Oscar Wilde (left) with ‘Bosie’ Douglas. The pair’s relationship became the subject of a major scandal
On 18 February 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry left a calling card at London’s Albermarle club intended for the author and playwright Oscar Wilde. The note, scrawled in the nobleman’s own hand, derided the recipient as a “posing somdomite [sic]”, and was borne from a suspicion that Wilde was engaged in a relationship with Queensberry’s son, Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas.
Spurred on by Bosie, but against the advice of his closest friends, Wilde reported Queensberry for criminal libel. Homosexual acts were illegal in Britain, and his accusations not only threatened Wilde’s reputation, but his liberty.