Editing Robbie Ross (section)

===Oscar Wilde===
[[File:Robert Ross.jpg|thumb|left|Robert Ross]]
Ross found work as a journalist and critic but he did not escape scandal. He is believed to have become Oscar Wilde's first male lover in 1886, even before he went to Cambridge. In 1893, a few years before Wilde's imprisonment, Ross had a sexual relationship with a boy of sixteen, the son of friends. The boy confessed to his parents that he had engaged in sexual activity with Ross and also admitted to a sexual encounter with [[Lord Alfred Douglas]] while he was a guest at Ross's house. After a good deal of panic and frantic meetings with solicitors, the parents were persuaded not to go to the police, since at that time their son might be seen as equally guilty and face the possibility of going to prison.<ref>Richard Ellmann. (1987). ''Oscar Wilde''.</ref>

On 1 March 1895, Wilde, Douglas, and Ross approached a solicitor, Charles Octavius Humphreys, with the intention of suing the [[John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry|Marquess of Queensberry]], Douglas's father, for [[criminal libel]]. Humphreys asked Wilde directly whether there was any truth to Queensberry's allegations of homosexual activity between Wilde and Douglas, to which Wilde replied “No.” Humphreys applied for a warrant for Queensberry's arrest, and approached [[Edward Clarke (barrister)|Sir Edward Clarke]] and [[Charles Willie Mathews]] to represent Wilde. His son, [[Travers Humphreys]], appeared as junior counsel for the prosecution in the subsequent case of [[Oscar Wilde#Wilde v. Queensberry|''Wilde v Queensberry'']].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wilde/wildeaccount.html|title=An Account of the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde|website=law2.umkc.edu|access-date=3 June 2021|last=Linder|first=Douglas O.}}</ref>

The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to an arrest warrant for him on charges of [[sodomy]] and [[gross indecency]].
Ross found Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel, in [[Knightsbridge]], with [[Reginald Turner]]. Both men advised Wilde to get a boat-train to France, but he refused. His mother had advised him to stay and fight, and Wilde reportedly said: "The train has gone. It's too late."<ref>[http://oscarwildes.de/about-oscar-wilde About Oscar Wilde]. ''oscarwildes.de''.</ref> Following Wilde's imprisonment in 1895, Ross went abroad but he returned to offer both financial and emotional support to Wilde during his last years. Ross remained loyal to Wilde and was with him when he died in Paris on 30&nbsp;November 1900.