The reason why I have this question is H.P. Lovecrafts story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward". Lovecraft lived from 1890 to 1937 according to wikipedia, so he witnessed the scandal around Oscar Wilde.
In his story, a witch doctor (Curwen) and all his helpers, summons and experiments as well as heretic books etc etc get destroyed by the citizens of Providence. In the aftermath, those who knew about the experiments of that witch doctor try to cover up everything about this incident or even the existence of it. Lovecraft writes:
"From that time on the obliteration of Curwen's memory became increasingly rigid, extending at last by common consent even to the town records and files of the Gazette. It can be compared in spirit only to the hush that lay on Oscar Wilde's name for a decade after his disgrace, and in extent only to the fate of that sinful King of Runazar in Lord Dunsany's tale, whom the Gods decided must not only cease to be, but must cease ever to happen."
Coming from an author that commonly uses phrases like e.g. "can not be described by terms of our material world" [not a direct citation], this comparison startled me. Hence my question.
I don't know what Wikipedia says about Oscar Wilde and the 'scandal' surrounding the public exposure of his homosexuality or how much Lovecraft would have remembered or witnessed. He would have been very young at the time. But he would certainly have heard about it afterwards as for a long time after the scandal broke the name of Oscar Wilde was anathema. The first trial against Wilde was held in April of 1895. He was charged with 25 counts of 'gross indecency' under an 1885 law [Criminal Law Amendment Act].
The trial was the result of an unsuccessful bid by Wilde to sue the Marquess of Queensbury for libel when Q publicly accused Wilde of 'posing as a somdomite' [sic - famously misspelled]. Wilde lost this libel suit and was ordered to pay costs. He didn’t have the money to pay. Bailiffs entered his home in Tite Street in London and the publicity was immense. Pamphlets attacking Wilde were hawked on the streets of London. Because of the information that came to light at the libel trial Wilde was then arrested and charged with ‘gross indecency’.
The trial was sensational with huge coverage in the press and the public gallery was jammed with spectators. The jury was locked and came back with no verdict. The judge immediately ordered a retrial. This second attempt resulted in a guilty verdict on May 20th 1895. Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labour, solitary confinement. He served the full term.
Wilde was a very well known public figure and playwright at the time with The Importance of Being Earnest running to packed houses every night. At his arrest Wilde’s name was immediately plastered over under the title of the play on billboards but eventually the play closed. His wife and two young sons fled England for the Continent and changed their surname to Holland. His wife died a few years later. He never saw his sons again and was denied access to them. His younger son, Vyvyan, wrote about the experience years later and said that there was so much silence around his father’s name and what the charges were that it was only decades later that he learned what it was all about.
Wilde himself left England after his release from prison in 1897. He never saw Ireland or England again. In order to avoid being discovered - and the resulting outrage and rejection that this would cause - Wilde took the name 'Sebastian Melmouth' in order to register at hotels. When his prison poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol was first published in 1898 it omitted his name and was published under his prison cell number, C.3.3. He died in Paris in November 1900.