Oscar Wilde's arrest and conviction • February 18 –
John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (father of
Lord Alfred Douglas,
Oscar Wilde's lover), leaves his calling card at the
Albemarle Club in London, inscribed: "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite", i.e. a
sodomite, inducing Wilde to charge him with
criminal libel. • April 3–5 – Libel case of
Wilde v Queensberry at the
Old Bailey in London: Queensberry is acquitted. Evidence of Wilde's
homosexual relationships with young men renders him liable to criminal prosecution under the
Labouchere Amendment, while the
Libel Act 1843 renders him legally liable for the considerable expenses Queensberry has incurred in his defence, leaving Wilde penniless. • April 6 – Wilde is arrested at the
Cadogan Hotel, London, for "unlawfully committing acts of gross indecency with certain male persons" and detained on
remand in
Holloway Prison. • May 25 – Criminal case of
Regina v. Wilde: After a retrial at the Old Bailey, Wilde is convicted of gross indecency and is taken to
Pentonville Prison to begin his two years' sentence of
hard labour. • November 21 – Wilde is transferred to
Reading Gaol.
Other events • December 19 –
Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White at
Lawrence, Massachusetts. •
Rudyard Kipling writes the poem
If—. •
Ernest Thayer recites
Casey at the Bat at a
Harvard class reunion, resolving the "mystery" of the poem's authorship. ==Works published in English==