Talk:Ernest Dowson

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"In 1891 Dowson fell in love with the 12-year-old daughter of a Polish restaurant owner."

—What? A restaurant owner you say? Scandalous! This is my idea of literary criticism. --Wetman 16:48, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Date of death

I notice that at the beginning of the gutenberg text of The Poems And Prose Of Ernest Dowson ( http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/7pped10.txt ) the date of his death is given as February 21, 1900. Further on in Arthur Symons' introduction it is given as February 23. Symnos seems to know many details, and the preface was written in 1900, the year of Dowson's death, so I am tempted to trust his date, which agrees with the article's. But how sure are we of this date? What sources are there? — Stumps 16:34, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Interesting, I wasn't aware there were any conflicts. I have Jad Adams' book on my shelf, I'll see what it says this afternoon. · Katefan0^(scribble) 16:38, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Adams' book says that Dowson dictated his last letter on Feb. 22, then died the next day; funeral on the 27th. So Symons' date is correct, at least according to this source. · Katefan0^(scribble) 04:19, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

The date was added from the Jad Adams book originally, by the way. Charles Matthews 08:23, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adelaide Foltinowicz, her marriage, and Dowson's father's death

According to Jad Adams's biography, Madder Music, Stronger Wine, Adelaide Foltinowicz was 11 when Dowson first saw her in November 1889. He wrote in a letter on 24 December 1889 that he was dining at her father's restaurant every night and that 'little Mademoiselle de Poland is beginning to greet me with a smile' - if a date can be put on when he 'fell in love', that seems to indicate the symptoms. Adelaide did not marry a waiter in her father's restaurant, but a tailor, Augustus Noelte, who lodged in rooms above it; and the marriage was in 1897, not 1893. Dowson's father died on 15 August 1894 (not 1895) of an overdose of chloral hydrate. It was widely believed among Dowson's friends that he had committed suicide, but there was no inquest and hence no verdict of suicide. Dowson's mother hanged herself on 4 February 1895; the verdict was suicide while temporarily insane. Also, the dry-dock where Dowson worked with his father was not a 'new' business, but had been inherited from Dowson's grandfather, Christopher Dowson. Jad Adams says the Dowson family had owned 'property on the Thames for many generations'. John Gibbens 15:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Oscar Wilde

I feel this article should make some reference to Oscar Wilde. Dowson proved a loyal friend after Wilde's fall from favour. He was one of only three friends to go to court on the day Wilde received his verdict. (The others were Robert Sherard and Lord Douglas of Hawick, the elder brother of Lord Alfred Douglas. This is Sherard's account - and some contemporaries, notably Arthur Symons, regard him as an unreliable source.) Dowson also spent time with Wilde in France after the latter's release from prison in 1897.John Gibbens 18:49, 25 January 2007 (UTC)