![]() Once the toast of London society, he died in abject poverty in Paris in 1900, aged 46.Ĭarson went on to enjoy a glittering political career as the leader of unionism, and architect of Irish partition, and was dubbed “father of Northern Ireland”. The case led to Wilde’s conviction for gross indecency and two years in prison from 1895. Holland told the Observer that Birkenhead’s letter reveals the extent of Carson’s loathing: “His distaste for Oscar betraying his own social class – consorting with people from the lower classes, as he’d have seen it – was almost as strong as his feelings of disgust about what Oscar had done.” Exasperated, Wilde replied: “I recognise no social distinctions at all of any kind and to me youth, the mere fact of youth, is so wonderful that I’d sooner talk to a young man for half-an-hour than be… well, cross-examined in court.” Their epic Old Bailey clash followed Wilde’s decision to sue Lord Queensberry, who accused him of being a “sodomite” after discovering that his son, Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, was Wilde’s young lover.Īt the Old Bailey, Carson repeatedly questioned him over his “improprieties” with young men, including a “boy you might pick up in the street”. As the respective sons of a surgeon and an architect, Wilde and Carson were both born in 1854 to affluent Irish Protestant families in Dublin, and lived just a few streets apart. ![]() He had always struggled to understand why Carson was so vicious towards Wilde in court, considering they had played together as children in Ireland, meeting again as students at Trinity College, Dublin, and in London. The programme includes contributions from actors Rupert Everett, who made the 2018 film The Happy Prince about Wilde’s tragic final years in exile, and Simon Callow, who has given dramatic readings from the libel trial. The letter, written by the earl of Birkenhead, has been unearthed by Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland, in researching a BBC Northern Ireland documentary, Edward Carson and the Fall of Oscar Wilde. Edward Carson questioned Wilde about his ‘improprieties’ with young men.
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