteenth Century'', ed. Foley and Ryder, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1998.</ref> was an Irish poet who wrote under the [[pen name]] '''Speranza'''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070213045433/http://www.irishwriters-online.com/speranza.html "Speranza (Jane Francesca Wilde)"], Irish Writers Online.</ref> and supporter of the [[Irish nationalism|nationalist movement]].  Lady Wilde had a special interest in Irish folktales, which she helped to gather<ref>Robeto Rosaspini Reynolds, ''Cuentos de hadas irlandeses''.</ref> and was the mother of [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Willie Wilde]].

==Life==

=== Early life === 
Jane was the last of the four children of Charles Elgee (1783–1824), the son of Archdeacon [[John Elgee]], a [[Wexford]] solicitor, and his wife Sarah (née Kingsbury, d. 1851). Her mother came from a prosperous Protestant family in Dublin and was considered a great beauty. Jane was the youngest of four children of the couple, her older siblings being Emily, John, and Frances (who died as an infant)

She claimed that her great-grandfather was an Italian surnamed Algiati <ref>{{Cite book |last=Sturgis |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbWfEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22william+wilde%22+%22black+oak+shop%22&pg=PP25 |title=Oscar: A Life |date=2018-10-04 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78854-596-9 |language=en}}</ref> which was said to be a derived from [[Dante Alighieri|Alighieri]] thus inferring a relationship with the famous poet. This ancestor was said to have had come to Wexford in the 18th century; in fact, the Elgees descended from Durham labourers who had gained prosperity as builders and bricklayers and then in succeeding generations, became part of the [[gentry]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sturgis |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Sturgis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FNNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP26 |title=Oscar: A Life |publisher=Head of Zeus |year=2019 |isbn=9781788545983 |location=London |page=9 |quote=Jane had also convinced herself that the Elgee name derived from the Italian 'Algiati' – and from this (imaginary) connection she was happy to make the short leap to claiming kinship with [[Dante]] Alighieri (in fact the Elgees descended from a long line of Durham labourers). |access-date=28 June 2022 |orig-year=2018}}</ref>

Her maternal aunt Emily was married to the author [[Charles Maturin]], though his death two years before her own birth precluded her ever meeting him, but whose bust Jane would display in her home as an adult.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanberry |first=Gerard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QiWDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22sarah+elgee+maturin&pg=PT21 |title=More Lives Than One |date=2011-09-29 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan Ltd |isbn=978-1-84889-943-8 |language=en}}</ref> Another aunt, Elizabeth, was married to the politician [[Sir Charles Ormsby, 1st Baronet|Sir Charles Montagu Ormsby]] while her paternal aunt and namesake Jane Elgee was the mother of the arctic explorer [[Robert McClure]] who discovered the Northwestern passage.

Jane's father died at [[Bangalore|Bangalore, India]] when she was just three years old, leaving her mother to raise her and her siblings. The family moved to Wexford, where they lived in modest circumstances.

==== Youth ====

As a young woman, Jane was considered a beauty with dark eyes, jet-black hair and tall in stature. Her education was undertaken by a succession of governesses and tutors. She is said to have mastered ten languages by the age of 18 under the instruction of Richard Waddy Elgee, her paternal uncle.

Jane's brother John emigrated to the [[United States]] when she was just nine years old. He became a lawyer and a judge in [[Louisiana]]. Jane, her mother, and older sister Emily, moved back to Dublin to live at Lower Leeson Street No. 34.

Her older sister, Emily, would go on to marry an officer and, after his appointment as Deputy Quartermaster General of [[Jamaica]], would live most of her married life abroad in the [[West Indies]]. Jane's brother-in-law, being an English officer, caused a strain between the sisters on account of Jane's nationalism. The sisters remained distant even after Emily's return to Britain.

Jane and her mother continued to live on Leeson Street. In 1849, Elgee translated the Gothic tale ''[[Sidonia von Borcke|Sidonia the Sorceress]]'' (1847) by [[Wilhelm Meinhold|Willhelm Meinhold]] from German into English.

Jane met William Wilde, either as a patient or through literary circles, near the end of the 1840s. Jane reviewed Wilde's book, The Beauties of the Boyne, and Its Tributary, the Blackwater (1849)

== Marriage ==

On 12 November 1851 she married [[William Wilde|Sir William Wilde]], an eye and ear surgeon (and also a researcher of folklore), in St. Peter's church in Dublin,<ref>[https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/b293f70572815?b=https%3A%2F%2Fchurchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie%2Fchurchrecords%2Fsearch.jsp%3Fnamefm%3D%26namel%3Delgee%26location%3D%26yyfrom%3D%26yyto%3D%26submit%3DSearch] The church no longer exists.</ref> and they would go on to have three children: [[Willie Wilde|William Charles Kingsbury Wilde]] (26 September 1852 – 13 March 1899), [[Oscar Wilde|Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde]] (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900), and Isola Francesca Emily Wilde (2 April 1857 – 23 February 1867). Her eldest son, William Wilde, became a journalist and poet; her younger son, Oscar Wilde, became a prolific and famous writer, and her daughter Isola Wilde died in childhood of a fever. Jane was the grandmother of Oscar's sons [[Cyril Holland|Cyril]] and [[Vyvyan Holland]], and of Willie's daughter [[Dorothy Wilde]].

Before their marriage, Wilde had also fathered three illegitimate children, Henry Wilson, Emily and Jane. The son, who was raised by an uncle of Wilde, later became an assistant to his father, and the Wilde children considered him a cousin. There are indications that Wilde was unfaithful to his wife throughout their marriage. 

The family first made their home at [[Westland Row]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=O'Sullivan |first=Emer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IgDvCwAAQBAJ&dq=Merrion+Square+wilde&pg=PA78 |title=The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family |date=2016-06-02 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4088-4358-1 |language=en}}</ref> before moving to No 1, [[Merrion Square]] in 1855.<ref name=":0" /> Merrion Square was a fashionable area of Dublin. After the birth of her daughter Isola, Jane made the acquaintance of the Swedish noblewoman [[Lotten von Kræmer|Charlotte "Lotten" von Krämer]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellmann |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVNwAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22jane+wilde%22+illegitimate+children&pg=PA16 |title=Oscar Wilde: Pulitzer Prize Winner |date=2013-09-04 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8041-5112-2 |language=en}}</ref> who was one of her husbands patients. The two women discovered that they shared an interest in literature, culture and women's rights.

This also inspired her to try and learn Swedish to be able to read the Swedish journals von Krämer sent her, though she never mastered it fully. In 1859, when her oldest son William was six years old, he was given a governess, which enabled Jane and her husband to travel abroad. They toured Scandinavia and visited [[Stockholm]], which Jane stated that she would "''never enjoy any place again so much"''. She would later compile her journals detailing her experiences into a travel book titled "Driftwood from Scandinavia"'' (1884), which gained moderate success.

== 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.)

==Activist==
[[File:Lady Wilde - Speranza - by J Morosini.jpg|thumb|right|Lady Jane Wilde by J. Morosini]]
Lady Wilde was the niece of [[Charles Maturin]] and wrote for the [[Young Ireland]] movement of the 1840s, publishing poems in ''[[The Nation (Irish newspaper)|The Nation]]'' under the pseudonym of ''Speranza''.<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=249|isbn=}}</ref> Her works included pro-Irish independence and anti-British writing; she was sometimes known as "Speranza of the Nation".  [[Charles Gavan Duffy (Australian politician)|Charles Gavan Duffy]] was the editor when "Speranza" wrote commentary calling for armed revolution in Ireland. The authorities at [[Dublin Castle]] shut down the paper and brought Charles Duffy to court but he refused to name the person who had written the offending article. "Speranza" reputedly stood up in court and claimed responsibility for the article. While the confession was ignored by the authorities, they permanently shut the newspaper down.<ref>Joy Melville, "Wilde , Jane Francesca Agnes, Lady Wilde (1821–1896)," ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004.</ref>

Jane was an early advocate of women's rights, and campaigned for better education for women. She invited the [[Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom|suffragist]] [[Millicent Fawcett]] to her home to speak on female liberty. She praised the passing of the [[Married Women's Property Act 1882|Married Women's Property Act of 1882]], which prevented a woman from having to enter marriage 'as a bond slave, disenfranchised of all rights over her fortune'.<ref>Lady Wilde, "A New Era in English and Irish Social Life," ''The Gentlewoman'', January 1883.</ref>

Through her friendship with Charlotte von Krämer, she would also make the acquaintance of the Swedish feminist activist and writer  [[Rosalie Olivecrona]].

==Scandals==
[[File:London Library's copy of Lady Wilde's, 'Ancient legends, mystic charms, & superstitions of Ireland, with sketches of the Irish past'. Ward and Downey, London, 1888.jpg|thumbnail|120px|[[London Library]]'s copy of ''Ancient Legends of Ireland''.]]
In 1864, Sir William and Lady Wilde were at the centre of a sensational Dublin court case regarding a young woman called Mary Travers, the daughter of a colleague of Sir William's and a long-time patient. Travers claimed that Sir William had drugged her with [[chloroform]] and raped her in 1862; when Lady Wilde wrote a letter to Travers's father contesting the allegations, Mary sued her for libel.<ref>{{cite book| title=Oscar Wilde| author=Richard Ellmann| publisher=Vintage Books| year=1988| pages=14–15}}</ref> Mary Travers won the case, although she was only awarded a farthing for damages plus costs. The costs, however, amounted to £2,000.<ref>Gerard Hanberry, <em>More Lives Than One: The Remarkable Family of Oscar Wilde through the Generations</em>, Collins Press, 2011, {{ISBN|9781848899438}}</ref>

==Works==
* ''Poems by Speranza'' (1864)
* Poems (1871)
* ''Memoir Of [[Gabriel Beranger]]'' (1880) Co-authored with husband
* ''Driftwood From Scandinavia'' (1884)
* {{cite book | title=Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland | date=1888 | first=Jane | last=Wilde | publisher=Jazzybee Verlag | isbn=9783849673604 | url=https://www.libraryireland.com/AncientLegendsSuperstitions/Contents.php | accessdate=16 September 2022}}
* ''Notes On Men, Women, And Books'' (1891)

==Biographies==
[[File:Lady Jane Francesca Wilde 'Speranza' 1821-1896 Poet and Essayist lived here 1887-1896.jpg|thumb|Blue Plaque at home of Lady Jane Wilde in Chelsea]]
* In 1911 the American-born writer [[Anna de Brémont]], who claimed to have had a close friendship with Lady Wilde, published a memoir entitled ''Oscar Wilde and His Mother''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Oscar Wilde in Context|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107729100|page=239|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j7CkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA239|author=Stetz, Margaret D.|editor1=Powell, Kerry |editor2=Raby, Peter |chapter=Oscar Wilde and the New Woman}} Stetz describes de Brémont as a "compulsive fantasist".</ref>
* ''Mother of Oscar: The Life of Jane Francesca Wilde'', Joy Melville, John Murray (1994)
* ''Wilde's Women: How Oscar Wilde Was Shaped by the Women He Knew'', Eleanor Fitzsimons, Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd (16 Oct 2015)
* ''A Critical Biography of Lady Jane Wilde, 1821?-1896, Irish Revolutionist, Humanist, Scholar and Poet'', Karen Sasha Anthony Tipper, Edwin Mellen Press (2002)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
{{wikisource author}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jane Francesca Elgee |dname=Jane Francesca Elgee }}
* {{Internet Archive author |name=Lady Wilde |birth=1826 |death=1896}} <!--birth=1826 on IA-->
* {{Librivox author |id=1430}}
* [http://www.libraryireland.com/AncientLegendsSuperstitions/Contents.php/ ''Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland''] by Lady Wilde
* [https://archive.org/stream/poems00wild_0#page/n3/mode/2up ''Poems'' by "Speranza" (Lady Wilde)], 1864 – scan of a copy found in the Alumnae Library of [[Elms College]]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61742 ''Poems'' by "Speranza" (Lady Wilde)], 18—at [[Project Gutenberg]]
* [http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/vwwp/view?docId=VAB7166 ''Poems'' by Speranza], 2nd ed. – transcription at Victorian Women Writers Project (indiana.edu/vwwp)
* {{ISFDB name|113841|Lady Wilde}}
* {{LCAuth|n50059901|Lady Wilde|26|ue}}
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/51427 Works by Lady Wilde] at [[Project Gutenberg]]

{{Oscar Wilde}}
{{Young Ireland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Jane}}
[[Category:1821 births]]
[[Category:1896 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish women writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[Category:Irish folklorists]]
[[Category:Irish women folklorists]]
[[Category:Oscar Wilde]]
[[Category:People from Wexford, County Wexford]]
[[Category:Irish Anglicans]]
[[Category:Protestant Irish nationalists]]
[[Category:Pseudonymous women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from County Wexford]]