John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"A fine spectacle you are, sir, fawning and crawling round this fellow, Wilde, like some damn little lapdog."--father of Lord Douglas to his son in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) |
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John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (20 July 1844 - 31 January 1900), was a Scottish nobleman, remembered for his atheism, his outspoken views, his brutish manner, for lending his name to the "Queensberry Rules" that form the basis of modern boxing, and for his role in the downfall of the Irish author and playwright Oscar Wilde.
Dispute with Oscar Wilde
In February 1895, angered by the apparent ongoing homosexual relationship between Oscar Wilde and his son Alfred, Queensberry left a calling card reading "For Oscar Wilde, posing " at Wilde's club. Wilde sued for criminal libel, leading to Queensberry's arrest.
The trial opened at the Old Bailey on 3 April 1895 before Justice Richard Henn Collins amid scenes of near hysteria both in the press and the public galleries. Queensberry's lawyers, headed by barrister Edward Carson, presented Wilde as a vicious older man who seduced innocent young boys into a life of degenerate homosexuality. Wilde dropped the libel case when Queensberry's lawyers informed the court that they intended to call several male prostitutes as witnesses to testify that they had had sex with Wilde. According to the Libel Act 1843, proving the truth of the accusation and a public interest in its exposure was a defense against a libel charge, and Wilde's lawyers concluded that the prostitutes' testimony was likely to do that. Queensberry won a counterclaim against Wilde for the expenses he had incurred on lawyers and private detectives in organizing his defense. Wilde was left bankrupt; his assets were seized and sold at auction to pay the claim.
Queensberry then sent the evidence collected by his detectives to Scotland Yard, which resulted in Wilde being charged and convicted of gross indecency under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 and sentenced to two years' hard labour. His health and reputation destroyed, Wilde went into exile in France.
Queensberry died on 31 January 1900. Ten months later, Oscar Wilde died at the Hotel d'Alsace in Paris.
Screen portrayals
Queensberry has been portrayed by a number of actors in later dramatisations of the Wilde-Alfred Douglas affair, notably:
- Edward Chapman in 20th Century Fox movie Oscar Wilde (1960).
- Lionel Jeffries in United Artists movie The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)
- Keith Richards in promotional film for the Rolling Stones song, We Love You (1967)
- Tom Wilkinson in biographical film Wilde (1997).
An effeminately flamboyant caricature of him, voiced by Jim Rash, is featured as a main character in the Adult Swim cartoon Mike Tyson Mysteries in which he serves as a lifestyle coach to Mike Tyson.
