Isola Wilde 150th Anniversary Memorial - 26 February 2017

St. John's Church and the Old Rectory, Edgeworthstown

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Isola Francesca Emily Wilde was the younger sister of writer Oscar Wilde. In 1867 Isola was living in the rectory in Edgeworthstown with her aunt, Margaret Noble and her husband Rev. William Noble who was the rector of St. John's Church at the time. On the 23 February Isola succumbed to a fever shortly before her 10th birthday. Isola's passing had a profound effect on the family as a whole, and especially 12-year-old Oscar with whom she was especially close. He carried a lock of her hair and later wrote the poem Requesciat about her death. A section of this poem is inscribed on a memorial erected to Isola in the grounds of St. John's in 2013 to mark the year of The Gathering. 

On the 26th February 2017, an event was held by the Edgeworthstown Literary Trail to mark the 150th Anniversary of her death. The memorial included music by Mostrim Music Club, a reading of Requesciat by Declan Neville, and an interesting talk on the effect of Isola's death by Dr. Jarlath Killeen of the Oscar Wilde Centre,  Trinity College Dublin along with poetry read by students of the centre.