Robbie Ross

Robert Baldwin Ross was a British journalist, art critic and art dealer, best known for his relationship with Oscar Wilde, to whom he was a devoted friend, lover, and literary executor. A grandson of the Canadian reform leader Robert Baldwin, and son of John Ross and Augusta Elizabeth Baldwin, Ross was a pivotal figure on the London literary and artistic scene from the mid-1890s to his early death, and mentored several literary figures, including Siegfried Sassoon. His open homosexuality, in a period when male homosexual acts were illegal, brought him many hardships.

25 May 1869

Born on the same birth day (25 May): Anne Heche • Anthea Turner • Cillian Murphy • Demba Ba • Jean Alexandre Barré • Louis Franchet d'Espèrey • Mike Myers • Ralph Waldo Emerson • Raymond Carver • Robert MacPherson (mathematician) • Samuel Ward (Rhode Island politician) • U Nu

Born in the same month (May 1869): Archibald Warden • Arthur Rostron • Carl Schuhmann • Fabián de la Rosa • Grace Andrews (mathematician) • Hans Pfitzner • John Storey (politician) • Junnosuke Inoue • Lucy Beaumont (actress) • Mehmet Emin Yurdakul • Paul Probst (sport shooter)