Physician, born in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, WC Ireland. He studied at London, Berlin, and Vienna, and on his return to Dublin served as medical commissioner on the Irish Census (1841 and 1851), publishing a major medical report, The Epidemics of Ireland (1851). The same year he married Jane Elgee and, in 1854, she gave birth to their son Oscar. He wrote on ocular and aural surgery, pioneered the operation for mastoiditis, invented an ophthalmoscope, and founded St Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital. He was an antiquarian of significance, publishing a major catalogue of the holdings of the Royal Irish Academy.
Sir William Robert Wills Wilde (1815–April 19, 1876), today best known for being the father of Oscar Wilde, was a man of prominence in his own day. Wilde was Ireland's leading ear and eye surgeon and he also wrote books on history, archaeology and folklore particularly concerning his native Ireland.
William Wilde received his initial education at the Elphin Diocesan School in Elphin, County Roscommon and subsequently earned his medical doctorate in 1837. He became Sir William Wilde, while his wife became Lady Wilde. In his medical practice Wilde was assisted by his natural son Henry Wilson, who had been trained in Dublin,Vienna, Heidelberg, Berlin, and Paris. Wilson’s presence enabled Wilde to visit Scandinavia, where he received an honorary degree from Uppsala, and was welcomed in Stockholm by Retzius, among others. Wilde married the poet Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee in 1851, also known as Speranza. The couple had two sons: Willie and Oscar Wilde, and a daughter, Isola Francesca.
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