Hannah Whitall Smith Correspondence: Constance Wilde

Constance Holland was the changed name of Constance Mary Wilde (Lloyd) (Jan. 2, 1859-Apr. 7, 1898), the wife of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The couple had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. Constance married Oscar Wilde on May 29, 1884, and shortly thereafter published a book of children’s stories. While not an active part of many of the women’s movements of the time, Constance was involved in the Dress Reform Movement, which sought to free women from the dangerous constraints of Victorian women’s fashions, such as tightly laced corsets that could damage internal organs.

Constance was only 39 when she died after a surgery that is now suspected to have been an attempt to cure a misdiagnosed case of multiple sclerosis. Her life was in large part defined by the scandal that rocked British society in the 1890s. Her husband, a well-known writer, was also homosexual and became involved with Lord Alfred Douglas as his lover. When Lord Alfred Douglas’ father, the Marquess of Queensbury publically accused Wilde of his behavior, Wilde sued the Marquess for criminal libel. In the course of the trial the evidence of Wilde homosexuality emerged and forced him to drop the charges of libel. Wilde was then arrested and charged for gross indecency with men and sentenced for two years hard labor.

In terms of women’s issues of the times, Constance’s situation represents the lack of rights many women had under the marriage and divorce laws of the Victorian era. When Constance married Oscar Wilde, she came into the marriage with an annual allowance of £250 (about $32,000 at today’s rates). Until 1870, married women were considered to legally be one person with their husband. All of their property came to their husband, except real estate, but they could not make any legal decisions about that real estate without the husband’s consent. Any income a woman earned or legal copyright for works she produced belonged to her husband. Even at death, a woman’s husband could pass her property on in his will to someone else.

The Married Women’s Property Act of 1870 did allow some changes, so that women could keep their own earnings and the property they might have inherited. They also were considered legally responsible for the care of children along with their husbands. However the act was not retroactive, so it did not help women married at the time. Additional changes in 1882, 1884, and 1893 opened the way for British women to be seen as legally and financially separate from their husbands and thus legally and financially equal. This was a huge step forward in terms of women’s equality.

In the letter to Hannah Whitall Smith, it is clear that she has legal rights to restore some of her income to her children, but the social scandal of divorce still kept her legally married to Oscar Wilde for the remainder of her life. The right to divorce still carried with it major stigma for many women in this time period, even when the fault of the divorce was clearly on the behavior of the husband. As such, Constance Holland’s letter reveals some of the difficulties women faced in a society where their rights were limited and often controlled by their husbands.

Bevais

Canton Neuchatel

Oct. 15, 1895

My dear Mrs. Pearsall Smith,

              Thank you very much indeed for your kind letter with your report of Lady Mount Temple, who dear thing, has written me a most loving little letter this morning. She is very wonderful and I hope the business that called you then was not tiresome for her.

              I have changed my name but I am not taking any legal proceeding. My poor misguided husband; who is weak rather than wicked regrets most bitterly all his past madness and I cannot refuse to him the forgiveness that he has asked. So I have withdrawn from the divorce proceedings that I was at one time tempted to institute against him, or rather that I was worried to institute for the sake of my boys. But the necessity for that is obviated by the Bankruptcy proceedings in which I am claiming through my Trustees the life interest of my money which does at present belong to my husband and which will then go straight to the children after my death.

              I can only trust thatI have been guided right, and I have indeed sought Divine wisdom, but things are so complicated that it is difficult to tell whether one has been guided right.

              I am sure though that you will agree with me that where there is repentance, it is not the place of the wife to be the Avenger. Just think what he has lost! Practically all that made life bearable to him. I hear from the prison chaplain and from others who have an opportunity of judging that he is very heart broken and most especially so with regard to the trouble that he has brought on myself and the boys. This address will find me for some time and a letter addressed to

c/o Miss Boxwell
12 Holbein House, S.W.

will always be forwarded.

Affectionately yours,

Constance Holland