William Charles Kingsbury Wilde (26 September 1852 – 13 March 1899) was an Irish journalist and poet of the Victorian era. He was the older brother of Oscar Wilde.
Background
Willie was the oldest son born into an Anglo-Irish family, at 21 Westland Row, Dublin, to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane Francesca Wilde (née Elgee) (her pseudonym being 'Speranza'). Their second son, Oscar, was born in the same house in 1854. Jane Wilde was a successful writer, being a poet for the revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848 and a lifelong Irish nationalist. Sir William was Ireland's leading Oto-Ophthalmologic (ear and eye) surgeon and was knighted in 1864 for his services to medicine. William also wrote books on archaeology and folklore. He was a renowned philanthropist, and his dispensary for the care of the city's poor, in Lincoln Place at the rear of Trinity College, Dublin, was the forerunner of the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, now located at Adelaide Road.
In June 1855, the family moved to 1 Merrion Square in a fashionable residential area, where Wilde's sister, Isola, was born in 1856. Here, Lady Wilde held a regular Saturday afternoon salon with guests including Sheridan le Fanu, Samuel Lever, George Petrie, Isaac Butt and Samuel Ferguson.
In February 1864, Willie and Oscar were sent to board at the Portora Royal School at Enniskillen in Ulster, where Willie became known for his good-humour and friendliness, later being described by a classmate as "clever, erratic and full of vitality". Oscar became known to his school fellows by the nickname 'Grey Crow', which he disliked, while Willie was 'Blue Blood'. Willie was "an accomplished pianist and an artist of little talent' Oscar Wilde later recalled that the headmaster, Dr Steele, had told him that “If I went on studying as I had been during the last year I might yet do as well as my brother Willie, and be an honour to the school and everyone connected with it.”
Willie was already a student at Trinity College, Dublin when Oscar joined him in 1871, the two sharing rooms during their second and third years there. In 1876 'Willie' published several of his poems in the College magazine Kottabos, which he also edited.
Life
After graduating from Trinity College Willie Wilde studied law and was called to the Irish Bar, but he never actually practised law. His father died in 1876, and in early 1879 Willie and Lady Wilde moved to London, where he became a journalist, serving as a drama critic for Punch and Vanity Fair, as a leader writer for The Daily Telegraph, and as editor of Christmas numbers of several magazines.
Willie was a regular guest at the Fielding Club, which during its short life opened its doors at eight o'clock in the evening and remained open all night. The club was famous for its grills, its brandy and its Pol Roger '74, but its tripe and onions on Saturdays were an especial draw. One member listed Willie among those who were "constant guests" on Saturdays, along with Henry Irving, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, J. Comyns Carr, Edward Dicey, Carlo Pellegrini, Frederic Clay and Oscar Wilde.
Ralph Nevill, the son of Lady Dorothy Nevill, said of Willie Wilde:
"Willie Wilde was a clever journalist who, had he been less careless in his habits, might have achieved considerable success. As it was, a number of the articles which he wrote for the Daily Telegraph were little short of brilliant, while as a talker, few could equal him. He was, however, his own enemy, and could not resist the attractions of the moment or settle down long to regular work – in truth, though not very old in years, he belonged to the now almost extinct school of journalists which, taking ‘sufficient is the day for the evil there of’ as their motto, never gave a thought to the future (or anything else) if they happened to have a few pounds in their pockets."