He befriended Oscar Wilde in a relationship which was seen as illegal in Britain at the time, and wrote several books about the friendship. Lord Alfred Douglas (1870-1945) was a poet, magazine editor and writer. It was first published in the UK as ‘The Autobiography of Lord Alfred Douglas’. ‘My Friendship with Oscar Wilde’ is an illuminating biography of one England’s most famous writers. He also refutes the rumours spread by Wilde himself, including one where he denied receiving any money from his old friend in his final years.Īlmost a century on, and in a world where men can marry whomever they please, the life of Lord Alfred Douglas stands as a history of England before the modern era. In his memoir he offers his own view on the events of the previous sixty years of his life using letters and articles. He went bankrupt in 1913, was prosecuted for libel, notably against Winston Churchill, and spent time in the courts fighting to clear his damaged name. Seeing himself as the victim of the Wilde scandal, Lord Alfred married and settled down to life as a poet, writer and magazine editor. Recently the subject of the play ‘The Judas Kiss’, and portrayed in the film ‘Wilde’ by Jude Law, the man nicknamed ‘Bosie’ writes of his life and times, including a prison sentence for libel and the cause of Wilde’s incarceration at a time when homosexuality was an offense.

One of the most notorious celebrities of his day, he was the amanuensis of Oscar Wilde and son of the man who ruined Wilde, Lord Queensbury. So writes Lord Alfred Douglas in his memoir, originally published in 1929, in which he sought to rehabilitate his name and that of Oscar Wilde. The thing about the recently departed Sinden being the last link to Bosie reminded me of this, and more generally about the “living link” idea.“No other living creature has been treated as I have been treated, and has invoked in vain, as I have done, the law of his country to help him against a conspiracy of persecution and blackmail which has gone on for more than thirty years, and is still going on to this day.” So writes Lord Alfred Douglas in his memoir, originally published in 1929, in which he sought to re “No other living creature has been treated as I have been treated, and has invoked in vain, as I have done, the law of his country to help him against a conspiracy of persecution and blackmail which has gone on for more than thirty years, and is still going on to this day.” Nevertheless, I posted on a few Irish history sites to no avail (or reply) Which, when I read it, got me thinking – was he the last surviving attendee at Collins’ funeral? Probably not, as apparently 500,000 – a fifth of the population according to various sources – turned up and I guess a few among them are nearing 100 now. He was probably the last living link with the egregious Lord Alfred.Ĭharles Hughesdon received one of the classic Telegraph obits – – as evinced by the strapline “Charles Hughesdon was an amorous aviator who married a film star and crashed in the African bush during a 1930s air race”Īmongst other incidents of a packed life, we read “A notion (soon abandoned) that he might be suited to the priesthood allowed for a short spell in 1922 at a seminary near Dublin, where he attended the funeral of Michael Collins.” When Douglas eventually died, in 1945 in Hove, his funeral was attended by only two people – one of whom, according to his son, was the actor Donald Sinden, who himself died last year. He claimed afterwards that his health had been ruined for life by sleeping on a prison bed without a mattress. While there, he wrote his poetic testament, In Excelsis (cp De Profundis), but was obliged to leave it behind when he was released. Happily, Lord Alfred was found guilty of libel on this occasion and sentenced to six months in prison.

Churchill’s reward was to be a houseful of furniture, to the value of £40,000. His motive, Douglas alleged, was to bring about a crash in British securities, enabling a cabal of Jewish financiers to buy them up cheaply.

In its pages he accused Winston Churchill of falsely reporting that the British fleet had been defeated at Jutland.

One astonishing example came in the course of his editorship of a magazine called Plain English, devoted largely to vicious anti-Jewish propaganda (blood libel, Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, etc). Wilde and Douglas by Gillman & Co, gelatin silver print, May 1893 – copyright National Portrait Gallery

Lord alfred douglas