Charles Hamilton Aidé

Aide was born in Paris, France. His father, a Greek exile, of good character, was killed in a duel when Aide was four years old. He was thereafter raised in England by his mother, who was the daughter of British Admiral George Collier. Aide attended the University of Bonn, then served in the British army seven years until 1853, attaining the rank of captain. He was an acquaintance to English novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. In a 1858 letter to publisher George Smith, she described him as such: A homosexual bachelor, Aide lived in Lyndhurst with his mother. After her death in 1875, he then "took rooms at Queen Anne's Gate where he hosted a celebrated salon which drew 'the chief figures in the social and artistic world of France as well as England. He was one of the male companions of Henry James, who characterised him as "the Diane de Poitiers of our time". He died in London, leaving his papers to Morton Fullerton.

• Rita: An Autobiography (1858) • Confidences (1859) • Carr of Carrlyon (1862) • Mr. and Mrs. Faulconbridge (1864) • The Marstons (1868) • In That State of Life (1871) • Morals and Mysteries (1872) • Penruddocke (1873) • A Nine Days' Wonder: A Novelette (1875) • Poet and Peer (1880) • Introduced to Society (1884) • Passages in the Life of a Lady, 1814-1815-1816 (1887) • The Cliff Mystery (1888) • A Voyage of Discovery: A Novel of American Society (1892) • Elizabeth's Pretenders (1895) • Jane Treachel (1899) • The Snares of the World (1901) • Dr Bill, three-act farce adapted from the French Le Docteur Jo-Jo of Albert Carré

He also worked under the name Rita. The authorities additionally record the headings Charles Hamilton Aide and Hamilton Aïdé. His recorded language was English.

Charles Hamilton Aidé is recorded as novelist, writer, poet, playwright and painter.