Lady Wilde

Wilde, Lady (née Jane Francesca Elgee) (1821-1896), poet and mother of Oscar Wilde, born in Wexford. She contributed to The Nation under the pen-name ‘Speranza’; when she replaced Charles Gavan Duffy as leader-writer during his imprisonment in 1848, she issued a call to arms on behalf of the Young Irelanders. In 1851 she married William Wilde, an eye and ear surgeon with interests in folklore and topography. In 1854 she was taken to court by Mary Travers, a patient with whom her husband had an affair. The court found in favour of Mary Travers but indicated its view by awarding her a farthing damages. Lady Wilde moved to London after her husband's death. She published her husband's unfinished Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland (1887) and Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland (1890), folklore collections which impressed W. B. Yeats for their circumstantiality.