At the museum: the original dock in Court 2 where Oscar Wilde stood [Ash Knotek]

ON February 14 1895, Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest premiered at the St James’s Theatre.

But two months later his world was turned upside down after he was arrested and committed at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court for “gross indecency”.

Now the dock that he faced the charges at is being restored and reopened to the public for the first time since the court’s closure 20 years ago.

The Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice has won more than £100,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver an installation and exhibition examining the relationship between LGBTQ+ people and the criminal justice system.

Oscar Wilde by Napoléon Sarony

Museum director Simon Tansley said: “This funding allows us not only to conserve an extraordinary piece of heritage directly linked to Oscar Wilde but to work alongside LGBTQ+ communities to tell powerful, relevant, stories that resonate today.

“This project represents a major step forward for the museum and for how we share the stories of crime and justice.”

Triggered by a failed libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry, the Old Bailey trials of Wilde explode his relationships with young men, turning the celebrated playwright into a convicted figure. Wilde faced 25 counts of gross indecency under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act.

The project will look at many other real-life crime stories from the court and connected police station that shut in 2006.

The funding is mainly being spent on making the dock where Wilde stood accessible to the public.

The cell corridor [Ash Knotek]

An exhibition is also being set up to look at past and present experiences of crime, justice, and equality.

At the heart of the project is the conservation of the original dock from Court 2 at Bow Street – used for more than 125 years – where Wilde and countless others stood before the magistrates.

It will look at how laws, attitudes, and lived experiences have evolved from the late 19th century to the present.

The museum is offering volunteers the chance to come and work with the conservation project in “hands-on” experiences and take part in workshops.

There will be living-memory storytelling and events that aim to “amplify voices that have historically been marginalised” or excluded from crime and justice narratives, the museum said.

One of the cells [Cristian Barnett]

Echoes from the Dock is intended as the starting point for a deeper exploration of the many different experiences, interactions, and perspectives connected to crime and justice at Bow Street and beyond, across all communities.

Stuart McLeod, director of England, London and South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “As we mark LGBT+ History Month, it is especially meaningful to highlight heritage that has too often been overlooked.

“Echoes from the Dock will not only share the important stories from 1895 to now but also create space for today’s LGBTQ+ communities to share their lived experiences and help shape how this heritage is understood for future generations.”

The Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice is a registered charity.