One of the most gifted of the circle of English poets of the 1890s, known as the decadents.
Both his parents died, his father of an overdose, and his mother hung herself.
He fell in love with an 11-year-old girl, Adelaide, who declined his offer of marriage and went on to marry one of her father’s waiters.
Dowson pursued her for the next 6 years, drowning the pain of his unrequited love in wine and women.
He died of Tuberculosis at the age of 32.