Although the world is shining the spotlight on Oscar Wilde, an Irish writer during the nineteenth century, his wife, Constance, has also been an occasional subject, especially when it comes to her manner of death. How did she die?
For many years, her death from a mysterious illness has left many people dumbfounded. But that may have been already solved by none other than her descendant Merlin Holland and some of her unpublished letters.
First appearing in Lancet, the research suggested that more than 115 years ago, Constance may have died from multiple sclerosis when she was still 40 years old.
During that time, she was living in Genoa, Italy, with her children after leaving London. If you are not familiar with what happened to Oscar, he was imprisoned for a few years of hard labor because of his homosexuality. His wife eventually changed their family name to Holland.
By 1889, the first symptoms of her disease appeared. She developed lameness in one of her legs. It got worse that she needed a walking aide. Over the years it worsened where she developed pain in her head, back, and arms.
She went to see two doctors, who suggested some eccentric types of treatments such as electricity and baths. One of them even mentioned going through gynaecological surgeries. However, according to one of her letters in 1896, she was already tired of her doctors who seemed could not find what's really wrong with her.
By the time she died, she had already become paralyzed on half of her face and she was extremely tired.
Interestingly, around this time, multiple sclerosis has already been recognized. In fact, some of the earliest records of the disease first appeared during the 1860s, many years before her initial symptoms happened. The problem is it was so misunderstood that patients like Constance might have been misdiagnosed.
