Editing William Wilde (section)

==Early life and career==
[[File:William Wilde young.jpg|thumb|left|Sketch of William Wilde by J.H. Maguire, 1847]]
William Wilde was born at Kilkeevin, near [[Castlerea]], in [[County Roscommon]], the youngest of the three sons and two daughters of a prominent local medical practitioner, Thomas Wills Wilde, and his wife, Amelia Flynne (d. c.1844).<ref name="James McGeachie 1876">McGeachie, James (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/29403 'Wilde, Sir William Robert Wills (1815–1876)'] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press.</ref> His family were members of the [[Church of Ireland]]. He was descended from a Dutchman, Colonel de Wilde, who went to Ireland with [[William III of England|King William of Orange]]'s [[Battle of the Boyne|invasion army]] in 1690, and numerous [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]] ancestors. He received his initial education at the Elphin Diocesan School in [[Elphin, County Roscommon]]. In 1832, Wilde was bound as an apprentice to [[Abraham Colles]], the pre-eminent Irish surgeon of the day, at Dr Steevens' Hospital in [[Dublin]]. He was also taught by the surgeons James Cusack and [[Sir Philip Crampton, 1st Baronet|Sir Philip Crampton]] and the physician [[Sir Henry Marsh, 1st Baronet|Sir Henry Marsh]]. Wilde also studied at the private and highly respected school of anatomy, medicine, and surgery in Park Street (later Lincoln Place), Dublin.<ref name="James McGeachie 1876" /> In 1837, he earned his medical degree from the [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland]]. In the same year, Wilde embarked on an eight-month cruise to the [[Holy Land]] with a recovering patient, visiting various cities and islands throughout the [[Mediterranean]]. [[Porpoise]]s were flung on board the ship, ''Crusader'', and Wilde dissected them. Taking notes, he eventually composed a two-volume book on the nursing habits of the creatures.<ref name = "Barbara Belford">Belford, Barbara (2000) ''Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius'', Random House, Inc. {{ISBN|0679457348}}</ref> Among the places he visited on this tour was [[Egypt]]. In a tomb, he found the mummified remains of a dwarf and salvaged the torso to bring back to Ireland. He also collected embalmed ibises.

Once back in Ireland, Wilde published an article in the ''[[Dublin University Magazine]]'' suggesting that one of the "[[Cleopatra's Needle, London|Cleopatra's Needle]]s" be transported to England (eventually in 1878 one of the Needles was transported to London, and in 1880 [[Cleopatra's Needle (New York)|the other one]] was brought to New York's Central Park).<ref name = "Barbara Belford" /> In 1873 he was awarded the Cunningham Gold Medal by the [[Royal Irish Academy]].<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/SirWilliamWilde.php|title= Sir William Robert Wills Wilde|publisher= Library Ireland|access-date = 31 October 2014}}</ref> Wilde was a founder member of the [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]] [[Home Government Association]], established by his Trinity College Dublin colleague [[Isaac Butt]] as the precursor to the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Golden |first1=J.J. |title=The Protestant Influence on the Origins of Irish Home Rule, 1861–1871 |date=2013 |publisher=The English Historical Review |location=London |pages=1483–1516 |edition=Volume 128, Issue 535 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/128/535/1483/392864}}</ref>