Constance Lloyd by Louis Desange (1882).
When Oscar Wilde arrived in London fresh from Oxford in early 1879 one of his first acts was to apply for a ticket to the reading room of the British Museum, the forerunner of today’s British Library. His stated reason for requiring access was to study ‘Greek and Latin literature with ref. to University career’, which Wilde scholar Josephine Guy has surmised is a reference to his writing a university prize essay on the subject of historical criticism.Guy, J. (ed.) (2007) The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, Vol. 4: Criticism: Historical Criticism, Intentions, The Soul of Man, Oxford University Press, xx
Another prominent library in the metropolis was the London Library, established in 1841 after the historian Thomas Carlyle became frustrated by the lack of any facilities to borrow books. Prominent early members included the novelists Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. The library moved to its current premises in St James’s Square, Piccadilly, in 1845.https://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/about-us/historyofthelondonlibrary (accessed 27 Aug. 2026)
The London Library recently made available online its historic records of applications for membership. Wilde apparently never applied. But his wife did. The library's list of new members shows that ‘Mrs Constance Oscar Wilde’ applied to become a member On 22 October 1894.https://londonlibrary-archives.co.uk/entity/4619524-mrs-constance-oscar-wilde (accessed 27 Aug. 2026) She was nominated by family friend Arthur Clifton, who had been a member of the library since March 1889.https://londonlibrary-archives.co.uk/entity/4614972-arthur-b-clifton-esqre (accessed 27 Aug. 2026)
Why did Constance decide to apply for membership in the London Library? There is no clue in the library’s records, but Constance may have intended to use the library as a place to research her interests in dress reform and Irish politics or to write her children’s fiction. Perhaps it is relevant that at this time her husband was keeping rooms in nearby St James’s Place, ostensibly for working on his plays but in fact a place where he could socialise with young men.
Constance would not have had long to enjoy the library: a few months after she applied to join, Oscar brought his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, thereby ensuring his own downfall. Constance left London, rarely to return, and died in Italy in 1898.