Vyvyan Beresford Holland, (born Vyvyan Oscar Beresford Wilde; 3 November 1886 – 10 October 1967) was an English author and translator. He was the second-born son of Irish playwright

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

and Constance Lloyd, and had a brother, Cyril.

Biography

John Ruskin was Oscar Wilde's first choice as godfather to Vyvyan, but he declined due to his age. Wilde turned to

Mortimer Menpes Mortimer Luddington Menpes (22 February 1855 – 1 April 1938) was an Australian-born British painter, author, printmaker and illustrator. Life Menpes was born in Port Adelaide, South Australia, the second son of property developer James ...

, who accepted. According to Vyvyan Holland's accounts in his autobiography, ''Son of Oscar Wilde'' (1954), Oscar was a devoted and loving father to his two sons and their childhood was a relatively happy one. After 1895, when Wilde was convicted of the charge of "gross indecency" and imprisoned, Constance changed her surname, and those of their sons, to Holland. She forced Wilde to give up his parental rights. She moved with the boys to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and enrolled them in an English-speaking boarding school in Germany. Vyvyan was unhappy there. Because of this, but also to improve security, Vyvyan was moved to a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

school in Monaco. He converted to Catholicism and subsequently attended

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

in England, a public school also run by Jesuits. His brother Cyril remained at the school in Germany. After Constance died in 1898, her relatives sought legal counsel to prevent Oscar Wilde from seeing his sons again. Wilde died in 1900. Vyvyan studied law at Trinity Hall in the University of Cambridge from 1905, but tired of his studies and left Cambridge in 1907. On 20 July 1909 he accompanied his father's friend Robert Ross to witness the reinterment of his father's remains from Bagneux Cemetery to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Holland resumed his study of law at the age of 22, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Inner Temple in 1912. He also began to write poems and short stories. Holland married Violet Mary Craigie in 1913. She died on 15 October 1918 at Westminster Hospital, Middlesex, from injuries in a fire. At the start of the First World War in 1914, Holland was commissioned a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Interpreters Corps. He later transferred into 114 Battery, XXV Bde

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

. He was demobilised on 27 July 1919 and was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. His brother Cyril had been killed by a German sniper on 9 May 1915, during the Battle of Festubert in France. Holland became an author and translator. At the beginning of the Second World War, he was offered a position as a translator and editor for the BBC, a post he held for six years. In September 1943, he married his second wife, Dorothy Thelma Helen Besant, a great-grandniece of

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

. Born in Australia, she had moved to London. Their only child,

Merlin Holland Christopher Merlin Vyvyan Holland (born December 1945) is a British biographer and editor. He is the only grandchild of Oscar Wilde, whose life he has researched and written about extensively. Biography Born in London in December 1945, Christop ...

, was born in London in 1945.Obituary: Thelma Holland
/ref> Merlin became a publisher, a dealer in glass and ceramics, and a writer. He conducted extensive research about his paternal grandfather Wilde, and has edited, written and published several works about him. In 1947 Holland and his wife left for Australia and New Zealand, where she had been invited to give lectures on fashionable dress in 19th-century Australia. The couple lived in Melbourne from 1948 to 1952. In 1954, after returning to England, Holland published an autobiography entitled ''Son of Oscar Wilde.'' Vyvyan Holland died in London in 1967, aged 80.

References

Books

* ''The Mediaeval Courts of Love'' (1927) privately printed book * ''On the Subject of Bores'' (1935) privately printed book * ''Son of Oscar Wilde'' (1954), memoir, E P Dutton & Co, 1954. * ''Oscar Wilde and his world '' (1960) * ''Oscar Wilde – a pictorial biography'' (1960) * ''Time Remembered After Pere Lachaise'' (1966) a continuation of his memoirs

External links

Biography of Vyvyan Holland

Article with Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Vyvyan 1886 births 1967 deaths Oscar Wilde English male non-fiction writers English translators English people of Irish descent People educated at Stonyhurst College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Officers of the Order of the British Empire Royal Field Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War I Members of the Inner Temple Writers from London 20th-century British translators Intelligence Corps officers British Army General List officers