William More Adey, known universally as More Adey (1858 – 29 January 1942), was an English art critic, editor and

aesthete Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be pr ...

. He was a co-editor of ''

The Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation si ...

'', but is perhaps best known for having been a friend and member of the inner circle of

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 ...

from the early 1890s until Wilde's death in 1900. As a defender of Wilde during his trial and imprisonment, Adey visited the fallen author in Reading Gaol, attempted to negotiate on behalf of the gaoled writer's interests as his ''de facto''

guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

, and oversaw a collection that was used to purchase necessities of life, including clothes, for him upon his release. Adey was also a partner of

Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...

in 1895, and a close friend of the poet from the 1890s until 1913. Douglas's biographer,

Rupert Croft-Cooke Rupert Croft-Cooke (20 June 1903 – 10 June 1979) was an English writer. A prolific creator of fiction and non-fiction, including screenplays and biographies under his own name and detective stories under the pseudonym of Leo Bruce. Life The ...

, refers to Adey as "a homosexual of what, among his fellows, was and is, called the 'discreet' kind." Adey also developed a professional relationship and 15-year life partnership with Wilde's other good friend, Robbie Ross. When Douglas and Ross faced each other in court in 1913 in the

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

libel case, Adey testified in Ross's favour, which caused Douglas to sever his ties with his former friend. Adey became assistant editor of the ''Burlington Magazine'' in November 1910, and served as co-editor, in partnership with Roger Fry, from January 1914 until May 1919. Adey can thus be seen as a point of connection between the aesthetes of the London 1890s and the Bloomsbury circle that came to prominence a generation later. He is credited with over thirty

byline The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably '' Reader' ...

d articles in the magazine, as well as numerous unsigned notes and reviews, and is credited with bringing a strong iconographic appreciation to the magazine. Ross's death in October 1918 was a blow to Adey, who wrote in a letter to a mutual friend five days after the bereavement that "no one can ever be to me what he has been". Ross made his former partner the principal beneficiary of his will, but at an unknown point in the 1920s Adey was overcome by mental challenges and had to be confined in a place of long-term care. Adey died under care in 1942; in a brief tribute to the ''Burlington Magazines early co-editor, Barbara Pezzini described him in May 2010 as follows: "More Adey has often been described as a shy and diffident man, and his tragic death in a mental health institution in 1942, after having lost contact with even his closest friends, seemed to taint retrospectively his whole life."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adey, More 1858 births 1942 deaths English magazine editors Oscar Wilde English LGBT poets British gay writers