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there on
Saturday 7 July 1896. The two never met but Wilde would observe the condemned man during silent exercise periods in the prison yard, known as the 'Fools' Parade'. The execution of Wooldridge (known as "C.T.W" in the poem) had a profound effect on Wilde, inspiring the line in the ballad "yet
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At first the couple were devoted to each other, despite the enforced separation. "Nell" Wooldridge was of a lively and flirtatious nature, while
Charles Wooldridge was of a jealous and suspicious disposition; consequently, they argued a great deal when they were together. By March 1896, she had
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again. When he visited her, Wooldridge attacked his wife and blackened her eyes and injured her nose. From then on, she avoided
Wooldridge, refusing to see him. Having heard rumours that she was having an affair with either another soldier or an official at the
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In
Reading Gaol, Wooldridge told the prison chaplain that he was filled with grief and remorse at having killed his beloved wife. He resisted attempts at a reprieve (including a recommendation for clemency from the jury that convicted him) by petitioning the
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he had taken with him to cut her throat before giving himself up to Police
Constable Forster, who arrested him and took him to Windsor Police Station. Wooldridge told the police that he would have cut his own throat if he had not dropped the murder weapon.
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where she worked, and having received a document from her to sign stating that he would stay away from her, he arranged to meet Laura Ellen outside Regent's Park
Barracks on 29 March 1896 but, when she failed to turn up, he travelled to her lodgings at
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because of Nell's unfaithfulness. Wood set up a petition for a reprieve and, assisted by a Miss
Eleanor Grave, succeeded in gaining a great number of signatures. However, the trial judge,
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each man kills the thing he loves". Wilde was mistaken in his belief that
Wooldridge killed his wife in her home; contemporary reports stated that the murder was committed in the street.
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On the morning of the execution, Wooldridge attended a service in the prison chapel, showed repentance for his terrible crime, and was resigned to his fate. Because of
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263:'A Key to "In Memoriam by Oscar Wilde" – notes made by Mary Grave bound into her sister Eleanor Grave's 1899 copy of
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but the jury took just two minutes to find him guilty despite Wood's attempts to get the charge reduced to
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in 1886. He married Laura Ellen "Nell" Glendell (1873–1896) in 1894 when his regiment was posted to
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stretched
Wooldridge's neck by eleven inches. It was reported that he was aged 30 when executed.
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135:, Wooldridge became the most famous person ever to be executed at Reading. The executioner was
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The son of
Eleanor (born c.1827) and Charles Wooldridge (born c.1824), Wooldridge was born in
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362:'1896: Charles Thomas Wooldridge, of The Ballad of Reading Gaol' on the ExecutedToday website
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GRO Register of Deaths: SEP qtr 1896 Wooldridge, Charles Thomas aged 30 Reading 2c 210
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GRO Register of Deaths: JUN qtr 1896 Wooldridge, Laura Ellen aged 23 Windsor 2c 241
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in London, forcing the couple to live apart and putting a strain on the marriage.
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England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
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Wooldridge on 'Oscar Wilde: A Centennial Wreath Of Memories'
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Charles Thomas Wooldridge on the British Executions website
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At his subsequent trial, he was defended by H.S. Wood of
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412:People executed by the United Kingdom by hanging
190:'Poem of the week: The Ballad of Reading Gaol'
227:Pit of Shame: The Real Ballad of Reading Gaol
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407:19th-century executions by England and Wales
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45:and who, as 'C.T.W', was the dedicatee of
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367:Charles Wooldridge on True Crime Library
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427:People from West Berkshire District
397:19th-century British Army personnel
432:1896 murders in the United Kingdom
422:English people convicted of murder
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447:Military personnel from Berkshire
29:(1864 – 7 July 1896) was a
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402:19th-century English criminals
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417:Royal Horse Guards soldiers
301:"And I, May I Say Nothing?"
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265:The Ballad of Reading Gaol
148:The Ballad of Reading Gaol
133:The Ballad of Reading Gaol
52:The Ballad of Reading Gaol
27:Charles Thomas Wooldridge
224:Stokes, Anthony (2007).
153:Wilde was imprisoned in
126:Sir Matthew White Ridley
141:Official Table of Drops
77:Regent's Park Barracks
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157:when Wooldridge was
37:who was executed in
22:Reading Gaol in 1844
115:Mr. Justice Hawkins
90:General Post Office
83:started to use her
244:Theodore Dalrymple
69:Royal Horse Guards
35:Royal Horse Guards
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237:978-1-90438-021-4
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111:manslaughter
107:High Wycombe
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65:East Garston
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442:Oscar Wilde
392:1896 deaths
387:1864 births
85:maiden name
47:Oscar Wilde
437:Uxoricides
381:Categories
166:References
315:2045-0753
59:Biography
43:uxoricide
73:Windsor
33:in the
31:Trooper
325:22 May
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159:hanged
95:Clewer
327:2006
311:ISSN
232:ISBN
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