‘The love that dare not speak its name’: The show trial of Oscar Wilde

It had celebrities, aristocracy and clandestine affairs, shocking twists and rumours of murky underworld dealings. No wonder it’s still so captivating today, writes Olivia Campbell

The Irish poet with Lord Alfred Douglas, a relationship that would ultimately lead to his fall from grace (Getty)

Few cultural moments still manage to satiate our guilty pleasure for drama and controversy today than the trials of Oscar Wilde. While it’s important to remember it for what it really was – the public persecution of a queer man for the simple “crime” of loving other men – it’s hard not to see why it captivated and scandalised Victorian society.

Today marks the 125th anniversary of Wilde’s sentencing for “gross indecency”, the unjust result of the poet’s attempt to protect himself from libel that ended up destroying his life. It’s a common misconception that Wilde was “put on trial for homosexuality” (the poet himself brought on the legal proceedings), but salacious details about his private life soon caused his downfall.

It began with five badly scrawled words: “For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite [sic].” It was a calling card left for the playwright at the Albemarle Club by John Sholto Douglas, the ninth marquess of Queensberry, who is now most well-known for creating the rules of modern boxing. It set in motion a chain of events that are still notorious today.