Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales is a criminal court building in London that was built in 1902 and designed by Edward William Mountford. The building gets the nickname "Old Bailey" from the street it sits on, which followed the same path as the ancient wall that was around London and part of the fortification's bailey. It is well-known from the 1859 Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities. In the novel, Dickens portrays Old Bailey as a fearful place that embodies the uncompromising harshness of the law. This is also where Oscar Wilde was found guilty for "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years in prison.

Parent Map

Map: Race, Gender, Class, Sex

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.515509300000
Longitude: -0.102021900000

Timeline of Events Associated with Old Bailey

Date Event Manage
14 Aug 1885

Criminal Law Amendment Act

British Coat of ArmsCriminal Law Amendment Act passed on 14 August 1885. The Act raised the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16 and introduced the misdemeanor of “gross indecency” to criminalize sexual acts between men in public or private. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Related Articles

Mary Jean Corbett, “On Crawford v. Crawford and Dilke, 1886″

Andrew Elfenbein, “On the Trials of Oscar Wilde: Myths and Realities”
Apr 1895 to May 1895

Trials of Oscar Wilde

photo of WildeThe trials of Oscar Wilde, which occurred in April and May of 1895, have become legendary as a turning-point in the history of public awareness of homosexuality. By their close, Wilde had gone from being a triumphantly successful playwright to a ruined man, condemned to two years of hard labor for gross indecency. They garnered extensive coverage first in the London press and then in newspapers around the world; the story of the trials continues to be retold in ways that have persistent relevance for contemporary queer culture. Image: Photograph of Oscar Wilde, by Napoleon Sarony. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Andrew Elfenbein, “On the Trials of Oscar Wilde: Myths and Realities”