Oscar Wilde's cell and his 'dark-eyed chap' The poem was originally published under the pseudonym C.3.3, which was the number of his cell block. Reading Gaol is where Wilde received the inspiration to write The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which is about the execution of a man called Woolridge. It couldn't be simpler and it takes seconds - simply press here OR here, enter your email address and follow the instructions. Signing up to the BerkshireLive newsletter means you'll get the latest news direct to your inbox every day. If you want to stay in the know with all the latest news, reviews and features from BerkshireLive then you can sign up to our daily newsletter email.Įach day we'll be sending you a selection of our top stories from across our county, as well as breaking news so you can be the first to know. Wilde tried to sue him for libel but he lost his case and was found guilty of homosexuality, which is when he was sent to prison for two years of hard labour. Wilde was arrested after he had an affair with a British aristocrat's son who outed him as a homosexual. The Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21, was only passed in 1967. Oscar Wilde stayed in a cell at the prison for 'gross indecency' and consensual homosexual acts.ĭuring this period, homosexuality was illegal. READ MORE : Banksy's Reading Prison offer hits major stumbling block Reading Gaol was built in 1844 and it has had many notorious criminals and killers live in its cells.įamous murderers include baby killer Amelia Dyer and Eric Sedgewick, but did you know that a few celebrities have also passed through the gates of Reading Gaol?īoxing star Anthony Joshua was remanded in custody there for two weeks as a young adult, but perhaps more famously, playwright and poet Oscar Wilde was sentenced to prison there in 1897.

The battle of reading gaol