Charles Thomas Wooldridge Charles Thomas Wooldridge ( c . 1866 – 7 July 1896 ) was a Trooper in the Royal Horse Guards who was executed in Reading Gaol for the murder of his wife and who , as ' C . T . W ' , was the dedicatee of Oscar Wilde ' s " The Ballad of Reading Gaol " . The son of Eleanor ( born c . 1827 ) and Charles Wooldridge ( born c . 1824 ) , Wooldridge was born in East Garston and joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1886 . He married Laura Ellen " Nell " Glendell ( 1873 – 1896 ) in 1894 when his regiment was posted to Windsor . However , as his commanding officer had not given permission for the wedding to take place she was " off the strength " ' and so was unable to join her husband when his regiment moved from Windsor to Regent ' s Park barracks in London , forcing the couple to live apart and putting a strain on the marriage . At first the couple were devoted to each other , despite the enforced separation . " Nell " Wooldridge was of a lively and flirtatious nature , while Charles Wooldridge was of a jealous and suspicious disposition ; consequently , they argued a great deal when they were together . By March 1896 she had started to use her maiden name again , and when he visited her Wooldridge attacked his wife and blacked her eyes and injured her nose . From then on she avoided Wooldridge , refusing to see him . Having heard rumours that she was having an affair with either another soldier or an official at the General Post Office where she worked , and having received a document from her to sign stating that he would stay away from her , he arranged to meet Laura Ellen outside Regent ' s Park barracks on 29 March 1896 ; but when she failed to turn up he travelled to her lodgings at Clewer , near Windsor . A violent argument ensued , which spilled out on to the street outside , where he used a cut - throat razor he had taken with him to cut her throat before giving himself up to Police Constable Forster , who arrested him and took him to Windsor Police Station . At his subsequent trial he was defended by H . S . Wood of High Wycombe , but the jury took just two minutes to find him guilty , despite Wood ' s attempts to get the charge reduced to manslaughter because of Nell ' s unfaithfulness . Wood set up a petition for a reprieve and , assisted by a Miss Eleanor Grave , succeeded in gaining a great number of signatures . However , the trial judge , Judge Hawkins , stated that Wooldridge ' s taking the cut - throat razor with him to Windsor was evidence of premeditation and so refused to consider a reprieve . In Reading Gaol Wooldridge told the prison chaplain that he was filled with grief and remorse at having killed his beloved wife , and resisted attempts at a reprieve ( including a recommendation for clemency from the jury that convicted him ) by petitioning the Home Secretary Sir Matthew White Ridley for the sentence to be allowed to be carried out . On the morning of the execution Wooldridge attended a service in the prison chapel , showed repentance for his terrible crime and was resigned to his fate . Because of " The Ballad of Reading Gaol " Wooldridge became the most famous person ever to be executed at Reading . The executioner was James Billington , whose use of a longer drop than usual stretched Wooldridge ' s neck by eleven inches . He was aged only 30 when executed . The Ballad of Reading Gaol . Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol when Wooldridge was hanged there on Saturday 7 July 1896 ; the two never met but Wilde would observe the condemned man during silent exercise periods in the prison yard , known as the ' Fools ' Parade ' . The execution of Wooldridge ( known as " C . T . W " in the poem ) had a profound effect on Wilde , inspiring the line in the Ballad " Yet each man kills the thing he loves " . Wilde was mistaken in his belief that Woodbridge killed his wife in her home , contemporary reports stating that the murder was committed in the street .