# Wilde swears a criminal-libel prosecution against the Marquess of Queensberry

Date: 1895

## The fact

On 18 March 1895 [Oscar Wilde](/people/oscar-wilde) opened a criminal-libel prosecution over Queensberry’s visiting card. It is not the later Crown case under the Labouchere Amendment.

It is one event.

## Context

He could have declined to sue. He sued. The collapse of that prosecution opened the indecency trials.

Oscar Wilde’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

Famous Trials’ documentary account and London Archives’ public 1895 cluster independently date the libel opening at the Old Bailey.

Official or archival record: Famous Trials — The Trials of Oscar Wilde (https://famous-trials.com/wilde/327-home; University of Missouri–Kansas City / Famous Trials).

## Significance

The libel writ is not Reading Gaol, and not the Crown’s two later trials.

## What is established and what is not

Established: March 1895 criminal-libel prosecution he initiated.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Oscar Wilde.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

Contribution type is direct. They are not a public rating.

## People

- Oscar Wilde: https://factrail.ai/people/oscar-wilde

## Drivers

- Judicial independence erosion (court capture): https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion

## Sources

- https://www.thelondonarchives.org/
- https://famous-trials.com/wilde/327-home

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/wil-queensberry-libel-1895