Algernon Swinburne

British poet of the Pre-Raphaelite movement whose unconventional views and personal life shocked society, notably with his work, "Poems and Ballads." He also caused society to shudder with his play, "Atlanta In Calydon."

Known as a masochist who loved to be flogged, he was suspected of being a homosexual, although no hard evidence was present. Dissipation undermined his health and he lived a quiet life after 1880. When he was dying of alcoholic dysentery in 1879, an admirer of his work, Theodore Watts, took him into his care and gave him 30 years more of stable, healthy life. They rented a house together where Watts' care was so tactful that he was unobtrusive; for example, he weaned Swinburne from hard liquor to pale ale. Their close friendship even survived Watts' marriage, to a 21-year-old girl when he was 73.

Four years later, in 1909, Swinburne wandered off onto Wimbledon Common and, wet through, caught a fatal chill which led to double pneumonia. He died quietly on 10 April 1909, 10:00 AM, with a smile on his lips. Strongly anti-religious, he had made Watts promise that there would be no burial service. To suit the family, there was a compromise: the vicar read the service on the way to the burial site.