Dorothy Ierne Wilde (11 July 1895 – 10 April 1941), known as Dolly Wilde, was an English

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

, made famous by her family connections and her reputation as a witty conversationalist. Her charm and humour made her a popular guest at salons in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

between the wars, standing out even in a social circle known for its flamboyant talkers.

Life

Early life

Wilde, born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

three months after her uncle

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's arrest for homosexual acts, was the only child of Oscar's older brother,

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...

, and his second wife, Sophie Lily Lees. Though Wilde had never met her uncle, she idolized him far more than she did her own father, who was alcoholic and died just a few years after her birth in 1899. This left her under the care of her mother and stepfather, translator

Alexander Teixeira de Mattos Alexander Louis Teixeira de Mattos (9 April 1865 – 5 December 1921), known as Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, was a Dutch-English journalist, literary critic and publisher, who gained his greatest fame as a translator. Early life The Teixei ...

, though at the time, her mother was “so impoverished that she could not afford to keep her at home” and sent young Wilde away to what she described as a “country convent.” Wilde spoke little of her childhood, with only one story ever told. As recorded by Parisian raconteuse Bettina Bergery, “when Dolly was very young, she used to like to take lumps of sugar, dip them in her pretty mother Lily's perfume, and eat them.”

World War I

In 1914, she travelled to France in order to drive an ambulance in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. About 1917 or 1918, while both were living in Paris, she had an affair with one of her fellow ambulance drivers,

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

heiress Marion "Joe" Carstairs, who in the 1920s became a

speedboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the intern ...

racer and was known as "the fastest woman on water." Although she "revelled in" attracting both men and women, Wilde was a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

Addictions and later life

Wilde drank to excess and was addicted to

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

. She went through several

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period o ...

attempts, none successful; she emerged from one nursing-home stay with a new dependency on the sleeping pill

paraldehyde Paraldehyde is the cyclic trimer (chemistry), trimer of acetaldehyde molecules. Formally, it is a derivative of 1,3,5-trioxane, with a methyl group substituted for a hydrogen atom at each carbon. The corresponding tetramer is metaldehyde. A colo ...

, then available over-the-counter. In 1939, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and refused surgery, seeking alternative treatments. The following year, with the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

approaching

, she fled to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She died aged 45 in 1941, of "causes unascertainable", according to the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

's inquest—possibly the cancer or possibly a drug overdose.Schenkar, 37-48.

Relationship with Natalie Barney

Wilde's longest relationship, lasting from 1927 until her death, was with openly lesbian American writer

Natalie Clifford Barney Natalie Clifford Barney (October 31, 1876 – February 2, 1972) was an American writer who hosted a salon (gathering), literary salon at her home in Paris that brought together French and international writers. She influenced other authors thro ...

, who was host of one of the best-known

ian literary salons of the 20th century.

Writing

Dolly Wilde was regarded by many as a gifted storyteller and writer, but she never took advantage of these natural talents. She was supported mostly by the generosity of others and by a small inheritance from her stepfather; her only written works were translations—often uncredited and unpaid—and animated correspondence with her friends.

References

External links

Biography of Wilde in the ''New York Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Dolly 1895 births 1941 deaths English socialites English lesbian writers Oscar Wilde English LGBTQ poets 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers English women poets 20th-century English translators LGBTQ people from London English people of Irish descent