Background
According to Vyvyan Holland’s accounts in his autobiography, Son of Oscar Wilde, Oscar was a devoted and loving father to his two sons and their childhood was a relatively happy one.
1889
Cyril Wilde with his mother Constance.
1896
Cyril (left) and his brother, Vyvyan in Heidelberg.
Kennington Rd, Radley, Abingdon OX14 2HR, UK
Cyril studied at Radley College.
Cyril studied at Royal Military Academy.
Cyril Holland
Cyril Holland
Cyril Holland in childhood
Cyril Holland in childhood
According to Vyvyan Holland’s accounts in his autobiography, Son of Oscar Wilde, Oscar was a devoted and loving father to his two sons and their childhood was a relatively happy one.
However, after Oscar"s imprisonment for gross indecency, Constance chose to take on the surname Holland for both the boys and herself.
She took the boys to Switzerland and then enrolled them in an English-speaking school in Germany. From 1899 to 1903 Cyril attended Radley College. After leaving school he became a Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery, on 20 December 1905.
He was promoted to Lieutenant on 20 December 1908 and served in the United Kingdom until he was posted to India, where he served from September 1911 until 1914 with Number. 9 Ammunition Column, RFA at Secunderabad. He was promoted to Captain on 30 October 1914. When the First World War broke out, Captain Holland was posted back to Europe and took part in the battle for Neuve-Chapelle, where he was killed by a German sniper on 9 May 1915, during the Battle of Festubert. He is buried at Street Vaast Post Military Cemetery, Richebourg-l"Avoué.