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Jane Wilde
Jane Francesca Agnes Wilde, Lady Wilde (née Elgee; 27 December 1821 – 3 February 1896) was an Irish poet who wrote under the pen name Speranza and supporter of the nationalist movement. Lady Wilde had a special interest in Irish folktales, which she helped to gather and was the mother of Oscar Wilde and Willie Wilde.
Jane was the last of the four children of Charles Elgee (1783–1824), the son of Archdeacon John Elgee, a Wexford solicitor, and his wife Sarah (née Kingsbury, d. 1851). Her mother came from a prosperous Protestant family in Dublin and was considered a great beauty. Jane was the youngest of four children of the couple, her older siblings being Emily, John, and Frances (who died as an infant)
She claimed that her great-grandfather was an Italian surnamed Algiati which was said to be a derived from Alighieri thus implying a relationship with the famous poet. This ancestor was said to have had come to Wexford in the 18th century; in fact, the Elgees descended from Durham labourers who had gained prosperity as builders and bricklayers and then in succeeding generations, became part of the gentry.
Her maternal aunt Emily was married to the author Charles Maturin, though his death two years before her own birth precluded her ever meeting him, but whose bust Jane would display in her home as an adult. Another aunt, Elizabeth, was married to the politician Sir Charles Montagu Ormsby while her paternal aunt and namesake Jane Elgee was the mother of the arctic explorer Robert McClure who discovered the Northwestern passage.
Jane's father died at Bangalore, India when she was just three years old, leaving her mother to raise her and her siblings. The family moved to Wexford, where they lived in modest circumstances.
As a young woman, Jane was considered a beauty with dark eyes, jet-black hair and tall in stature. Her education was undertaken by a succession of governesses and tutors. She is said to have mastered ten languages by the age of 18 under the instruction of Richard Waddy Elgee, her paternal uncle.
Jane's brother John emigrated to the United States when she was just nine years old. He became a lawyer and a judge in Louisiana. Jane, her mother, and older sister Emily, moved back to Dublin to live at Lower Leeson Street No. 34.
Her older sister, Emily, would go on to marry an officer and, after his appointment as Deputy Quartermaster General of Jamaica, would live most of her married life abroad in the West Indies. Jane's brother-in-law, being an English officer, caused a strain between the sisters on account of Jane's nationalism. The sisters remained distant even after Emily's return to Britain.
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Jane Wilde
Jane Francesca Agnes Wilde, Lady Wilde (née Elgee; 27 December 1821 – 3 February 1896) was an Irish poet who wrote under the pen name Speranza and supporter of the nationalist movement. Lady Wilde had a special interest in Irish folktales, which she helped to gather and was the mother of Oscar Wilde and Willie Wilde.
Jane was the last of the four children of Charles Elgee (1783–1824), the son of Archdeacon John Elgee, a Wexford solicitor, and his wife Sarah (née Kingsbury, d. 1851). Her mother came from a prosperous Protestant family in Dublin and was considered a great beauty. Jane was the youngest of four children of the couple, her older siblings being Emily, John, and Frances (who died as an infant)
She claimed that her great-grandfather was an Italian surnamed Algiati which was said to be a derived from Alighieri thus implying a relationship with the famous poet. This ancestor was said to have had come to Wexford in the 18th century; in fact, the Elgees descended from Durham labourers who had gained prosperity as builders and bricklayers and then in succeeding generations, became part of the gentry.
Her maternal aunt Emily was married to the author Charles Maturin, though his death two years before her own birth precluded her ever meeting him, but whose bust Jane would display in her home as an adult. Another aunt, Elizabeth, was married to the politician Sir Charles Montagu Ormsby while her paternal aunt and namesake Jane Elgee was the mother of the arctic explorer Robert McClure who discovered the Northwestern passage.
Jane's father died at Bangalore, India when she was just three years old, leaving her mother to raise her and her siblings. The family moved to Wexford, where they lived in modest circumstances.
As a young woman, Jane was considered a beauty with dark eyes, jet-black hair and tall in stature. Her education was undertaken by a succession of governesses and tutors. She is said to have mastered ten languages by the age of 18 under the instruction of Richard Waddy Elgee, her paternal uncle.
Jane's brother John emigrated to the United States when she was just nine years old. He became a lawyer and a judge in Louisiana. Jane, her mother, and older sister Emily, moved back to Dublin to live at Lower Leeson Street No. 34.
Her older sister, Emily, would go on to marry an officer and, after his appointment as Deputy Quartermaster General of Jamaica, would live most of her married life abroad in the West Indies. Jane's brother-in-law, being an English officer, caused a strain between the sisters on account of Jane's nationalism. The sisters remained distant even after Emily's return to Britain.