Dublin Daily Express - Wednesday, September 25, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
OSCAR WILDE’S BANKRUPTCY.
(…DAILY EXPRESS SPECIAL WIRE.)
London, Tuesday.
The London Bankruptcy Court was thronged this morning, when Oscar Wilde was called for public examination. The debtor was in attendance from Wandsworth gaol, but was not brought into court. The hearing was adjourned till November 12th. The receiving order was made upon the petition of the Marquis of Queensbury. The debtor attributes his insolvency to the failure of legal proceedings taken by him against the petitioning creditor and to his arrest and conviction in the recent trial of Regina v. Wilde. He states that he is a writer and dramatic author, and that his income, which he estimated at £2,000 a year, had been chiefly, if not entirely, derived from royalties received on plays and literary works written by him.
Mr. Charles Russell, of the firm of Messrs. Day, Russell and Co., appeared for the Marquis of Queenbury, the petitioning creditor, and Mr. J. P. Grain represented the debtor.
Mr. Grain stated that he was instructed to apply for an adjournment under these circumstances. The accounts disclosed an indebtedness of £3,571 and no assets which were immediately available, although there were royalties on the debtor’s published works and plays which might be of some future value. A subscription was being raised by the debtor’s friends, and upwards of £1,000 had already been subscribed with a view to the payment in full of the creditors other than the trustees of the marriage settlement, for whom other provision would be made.
The Assistant Receiver, Mr. C. A. Pope, said that he could not oppose an adjournment the object of which was the payment of the creditors, and he did not propose, under the circumstances, to proceed with the debtor’s examination.
The examination was adjourned to the 12th of November.