Edward Carson
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Very shortly after this sally the climax to the cross-examination was reached, The witness was being questioned about a boy named Grainger, who was a servant in Lord Alfred Douglas’s rooms at Oxford. Did Wilde ever kiss him? “Oh, dear no I He was a peculiarly plain boy, He was, unfortunately, extremely ugly.” Quick as lightning Carson pressed home his advantage. Was that the reason Wilde had never kissed him? Why had he mentioned his ugliness? “Why, why, why, did you add that?" rapped out Carson in staccato tones. At last Wilde, who had hitherto shown remarkable self-restraint, lost his temper. But it was now too late. The damage was done; and the foolish slip, which caused it, could not be covered up." --The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (1948) by H. Montgomery Hyde |
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Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, PC, PC (Ire) (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician, barrister and judge. From 1905 Carson was both the Irish Unionist Alliance MP for Trinity College Dublin and leader of the Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast. In 1915 he entered the war cabinet of Herbert Asquith as Attorney-General. Carson was defeated in his ambition to maintain Ireland as a whole in union with Great Britain. His leadership, however, was celebrated for securing a continued place in the United Kingdom for the six north-east counties, albeit under a devolved Northern Ireland Parliament that neither he nor his fellow unionists had sought. He is also remembered for his open ended cross examination of Oscar Wilde in a legal action that Wilde had brought, but led to him being gaoled and ruined. Carson unsuccessfully attempted to intercede for Wilde after the case.
