Wilde in Wexford

‘There was much Wexford blood in the veins of Oscar Wilde but were it not for a local Wexford pike-man commander during the 1798 Rebellion, the world might never have known one of its brightest literary stars.’

Author Gerard Hanberry will discuss Oscar's Wexford connections and will read from his book, More Lives Than One - The Remarkable Wilde Family Through the Generations during the February Fundraiser Reivew for the Cáca Milis Cabaret in the Wexford Arts Centre on Friday 17 February. The Cabaret, which has been running regular monthly evenings at the Centre, will feature a number of guest entertainers and writers in what promises to be a wonderful evening of music, song, poetry, literature and dance.

Did you know that Oscar Wilde’s mother Jane, the Young Ireland poet known as 'Speranza', was the granddaughter of John Elgee, the Protestant Archdeacon of Wexford? During the 1798 rising, the then Reverend Elgee returned home to find his house had been occupied by the United Irishmen. He was forced to his knees but the leader of the local pike-men spared his life and that of his family because of a kindness the future Archdeacon had shown to some Catholics in the area.

And that’s not the only Wexford connection: John Elgee’s wife was Jane Waddy, daughter of Cadwallader Waddy, also of Wexford. The old graveyard of Rathaspeck just outside the town contains the tombstones of the many Elgees who lived and died in this corner of Ireland. Jane Wilde’s father, Charles Elgee, married Sara Kingsbury in the church of St Iberius, Wexford, on the day before Christmas Eve 1909.