100 Heroes: Lord Ronald Gower
The gay man who inspired Oscar Wilde.
Born in 1845, Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland-Leveson-Gower was a British sculptor - one of his works is a statue of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon.
He was also a member of parliament and a writer.
Gower came from an aristocratic family - his father was the Duke of Sutherland.
He was educated at Eton and studied at Cambridge.
Gower was a prominent figure in England. He was a contemporary of Oscar Wilde. It's generally assumed that he was Oscar Wilde's model for Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde's story, The Portrait of Mr W.H. is also seen as a comment on Gower's social circle.
Gower was involved in numerous scandals - generally in some way connected to allegations of homosexuality and impropriety. He was implicated as being a client of the Cleveland Street male brothel, which was raided by police in 1889.
His most significant relationship seems to have been Frank Hird, who was nearly 30 years his junior. They met when Hird was 20.
Gower died in 1916.
