John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry

77
John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry bigraphy, stories - Scottish noble

John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry : biography

20 July 1844 – 31 January 1900

John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (20 July 184431 January 1900) was a Scottish nobleman, remembered for lending his name and patronage to the "Marquess of Queensberry rules" that formed the basis of modern boxing, for his outspoken atheism, and for his role in the downfall of author and playwright Oscar Wilde.

Contributions to sports

Queensberry’s sister [[Lady Florence Dixie, feminist, big game hunter, and war correspondent]] Queensberry was a patron of sport and a noted boxing enthusiast. In 1866 he was one of the founders of the Amateur Athletic Club, now the Amateur Athletic Association of England, one of the first groups that did not require amateur athletes to belong to the upper-classes in order to compete. The following year the Club published a set of twelve rules for conducting boxing matches. The rules had been drawn up by John Graham Chambers but appeared under Queensberry’s sponsorship and are universally known at the "Marquess of Queensberry rules". The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and FableHarris, Brian (2008) Intolerance: divided societies on trial p.182. Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing, 2008

Queensberry, a keen rider, was also active in fox hunting and owned several successful race horses. As a rider his first winner was in the Dumfriesshire Hunt Club chase in 1865, his last at Sandown Park in 1883. He was Master of the Worcester Fox Hounds in 1870. He was on the committee of the National Hunt but never won a Grand National as a rider, a last-minute substitution on the victorious "Old Joe" keeping him out of the 1886 National. During his riding career he recovered from a series of serious injuries.

Dispute with Oscar Wilde

In February 1895, angered by the apparent ongoing homosexual relationship between author Oscar Wilde and his son Alfred, Queensberry called Wilde a "somdomite" (sic) in handwriting on a visiting card at Wilde’s club. Wilde sued for criminal libel, leading to Queensberry’s arrest.

Queensberry’s lawyers, headed by barrister Edward Carson, portrayed Wilde as a vicious older man who seduced innocent young boys into a life of degenerate homosexuality. Wilde dropped the libel case when Queensberry’s lawyers informed the court that they intended to call several male prostitutes as witnesses to testify that they had had sex with Wilde. According to the Libel Act 1843, proving the truth of the accusation and a public interest in its exposure was a defence against a libel charge, and Wilde’s lawyers concluded that the prostitutes’ testimony was likely to do that. Queensberry won a counterclaim against Wilde for the considerable expenses he had incurred on lawyers and private detectives in organising his defence. Wilde was left bankrupt; his assets were seized and sold at auction to pay the claim.

Queensberry then sent the evidence collected by his detectives to Scotland Yard, which resulted in Wilde being charged and convicted of gross indecency under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. His health and reputation were destroyed, Wilde went into exile in France and died at the Hotel d’Alsace in Paris in 1900, ten months after Queensberry.

Ancestry

Political career

In 1872, Queensberry was chosen by the Peers of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords as a representative peer. He served as such until 1880, when he was again nominated but refused to take the religious oath of allegiance to the Sovereign. An outspoken atheist, he declared that he would not participate in any "Christian tomfoolery" and that his word should suffice. As a consequence neither he nor Charles Bradlaugh, who had also refused to take the oath after being elected to the House of Commons, were allowed to take their seats in Parliament. This prompted an apology from the new Prime Minister, William Gladstone. Bradlaugh was re-elected four times by the constituents of Northampton until he was finally allowed to take his seat in 1886. Queensberry, however, was never again sent to Parliament by the Scottish nobles.