Robert Sherard
Robert Harborough Sherard (3 December 1861 – 30 January 1943) was an English writer and journalist. He was a friend, and the first biographer, of Oscar Wilde, as well as being Wilde's most prolific biographer in the first half of the twentieth century.
Also recorded as Robert Harborough Sherard · Robert H. Sherard · R. H. Sherard
Robert Sherard
Unknown (Life time: n.d.) · Original publication: My Friends the French by Sherard, Robert Harborough Immediate source · Public domain
- Born
- 1861. · England.
- Died
- 1943.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom.
- Occupation
- poet, autobiographer, novelist, journalist, biographer and writer.
- Fields
- literature and journalism.
- Education
- Elizabeth College, University of Oxford and University of Bonn.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q742170 · wikipedia · Robert Sherard
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Early life
Early life
Born on 3 December 1861 at Putney, London, England, Sherard began life as Robert Harborough Sherard Kennedy and was the son of the Reverend Bennet Sherard Calcraft Kennedy (an illegitimate son of Robert Sherard, 6th Earl of Harborough by the actress Emma Love). His mother was Jane Stanley Wordsworth, a granddaughter of the poet William Wordsworth. He dropped the surname Kennedy upon moving to Paris in late 1882 after a quarrel with his father, who cut him off from the expected family inheritance. Sherard was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, the University of Oxford and the University of Bonn.
Documentary record
Robert Sherard, born on 12 March 1861 in Melton Mowbray, United Kingdom and died on 30 January 1943 in London, is documented in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Both events are recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Career
Career
Sherard wrote about the effects of immigration into England and his articles have been described as xenophobic and antisemitic. Whilst he was an "outspoken anti-semitic observer of 'social problems'", he denied he was motivated by hatred of Jews.
Personal life
Personal life
Sherard married three times. In 1887 he married Marthe Lipska, a daughter of the Baron de Stern. They divorced in 1906 and he married the American novelist, poet and dramatist, Irene Osgood in 1908. They divorced in 1915, and he married Alice Muriel Fiddian in 1928. He died in Ealing in west London in January 1943, aged 81.
Biographies
Biographies
Émile Zola: A Biographical and Critical Study. London: Chatto & Windus, 1893. Alphonse Daudet: a biographical and critical study (1894) My First Voyage, My First Lie (1901) in collaboration with Alphonse Daudet Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship. The Hermes Press, 1902. The Life of Oscar Wilde. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1906. The Real Oscar Wilde: To be used as a Supplement to, and in Illustration of "The Life of Oscar Wilde". London: T. Werner Laurie, 1917. The Life and Evil Fate of Guy de Maupassant (1926) Oscar Wilde Twice Defended from André Gide's Wicked Lies and Frank Harris's Cruel Libels; to Which Is Added a Reply to George Bernard Shaw, a Refutation of Dr G.J. Renier's Statements, a Letter to the Author from Lord Alfred Douglas and an Interview with Bernard Shaw by Hugh Kingsmill. Chicago: Argus Book Shop, 1934. Bernard Shaw, Frank Harris and Oscar Wilde. New York: Greystone Press, 1937.
Novels
Novels
A Bartered Honour (1883) The American Marquis (1888) Rogues (1889) Agatha's Quest (1890) By Right Not Law (1891) The Typewritten Letter (1891) Jacob Niemand (1895) The Iron Cross (1897) Wolves: An Old Story Retold (1904) After the Fault (1906)
Poetry
Poetry
Whispers (1884)
Non-fiction
Non-fiction
The White Slaves of England (1897) (originally serialised in Pearson's Magazine) The Cry of the Poor (1901) The Closed Door (1902) The Child Slaves of Britain (1905) Modern Paris: Some Sidelights on Its Inner Life. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1912.
Autobiography
Autobiography
Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship. London: privately printed, 1902. London: Greening & Co., 1905. Twenty Years in Paris: Being Some Recollections of a Literary Life. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1905.
Papers
Papers
University of Reading (Reading, UK) (Papers purchased 1 February 1964 from Rupert Hart-Davis).
In popular culture
In popular culture
Sherard is a character in the Oscar Wilde Mystery series written by Gyles Brandreth.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1861
Robert Sherard born.
1943
Robert Sherard died.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Robert Sherard, revision 1372621008 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sherard, Robert. Mr. Sherard's Descent from Wordsworth. The New York Times. 16 April 1898.
- 2.SHERARD, Robert Harborough. Who's Who. 59. 1598. 1907.
- 3.Keating, P.J., Into unknown England, 1866–1913: selections from the social explorers, page 174
- 4.Thompson, Ralph. BOOKS OF THE TIMES; To Expose a Fraud. The New York Times. 20 January 1937.
- 5.Holmes, Colin Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1876-1939 (1979) pp37–38
- 6.Strauss, Herbert Arthur (editor) Hostages of Modernization: Germany - Great Britain - France: Studies on Modern Antisemitism, 1870-1933/39 (1993) p357
- 7.WROTE HIS WIFE'S BOOKS.; Such Is Claim of Robert Sherard Against "Irene Osgood.". The New York Times. 9 April 1911.
- 8.DIVORCE FOR IRENE OSGOOD.; American Writer Gets a Decree Against Robert H. Sherard. The New York Times. 20 January 1915.
- 9.Oxford Reference. Robert H. Sherard. www.oxfordreference.com.
- 10.England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
- 11.ROBERT H. SHERARD. The New York Times. 2 February 1943.
- 12.Review: My First Voyage. By Alphonse Daudet and Robert H. Sherard. The Literary World. 63. 175. 1901.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q742170: Robert SherardWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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