British Library Reinstates Oscar Wilde's Reader Pass 130 Years After Expelling Him

By Will Noble

Last Updated 16 June 2025

Will Noble British Library Reinstates Oscar Wilde's Reader Pass 130 Years After Expelling Him

Oscars Wilde and a book entry — An entry in the top right hand corner of the Trustees Papers shows Wilde's expulsion from the British Museum's Reading Room. Image: British Museum Archive © The Trustees of the British Museum/public domain

On 15 June 1895, Oscar Wilde was officially excluded from the British Museum's Reading Room, now the British Library.

It was one of the many humiliations that the great writer and wit faced, having been found guilty of "gross indecency", namely sexual relations with another man.

Now — 130 years on — the British Library has announced it will symbolically reinstate Wilde's Reader Pass, handing it to Wilde's only grandson Merlin Holland in October 2025 at a special event at the Library.

The cheque — In 2000, a benevolent stranger paid off a long-standing debt of Wilde's at Lock & Co hatters. Image: Londonist

Says Holland — whose new book, After Oscar, publishes around the same time he'll receive the pass: "Oscar had been in Pentonville prison for three weeks when his ticket to the British Museum Reading Room was cancelled, so he wouldn't have known about it, which was probably as well. I think it would have just added to his misery to feel that one of the world's great libraries had banned him from books just as the Law had banned him from daily life.

"But the restitution of his ticket is a lovely gesture of forgiveness and I'm sure his spirit will be touched and delighted."

This is not the first time Wilde has been retrospectively rehabilitated. In 2000, a benevolent stranger paid off a long-standing debt of Wilde's at Lock & Co hatters. The cheque made out was for £3.30.