Jane Francesca Elgee
Jane Francesca Elgee , née Jane Frances Agnes Elgee , married Jane Francesca Lady Wilde (* probably December 27, 1821 in Wexford , Ireland , † February 3, 1896 in London ), was an Irish writer and the mother of Oscar Wilde .
Life
Her parents were Charles Elgee and Sara Kingsbury. The Elgees were descended from English artisans who immigrated to Ireland in the 18th century. However, Jane Frances understood the name as an Anglicization of Alighieri and claimed ancestry or kinship with Dante . Accordingly, she changed her middle name from Frances to Francesca . She didn't use the third name, Agnes , at all.
Despite her loyalist (ie English or Scottish) origins and Protestant denomination, Jane Elgee was captured by Irish nationalism, which arose in the years of the Great Famine of 1845–1849 . The Irish were particularly angry that the large English landowners were selling grain to England with great profits, while the small farmers, ruined by the potato rot, starved to death or were forced to emigrate.
Under the pseudonym Speranza (also Sperenza ) Jane Elgee published poems in the magazine Nation , which was founded in 1844 by the " Young Irelander " movement, a militant splinter group. When the 1848 rebellion was put down (see History of Ireland (1801-1922) ), the nation's co-founder and editor was arrested. From then on, Jane Elgee was editor, and she wrote for the armed insurrection and independence of Ireland, which earned her the name Speranza of the Nation [pun: Speranza , editor of the nation , and hope (Speranza) of the (Irish) nation ].
As a translator she devoted herself to a. the novel Sidonia von Borck, the monastery witch by Wilhelm Meinhold (see Marienfließ monastery ).
On November 12, 1851, she married Sir William Robert Wills Wilde, a specialist in eye and ear diseases . At that time she stated her age as 25, which is why many sources appear to be her date of birth in 1826 . Since her father died in 1824, this information is definitely wrong, provided that the given is the actual father. She probably wanted to cover up her marriage age of almost 30 at the time.
On September 26, 1852, their first son Willie ( William Charles Kingsbury ) was born; from then on she led the life of a housewife and mother. On October 16, 1854, their son Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills was born. While the first son was only given the maiden name of Jane's mother and the first names of father and grandfather, Oscar's middle names were an expression of Irish patriotism: Oscar and Fingal were Irish heroes from the 3rd century; the O'Flahertie clan ruled County Galway and had excelled in the fight against Vikings and English. Oscar Wilde himself claimed that he was named after the then Swedish King Oskar I , on whom his father had performed an eye operation.
Allegedly, Jane had expected to have a girl and is said to have dressed Oscar like a girl until he was ten. This fact was believed to be the cause of Oscar's homosexuality. However, this claim cannot be substantiated from early photos. In addition, the longed-for girl Isola ( Isola Emily Francesca ) was born on April 2, 1857 . Soon after, the Wildes regained wealth, which enabled Jane to lead an upper-class life. Every Saturday she held a salon (which she called "conversazione"), attended by educated guests from all over Europe. Their children were allowed to take part from around the age of ten, which in the opinion of the time could lead to "precocious" behavior, but was probably more conducive to development.
In the 1860s, Jane Wilde was sued for defamation by a patient of her husband, Mary Travers. She had written a story in which a patient was raped by her doctor under anesthesia. Jane Wilde believed that she saw her husband in this and forbade this behavior from the young woman's father. Jane Wilde lost the subsequent defamation suit. Although the damages were estimated at only a quarter of a penny ( farthing ), the legal costs were ruinous for the family. On February 23, 1867, Isola died of a fever. Oscar Wilde later dedicated the poem "Requiescat" to his sister, whom he loved very much.
The husband died on April 19, 1876. It turned out that the financial situation was far worse than Jane Wilde expected. William Wilde's illegitimate son, Henry Wilson, saved the family and paid off the debt. In this way he thanked his father posthumously for not only recognizing him, but also enabling him to study medicine and become an assistant at his hospital. Nevertheless, Jane Wilde was unable to keep her house in Dublin in the long term and moved to London.
When Oscar Wilde traveled to the USA in 1882 for a series of lectures as a professor of aesthetics , he was by no means the famous writer, but "Speranza's boy". On a so-called intimate questionnaire, which an American newspaper submitted to him in 1877, he answered the question which his favorite poets were: " Sappho and Lady Wilde".
literature
- Emer O'Sullivan : The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family . London: Bloomsbury, 2016
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elgee, Jane Francesca |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Elgee, Jane Frances Agnes (maiden name); Wilde, Jane Francesca; Wilde, Jane; Lady Wilde; Speranza (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | on December 27, 1821 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wexford (City) , Ireland |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 3, 1896 |
| Place of death | London |