Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle 9780755624119, 9781780768205

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Frontispiece: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) from an assisted self-portrait taken in 1875, from the author’s collection Archdeacon Charles Dodgson, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1859 Lucy Lutwidge, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1859 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) from a photograph by Reginald Southey, taken in 1856 James Tate, from a photograph in The History of Richmond School Bartholomew Price, from a photograph in the collection of the late Dr Francis Price Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an assisted self-portrait taken in 1856, from the author’s collection Alexander Macmillan, from a portrait painted by Sir Hubert von Herkomer in 1887 Frederick Macmillan, from a photograph by Dickinson, New Bond Street, published in The Sketch, July 1894 John Tenniel, from a photograph by John and Charles Watkins, c.1860 Harry Furniss photographed by Elliott and Fry, c.1890 E. Gertrude Thomson, from a photograph by A. Ford Smith, c.1885 William Spottiswoode, from an engraving, c.1880 John Venn, from a portrait at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Reginald Southey, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1860 Oscar Rejlander, from a photograph in the RPS collection, c.1862

ii 5 10 20 24 39 40 52 59 69 100 112 121 137 154 171

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List of Figures

16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

Dante G. Rossetti, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1863 Arthur Sullivan, photograph by Ellis & Walery, c.1870 Ellen Terry, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1865 Tom Taylor, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1863 Robinson Duckworth, from a photograph probably by CLD, taken in 1876 Alice Liddell, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1858 Gertrude Chataway, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1876 George Denman, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1873 Henry Acland, photograph by Maull & Polyblanke, c.1857 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, from an assisted self-portrait taken in 1876 Prince Leopold, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1875 Alfred Tennyson, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1857 Thomas Gibson Bowles from a portrait by T. H. Chartron

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178 190 208 216 231 245 261 274 284 296 319 334 355

Family Trees 1. The Dodgson Family Tree, constructed by the author 2. The Lutwidge Family Tree, constructed by the author

2 3

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FOREWORD

Lewis Carroll is many things: a play on words, a nom de plume, a screen to protect a living person from intrusive curiosity. Charles Dodgson, whose pen name it was, has remained a source of continuing fascination. Who was the man who invented the stories of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and who composed the sublime nonsense of The Hunting of the Snark? What was he like? Some of his former mathematics students were themselves astonished to learn that Lewis Carroll was Charles Dodgson. One of them, Lord Redesdale, said that he could never have guessed that the uncharismatic teacher who delivered his lectures in a ‘singularly dry and perfunctory manner’ was ‘hatching in his fertile brain such a miracle of fancy and fun as Alice in Wonderland’. Charles Dodgson was himself many things. He was a storyteller, parodist, verse writer, mathematician, logician and artist-photographer. He was a devoted son, entertainer of his ten siblings, a brother who saw to it that his unmarried sisters should never live in want. For forty-seven years he was a member of Christ Church in Oxford, arriving as an undergraduate at the age of 18 and dying as a senior student and member of the governing body of Christ Church at the age of 65. He kept scrupulous records of his diverse activities, but they are not journals of psychological introspection. Succeeding generations, however, in their fascination with the person behind the name, have probed aspects of his life story and suggested different interpretations of his works. Some who have written about him have transferred anachronistic mindsets and worldviews onto Dodgson and his world. In Edward Wakeling’s book we have a new enterprise. Wakeling, the editor of the ten volumes of Dodgson’s diaries, introduces us to Lewis Carroll in the flesh and blood contexts of his circle or, perhaps – to use a mathematical image – the

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contexts of the circles within his circle. These were his family, academic associates, book producers, photographers, professional people and acquaintances. Wakeling has an exhaustive knowledge of the primary sources, including previously undiscovered and unpublished letters. He presents a wealth of little-known and meticulously researched background material to paint a picture of Dodgson and his circle which breathes with life. Everything Wakeling says is based on a careful assessment of the sources. At moments the text is racy; at other times, the text describes with clarity the topics of mathematics and logic that absorbed Dodgson. At yet other times, Wakeling quietly explodes some of the myths that have been circulated by speculative and ignorant authors. Above all, he introduces us to Lewis Carroll’s family, friends, associates and acquaintances. We hear them speak, and through their voices in conversation with Lewis Carroll, we get to know Mr Dodgson and can be fascinated by the man as he was. Rhona Lewis The Deanery, Christ Church, Oxford

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PREFACE

The last one hundred years have seen enough biographies of Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) to make another seem superfluous. Yet there remains much to be learnt about this world-famous author by considering, in more detail, the people he mixed with and their relationship with him. In addition, we have a wealth of new primary sources to draw upon. Many previously unpublished letters have come to light, his catalogue of photographs – taken over a period of twenty-five years – has been reconstructed; his surviving diary is now published and annotated; and rare manuscripts from archives dotted around the globe have emerged. Much new research has taken place and there is a new, fuller and more accurate story to tell. I have studied these sources carefully for almost forty years, editing the diaries for publication and compiling databases of Dodgson’s surviving correspondence (much unpublished) and his photographic opus (through a reconstruction of his register of prints). I feel it is now time to present my view of Lewis Carroll. And I have chosen to do so through his relationship with his circle of family, friends and acquaintances. This will fill gaps in previous biographies, particularly regarding his mathematical role – a central theme yet one often dealt with in a surprisingly cursory manner given it was his main career. Very few biographers have touched on his entrepreneurial spirit – a man who always looked for new markets for his publications and who asked brokers to invest his book profits in the stocks and shares of steamships and railway companies. Nor have biographers dealt with Dodgson as a loyal subject of royalty – a man who knew personally members of the royal family and who befriended princes and princesses. Over many years I have written papers on a wide variety of topics covering the life and works of Lewis Carroll and I have drawn from these to assemble this current study of his own circle within Victorian society. I have kept to the facts,

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commenting on his personality from a basis that decades of study and research are likely to have given me a better picture than one based on reading a couple of previous biographies. Having spent more than fifteen years editing his diaries, I have a sense of what this man would do and what he would not do, of what he believed in and what he did not. Most people are shaped and influenced by their family, friends and acquaintances, so I have incorporated character studies of some key people in his life – people whom he admired and treasured as close friends and valued advisers. In this book, I have attempted to resolve some of the key myths about him and his lifestyle that have evolved over the years, issues such as his drug-taking and his friendships with children. Modern eyes and ideas make it difficult for us to adopt a Victorian mindset, but it is important that we understand the context in which this man lived in order to understand and appreciate the life he led. Moral standards and stances have changed: what was considered normal and acceptable in the Victorian era may not be easily acceptable today. You cannot condemn and criticise a man who kept within the social boundaries of his day. He was a man of his times – a devout Christian, close to his family and friends, loyal to his country and monarch, unwavering in support for his college and its traditions and yet creative in his thinking and writing, inventive in his ideas, and hugely popular as a poet, storyteller and novelist for children. This book will, I hope, prove the maxim that you can tell a great deal about a person by the company he keeps.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book could not have been written without the unstinting support of the executors of the C. L. Dodgson Estate, Beth Mead and Caroline Luke, greatgrand-nieces of Lewis Carroll. They gave me access to many documents and letters held within the Dodgson family and have been very supportive of my Carrollian projects over the years, for which I am extremely grateful. I add to this Caroline’s late father, Philip Dodgson Jaques, who gave me permission to edit the complete surviving diaries of Lewis Carroll and was always generous and supportive in my Carrollian researches. Another key member of the Dodgson family was the late Margaret Hartland Mahon, great-niece of Lewis Carroll, who shared with me genealogical albums that had not previously been seen outside the family, containing a wealth of information about the Dodgson antecedents. My debt to key people at Christ Church Library and Archive is enormous. Over many years, I have received courteous and helpful guidance and access to one of the major Lewis Carroll collections in this country. I put on record my gratitude to John Wing, Jenny Bradshaw, Mark Curthoys, Janet McMullin, Judith Curthoys, the late John Mason and the dean and chapter of Christ Church. My thanks also go to Malcolm Axtell for his help in revealing some of the architectural changes undertaken at Christ Church in Dodgson’s day. My friendship with the late Mavis Batey MBE – herself a Carrollian scholar and author of various books on Carroll, including the bestseller Alice’s Adventures in Oxford – has given me many insights about the Oxford background to the Alice books and she introduced me to some of the last surviving child-friends of Dodgson and to other key descendents, such as Francis Vernon Price, grandson of Bartholomew Price. I owe a debt of gratitude to the late Dr Price, who gave me access to the archives of ‘Bat’ Price, including letters, documents and photographs, and shared with me family anecdotes and accounts.

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Acknowledgements

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Through the Lewis Carroll Society, I had the good fortune to meet and become friends with the late John N. S. Davis, sometime chairman of the society and a major collector in this country. He supported my own collection and, after his early death, his wife June enabled me to acquire John’s collection so that it continues to be a source of information and research. Other members of the Lewis Carroll Society who have helped me with information are the late Anne Clark Amor, the late Stanley Chapman, Mark and Catherine Richards, and Keith Wright. Another supporter of my collection was the late Sir Reginald Lechmere, a bookdealer who was distantly related to Dodgson’s photographic favourite, Xie Kitchin. He helped me acquire some key works and one of Dodgson’s Rugby School prizes. The most significant collector in the United States, Jon Lindseth, has been helpful in every way to my research, giving me access to his entire collection, which combines the largest collection of Dodgson letters and photographs in private hands, and a library of highly important works. His assistant, Bea Sidaway, provided me with huge folders containing the full catalogue of Jon’s collection and copies of all his Dodgson letters and other significant documents. On my visits to see Jon’s collection, he is always extremely generous in allowing me full access to his library. Two of my most important Carrollian friends and supporters are David Schaefer and his late wife Maxine, the first secretary of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America (LCSNA). Both were founder members of the LCSNA. On all my visits to the United States they were always my kind hosts and I also include Mary Schaefer, David’s second wife, who has sadly just died, and his daughter, Ellie Schaefer Salins, among my closest and warmest friends across the Atlantic. David’s magnificent collection is probably the longest to remain in the same family, begun by his mother, who purchased some of Carroll’s works on publication, and likely to be passed to succeeding generations of the family. Four other friends in the United States stand out for me as collectors, researchers, sharers of information and, above all, true Carrollians. They are August and Clare Imholtz, Matt Demakos and Alan Tannenbaum. I am most grateful to Lesley O’Neil who has very kindly shared with me information about her great aunt, the illustrator, Emily Gertrude Thomson. My first meeting with Roger Taylor, photographic historian and writer, was most fortunate and we have remained close friends from that time. I have helped him with exhibitions and we have worked jointly on various publications, culminating in Lewis Carroll, Photographer in 2002. It has been a joy working with such a kind and knowledgeable man.

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A staunch supporter and one of my earliest Carrollian friends is Dr Selwyn Goodacre, who always proofreads my major books and papers and offers valuable advice and guidance. He is a fount of knowledge when it comes to bibliographical details of Carroll’s works. We have worked together on papers and research topics, including collecting census data on certain Carrollian works and Alice editions. He is always generous with his time and an easy man to work with. My thanks go to Peter Harries, who is not a particular Carrollian expert (his field is Charles Dickens) but who has proved to be a wise counsellor and excellent proofreader, giving me the useful opinion of a general reader and sharing with me his expertise as a bookman and bibliophile. In addition, Dr Chris Stray, a seasoned proofreader, has been through my text and sorted out ambiguities and errors and offered valuable advice. I am most grateful to David Stonestreet at I.B.Tauris for the support he gave me in getting this book into print. He, and his team, worked hard to get this book ready for publication.

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A CHRONOLOGY OF C. L. DODGSON’S LIFE

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (‘Lewis Carroll’) (1832–98) 1832

Born 27 January at the Parsonage, Daresbury, Cheshire, eldest son and third child of Charles Dodgson, perpetual curate of Daresbury, and Frances Jane n´ee Lutwidge. 1844–5 At Richmond School, Yorkshire. 1846–9 At Rugby School. 1850 Matriculated 23 May at Christ Church, Oxford, but unable to take up residence, as there was insufficient room for undergraduates at that time. 1851 Undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford (24 January); Frances Jane Dodgson n´ee Lutwidge, his mother, died 26 January. 1852–98 Student of Christ Church (equivalent to a fellowship, carrying a small stipend). 1854 BA, Christ Church, Oxford. First-class honours in mathematics and third-class in classics. 1855 Sub-Librarian of Christ Church Library (February); Bostock scholarship (May); appointed master of the house (June); appointed mathematical lecturer in August; takes up post in January 1856. 1856 Took up photography, his main hobby for twenty-five years (1 May). 1857 MA, Christ Church, Oxford (5 February). 1861 Ordained deacon, Church of England in Christ Church Cathedral (22 December). 1862 Story of Alice’s adventures told to Alice Liddell and her sisters on a boat trip to Godstow (4 July); manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground begun soon after.

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1865

1867 1868 1869 1871 1876 1877 1880 1881 1882 1885 1886 1887 1889 1890 1892 1893 1896 1898

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Published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (July) but immediately withdrawn and reissued with improved quality of printing and illustrations (November). Journeyed through Europe to Russia with Henry P. Liddon (July to September). Father died 21 June; siblings moved to ‘The Chestnuts’, Guildford (September). Published Phantasmagoria and Other Poems, a collection of humorous and serious poetry. Published Through the Looking-Glass (December). Published The Hunting of the Snark (April). Took summer lodgings at Eastbourne for first time (July); occupied rooms with the same landlady annually until 1897. Gave up photography. Last photograph taken on 15 July. Took early retirement from mathematical lectureship. Appointed curator of the Common Room at Christ Church, Oxford (December). Published A Tangled Tale. Published facsimile of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Published The Game of Logic. Published Sylvie and Bruno. Published The Nursery ‘Alice’. Resigned as curator of the Common Room. Published Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. Published Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary. Died at Guildford 14 January and was buried there. Three Sunsets and Other Poems published posthumously (January).

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1 THE DODGSON FAMILY

Family Background In 1832, at a quiet and somewhat isolated spot in Cheshire, near the village of Daresbury, a child was born who was destined to influence the lives of countless other children for generations to come. He was the first son of Charles and Frances Dodgson and, in the time-honoured family tradition, he was given his father’s first name and also his mother’s maiden name, becoming Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – better known to the world as ‘Lewis Carroll’. (He will simply be called ‘Dodgson’ throughout this book.) He already had two sisters, Frances and Elizabeth, and in the next few years two further sisters, Caroline and Mary, were added to the family. The company of girls was to become a common feature of his life. Eventually, there were eleven children in the Dodgson family – his other siblings being Skeffington, Wilfred, Louisa, Margaret, Henrietta and Edwin. The Dodgson family (see Figure 1) did not originate from Daresbury: they had strong North Country connections. Dodgson’s great-great-grandfather, Christopher Dodgson (1696–1750), was a cleric at various parishes in Yorkshire. Christopher Dodgson’s elder son, Charles Dodgson (1722–96), started out as a schoolmaster at Stanwix, Cumberland, but later followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming rector of Elsdon and ultimately becoming bishop of Elphin in 1775. He married Mary Frances Smyth in 1768 and they had four children. Their eldest son, Charles, joined the army and became captain of the 4th Dragoon Guards. He married Lucy Hume in 1799 but tragically was killed in Ireland during an ambush in 1803. The circumstances reveal great bravery. The murderer of Lord Kilwarden offered to give himself up to justice if Captain Dodgson would come alone to take him. Captain Dodgson went to the rendezvous according to the terms of the agreement and was treacherously shot dead from

(A)

Percy Currer (1782–1807)

(A)

issue

Family Tree 1. The Dodgson Family Tree, constructed by the author

Edwin Heron (1846–1918)

issue

issue

Mary Charlotte Skeffington Hume Wilfred Longley (1835–1911) (1836–1919) (1838–1914) ≡ Charles E.S. ≡ Isabel Mary ≡ Alice Jane Collingwood: 1869 Cooper: 1880 Donkin: 1871

Henrietta Harington (1843–1922)

Caroline Hume (1833–1904)

Margaret Anne Ashley (1841–1915)

Charles Lutwidge (1832–1898) ‘Lewis Carroll’

Louisa Fletcher (1840–1930)

Elizabeth Lucy (1830–1916)

issue

Hassard Hume (1803–1884) ≡ Caroline Hume: 1833

Thomas (1775–1794)

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Frances Jane (1828–1903)

Charles (1800–1868) ≡ Frances Jane Lutwidge: 1827 (1803–1851)

Elizabeth Anne (1770–1836) ≡ Charles Lutwidge: 1798 see Lutwidge

Christopher (b.&d. 1730)

Christopher Charles (1696–1750) ≡ Elizabeth Coulton: 1721 Charles (1722–1796) ≡ Mary Frances Smyth: 1768

Charles (1769–1803) ≡ Lucy Hume: 1799

Dodgson

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Palmer (1703–1704)

≡ (2) Lucy de Hoghton

Lucy (1771–1821) ≡ Grice

Margaret (1772–1819) ≡ Carter

Cordelia S. (b. 1776) issue

Family Tree 2. The Lutwidge Family Tree, constructed by the author

Caroline Louisa (1837–1877)

see Dodgson

Henrietta Mary (1811–1872)

Henrietta O. Skeffington Henry Thomas (1778–1848) (1779–1854) (1780–1861) ≡ Charles Poole ≡ Lockhart ≡ Taylor

Lucy Skeffington (1735–1736) (1737–1814) ≡ d.s.p.

Charlotte Margaret Charles Henry Robert Wilfred Frances Jane Lucy Menella Anne (1800–1843) Skeffington (1803–1851) (1805–1880) (1807–1857) (1809–1869) ≡ Annelouisa (1802–1873) ≡ Charles Dodgson Raikes: 1831 (1800–1868)

Charles Robert Fletcher (1835–1907)

Elizabeth F. Skeffington (1798–1883) (died young) ≡ Thomas Raikes: 1825

Charlotte J. (1770–1851) ≡ (1) Benn ≡ (2) Cope

Walter (b.1732) young....

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Thomas (1670–1745) ≡ (1) Hannah Rumbold

Henry Thomas Margaret John Samuel Cordelia (1724–1798) (1725–1746) (1726–1801) (1728–1749) (1730–1757) (b.1732) ≡ Jane Molyneux ≡ Wilson ....died (1745–1791)

Charles (1768–1848) ≡ Elizabeth Anne Dodgson: 1798

Charles (1722–1784)

Lutwidge

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a window. His widow Lucy, pregnant with a son Hassard, already had another son, Charles (1800–68), and it was this Charles who would marry Frances Jane Lutwidge and become Dodgson’s father. The Lutwidges were landed gentry from Cumberland (see Figure 2). The family seat was Holmrook Hall, purchased in 1759 by Charles Lutwidge (1722–84), the unmarried son of Thomas Lutwidge (1670–1745) of Whitehaven. Thomas married Lucy de Hoghton (1694–1780), daughter of Charles de Hoghton (1643–1710), 4th Baronet, whose own father was Sir Richard de Hoghton, and this family had links back to James I of Scotland. When Charles Lutwidge died, Holmrook Hall was inherited by his brother, Henry Lutwidge (1724–98). It then passed to Henry’s eldest son, also named Charles Lutwidge (1768–1848), who married Elizabeth Anne Dodgson, daughter of Charles Dodgson (1722–96) and his wife, Mary. Charles Lutwidge settled in Hull and sold Holmrook to his uncle, Skeffington Lutwidge (1737–1814), an admiral in the Royal Navy and one of the first captains to have been appointed by Admiral Horatio Nelson. Charles and Elizabeth had nine children. Their second daughter, Frances Jane Lutwidge (1803–51), married her cousin, Charles Dodgson. These were Dodgson’s parents. Ultimately, the direct Lutwidge line died out, although a cousin adopted the name by Royal Licence in 1909.1

Dodgson’s Father and Mother Dodgson’s father was a brilliant mathematician and classical scholar. He went to Westminster School in London at the age of 11 as a King’s Scholar and was made captain (equivalent to head boy) in 1814. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1818. He attained the distinction of gaining a double first degree in classics and mathematics in 1821 and was made a Student (with a capital ‘S’) of Christ Church, which came with a small stipend. In other Oxford colleges, this was similar to a fellowship but at Christ Church the dual role of cathedral and college meant that the canons took on the role undertaken by fellows in other colleges. The Studentship could be held for life as long as the conditions of tenure were maintained: the recipient was expected to proceed to holy orders within a few years and to remain celibate. The stipend enabled Charles Dodgson to stay at Christ Church. He took holy orders, being ordained deacon in 1823 and priest in 1824. However, when he fell in love with his cousin, Frances Jane Lutwidge, and married her in 1827, he forfeited his Studentship and was consequentially expected to leave Christ Church. The dean and chapter offered him the Christ Church living of Daresbury, which was not really financially

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1. Archdeacon Charles Dodgson, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1859

sufficient (being worth about £200 per year), nor intellectually stimulating for a man of his considerable talents. It was probably the only living in the gift of Christ Church available at the time. However, there was little he could do given the circumstances. To supplement his income, he took in paying scholars from the locality, establishing a schoolroom at the parsonage. Dodgson’s relationship with his father was warm yet respectful, and in typical Victorian manner, he was expected to show duty and diligence. He also had the extra responsibility of being the eldest son. There is evidence that

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Dodgson’s sense of humour came from his father, as the following letter shows. Dodgson senior was away from home at Ripon and sent his 7-year-old son this message: My dearest Charles, I am very sorry that I had not time to answer your nice little note before. You cannot think how pleased I was to receive something in your handwriting, and you may depend upon it I will not forget your commission. As soon as I get to Leeds I shall scream out in the middle of the street, Ironmongers, Ironmongers. Six hundred men will rush out of their shops in a moment – fly, fly, in all directions – ring the bells, call the constables, set the Town on fire. I WILL have a file and a screw driver, and a ring, and if they are not brought directly, in forty seconds, I will leave nothing but one small cat alive in the whole Town of Leeds, and I shall only leave that, because I am afraid I shall not have time to kill it. Then what a bawling and a tearing of hair there will be! Pigs and babies, camels and butterflies, rolling in the gutter together – old women rushing up the chimneys and cows after them – ducks hiding themselves in coffee-cups, and fat geese trying to squeeze themselves into pencil cases. At last the Mayor of Leeds will be found in a soup plate covered up with custard, and stuck full of almonds to make him look like a sponge cake that he may escape the dreadful destruction of the Town. Oh! where is his wife? She is safe in her own pincushion with a bit of sticking plaster on the top to hide the hump in her back, and all her dear little children, seventy-eight poor little helpless infants crammed into her mouth, and hiding themselves behind her double teeth. Then comes a man hid in a teapot crying and roaring, ‘Oh, I have dropped my donkey. I put it up my nostril, and it has fallen out of the spout of the teapot into an old woman’s thimble and she will squeeze it to death when she puts her thimble on.’ At last they bring the things which I ordered, and then I spare the Town, and send off in fifty waggons, and under the protection of ten thousand soldiers, a file and a screw driver and a ring as a present to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, from his affectionate Papa.2

Dodgson’s fascination with nonsense and the absurd fits perfectly with the contents of this early letter from his father. Another shared common interest and aptitude was mathematics – both gained high honours in this subject at university. At an appropriate age, Dodgson received his initial education from his parents. His mother taught him to read and write and gave him lessons in scripture. His father taught him mathematics and later the classical languages of Latin and Greek. The family archive contains evidence of this initial parental education; a notebook dated 1839 indicates that Dodgson, aged 7, studied from various

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religious texts, including Stories From the Scriptures, The Juvenile Sunday Library and The Picture Testament. His daily reading included such books as Edgeworth’s Early Lessons, The Pilgrim’s Progress, and a six-volume work entitled the Parents’ Cabinet (which included topics on geography, natural history and European history). There is a series of cards produced by his mother to instil moral attitudes, such as Subject 14: ‘If our repentance is sincere, we shall confess and forsake all sins and wickedness’ and Subject 27: ‘True Christians will show love and kindness towards their fellow creatures.’ The cards also included biblical texts that Dodgson was expected to study. Lessons with his mother always began with morning prayers and examples were recorded in the various notebooks that survive, such as this example written in his mother’s hand: Almighty and everlasting God, who has mercifully preserved me in health, peace, and safety, to the beginning of another day, I thank Thee for this, and all Thy other mercies. I acknowledge and bewail my unworthiness of the least of the many blessings I enjoy, my constant wanderings into sin, and forgetfulness of Thee. . . . 3

This early teaching by his mother remained with Dodgson all his life and was manifest in his personal diaries in a series of prayers and pleas to do better from time to time. Dodgson remained devout and sincere in his Christian upbringing. At an early age he revealed a natural aptitude for academic study, particularly in mathematics. A family anecdote recorded by Dodgson’s first biographer indicated that when he was still a small child he found a copy of Logarithms on his father’s bookshelf and went to him with the plea, ‘Please explain.’ His father said he was far too young to understand, but the boy persisted in his plea: ‘But, please, explain.’ We can assume that the persistence paid off and Dodgson learnt the meaning of logarithms from his father.4 In 1840, Dodgson’s mother made a visit to Hull to see her father, Charles Lutwidge, who had been ill for some time. She wrote home to her brood of children, entrusting the letter to her eldest son: My dearest Charlie, I have used you rather ill in not having written to you sooner, but I know you will forgive me, as your Grandpapa has liked to have me with him so much, and I could not write and talk to him comfortably. All your notes have delighted me, my precious children, and show me that you have not quite forgotten me. I am always thinking of you, and longing to have you all round me again more than words can tell. God grant that we may find you all well and happy on Friday evening. I am happy to say your dearest Papa is quite well – his cough is rather tickling, but is of no consequence. . . . 5

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The letter continues: ‘It delights me, my darling Charlie, to hear that you are getting on so well with your Latin, and that you make so few mistakes in your Exercises,’ indicating that, at the age of 8, Dodgson had already begun to study the classical language of Latin, and probably Greek, too. Dodgson carefully preserved this letter from his mother, writing on the back: ‘No one is to touch this note, for it belongs to C. L. D.,’ with the addition: ‘Covered with slimy pitch, so that they will wet their fingers’, and as a result of this mock warning, the letter survived. Life for Dodgson was not all schoolwork. There was time to play and time to entertain his growing number of brothers and sisters. He became adept at magic tricks and also showed some early talent at storytelling and writing poetry. The family made one long holiday to the Isle of Anglesey, visiting Beaumaris, which was reached by coach and horses via the Menai Bridge. This obviously made a great impression on him for, some years later, he made reference to the bridge in a poem entitled ‘Upon the Lonely Moor’ (1856), which was the early version of the White Knight’s ballad in Through the Looking-Glass.6 He wrote: I heard him then, for I had just Completed my design To keep the Menai Bridge from rust By boiling it in wine.

After sixteen years at Daresbury, a better living became available – a Crown living at Croft-on-Tees, near Darlington, on the Yorkshire/County Durham boundary, made vacant by the death of the incumbent, James Dalton (1764– 1843). Various friends, including Charles Thomas Longley (1794–1868), bishop of Ripon, encouraged the prime minister, Robert Peel (1788–1850), to offer this more lucrative position to Dodgson’s father. The pleas were successful and Dodgson’s father was appointed rector of Croft. When the family moved to Crofton-Tees in 1843, Richmond School was close at hand and Dodgson began his formal education there, becoming a boarder at the age of 11. The next eighteen months were preparation for his main education at Rugby School, which began in February 1846. Again, he excelled in mathematics, but he was also proficient in scripture, Latin and Greek. Hence, it was a foregone conclusion that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and matriculate at Christ Church, Oxford. He began his undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford in January 1851 but within two days his mother died suddenly and unexpectedly and he rushed back home for the funeral.

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The death of his mother at such an early stage in his life probably affected his outlook thereafter, revealing to him that mortality was ever present. She was, by all accounts, a loving and gentle mother who devoted her entire existence to her growing family. Her characteristics were reflected in her eldest son. Dodgson cared about the well-being of others and he exercised responsibility from an early age, becoming the natural leader of his siblings. Dodgson was aged 19 when his mother died. The family of eleven children was now in a difficult situation and this created a serious need for a mother-substitute – someone to look after the younger members of the family. His mother’s spinster sister – Lucy Lutwidge – stepped in to fulfil this role and she remained with the family for the rest of her life.

Lucy Lutwidge: Surrogate Mother Lucy Lutwidge was the third daughter of Charles Lutwidge and Elizabeth Anne Dodgson. She was born in 1805 in Kennington, Middlesex, two years after her sister, Frances Jane (known as ‘Fanny’), who was Dodgson’s mother. The two sisters were always very close, and when Fanny married Charles Dodgson, the friendship continued to be strong. There exist in the Dodgson family several letters between the two sisters that have been preserved. From these, we discover that Lucy, who remained unmarried, supported her sister’s married life by sending gifts to her and her growing family and showing a great interest in the children and their well-being. She was also on very good terms with her brother-in-law and visited the family from time to time. Fortunately, like other members of her family, Lucy had the characteristics of a ‘collector’ and she kept the letters she received and also photographs given to her later in life. Charles and Elizabeth Lutwidge resided at Hull from 1805. Charles was a collector for HM Customs at Hull for thirty-five years and was an educated man (MA from St John’s, Cambridge) with wide interests. Among other activities, he was one of the founder members of the Botanic Gardens at Linnaeus Street in Hull and president of the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society. Lucy’s upbringing was upper middle class – a privileged position in society without money worries – and she was probably educated at home with her sisters. Her eldest sister, Elizabeth Frances (1798–1883), married Thomas Raikes in 1825. Her three younger sisters – Charlotte Menella (1807–57), Margaret Anne (1809–69) and Henrietta Mary (1811–72) – were all spinsters. Her eldest brother, Skeffington, appears to have died in infancy – either in 1799 or 1801 – so she would not have known him. Her eldest brother, Charles

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2. Lucy Lutwidge, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1859

Henry (1800–43), married Thomas Raikes’ sister, Anne Louisa, in 1831. The remaining brother, Robert Wilfred Skeffington (1802–73), was unmarried and was Dodgson’s favourite uncle. One of the surviving letters between Lucy and Fanny is dated 18 March 1828, almost a year after Fanny married on 5 April 1827 at Christ Church, Hull. It was written by Fanny and is addressed to ‘Miss Lutwidge, Hull’ from ‘The Residence of the happy Trio’. The first child and daughter of Fanny and Charles Dodgson was named Frances Jane after her mother and was born on 5 February 1828. From the letter, it is clear that Lucy had been with her sister for the birth but then returned home, where she received the latest news of the baby. Fanny wrote: Oh that you could but see our darling baby – I am sure you would think her in every respect so wonderfully improved, much more [. . . ] like a child of 3 months old than one of six weeks.7

The letter goes on to plan a further visit from Lucy in the summer months so that she can see the ‘little miniature of perfection with her large brilliant, intelligent eyes, her sweet feet, mottled neck and arms, her lovely smile, etc.’ Fanny exchanges some social gossip and ends by saying she will write to her mother with

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news of the baby and the ‘non-likeable nurse’ soon and signs off with ‘united best love to you all my dearest Lucy, believe me to be, your most affectionate Sister, F. J. Dodgson’. Fanny’s unmarried sisters collected together items for the Dodgson family, such as clothes, hats, dress material, books and toys for the children, and then assembled them in parcels so they could be delivered to the family. They fully appreciated that the Dodgson family was by no means wealthy. Charles Dodgson was perpetual curate at Daresbury, a poor living in the gift of Christ Church. As we have heard, he took in paying pupils whenever he could to supplement his income, but life was hard. The Lutwidge sisters made sure the family had the occasional treat. Another surviving letter is from Charles Dodgson to Lucy and is dated 22 May 1830. He reports the birth of a second daughter, Elizabeth Lucy, born on 7 May 1830: . . . they cannot possibly be going on better – either of them – a series of good nights and good dinners eaten with good appetite on the one hand, and a continual alternation of eating and sleeping on the other seems to be advancing both mother and babe to the highest point of preparation.8

He goes on to say: Little Fanny is very blooming and delicious – she now calls the baby ‘Lipsalve’ and her favourite game is pretending to catch fleas on her. This is an invention of her own and on the whole not a bad idea. Fanny desires me to send her best thanks for the gown.9

Added to the letter is a note to Lucy from her unmarried cousin, Menella Hume (1805–96), who was staying with the Dodgsons to look after Fanny. The note indicates that Lucy had been with the family again for the birth and ends: ‘Charles says that when he looks at his dear wife and two sweet girls that he is overcome with delight – indeed he has many blessings.’ By 1832, the Dodgson family had three children. Fanny wrote to Lucy on 26 July 1832: My dearest Lucy, The Boxes have arrived and everything has travelled as well as possible – everything is quite perfect of its kind and very much liked by us all. Now comes the impossible part – now I must try in vain to find words to express what I feel – you are all most kind, most considerate, and far too liberal. I only wish very sincerely that it was in our power to offer you something better than thanks for all your extremely kind, most useful, most acceptable presents and for the enormity

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of trouble you have all, especially you my dearest Lucy, have taken for us – our thanks however, of the best and most sincere kind you have, which for the present, have the kindness to distribute plentifully around you, as well as to accept yourself [. . . ] not forgetting good old Miss Weddel – pray say a great deal that is kind to her for me. Tell her that the darling little girls are in raptures with the Doll and that two of the Caps she has so kindly made for our little treasure fit him [the young Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] nicely and that I should be delighted to see her and to show her all our sweet pets. [. . . ] Today being ironing day and all the darlings are on Menella’s and my hands, I have only time to write briefly to you to assure you that I quite appreciate your very great kindness in employing yourself so much and so beautifully in the children and my service – indeed my dearest Lucy it is quite a drawback to my comfort when I think that your last indisposition of which we are very sorry to hear has in all probability been partly if not wholly caused by your working so much more than I had any idea of your doing and having so much on your mind to arrange and manage. You have executed everything to admiration. The Caps are quite beautiful – exactly what I like and fit me perfectly well – the Gowns, Baby’s Frocks, Coat, Hat, Shoes, Socks, and everything are also quite to my taste and most useful. The Boxes did not arrive till late last night. I have not therefore yet had time to try on the Gowns, Frocks, etc. The little Hat is lovely and fits sweetest Charles Lutwidge beautifully – so do your pretty little shoes. [. . . ] Dearest Charles is quite aware of the unbrotherly way in which he has treated you and would have written his thanks to you and dearest Papa and Mama for the Books today, but having had a Club Sermon to preach this morning and a lecture to prepare for this evening, he is obliged to defer doing so.10

The letter goes on to discuss ways in which Fanny might repay Lucy for her generosity in sending five boxes of clothes, books and other gifts. However, the financial circumstances of the Dodgson family made this a ‘wish’ rather than a ‘possibility’. Many of the items were clearly made by Lucy, who was a diligent and accomplished dressmaker, knitter and general seamstress. Her new nephew eventually took a number of photographs of Lucy and in one she is seen with needle and thread in hand. Lucy also included gifts for the Dodgson servants. The letter reveals that Fanny’s husband received some imitation silk stockings and the little girls received a new head for their doll, Anna (one assumes the previous head was broken). Finally, Fanny gives some news of neighbours, clearly known to Lucy, and reports that there is no cholera in Daresbury, but the account from Warrington (a few miles away) is not quite so good. As we know, the family grew constantly until there were eleven children – the last being born at the family’s new home at Croft-on-Tees. They moved to Yorkshire when Charles Dodgson became rector of Croft in 1843. This enabled

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the Dodgsons to send their eldest son to school – first at Richmond and then to Rugby School in 1846. Young Charles worked hard and gained many prizes, so it is hardly surprising that his proud mother kept her sister fully informed about his successes. Writing ‘in dashing haste’ to Lucy on 25 June 1847, Fanny tells her: . . . dearest Charlie came home safely yesterday bringing with him two handsome prize books! One gained last Christmas, Arnold’s Modern History, the other Thierry’s Norman Conquest just now gained for having been the best in Composition (Latin and English verse and prose) in his form during the half. He is also 2nd in marks – 53 boys in his form – they have marks for everything they do in their daily work and at the end of the half they are added up. Charlie would have had a prize for being second in marks, but they are not allowed to have two prizes at one time, so he chose the composition prize. He is to go into a higher form when he returns to school. Dearest Charlie is thinner than he was but looks well and is in the highest spirits: delighted at his success at school.11

Some of these school prizes have survived. Thomas Arnold’s Introductory Lectures on Modern History (1845) is inscribed ‘Lower Fifth Form. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson from the Masters of Rugby School. Examination, Christmas 1846’12 ; The History of the Popes, Their Church and State by Leopold Ranke in three volumes (1847) is inscribed: ‘Charles Lutwidge Dodgson from The Masters of Rugby School, Xmas 1847’13 ; and The Constitutional History of England by Henry Hallam, fifth edition in two volumes (1846), is inscribed ‘Charles Lutwidge Dodgson from The Masters of Rugby School. 2nd Mathematical Prize. Sep. 1849’.14 Dodgson’s time at Rugby School gave his mother frequent cause to write to Lucy with news of his progress. In a letter dated 11 November (the year is almost certainly 1847), she wrote: With regard to dearest Charlie I hoped to have heard from him again today, but I have not. In his letter received on Tuesday he says that the mumps had gone but that they had left him much more deaf than usual – this we trust is quite to be accounted for from the nature of the complaint and may probably last longer than the visible swelling of the glands. Charles has however written to Dr Tait telling him of Charlie’s former deafness and its source (Infantile fever) and requesting him to take the best medical opinion within his reach and to report it immediately to us.15

The deafness persisted throughout Dodgson’s life, particularly in his right ear. On 15 February (probably 1848), Fanny again wrote to Lucy, telling her that ‘dearest Charlie’ had been promoted to a higher class at Rugby, now being in

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the ‘Upper Middle’, to which she added that it ‘is very gratifying to him and to us all. I have had a nice letter from him today’. On 24 March, she wrote to Lucy: You will I am sure be as surprised as we are to hear that dearest Charlie really has got the hooping cough, after having been so proof against the complaint during the whole of his last summer holiday, constantly nursing and playing with the little ones who had it so decidedly. I cannot of course help feeling anxious and fidgety about him, but at this very favourable time of year for it, I trust the complaint will be of very short continuance and that with care he will get through it as well as our other darlings have done. He writes in excellent spirits and evidently feeling quite well – for this I am indeed most thankful.16

The whooping cough appeared to last for a considerable time and Dodgson came home to Croft before it had quite disappeared. Fanny again wrote to her sister on 5 July: I think I may now say that dearest Charlie’s hooping cough has quite gone – he rarely coughs and never really hoops so that he began last Sunday to go to church as usual – he is quite well and strong – and his appetite and spirits never fail. At the Railroad games, which the darlings all delight in, he tries and proves his strength in the most persevering way, Edwin always being glad to accept any number of tickets – your capital Horse is most useful on the occasion.17

Clearly, Lucy gave the children a wooden horse to play with. Lucy was aware of the internal Dodgson family magazines instigated by Dodgson and even made a contribution to one of them: the Rectory Magazine (1848–50). Her contribution was a mock advertisement for a maid, with many duties to perform. Lucy herself was a very active and busy person engaged in creative tasks, making clothes, hats and lace and knitting bonnets, gloves, socks and whatever was needed in the household. Although humorous in tone, the advertisement indicates the chores necessary in a large growing family such as the Dodgsons and must have been a reflection of the actual state of this household – somewhat exaggerated for comic effect. It was headed ‘Wanted immediately’ and the text is as follows: A Maid of all work, in a large but quiet family where cows, pigs, and poultry are kept. She must be able to churn, cure hams and bacon, and occasionally make cheese. Five only of the children are entirely under her care, but she is expected to do the needlework for seven. She must be able to take twins from a month

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old, and to bring them up by hand, also to carry both out of doors together, as no other servant is kept. She will be required to have Breakfast on the table at 9, Luncheon at 12, Dinner at 3 (when she will wait at table), Tea at 6, and Supper at 9. Baking done at home as also the washing, and in winter brewing. No perquisites allowed or going out without leave. All leisure time to be spent in gardening. A cheerfulness of disposition and a willingness to oblige indispensable. Wages £3. 3s. 0d. a year, with or without tea and sugar accordingly as she gives satisfaction. Apply to R.Z. Happy Grove, Mount Pleasant, by letter, post-paid.18

From this, we can detect a real sense of humour in Lucy and a deep knowledge of internal Dodgson family matters, in which she was keen to participate, little realising at the time that her role would become permanent very soon. These letters are just a sample of the correspondence between the two sisters. Every detail of the Dodgson family life was transmitted to Lucy. Sadly, none of her return letters appears to have survived. The friendly correspondence continued, with Lucy showing a great interest in all the Dodgson clan. And then in January 1851, as we have already heard, the unimaginable happened: Fanny took ill and died suddenly. Dodgson, aged almost 19, had just left to begin his studies at Christ Church but now returned after only a couple of days. The death certificate announced ‘inflammation of the brain’, which tells us very little. Edwin, her eleventh and youngest child, was only four-and-a-half years old when she died. Cousin Menella Hume again came to the family’s aid in the immediate aftermath of Fanny Dodgson’s death, but it was Lucy Lutwidge who held the family together. In a selfless act, she gave up her own life in Hull and moved in with the Dodgson children and took over the running of the family, allowing Charles Dodgson to continue as rector of Croft. Lucy was well placed to take over the family: she knew them all well and they were comfortable in her company. She had good household management skills, doted on the children, knew all the servants and had a good relationship with her brother-in-law. Charles Dodgson’s aunt, Mary Smedley, wrote to him on 13 February 1851: What a treasure you have in Lucy – that kind and excellent creature whose whole heart is now wrapped up in you and whose life will be devoted to your children – and it is a comfort to think what a very superior and sensible girl Fanny Jane is and how perfectly well fitted to assist Lucy and take her place whenever it may be desirable and dear Elizabeth Lucy treading in her steps and always ready to be kind and useful. What a blessing also to look at your large family and not in any

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one of them to see the slightest trace of faulty tempers and disposition. Menella [her daughter] is especially struck by this.19

Thus, Lucy Lutwidge assumed the role of mother in a grief-stricken family of eleven children. The eldest, Fanny Jane, was aged 23, but five were under the age of 12. Her brother-in-law was to become canon of Ripon the following year and archdeacon of Richmond two years after that – commitments that would have been impossible without someone to look after his large family, organise the servants and act as housekeeper. Aunt Lucy appears to have taken on this new role in her life willingly and with enthusiasm. Lucy continued giving gifts to the family. In 1853, when Charles reached the age of 21, she gave him a number of books for his birthday. These were entitled Introduction to the Literature of Europe by Henry Hallam, third edition in three volumes (1847), and View of the State of Europe by Henry Hallam, tenth edition in three volumes (1853). They were similarly inscribed: ‘Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. From his most affectionate Aunt Lucy Lutwidge. A Birthday Gift. January 27th 1853’.20 From his diaries, we know that Aunt Lucy sent him a sofa cover for his twenty-third birthday.21 In return, on 28 March 1855, her nephew had his photograph taken by Hiram Crompton Booth at Ripon for her new album.22 There are a number of surviving letters from Dodgson to his aunt. He kept her informed about the events in his life, as he would have done for his mother had she lived. This example is dated 2 April 1866: My dear Aunt, In sorting out a quantity of old letters, I have come on two belonging to you, which I herewith enclose. Edwin’s I should think you would like to keep, if only as a specimen of orthography. I have very little to write about. Since the end of Collections [end of term examinations and reports] I have been sorting cupboards full of books, papers, etc., in fact doing a lot of work that I never have time for during term. Tomorrow I am off for a few days’ pleasuring. First I go to Mr. Slatter’s (Rev. J. Slatter, Streatley, Reading) and on Thursday I go on to town: but as I have not fixed on a hotel, you had better direct to Streatley till further notice. Have you got your album from Parkins & Gotto yet? If not, and if I get into that neighbourhood, I will call and ask about it. My old enemy, neuralgia, has shifted its quarters from the neck to the face, where it gave me several days of considerable pain, partly I fancy owing to the weather, and partly to a hollow tooth. However summer weather has come, the tooth is stopped, and the neuralgia gone for the present, I am happy to say. I interested myself in making out from my Cyclopedia its exact name, which I believe to be ‘neuralgia suborbitalis.’

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Yesterday I had some Sunday work, for the first time for a long while, assisting at the 8 a.m. Communion, St. Mary Magdalen (Mr. Tyrwhitt’s church) and preaching there in the afternoon. I should think it a very difficult church to fill, consisting as it does of 5 parallel aisles, divided by arches and pillars – however he thinks I was sufficiently heard. It was the shortest time I ever had for preparation, as I was only asked after the Communion in the morning. I had about 1/2 an hour before the morning service, and about 2 hours after. Will you tell Mary that ‘Good-night in the Porch’ has long been a favourite poem with me. ‘Owen Meredith’ is really Edward Bulwer Lytton, son of the baronet. No tidings of curates, except that Mr. Chamberlain recommends a ‘literate,’ who wants a curacy and title: he is poor in money, but good in quality, he says – won’t do, I fear. Your ever affectionate Nephew, C. L. Dodgson23

The album was for Aunt Lucy’s growing collection of photographs. Cartes-devisite had become the rage and Lucy embraced the fashion of displaying these photographs in elaborate albums. In July, Dodgson reported in a letter to his aunt, dated 27 June, that he had cancelled the order with Parkins & Gotto because they had failed to honour the order and he had found an alternative: a very neat album, holding 120, 4 in a page [. . . ] for £1 – only it is not linenjointed, and so has more tendency to come to pieces. A linen-jointed one of that size would be about £2. If you will tell me the price you are willing to go to, I will get you the best I can for the money.24

He also reported what would have been of great interest to Lucy: developments with her nephew, Wilfred, who was aged 27 and showing a romantic interest in Alice Donkin. He wrote: I have had a good deal of talk with Wilfred, who does not seem to take it at all as a disappointment not having got this agency – in fact, so far as I can make out, it would have been no gain: about £600 a year, leading to nothing higher, whereas in his present position he ought soon to arrive at that income, with almost unlimited prospects of advance. He leaves town this week for a month at Howden. He seems quite to have put aside the thought of Alice for the present, to take it up again de novo 2 or 3 years hence, and he does not seem by any means certain that both parties will then be of their present mind, so much may happen meanwhile.

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Dodgson offered to take some of the family to Whitby that summer in 1866 and indicated in the same letter to Lucy: ‘How many go, and which, is a question I leave entirely to the sisterhood to settle among themselves: with them I include you (who I hope will be able to come) and Edwin.’ Dodgson discussed the subject of Wilfred’s prospects with his uncle Skeffington Lutwidge and noted in his diary for 17 October 1866: On Saturday Uncle Skeffington dined with me, and on Sunday I dined with him at the Randolph, and on each occasion we had a good deal of conversation about Wilfred, and about A.L. – it is a very anxious subject.25

This entry has puzzled and confused people for many years. As we know, Wilfred married Alice Donkin some four years later and this matter was resolved. But who was A.L.? Initials tended to be used in the diaries for family members and, in this case, it was a very close relative to both of them: Uncle Skeffington’s sister and Dodgson’s Aunt Lucy (A.L.). Speculation that it was Alice Liddell is highly unlikely to be true – it is uncharacteristic of the way Dodgson wrote his diary – and such speculation has no foundation. But Aunt Lucy was beginning to give some concern – her sight was deteriorating and eventual blindness seemed a possibility. At this time, no immediate solution was found. Following the death of Archdeacon Dodgson in 1868, the family, together with Aunt Lucy, moved to ‘The Chestnuts’ at Guildford. Aunt Lucy, now aged 63, was ably supported in household matters by the eldest, Fanny Jane, but all financial decisions became the province of the eldest son. Dodgson found the property at Guildford, arranged the lease for his aunt and siblings and managed the trust fund set up by their father to support the daughters – currently all unmarried. As time went by, Aunt Lucy’s preoccupation with sewing and knitting and other activities requiring good eyesight began to take its toll. As already mentioned, she began to lose her sight, which must have been a great threat to her lifestyle and happiness. Dodgson realised that action was necessary. His diary recorded for 20 July 1871: ‘Went to town, and escorted Aunt Lucy (with Fanny) on a visit to Mr. Crichett [sic], the oculist, and saw them into train at Waterloo.’26 George Critchett (1817–82) was a skilful surgeon at the London Hospital, introducing some new modes of treatment for ulcers. He was appointed to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields, in 1846 and became one of the best operators on the eye. He improved numerous important procedures in operations on the eye. He was elected a member of the council of the College of Surgeons in 1870. The consultation revealed that Aunt Lucy was developing

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cataracts and would eventually go blind without an operation. In early October 1871, she had a successful operation on both eyes, which almost certainly was undertaken by George Critchett in London. She then stayed at her brother’s home at 101 Onslow Square, London, where she took her convalescence and was attended to by her niece, Margaret Dodgson. Dodgson’s aunt, Henrietta Mary Lutwidge, died on 9 October 1872 at her home in Hastings. Of his mother’s five sisters, only two now remained: Aunt Lucy and Aunt Elizabeth Frances Raikes n´ee Lutwidge. The Hastings and St. Leonards Chronicle (16 October 1872) reported that Henrietta Lutwidge and her sisters had been great supporters of local charities and had benefited the community in many different ways as Sunday school teachers, as agents for church missionaries and in providing shelter for fallen women. The funeral was held on 12 October, attended by Uncle Skeffington as chief mourner, and by her nephews – Dodgson, Fletcher Lutwidge, Skeffington Hume Dodgson – together with Uncle Hassard Dodgson. As befitted the times, Aunt Lucy and Dodgson’s sister Margaret were in Hastings but did not attend the funeral service. The house, 2 Wellington Square, was left to Lucy, who continued to make use of it, often taking some of the Dodgson sisters there for a break from the Guildford home, and Dodgson visited from time to time. When Aunt Lucy reached the age of 75 her health began to deteriorate, much to the concern of all the Dodgson family, who had relied on her for so many years. Dodgson noted in his diary on 5 April 1880: To town [London] again. Called on Mr. Wilkes, at 19 Whitehall Place, and had a talk about Aunt Lucy, whose powers of expressing herself are fast passing away. He did not think anything could be done, but that organic change is going on in the brain, and is a sign of a general break-up.27

James Wilkes (1811–94) was a surgeon and family friend; he was a colleague of Lucy’s brother Skeffington Lutwidge and both were commissioners in lunacy. Clearly, there was little hope and it was left to the Dodgson sisters to nurse and care for their aunt as she began to fade, but the decline was drawn out over several months. On the evening of 3 September 1880, Fanny sent Dodgson a telegram indicating that Aunt Lucy was in a critical state. He immediately left for London, staying overnight and travelling to ‘The Chestnuts’ early the following morning. He recorded: Went on to Guildford by the 7 a.m. train and saw my dear Aunt about 81/2, sufficiently conscious to know me. But she soon became unconscious, and died

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3. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) from a photograph by Reginald Southey, taken in 1856

about 41/2 in the afternoon, with us round her, as well as her own maid Watts [Eliza Watts (b. 1843)]. I read the commendatory prayer, and, after she had ceased to breathe, the thanksgiving from the Burial Service. I am very glad to be here, to help in such matters as seeing the undertakers etc.28

The funeral took place at St Mary’s Church, Guildford, on 8 September 1880. Dodgson wrote: The first part of the service was in the church – then we walked up to the cemetery, the coffin being on a hand-bier on wheels. Two flies conveyed five of the girls, Lizzie Wilcox, and Watts. Skeffington and I walked with Harry Wilcox. Aunt

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Elizabeth was in the church. Edwin had arrived the night before but was not well enough to attend the funeral.29

Aunt Lucy was buried at Mount Cemetery, Guildford. Dodgson travelled to London the following day and visited the family solicitor, Robert A. Wainewright, and handed him Aunt Lucy’s will. Dodgson took responsibility for dealing with his aunt’s estate and there is evidence that this resulted in an extensive correspondence. He and his brother Wilfred were the executors of Aunt Lucy’s will, in which she left £100 to Charles, £400 to Wilfred, £400 to Edwin, £500 to Mary Collingwood (Dodgson’s married sister) and £100 to her niece Elizabeth Lucy Lowthorpe. The rest was shared between the remaining sisters and Skeffington, with an annuity of £75 to be paid to her sister Elizabeth Frances Raikes. She gave all her personal belongings together with her house in Hastings and all its contents to Fanny Dodgson.30 To summarise, Lucy chose to devote her life to the family of her deceased and much loved sister. She supported them unsparingly and totally and assumed the role of surrogate mother, especially to the younger members of the family. Her sense of duty knew no bounds. She was an intelligent woman, interested in scientific matters, well skilled in household crafts and management, well read, kind and motherly while remaining a spinster and a much loved aunt to her brood of nephews and nieces.

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James Tate and Archibald Tait: Headmasters Dodgson was good at mathematics. He had a natural talent evident from his early childhood, nurtured by his father who was also his teacher and the person he often turned to in later life for mathematical advice. While the family lived at Daresbury, Dodgson’s father could not afford to send him to school, but when they moved to Croft-on-Tees, this more lucrative living made it possible for his father to send him to the nearby school at Richmond, Yorkshire. Dodgson resided in the house of the headmaster, James Tate (1801–63), his father paying extra for this privilege. Tate was a classical scholar who matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1819. He succeeded his father as master of Richmond School, Yorkshire, in 1833 and held the post until his death. He married Ann Elizabeth Simpson (1802–64) and they had six children: Ellen Wallis (1833–42), Charles Grey (1836–1900), James (1835–97), Thomas Hutchinson (b. 1837), John Samuel (1839–87) and Lucy Hutchinson (1842–73). James Tate was a kindly man who encouraged all his pupils. Dodgson grew attached to his teacher and also to the Tate family, keeping in touch with them long after he had left Richmond. He described the first few months of his time at Richmond School in a letter to two of his sisters dated 5 August 1844: . . . the boys I think I like best, are Harry Austin, and all the Tates of which there are 7 besides a little girl who came down to dinner the first day, but not since, and I also like Edmund Tremlet [sic], and William and Edward Swire.1

Typically for an 11-year-old, he concentrated on his fellow pupils and their characteristics rather than describing the school and his learning. Yet he won prizes

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4. James Tate, from a photograph in The History of Richmond School

at school and one survives: a book of First Classical Maps, With Chronological Tables of Grecian and Roman History (London, 1845) written by James Tate and inscribed: ‘Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Richmond School Yorkshire, XI, Cal: Nov: 1845’.2 The building containing the Richmond School that Dodgson attended has since been demolished and rebuilt elsewhere, but it was originally adjacent to the Richmond churchyard. And it appears that the churchyard was used as the

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schoolboys’ playground. In the same letter to his two sisters, Dodgson went on to relate a couple of games the pupils played: . . . they first proposed to play at ‘King of the Cobblers’ and asked if I would be king, to which I agreed. Then they made me sit down and sat (on the ground) in a circle round me, and told me to say ‘Go to work’ which I said, and they immediately began kicking and knocking me on all sides. The next game they proposed was ‘Peter, the red lion,’ and they made a mark on a tombstone [. . . ] and one of the boys walked with his eyes shut, holding out his finger, trying to touch the mark; then a little boy came forward to lead the rest and led a good many very near the mark; and at last it was my turn; they told me to shut my eyes well, and the next minute I had my finger in the mouth of one of the boys, who had stood [. . . ] before the tombstone with his mouth open.

Dodgson soon learnt from experience that he was unwise to accept and trust all around him, contrary to what he had probably been brought up to do within his close family circle. School was preparing him for the harsher realities of life. A family Dodgson became acquainted with were the Ottleys of Richmond. The Reverend Lawrence Ottley (1808–61) was rector of Richmond and he and his wife, Elizabeth, had sixteen children, of whom two died in infancy. There is a sense that Dodgson enjoyed being with large families; it reminded him of his own family. Mr Ottley was canon and rural dean of Ripon. Dodgson’s father had been appointed a chaplain to Charles Longley, the first bishop of Ripon, from 1836 to 1856, and in this way, it is likely that Dodgson already knew the Ottleys from their joint connections with Ripon. In 1852, Dodgson’s father was appointed a residentiary canon of Ripon and then, in 1854, archdeacon of Richmond. When Reverend Lawrence Ottley died in 1861, two of the Ottley children stayed with the Dodgsons at Croft for two weeks while Richmond Rectory was cleared. Dodgson remained at Richmond School from 1844 until the end of 1845. His first school report, written by James Tate, was sent to his father on 27 December 1844: My dear Sir, Sufficient opportunities having been allowed me to draw from actual observation an estimate of your son’s character and abilities, I do not hesitate to express my opinion that he possesses, along with other and excellent natural endowments, a very uncommon share of genius. Gentle and cheerful in his intercourse with others, playful and ready in conversation, he is capable of acquirements and knowledge far beyond his years, while his reason is so clear and so jealous of error,

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that he will not rest satisfied without a most exact solution of whatever appears to him obscure. He has past [sic] an excellent examination just now in Mathematics, exhibiting at times an illustration of that love of precise argument which seems to him natural. He is not however classed, because the subjects, in which he and two others were tried, do not allow of a strict comparison with the other Mathematical Pupils. I must not omit to set off against these great advantages one or two faults, of which the removal as soon as possible is very desirable, though I am prepared to find it a work of time. As you are well aware, our young friend, while jealous of error, as I said above, where important facts or principles are concerned is exceedingly lenient towards lesser frailties – and, whether in reading aloud or metrical composition, frequently sets at nought the notions of Virgil or Ovid as to syllabic quantity. He is moreover marvelously ingenious in replacing the other many flexions of nouns and verbs, as detailed in our Grammar by some exact analogies or convenient forms of his own devising. This source of fault will in due time exhaust itself, though flowing pretty freely at present. And thus, it appears to me, that somewhat stiffly perchance, and in the latter part, playfully – I have nevertheless given you a correct portrait of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson as a pupil of Richmond School. You may fairly anticipate for him a bright career. Allow me, before I close, one suggestion which assumes for itself the wisdom of experience and the sincerity of the best intention. You must not entrust your son with a full knowledge of his superiority over other boys. Let him discover this as he proceeds. The love of excellence is far beyond the love of excelling; and if he should once be bewitched with a mere ambition to surpass others, I need not urge that the very quality of his knowledge would be materially injured, and that his character would receive a stain of a more serious description still. I am sure Mrs. Dodgson and yourself will on the whole be gratified with what I have written. On perusal I observe that I have adopted a somewhat pedantic style of writing. Excuse this in a schoolmaster at the end of the half year. Mrs. Tate joins me in best regards to Mrs. Dodgson and your family. Yours very faithfully, James Tate3

Tate had the foresight to see that his young pupil had a high level of mathematical competence. At the age of 14, Dodgson went to Rugby School. His experiences surrounded by boys, in an establishment which gave emphasis to physical skills as well as academic excellence, may have influenced his attitude towards boys. Dodgson preferred the gentle activities of academic study to the rough and tumble of physical sports. Certainly, in later life, he appeared more at ease in the company

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of females – girls and adult women – although he had many male friends – both boys and adults. Again, his father arranged for him to reside in the headmaster’s house. Dr Archibald Campbell Tait (1811–82) had taken over from Thomas Arnold, who had done much to restore the school’s reputation and to modernise the mode of education provided. Dr Tait was a well-respected man of learning; he went on to become bishop of London and eventually archbishop of Canterbury. Public school life was not entirely wholesome and the discipline was often left in the hands of older boys, who set ‘hundreds of lines’ to be copied out for trifling offences. Life in the dormitories was no better, with smaller boys frequently bullied and taken advantage of by older ones. We have no firsthand accounts of Dodgson’s life at Rugby apart from a diary entry he made many years later when he recalled his school days. He wrote in 1855: During my stay I made I suppose some progress in learning of various kinds, but none of it was done con amore, and I spent an incalculable time in writing out impositions – this last I consider one of the chief faults of Rugby School. I made some friends there [. . . ] but I cannot say that I look back upon my life at a Public School with any sensations of pleasure, or that any earthly considerations would induce me to go through my three years again.4

Nevertheless, he worked hard and conscientiously at Rugby, bringing home prizes with surprising regularity. His high levels of achievement in mathematics continued. His teacher of mathematics, Robert Bickersteth Mayor (1820–98), wrote to Dodgson’s father: ‘I have not had a more promising boy at this age since I came to Rugby.’5 At the end of Dodgson’s time at Rugby School, his headmaster, writing to Dodgson’s father on 18 December 1849, summed up his school career as follows: My dear Sir, I must not allow your son to leave School without expressing to you the very high opinion I entertain of him. I fully coincide in Mr. Cotton’s estimate both of his abilities and upright conduct. His Mathematical knowledge is great for his age, and I doubt not he will do himself credit in Classics. As I believe I mentioned to you before, his Examination for the Divinity prize was one of the most creditable exhibitions I have ever seen. During the whole time of his being in my house his conduct has been excellent. Believe me to be my dear Sir, Yours very faithfully, A. C. Tait6

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Christ Church Colleagues Dodgson’s father gained a double first-class honours degree in mathematics and classics at Christ Church, Oxford, in December 1821. It seemed only natural, therefore, that his son should follow in his footsteps. On 23 May 1850, at the age of 18, Dodgson went to Christ Church to matriculate, and after examination by the dean, Thomas Gaisford (1779–1855), and his colleagues to show competence in basic subjects and attitudes in religious matters, he was accepted as a commoner (an undergraduate who paid fees for tuition). However, the college had no rooms available for the following term and Dodgson had to wait for a place to become vacant. Strangely, the records indicate that he paid college dues, university fees, library fees and tuition fees from Trinity term 1850 – that is, throughout the summer term of that year. Also, his college tutor, Osborne Gordon (1813–83), countersigned his name against ‘C. L. Dodgson’ for each term, commencing with the Easter and Act term of 1850 in the Christ Church tuition record book. Instead, Dodgson studied at home in preparation for his university career, but the months rolled by and still no room became available. His father used the contacts he had maintained at Christ Church, and eventually, he was able to arrange for his son to lodge with his friend, Jacob Ley (1803–81), who was a tutor at Christ Church with rooms in Tom Quad. Dodgson began his undergraduate studies at Christ Church on 24 January 1851. In the record for ‘battels’, the system used in college to pay day-to-day expenses, the name ‘C. L. Dodgson’ appears for the first time in October 1850, with no entries for expenses, and disappears after one month. It reappears on 25 January 1851, but for one day only are expenses recorded and a blank occurs until 10 February 1851. This was due to the sudden death of his mother and his hasty return to Croft. The undergraduate ledger, which gives details of the costs incurred by being in college, indicates that dues for tuition, library, college and university were paid, but there is no entry for room rent during the 1851 Lent term because of his private arrangement with Jacob Ley. We know that Dodgson was in residence for the Easter and Act term of 1851 because he is listed in the room rent ledger and this identifies his room as being in Peckwater Quadrangle on staircase 4, room 8. Dodgson remained in his Peckwater rooms for three terms before moving to the Cloister Staircase, room 4, at the beginning of the Easter and Act term 1852. This consisted, as far as we know, of two rooms and one of these was occupied by his friend George Girdlestone Woodhouse (1831–97). This friendship, which grew as a result of their shared accommodation, may have been the reason why Dodgson dedicated his poem The Ligniad, written in May 1853, to Woodhouse. The title comes from

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the Latin for wood (lignum) and is a reference to his friend’s name and to the cricketer’s bat, clearly a sport enjoyed by Woodhouse. This room arrangement continued for five terms until the end of the Michaelmas term 1853. He then moved into the room next door, room 5, which is recorded in the room rent ledger as consisting of a large room and a small room. Dodgson had both rooms, which he remained in for eight years. Dodgson studied mathematics with Robert Godfrey Faussett (1827–1908), lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church and only five years his senior. At the end of each term, his progress was reviewed by examination and the results recorded in what are known as ‘Collections’. Dodgson’s records are still in the archives at Christ Church and these reveal good progress in mathematics throughout his three years of study. At the end of his first term in April 1851, his mathematics was recorded as ‘valde bene’ (very good) and this was repeated at the end of December of that year. A new system of examinations called ‘Moderations’ (‘Mods’ for short) was introduced in 1850 as a way of testing undergraduates prior to their Finals, usually during their second year of study. At the end of 1852, Dodgson gained a second class in classics and a first class in mathematics – the only Christ Church man to do so. His ‘Collections’ report recorded ‘optime’ (excellent).7 Dodgson worked diligently in a quiet, unassuming and conforming manner, following the traditions of the ancient institution that is Christ Church. He did not follow the wilder antics of other undergraduates, many of whom were from distinguished upper-class families quite used to wining, dining, hunting and generally having a good time. Instead, he settled to academic study, excelling in mathematics but showing equal promise in classics. He made friends with a more sober set of Christ Church men, including his old friend from Daresbury days, Thomas Vere Bayne (1829–1908), whose father was headmaster of Warrington School. Other friends included men who were similarly proficient in mathematics: Thomas Fowler (1832–1904) of Merton College, William Henry Ranken (1832–1920) of Corpus Christi and Samuel Courthope Bosanquet (1832–1925) of Christ Church. As a result of Dodgson’s good results in ‘Moderations’ at the end of 1852, he was, like his father, nominated for a ‘Studentship’, being proposed by his father’s friend, Dr Edward Pusey (1800–82). The dean and canons (known as the ‘chapter’) met annually on Christmas Eve and they decided how to fill any vacancies in the list of 101 Students at Christ Church. In 1852, it was Pusey’s turn, as canon, to choose undergraduates for a Studentship and Dodgson was one of those so nominated. Pusey made it clear to Dodgson’s father that the nomination was on merit alone and not as a favour to his friend. The Studentship,

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as has been mentioned before, came with an annual stipend and could be held for life (as in Dodgson’s case) as long as the conditions of tenure were maintained: he was expected to proceed to holy orders within a few years and to remain celibate. This aspect of Dodgson’s life – his commitment given as part of the Studentship – has often been misunderstood by biographers and commentators. At the age of 20, Dodgson made a commitment that would mean he would remain unmarried for the duration of his time at Christ Church. Because he chose to follow a career within Christ Church, as lecturer, he maintained this commitment for life. In the late 1870s, the rules about celibacy were relaxed, but Dodgson chose to honour his original commitment. In June 1854 (at the end of Trinity term), Dodgson gained a disappointing third class in the classics finals and he put this down to insufficient work in preparation for the examination. It was both a disappointment and a revelation that he needed to work much harder if he was to gain a good result in the mathematical finals at the end of the Michaelmas term (December 1854). Fortunately, the opportunity arose for Dodgson to spend the summer of 1854 at a mathematical reading party in Whitby, organised by Bartholomew Price, recently appointed Sedleian professor of natural philosophy and later master of Pembroke. The summer school and his intense hard work through the Michaelmas term proved successful. Dodgson gained a first-class honours degree in mathematics. He was top of the list in his year, so it was hardly surprising that his college asked him to become a tutor, giving him an opportunity to stay at Christ Church after he had gained his BA degree. To help him financially, the canons appointed him sublibrarian in February 1855, which had a stipend of £35 a year, and they awarded him a Bostock scholarship in May, worth £20 a year, almost bringing him to financial independence. He wrote the single word ‘Courage!’ in his diary.8 Dodgson’s career began to take shape. There was every possibility that he could spend his days at Christ Church using his mathematical talents. However, not everything went according to plan in 1855. He entered for the senior mathematical scholarship but found the work beyond his ability (he had not revised thoroughly) and he did not complete the papers, withdrawing after the second day. Samuel Bosanquet, who had been at Whitby, was adjudged the winner. Dodgson realised that if he had studied more carefully through the term, he could easily have taken the scholarship. This reveals a common theme in Dodgson’s life – periods of hard academic study followed by periods of indolence. Even though he set his mind on getting the scholarship the following year, events overtook him.

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In June 1855, the old dean of Christ Church, Thomas Gaisford, died. The dean was, in effect, the head of the college, with responsibilities for academic achievement and religious development. The new appointment was Henry George Liddell (1811–98), currently headmaster of Westminster School in London and an old member of Christ Church. The college had been in decline during Gaisford’s time because he tended to select by class rather than merit and the appointment (in the gift of the queen) was seen as an opportunity to improve academic standards and modernise the crumbling buildings. Liddell had a reputation for bringing about change. He was gifted intellectually, a proven good manager and a person with friends in high places. For a time, he was domestic chaplain to the prince consort and was well known to Queen Victoria. He was married and had a family of four children when he arrived at Christ Church – and more were to follow. According to tradition, the appointment of a new dean was marked by two promotions within Christ Church: an honorary first degree and an honorary master’s degree given internally; Dodgson received the latter. This paved the way for the new dean and the canons of Christ Church to make Dodgson the new mathematical lecturer. Dodgson was offered the post in August 1855, meaning that he no longer needed to try for the senior mathematical scholarship. His abilities had been recognised and his future career was now assured. He took up the post in January 1856 and held the position for twenty-six years before taking early retirement to concentrate on his literary works in 1881. Dodgson set about getting himself permanently established at Christ Church. He recorded in his diary on 24 April 1856: ‘Got a new bookcase into the little room, which I intend living in chiefly, reserving the large room for lectures.’9 A few weeks later, on 10 May, he wrote: ‘I have been fitting up my small room under Scoltock’s advice, and have already added a bookcase, 2 arm chairs, and a writing-table.’10 William Scoltock (1823–86) was a member of the Senior Common Room and Dodgson clearly valued his advice. Scoltock accompanied Dodgson when he selected some wallpaper at Badcock’s furniture store in St Aldates for his larger room and helped him arrange to have the ceiling whitewashed. The exact whereabouts of the cloister rooms used by Dodgson are still unknown, but the title suggests that they were close to the actual cloisters on the south side of the cathedral. There are rooms above the south and east sections of the cloisters, which were added in the seventeenth century. The south range upper storey has been used since 1681 to house the Allestree Library. The purpose of the east range is not clear from the records. It may have been used for

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accommodation, but more recently, it is used as the chapter archive room. According to the rent book ledger, there were six sets of rooms approached from the Cloister Staircase. The location of these stairs is not known today. The south-east corner of the cloisters led to the Chaplains’ Quadrangle during Dodgson’s day. The southern section of this quadrangle burnt down in 1669 and was replaced in 1672–8 by what were known as ‘Fell’s Buildings’ or the ‘Garden Staircase’. The west range was occupied by Wolsey’s Kitchen and the north range by the Old Library, so it is possible that the east range contained the Cloister Staircase. The east and south ranges of the Chaplains’ Quadrangle were demolished in 1863 to make way for the new Meadow Buildings. The ledger indicates that rooms four and six on the Cloister Staircase were ‘pulled down’ around 1863–4. All the remaining rooms on the Cloister Staircase ceased to be used for accommodation in 1865. A few years later, the cloister roof was raised on the east side to expose the Norman door of the chapter house. In order to achieve this, the rooms above this section of the cloister were drastically altered. A large rectangular wooden construction was built, projecting from the floor to house the new ceiling below, thus making it impossible to stand in the space that remained. Hence, these rooms ceased to function for whatever purpose they had been used for till then. The changes to the upper storey of the east range of the cloisters and the demolition of sections of the Chaplains’ Quadrangle at about the same time in 1863– 5 make it difficult to determine the exact site of the Cloister Staircase rooms. The ledger had separate entries for ‘Cloister Staircase’, ‘Chaplains’ Quadrangle’ and ‘Garden Staircase’, which adds to the confusion. Roger Lancelyn Green, in his edited version of Dodgson’s Diaries, stated (p. 173) that Dodgson lived in the Chaplains’ Quadrangle and moved on 27 January 1862 to the ‘Old Library’ when this was demolished. He further stated that the Old Library was also pulled down to make way for the Meadow Buildings. Most of this is inaccurate. Dodgson never had rooms in the Chaplains’ Quadrangle. He never had rooms in the Old Library, which, contrary to Green’s statement, is still in existence and continues to be used for student accommodation from the time it was converted in 1775. By this time, the New Library on the south side of Peckwater Quadrangle was complete and all the books were transferred. Dodgson moved to different rooms at the beginning of 1862 and these were in the north-west corner of Tom Quad, now occupied by the Junior Common Room. Dodgson’s lectureship duties at this time appear to have been mainly tutorials and small seminar groups and these very quickly began to increase in number, so he felt under pressure to fulfil his duties. He also gave a public lecture on mathematics – open to all members of the college – which took place according

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to the tuition book twice a year – once in the Michaelmas term and once in the Lent term. Dodgson’s two brothers, Skeffington and Wilfred, matriculated at Christ Church on 14 May 1856 and came into residence on 10 October of that year. However, having three Dodgsons at the same time caused some confusion for the administrators, as this diary entry for 10 October 1856 indicates: Skeffington and Wilfred arrived in time for breakfast, and we left for Oxford in the afternoon: the threefold luggage, all marked with one name, put down at Tom-Gate caused the wildest scene of confusion I ever witnessed here, and after all we found that no rooms had been allotted to my brothers, who accordingly had to spend the night at the Mitre.11

To make matters worse, another Dodgson – their cousin, Francis Hume Dodgson – had entered Christ Church in 1854, but it seems likely that he went down the previous term. Francis Dodgson (1834–1917) was a Westminster scholar and he had rooms on the Cloister Staircase, room 3, from Michaelmas 1854 to Trinity 1856, but this information has not been confirmed from other sources other than the termly rent books. During the Michaelmas term 1856, Dodgson temporarily shared his rooms with Woodhouse’s younger brother, Charles Goddard (b. 1839), so his two brothers could use the room vacated by Francis H. Dodgson. The old Christ Church records usually show only a surname, which adds to the difficulty of checking details. Eventually, Skeffington and Wilfred moved to Peckwater Quad the following term, Lent 1857, using Dodgson’s old undergraduate room (Peckwater Staircase 4, room 8) and the adjacent room (Peckwater Staircase 4, room 7). The brothers remained in these rooms for three terms until Michaelmas 1857. Some biographers indicate that Dodgson did not move to his rooms in Tom Quad until 1868. This is not the case. When the rooms on the Cloister Staircase were taken out of circulation – and this was begun in 1862 and completed in 1865 – Dodgson moved to the Great Quadrangle: Tom Quad. The college records show that he moved to Tom Quad, staircase 7, room 3, in 1862, so it is now certain that much of Alice’s Adventures was written in these rooms and not elsewhere, as has been suggested. Room 3 was below Lord Bute’s suite and it looked out onto the archdeacon’s garden. This is confirmed by the following entry in Dodgson’s journal for 27 January 1866: Had an absurd adventure at night. On going to shut the oak before going to bed, I found it shut, and (apparently) fastened from the outside. Thinking it had

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been done from mischief, and not liking to go to bed a prisoner, I got out of the window into Dr Clerke’s garden, and with a good deal of trouble succeeded in waking Lord Bute, and asked him to get help from the porter’s lodge. He came down and examined the door, and reported it not fastened, which proved to be the case, it having merely got stuck very tight in the frame.12

The ‘oak’ was the main door to Dodgson’s suite of rooms and Charles Carr Clerke (1798–1877) was the archdeacon of Oxford. Lord Bute, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart (1847–1900), was one of the noblemen who rented rooms at Christ Church. As a result of the 1867 Christ Church Reform Act, instigated by Dean Liddell with assistance from the canons and the tutors, noblemen could no longer have rooms at Christ Church unless they were studying for a valid degree. This was a strategy to make more rooms available to genuine undergraduates. At the end of the Easter and Act term 1868, the Marquis of Bute was forced to give up staircase 7, room 6 in Tom Quad – the splendid suite of rooms he occupied. These newly vacant rooms were probably the best in Christ Church and also the most expensive to rent, according to the rent book. Even the dons within the college did not live rent free. Rents ranged between 6 and 15 guineas for each term depending on the location and size of the rooms. In 1868, Dodgson was in a position to pay the high rent because Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was now producing a good return after an initial setback. He was also a senior member of Christ Church by this time and was able to make an early bid for the rooms, which he inspected and approved. He could see that there was an opportunity of constructing a photographic studio on the roof, with access from his rooms. He secured the rooms for his personal use and moved in the following term. These rooms became his home for the rest of his life. He recorded the proposed move in his diary on 21 June 1868– just as the Easter and Act term came to an end and the long summer was about to begin: My present task is to arrange for the necessary alterations in Lord Bute’s rooms, before moving into them, as I have settled to do. There seems a bare possibility of my erecting a photographing room on the top, accessible from the rooms, which would be indeed a luxury, and as I am paying £6 a year rent for my present one, I should soon save a good deal of the outlay.13

That same day, he heard news of the death of his father and there are no further diary entries until the following August. However, alterations were made and the photographic studio was erected on the roof, at the north-west corner

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of Tom Quad, immediately above his rooms, behind the turrets and between the large chimney stacks. A staircase already existed, which enabled him to reach the roof from within his rooms. This stairway gave access to a large cupboard halfway up, which Dodgson converted into a darkroom for developing his photographs. His main bedroom, bathroom and toilet were above his living quarters. The bedroom was situated above his dining room but below the level of the ceiling of the large sitting room. It had only a skylight and probably a low ceiling to keep it below the level of the turrets which surround the buildings in Tom Quad. After Dodgson’s death, the photographic studio construction was removed and became the conservatory at a local shop in Walton Street, Oxford. Dodgson moved into his new rooms on 30 October 1868. Two days later, he recorded in his diary: ‘I have just entered my new rooms (lately Lord Bute’s) and slept there for the first time on Friday, and am now gradually getting things arranged.’14 No contemporary photographs exist of Dodgson’s previous rooms in Christ Church, but there are photographs of his new sitting room, which were probably taken at the time of his death by the agent who was dealing with the sale of his effects. These have been reprinted in many of his biographies and elsewhere. Stuart Dodgson Collingwood (Dodgson’s nephew and first biographer, writing The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll in 1898) reproduced the photograph of the large sitting room, calling it ‘Lewis Carroll’s Study at Christ Church, Oxford’. It faces the fireplace and shows the William De Morgan tiles in situ that Dodgson purchased, so the photograph was definitely taken after 1887, the year in which the tiles were acquired.15 There is also a close-up of the fireplace in Collingwood’s The Lewis Carroll Picture Book.16 Isa Bowman reproduced a photograph in her book The Story of Lewis Carroll, entitled ‘Lewis Carroll’s Room in Oxford in Which “Alice of Wonderland” Was Written’.17 The room shown is not part of Lord Bute’s suite but is part of the Junior Common Room below, the site of Tom Quad staircase 7, room 3, occupied by Dodgson between 1862 and 1868. Over the course of the thirty years that Dodgson occupied his suite of rooms on the second storey of Tom Quad, which consisted of a hall, a drawing room, two small turret rooms, a dining room, a scullery, two bedrooms, a bathroom and the photographic studio (including a dressing room) and the developing room on the half-landing, he made a number of improvements. He altered floor levels and had new floors put in, changed the lighting and added a gas ‘ventilating globe chandelier’, fitted asbestos fireplaces in all the main rooms, had new tiles placed around his main fireplace and had bookcases fitted to walls.

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From time to time, Dodgson proudly referred to his rooms in his correspondence with friends. A letter to Frances Hardman (b. 1866), written on 24 May 1882, contains this invitation: This is to say – do come as soon as you can. I will begin to expect you about 61/2. Then I shall have time to get over the shyness produced by meeting so many ladies at once, and also time to show you my ‘house’ (perhaps the largest set of College rooms in Oxford) and the view from the roof, which is imposing, but not an imposition.18

In another letter to the actress Mrs J. Martin-Harvey (1865–1949), dated 30 June 1895, he again calls his rooms a ‘house’, which, apart from their size, is probably a reference to the fact that Christ Church is usually termed the ‘House’ by its members. He recorded in this letter that his ‘house’ consisted of ten rooms.19 In his role as lecturer, Dodgson wrote a number of mathematical books mainly to help prepare and guide his undergraduate students for examinations at Oxford. He also wrote other literary works, both prose and verse. He also produced some nonsense poetry; perhaps the greatest of these was his epic poem of 1876, The Hunting of the Snark, about a voyage to track down a mythical beast by a motley crew of ten shipmates whose names began with the letter ‘B’. The poem is certainly allegorical, but Dodgson never revealed what the hidden meaning might be. In later life, he described it as a quest for ‘love’, but this does not quite fit the dramatic events as the poem unfolds. We know that he wrote it at the time his favourite cousin and godson, Charles Hassard Wilcox (1852–74), who was scarcely into his early twenties, was suffering from the debilitating and life-threatening illness of consumption (tuberculosis). Dodgson helped to nurse Charlie Wilcox, keeping vigil by his bedside for long hours and taking time out to make solitary walks across the Surrey Downs near Guildford. It was on a walk such as this that Dodgson recorded the last line of the poem, ‘For the Snark was a Boojum, you see’, which came into his head as he strode across the Downs.20 The darker side of the poem may reflect the sadness and frustration which Dodgson must have felt during the painful illness of his young relative. Other poems are more lighthearted and joyful. He published Phantasmagoria and Other Poems in 1869 and Rhyme? and Reason? in 1883 – both being collections of his poems (and containing some previously published ones). At the end of his life, he was working on a collection of more serious poems: Three Sunsets and Other Poems, which was published posthumously in 1898.

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As a mathematician, Dodgson is remembered for his original work that culminated in An Elementary Treatise on Determinants (1867) and his development of election theory, which resulted in a number of pamphlets and newspaper articles on parliamentary representation (The Principles of Parliamentary Representation, 1884–5). He had a high regard for the ancient geometer Euclid and rigorously fought against attempts to change the logical structure of Euclid’s text The Elements that had been used for centuries to develop clear thinking and valid argument among schoolboys and university undergraduates through the subject of geometry. However, times were changing and some influential Victorian mathematical educators were producing alternatives to Euclid, modifying the order of the theorems and postulates – in effect, watering it down and, in Dodgson’s view, defeating the object of developing logical discipline. By way of a riposte, he wrote a dramatic play in which an academic tutor upholds the structure of Euclid’s Elements. Dodgson’s play, published in 1879, was called Euclid and His Modern Rivals. It contains some very humorous moments and the dialogue is closely argued as each ‘Rival’ is brought forward to be interrogated and taken apart, logically speaking. Dodgson retired as the mathematical lecturer at Christ Church in 1881, supposedly to devote more time to his literary output. In the event, he was persuaded to take on the honorary role of curatorship of the Common Room, a rather time-consuming and onerous task that consisted of the management responsibilities of running the Senior Common Room at Christ Church. He had to organise domestic affairs, meals, newspapers, furniture and heating, in addition to keeping the wine cellars well stocked. There was a butler to help him in his task, but Dodgson took the responsibility very seriously and totally reorganised the day-to-day running of the Common Room, creating new accounting systems, modifying rules for membership, sending out memorandums and leaflets to his colleagues about meetings and changes to the price lists and reporting to them about his actions on their behalf. Nine years of domestic drudgery kept Dodgson away from other more creative activity. He did produce two rather entertaining booklets about his life as a curator of the Common Room, entitled Twelve Months in a Curatorship by One Who Has Tried It (1884) and Three Years in a Curatorship by One Whom It Has Tried (1886). He finally resigned in 1892, and as a parting gift to the members of the Common Room, he issued Curiosissima Curatoria (1892), which was a list of the decisions made from almost the day the Common Room was established through to the current day, taking the opportunity to remind members of the battles he fought on their behalf to bring about improvements.

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Over the years, Dodgson assembled a mass of material which he thought would make a good novel. He was determined that it would not be anything like Alice. He wanted to try a different approach – a Victorian melodrama with a mix of moral guidance and example, comments on scientific and mathematical ideas, humorous poems, anecdotes that he had heard at dinner parties or in conversation with children and ideas he had used for children’s sermons – and it was all to be linked in a fairy-tale with a real-life parallel theme. This highly complex structure resulted in two storybooks: Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893), with delightful illustrations by Harry Furniss, the well-known Punch artist. The books were not popular in his day and did not sell well. The novel was very convoluted and difficult to follow. The threads of the story did not hang together well. This is hardly surprising since the book was made up of so many different strands and separate accounts. If Dodgson had kept to his successful Alice format, he would have been much more successful, but he seemed to lack the spark of inspiration needed to write such a book. This is not to say he did not have a succession of new child-friends to motivate and stimulate his storytelling capabilities. Although Dodgson retired from lecturing duties, he remained resident at Christ Church and was actively involved as a member of the governing body, which was established in 1867. Dodgson was a member from the outset, attending the termly meetings regularly for thirty years. However, he withdrew from the social aspects of the university, rarely attending parties and ‘at homes’ organised by the heads of houses and other officers of the university. He became tired of social chit chat and felt his time was better used in the preparation of books – some of which he thought only he could produce. His main task was to publish a three-volume treatise on logic, extending the bounds of current knowledge and establishing the subject as a tool for analysing the validity of arguments. At the time of his death, one volume had been published, one was almost complete with parts printed as galley proofs and the rest remained in his head. Dodgson was seen as a traditionalist at Christ Church, often resisting change but always upholding the customs and rules of this ancient academic institution. He enjoyed the community of colleagues, especially the cut and thrust of debate in the Common Room, but he also liked to get away from this predominately male environment and enjoy social contacts in London and elsewhere. His social circle was wide, including key players in the world of arts and music, theatre, the church, politics, science and medicine, as this book will reveal, and he enjoyed being with his friends for a chat or entertaining the children of the household. Suggestions that he was shy and reclusive are far from the truth.

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5. Bartholomew Price, from a photograph in the collection of the late Dr Francis Price

Bartholomew Price: Lifelong Mentor Bartholomew ‘Bat’ Price (1818–98) was mathematical lecturer at Pembroke College. He was a well-established figure in the university – a man with a reputation of great wisdom and an authority in Oxford matters. Although serious and commanding in his approach, he nevertheless always projected a friendly and relaxed manner in the company of the people he met – be they nervous undergraduates or distinguished characters in the university. He was a patient and caring person who, like Dodgson, had a slight speech impediment. As a result, he was a person who did not waste words; he was able to give clear, precise explanations and answers in a concise, logical manner. This attribute appealed to Dodgson, who was very similar in character. Thus grew a mutual respect

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6. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an assisted self-portrait taken in 1856, from the author’s collection

between these two men, Price offering the benefit of his knowledge and experience and Dodgson making use of his wise counsel and generous encouragement. There are many similarities between the early lives of the two men. Both were the sons of Oxford graduates who had become ministers of the church. Dodgson’s father obtained a double first in mathematics and classics at Christ Church

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and accepted a college living at Daresbury, Cheshire. Price’s father, a former fellow of Pembroke College, became rector of Coln St Dennis, Gloucestershire, where Bartholomew was born on 18 May 1818. Both came from large families. Bartholomew Price was the second son in a family of seven children. The mothers of both men died while they were still young. Price’s mother died when he was only 9 years old. Both had shown an aptitude for learning at an early age, revealing an inquisitive and creative nature that was to stay with them all their lives. As a boy, Price had a precocious interest in scientific matters. The old clock in the parish church had worn out while he was living at the rectory at Coln St Dennis. He took the trouble to study the mechanism of the old clock, and the village blacksmith constructed new parts to Price’s designs, which succeeded in getting the clock to go again. It was so successful that the clock continued to function until 1960, when it was finally deemed to be unrepairable and replaced by an electrically operated clock, to which descendants of Price contributed. Price attended Northleach Grammar School as a paying pupil, where he worked diligently and achieved a very high standard in his academic studies. In recognition of his distinction at school, at the age of 17 he was selected as a candidate for one of the scholarships to Pembroke College under a foundation provided by Richard Townsend. He was examined in the College Hall on 25 March 1837, matriculated and was admitted as an exhibitioner. On 26 November 1840, he gained his BA degree with first-class honours in mathematics and physics and a third class in classics. On 25 February 1841, he was offered a scholarship on the foundation of Sir John Benet, to take effect the following term. He was ordained deacon by the bishop of Oxford at Christ Church Cathedral on 19 December 1841. In 1842, he gained the university mathematical scholarship. The following year, on 7 June, he took his MA and was then admitted as a fellow of Pembroke on 11 June 1844, having proceeded to full holy orders nine days earlier. Price took up his duties as mathematical tutor to the college, coming into personal contact with Dodgson at a summer school in 1854. It was during this time that Price was working on his extensive mathematical publications: Treatise on the Differential Calculus and Its Applications to Geometry in 1848 and Treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus, Calculus of Variations, Applications to Algebra and Geometry and to Analytical Mechanics, which was issued in four volumes over ten years. The first volume of this major work appeared in 1852, and it soon gained Price considerable renown in the mathematical world. During June of the same year, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. As his degree finals approached in 1854, Dodgson took his examination in classics during the summer, gaining a third class. This is what we would call

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today a ‘wake-up call’. Dodgson needed to study more carefully if he was to achieve a better result in the mathematics finals. Price offered the undergraduate mathematicians from the various colleges a summer reading party at Whitby during August and September, 1854. Several took part, including Dodgson and his friends Thomas Fowler and William Ranken. The reading party had a profound effect on Dodgson in many ways. His abilities as a storyteller outside the family circle began to emerge and develop. He had entertained his brothers and sisters with his imaginative tales on many previous occasions and some of his early literary output appeared in the numerous family magazines he edited. Now, for the first time, he offered his stories to a local newspaper, The Whitby Gazette, and they were accepted for publication. A poem and a story – both of a light and humorous style – were published: ‘The Lady of the Ladle’ and ‘Wilhelm von Schmitz’. He used the pseudonym ‘B. B.’ to protect his identity because his purpose for being at Whitby was to study mathematics, even though his friends undoubtedly knew about these publications. The meaning of the pen name, however, remains unknown. But, his mathematical endeavours were proceeding well and according to plan. He wrote to his sister Mary on 23 August 1854: ‘I am doing Integral Calculus with him [Price] now, and getting on very swimmingly.’21 His companion Thomas Fowler recorded another significant event during their stay at Whitby: Dodgson’s ability to entertain young children with impromptu stories. He wrote: ‘Dodgson used to sit on a rock on the beach, telling stories to a circle of eager young listeners of both sexes.’22 Fowler goes on to suggest that some of these stories were developed and used again in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We know Dodgson used real people and events to characterise and furnish his stories with scenes and happenings. With just a twinkle in Dodgson’s eye, a listener could become a central character in his stories. He used his surroundings to stimulate his imagination. Perhaps his greatest talent – probably more than his expertise in mathematics – was his ability to hold an audience of young faces spellbound with his stories of strange adventures and fantastic events. During the time at Whitby, Price offered his students as assistants to the organisers of a grand outdoor party for three hundred schoolchildren. Dodgson wrote to his sister Mary: ‘On our first reaching the ground the only sound audible was a unanimous chorus of screaming babies, but this was soon drowned in the general noise.’23 The party ate currant bread and drank tea, served by Price and one of the undergraduates. A sudden downpour of rain dampened spirits and the children became drenched. In order to help dry them out, one of the undergraduates, with Dodgson’s assistance, organised races. The prizes were a halfpenny, and by all accounts many of the children gained a prize. It is easy

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to speculate that these Whitby experiences resurfaced in his telling of Alice’s Adventures: The ‘currant bread’ becomes ‘eat-me cakes’, the ‘rainstorm’ reminds us of the ‘pool of tears’, the ‘races followed by prizes’ are like the ‘caucus-race’ and the ‘screaming babies amongst other general noise’ is reminiscent of the Duchess’s house in the ‘Pig and Pepper’ chapter. And it does not end there. Dodgson recorded a visit to Mary Ann’s Spout, a waterfall which he recorded wrongly (it was actually called Mallyan’s Spout). Alice was mistaken for Mary Ann when the White Rabbit ordered her to fetch his gloves and fan. Although we need to be cautious with these possible links with Dodgson’s later major literary work, Whitby was clearly a period of incubation for ideas which may have been recalled and used years later. Dodgson wrote again to his sister Mary on 13 December 1854 with the news of his first-class honours in the mathematics finals. He wrote: ‘I have just been to Mr. Price to see how I did in the papers, and the result will I hope be gratifying to you.’24 He listed the marks for his sister as best as he could remember. Of the five men who obtained firsts, three were with him at Whitby. His own name was top of the list – with the highest score. He further commented: ‘He [Price] also said he never remembered so good a set of men in. All this is very satisfactory.’25 The greater part of the university’s mathematical teaching, moderating and examining was in the hands of Price. He could reckon among his pupils most of the best mathematical students of the time, many of whom became distinguished in the field in later years. He was examiner at the university eleven times in twenty-four years and thus influenced the teaching of mathematics at this level. He was also responsible for the introduction of elementary mathematics in other university courses, indicating both his power in university matters and his own recognition of the importance of the subject to all undergraduates. He was elected to the chair of natural philosophy at the university when he was made Sedleian professor in 1853, which entitled him to be a member of the faculty of medicine and of the faculty of natural science. In fact, he became chairman of the latter. He also became a member of the committee to consider the preliminary qualifications of candidates for the degree of ‘bachelor of science’. As time progressed, Dodgson became more confident about approaching Price for help and advice. In particular, in 1855, he discovered a few minor errors in one of Price’s mathematical books and he recorded the following in his journal for 16 January: Today I observed in the cross-multiplication in Price’s Differential Calculus that the 3 denominators are identical, and working one out does for all. I wonder if he has noticed it.

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He then added later: He acknowledged the truth of the correction when I pointed it out to him (Jan: 22) and evidently had not noticed it before. (I note this for its rarity).26

Clearly, no loss in confidence ensued as a result of this occurrence. In fact, Dodgson’s respect grew stronger, and when Dodgson became mathematical lecturer at Christ Church, he often sought advice from Price, as these journal entries show: 29 April 1855, Sunday: Walked with Price in the morning – a long and pleasant walk – discussed my new position, etc.27 25 January 1856: Called on Price to ask his advice on the order in which men should read their subjects for Moderations. He gave me the list opposite. His way of teaching Euclid is to make the men write it out: I am inclined to try the plan.28 12 November 1856: It would be advisable to consult Price as to what a man ought to have gone through for Moderations and for the Junior Scholarship.29

On a number of occasions, the two men worked together on the mathematical examinations for the university, deciding between them which papers each should set, discussing the results of the candidates and suggesting by mutual agreement the awards for both the junior and senior mathematical scholarships. A number of changes were taking place in Oxford, resulting from a commission set up in 1854 to look into the constitution and administration of the colleges making up the university and to suggest ways of reforming and modernising the organisation. In 1856, Price was elected a member of the Hebdomadal Council, the ruling body of the university, in the face of strong High Church opposition. The place had been made vacant by the resignation of William Fishburn Donkin (1814–69), Savilian professor of astronomy. Price remained a member of this important council until the resignation of his professorship in October 1898. He had established himself within the university system in the 1830s and the 1840s and he was now one of the few remaining links with the unreformed Oxford. Nevertheless, he had achieved a reputation as an extremely able mathematician and an equally successful mathematical teacher, but he was not prepared to settle for a purely academic role within the university. He was pleased to accept an active role in the changes that were taking place. He was a shrewd yet cautious man of business, which soon became evident to other members of the Hebdomadal Council, and he became its spokesman in proposing new statutes and decrees to Congregation, the democratic arm of the

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university consisting of all the heads of colleges and members with at least a master’s degree. Thus began a long series of commitments to committees and councils throughout the university. He was sought for his sound advice and good counsel. He associated himself with the reforming influences, but he did not appear to get into any major controversies. Such was his standing that those who disagreed with Price were labelled as ‘unstable’ or ‘extreme’. It was said that a few plain words from Price settled many a debate in Congregation.30 In 1857, at the age of almost 40, Professor Bartholomew Price married. He was one of the first fellows of the university to marry following the relaxation of the tradition of celibacy amongst professors at his college. At other colleges, this change came much later. He married Amy Eliza Cole (1835–1909), daughter of William Cole Cole of Exmouth. They set up home at 11 St Giles, Oxford. Mrs Price was interested in art and the Pre-Raphaelite movement in particular. It was reported that her drawing room was decorated under the influence of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, although Price had some aesthetic sense himself. They produced a typically large Victorian family: five daughters and two sons. Dodgson, inevitably, was a frequent houseguest, enjoying evenings of dancing and amateur theatricals, which were subsequently recorded in his diary. All seven of Price’s children came under Dodgson’s spell. They received presentation copies of his books, were photographed by him and taken on walks and outings. Dodgson felt at ease in the Price family home. He would often call on Mrs Price and the children for afternoon tea. Mrs Price made him a Greek dress for his collection of costumes, which he used in his photography of children. She also provided beds for some of his guests, family and friends when they visited him at Oxford. The Price family entertained a number of notable figures in Victorian society, and Dodgson, as a special friend, was frequently invited along to meet them. On 3 May 1866, he was invited to lunch so he could meet the novelist Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823–1901). He had long hoped to meet her and recorded in his diary that he was impressed by her cheerful and easy manner. He invited Miss Yonge and her mother to his photographic studio the following day and took three photographs – one of the ladies together and two of Miss Yonge alone. He also met Dinah Maria Craik n´ee Mulock (1826–87), author of John Halifax, Gentleman, at a dinner party at the Prices’ on 2 November 1873. On 15 March 1879, he was introduced to Juliana Horatia Ewing n´ee Gatty (1841–85), author of Jackanapes. He often returned the compliment by inviting the Prices to his own dinner parties in his college rooms at Christ Church. Dodgson, who preferred the traditional ways of university life, satirized the changes and reforms taking place. The power of his pen was shown by the

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popularity of his six anonymous Oxford pamphlets, later compiled as Notes by an Oxford Chiel, produced between 1865 and 1874. Amongst the reforms he attacked were the election and composition of the Hebdomadal Council, the conversion of the parks into cricket pitches and the structural changes to Christ Church which were set in motion by Dean Liddell. Dodgson labelled the dean a ‘relentless reformer’ in his satirical poem ‘Examination Statute’, written in 1864. Price appears to have escaped mention in these Oxford squibs. Incidentally, Price and Dean Liddell were on good terms. At the time when Liddell was offered the vice chancellorship of the university, he immediately wrote to Price, begging him to come to the Liddells’ holiday home in North Wales, Penmorfa at Llandudno, to talk it over before making a decision. Price was unable to go but his letter in reply was enough to convince Liddell to accept the post. In 1861, Price became a delegate to Oxford University Press, then known as the Clarendon Press. Little did anyone realise the effect his appointment was to have on this arm of the university. At this time, the press consisted of a Bible section and a much smaller academic section; Charles Wordsworth’s Greek Grammar and Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon were the two most saleable books on the academic list and were a mainstay for the press. The new delegates – and this included Liddell, who was appointed a few months after Price – wished to see the press on a sound footing, printing new books and making a reasonable profit. They decided to use a London agent to act as publisher and distributor, Alexander Macmillan being chosen after John Murray had turned down the position. They made a start with the disposal of a large stack of unsaleable sheets of unbound books which had accumulated over the years, many the worse for wear. They also made arrangements for books to be bound in London. In May 1863, Price submitted a list of educational books which he proposed the press should publish – to be known as the Clarendon Press Series. A great deal of preparation took place in deciding which school books would be needed and who the authors were to be and what costs and royalties would need to be paid. The increased activity of the press made it necessary to appoint a secretary to the delegates: George W. Kitchin, formerly censor of Christ Church, was chosen. The first title of the series came out in December 1865, and within four years, fifty titles had been published on a wide range of subjects – from English and foreign language grammars to history texts and elementary treatises in science. The careful planning paid off and the books were very successful. Price’s idea had set the press on the right course to profitability and it never looked back while he was present as a delegate. In 1866, Dodgson formulated an original method which could be used to calculate mathematical determinants. It was an entirely new process, useful in

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the solution of sets of equations, which involved condensing a block of numbers down to a single numerical value. He wrote out his procedure in a paper called ‘Condensation of Determinants’ and took it to Price for his opinion. Price decided to pass the paper to another colleague and close friend, William Spottiswoode (1825–83), who was also a mathematician with some expertise in determinants, having published papers on the subject. Spottiswoode was a fellow of the Royal Society. Dodgson recorded in his diary on 25 March of that year the outcome: Heard from Mr. Spottiswoode (to whom Price had sent my question as to the shortest way of computing Determinants arithmetically), saying that he knows of no shorter way, and that he will be very glad to hear from me.31

With this encouragement, Dodgson perfected his method and took his final manuscript to Price, who this time undertook to forward it to the Royal Society. Price read it before the Royal Society on 17 May 1866 and the paper was later published in the Proceedings for that year. In 1867, Macmillan & Co., as agents for the university, published An Elementary Treatise on Determinants for Dodgson, an extended version of the method with proofs and examples. One disappointing event for Price was the trouble which ensued when Dodgson arranged for the press to print Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. Dodgson was having the book published at his own expense, printed at the Clarendon Press, and bound and distributed by Macmillan & Co. in London. The production of John Tenniel’s illustrations was not up to standard in the printing of the first 2,000 copies and the entire edition was withdrawn except for a handful of presentation copies that had been given away by Dodgson to his friends. Price had cause to rebuke one Henry Latham for his lack of care in the running of the printing side of the business. Latham, an argumentative character, was a partner in the Bible section, working under Thomas Combe, the printer to the university and superintendent of the press. However, several of Dodgson’s publications were printed at the university press, including most of his mathematical books. The Clarendon Press was responsible for most of his Oxford pamphlets, which formed Notes by an Oxford Chiel, and other miscellaneous items, such as some of his invented games and puzzles. Price was admitted as an honorary member of the prestigious Soci´et´e Math´ematique de France in 1881. Important mathematician that he was, he also enjoyed the frivolous side of the subject. He was fascinated by mathematical puzzles that were devised by ingenious minds. Dodgson was one such inventor and he kept Price supplied with a series of puzzles and logical problems, as

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did a number of Price’s friends and students. These were among the Price papers handed down to his descendants, including some by Dodgson that had not been previously published. A few of the Dodgson puzzles are concerned with a favourite theme of his: the problems of ‘time’ and how it is measured. Price, a founder member of the Ashmolean Society, invited Dodgson to deliver a lecture to the society in November 1860 and Dodgson chose as his title ‘Where Does the Day Begin?’, concerning the paradox of travelling at the same speed as the globe, parallel to the equator, and finding that a whole day disappears on one complete circumference. (This was before the establishment of the International Date Line.) An interesting puzzle that Dodgson circulated among his colleagues and friends was the ‘Monkey and Weight Problem’. A weightless and perfectly flexible rope is hung over a weightless, frictionless pulley attached to the roof of a building. At one end of the rope is a weight which exactly counterbalances a monkey at the other end. The problem is to discover what happens to the weight if the monkey begins to climb up the rope on his side of the pulley. The conflicting responses which Dodgson received were recorded in his diary entry for 21 December 1893: Got Prof. Clifton’s answer to the ‘Monkey and Weight’ problem. It is very curious, the different views taken by good mathematicians. Price says the weight goes up, with increasing velocity. Clifton (and Harcourt) that it goes up, at the same rate as the monkey. While Sampson says that it goes down!32

In a letter to Price, addressed as master of Pembroke, sent on 19 December 1893, Dodgson commented on Sampson’s proof and, in a postscript, gave his own answer to the problem: Dear Master, Many thanks for your solution of the ‘Monkey and Weight’ Problem. It is the reverse of the solution given me by Sampson. He declares that he still adheres to the belief that the weight goes down as the Monkey goes up: and he asks me to forward his proof to you, to look at. Would you kindly let me have it again, and say where the fallacy in it lies? Sampson believes that the monkey, by climbing, diminishes the tension of the cord, and the strain on the pulley; and, when I put to him the case I have sent you, of the whole thing being suspended in a box, and the box then similarly suspended, he said that the monkey would actually diminish the weight of the box. This seems to me impossible. Yours most truly, C. L. Dodgson I own to an inclination to believe that the weight neither rises nor falls!33

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Price became the 14th master of Pembroke College in 1892 at the grand age of 73. He was still at this time very active and retained a keen mind. As master of Pembroke, he was selected to represent the university at Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Day, a celebration in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. A portrait of the master was commissioned by the college and, in 1896, a speaking likeness was painted by Marmaduke Flower, which still hangs in Pembroke College. On the death of Dodgson in January 1898, Price wrote: I feel his removal from among us as the loss of an old and dear friend and pupil, to whom I have been most warmly attached ever since he was with me at Whitby, reading mathematics, in, I think, 1853 – 44 years ago! And 44 years of uninterrupted friendship. [. . . ] I was pleased to read yesterday in The Times newspaper the kindly obituary notice: perfectly just and true; appreciative, as it should be, as to the unusual combination of deep mathematical ability and taste with the genius that led to the writing of ‘Alice’s Adventures’.34

Although still a sprightly 80-year-old, Price suddenly became ill during the autumn of the same year and died in the master’s house at Pembroke on 29 December 1898. His funeral was attended by a vast number of university dignitaries and other distinguished people from outside Oxford, representing both church and the state. As perhaps a tribute to an important Oxford figure, a personal friend and mentor, Dodgson included a reference to Professor Bartholomew Price in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. At the Mad Tea-Party, the Hatter sings: ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you’re at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky.’

This apparently nonsensical parody of the well-known children’s nursery rhyme is no mere invention of a fruitful mind. The ‘bat’ is an oblique but apt mention of Price, known affectionately in Oxford circles as ‘Bat’, being a shortened form of his Christian name but also descriptive of his energetic involvement in university life, flying from committee to meeting and from lecture to tutorial. He was an eminent mathematician, with an interest in astronomy, and some of his students may have gained the impression that he was up in the clouds on a different plane of consciousness when he lectured to them.

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3 PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS

Alexander Macmillan: Main Publisher Dodgson was introduced to the publishers Macmillan & Co. by representatives of the Clarendon Press, printers to the University of Oxford, at a time when he was contemplating the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. His diary recorded on 19 October 1863: ‘Went to Combe’s in the evening to meet the publisher Macmillan’.1 Thomas Combe (1797–1872) was printer and director of the Clarendon Press and an eminent figure in Oxford. He and his wife, Martha Howell n´ee Bennett (1806–93), were enthusiastic supporters and collectors of the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and they made their growing collection of pictures available to visitors – Dodgson among them. Dodgson met Alexander Macmillan (1818–96) at Combe’s house that evening. Macmillan had just been appointed publisher to the University of Oxford in an attempt to broaden the sale and distribution of books published by the Clarendon Press. Macmillan & Co. had offices in London (from 1843) and Cambridge (from 1844) and now sought to get a foothold in Oxford. It had established itself as the leading academic publisher in the country, with a high reputation among scholars and authors. Initially, the company was run by Daniel Macmillan (1813–57) and his younger brother, Alexander, but both suffered bouts of ill health. Daniel had lung disease, from which he eventually died at the age of 44, and Alexander suffered from sciatica, which affected him from time to time throughout his life. Later, sons of both men played an active part in the running of the company.

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7. Alexander Macmillan, from a portrait painted by Sir Hubert von Herkomer in 1887

Daniel Macmillan married Frances Orridge (d. 1867) in 1850 and they had four children: Frederick Orridge (1851–1936), Maurice Crawford (1853–1936), Catherine ‘Katie’ C. (b. 1855) and Arthur Daniel (1857–1877). The eldest son, Frederick, took over the running of Macmillan in the 1890s when his uncle Alexander began to hand over his responsibilities, although he never formally retired. Alexander Macmillan married firstly Caroline Brimley in 1851. They had five children: Malcolm Kingsley (1853–89), George Augustin (1855–1936), Margaret ‘Maggie’ (1857–1935), Olive (1858–1926) and William Alexander

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(1864–7). When his first wife died in 1871, following an illness which lasted several weeks, he remarried the following year. His new wife was Jeanne Barker Emma (or Eunice) Pignatel (1843–96) and they had two children: Mary (b. 1875) and John Victor (1877–1956). Dodgson’s relationship with the publishing house of Macmillan is well documented, but less well known is his relationship with Alexander Macmillan and the family. Dodgson remained loyal to his publisher throughout his life, with occasional ups and downs caused by printers and binders who did not always match up to Dodgson’s very high standards and expectations for his books. Alexander was often the mediator in these disputes – a man of charm and honesty who seemed able to provide Dodgson with good counsel and practical advice. In Life and Letters of Alexander Macmillan by Charles L. Graves (1910), the biographer sums up Alexander as follows: His character is not easy to describe, being made up of magnanimity, sympathy, generosity, shrewdness and not a little prejudice. He was singularly devoid of jealousy, whether personal or professional, refrained from criticism of his fellow publishers himself and discouraged it in others. If one were asked to name his three leading traits, they would be devotion to his family, belief in his friends, and trust in his helpers.2

These characteristics are evident in the surviving correspondence between Macmillan and Dodgson. Dodgson’s letters to his publisher are held at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, although obvious gaps exist in this correspondence. Macmillan’s letters to his author are held in the daybooks of the company, now deposited in the British Library, but again, some correspondence appears to be missing and some pages are illegible. From this correspondence, a few previously unpublished letters reveal the personal nature of this professional relationship, both from the publisher’s and the author’s points of view. Dodgson was not an easy man to work with. He was very specific about his publishing requirements and his approach was exacting and often pedantic. Yet he trusted Macmillan when it came to the business of providing successful books for a wide and discriminating public. Macmillan’s advice about printing (type, paper and sizes), bindings (style, cloth and colours), print runs (ensuring books remained in print), pricing (so that both author and publisher made a reasonable profit), advertising (ensuring books remained in the public eye) and distribution (supplying bookshops across the country) was invariably wise and successful. The first surviving letter from Macmillan to Dodgson is dated 19 September

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1864 and gives sound advice on several matters arising from the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Dear Sir, I don’t like any of the title pages. I will try to get a new specimen and send it you. I think an additional line would rather improve the page. But this must in some measure depend on whether your book would look too thin. If so keep it as it is. The headlines of the page should give the title of your book – which is very good. Fairy Tales cannot claim the merit of great novelty! See what I have written. Electro saves your original wood blocks. I do not know whether your impressions are quite as good. Mr. Combe and other printers think they are. I would incline to adopt Mr. Tenniel’s advice if given with full knowledge of the facts. The end of October – or early in November would be about the best time. I don’t like ornamental type in title pages. Mr. Tenniel’s drawings in the book need no such meretricious help. Yours truly, A. Macmillan3

The opening of the letter is formal, but very quickly, this changes to ‘My dear Sir’, ‘Dear Mr. Dodgson’ and even ‘My dear Mr. Dodgson’. Most of the transactions between the two men were undertaken by letter, but on occasion, Dodgson called into 16 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, to meet Macmillan. (The company later moved to 29–30 Bedford Street in 1873.) On a few occasions, the men met in Oxford. For example, on 14 February 1868, Macmillan wrote: ‘I am coming to Oxford on Tuesday and mean to stay over Wednesday. Perhaps I may see you.’4 And again on 9 November 1869: ‘The “Behind the Looking Glass” has only been announced in our Magazine. [. . . ] It is well to show that you are alive, and not speechless. I may run across you tomorrow in Oxford.’5 Macmillan was always keen to discuss printing matters face-to-face, although Dodgson preferred to have decisions recorded in letters so that he could refer back to them. However, some of the discussions were of a more personal nature. After the death of Dodgson’s father, it fell to Dodgson to help seek employment for his brothers. He wrote to Macmillan in early January 1870 (the letter is missing) and received this reply on the 5th: Nothing occurs to me at the moment that would suit your brother, but if he were in London sometime and could come and talk to me I might perhaps think of something. I am here all days, but Saturday, from 10 till 5 and a note sent me a day or two beforehand would assure my being free to see him. It will be a pleasure to me if I can be of use.6

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Dodgson was probably looking for a clerkship for his brother Edwin. In the event, Macmillan was unable to find a position for him. Later in 1870, Dodgson apparently suggested to Macmillan that he insert a message in all copies of Alice, asking each child reader to send him a photograph, care of Macmillan & Co. In reply to this proposal, Macmillan wrote on 3 March from Scotland (where he was visiting relatives), revealing his humorous approach to Dodgson’s reckless idea: Dear Mr. Dodgson, Did you ever take a Shower Bath? Or do you remember your first? To appeal to all your young admirers for their photograph! If your Shower Bath were filled a-top with bricks instead of water it would be about the fate you court! But if you will do it, there is no help for it, and as in duty bound we will help you to the selfimmolation. Cartes! I should think so, indeed – cart loads of them. Think of the postmen. Open an office for relief at the North Pole and another at the Equator. Ask President Grant, the Emperor of China, the Governor General of India, the ‘whatever do you call him’ of Melbourne, if they won’t help you. But it’s no use remonstrating with you. But I am resigned. I return from Scotland next Monday a week. I shall be braced for encountering this awful idea. Yours ever, A. Macmillan7

This truthful and alarming response brought Dodgson to his senses; the idea was not carried out. When Through the Looking-Glass was published in December 1871, Dodgson arranged for Macmillan and other friends in the company to have presentation copies that he had personally signed. Macmillan wrote on 11 December, indicating that the book had been a success with his children: Dear Mr. Dodgson, Many thanks for your kind purpose of writing our names in copies. We should ask you to fulfil it when you are next in town. I have written to Clay [Richard Clay, London printer, working for Macmillan] about the sheet you speak of and if it really is out of register we will have it recast. That inverted bit of printing perplexes my eye so that really I cannot tell. My children have been shaking their sides over Tweedledum and ditto and the Walrus and the Carpenter for the last few days. We shall have the book on full sale before the 15th. We had about 300 country parcels to pack and they are all done and they will be sent on Thursday and the town have theirs on Wednesday. It will be out in capital time. Yours very truly, A. Macmillan8

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This paved the way for Dodgson to visit the Macmillan family home for the first time, although this did not take place until January 1873. Macmillan wrote on 2 January arranging for your visit to my house, which we all look forward to with great pleasure. If you could arrange to come to us on the 15th we would much like it as we will have some people in that evening. But we will be glad to see you almost any day between this and then or after.9

As a result of the visit, Macmillan’s son Malcolm wrote to Dodgson: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I enclose a description of a copy of Motherwell, which we will subscribe for, if you think it will suit you. Book-collectors would not value this copy so much as one of the edition you saw in our house but I thought it possible that for practical purposes this would do for you. Yours very truly, Malcolm Macmillan10

Then aged 20 and beginning a role in the family firm, Malcolm Macmillan clearly wished to help Dodgson in his book-collecting activities. The book Dodgson probably wanted to acquire was The Poetical Works of William Motherwell (1847, frequently reprinted). William Motherwell (1797–1835) was a renowned Scottish poet. Alexander Macmillan and his family lived at Upper Tooting in the suburbs of London, in a large house called ‘The Elms’ and later changed to ‘Knapdale’ after the region in Argyllshire, Scotland, the seat of the Macmillan clan. The house was situated in a large garden featuring a number of mature elm trees. The following year, the invitation was offered for a Christmas visit and accepted. Macmillan wrote on 23 December: When you come to see us in the Christmas holidays we must talk over the matter, and you shall see a specimen page of Phantasmagoria. [. . . ] You may depend on it that you will delight Olive’s heart and that of the whole household when you come to see us.11

Dodgson replied the following day: I am rather frightened to think how old Olive must be getting. Children do grow up so alarmingly quick. However I hope to find a day when I can go over and

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give them a long call, and renew our acquaintance – as I shall probably spend 2 or 3 nights in town for Pantomimic and Dramatic purposes.12

Dodgson was the perfect houseguest when it involved entertaining young people. Olive Macmillan was at this time 15 years old. Macmillan was very protective towards Dodgson and ensured that other publishers did not take advantage of him. For example, a rival publisher – Routledge – wanted to include some of the Alice poems in a book of nursery rhymes. On 15 March 1876, Macmillan wrote to Dodgson: ‘Absolutely refuse Routledge’s proposal. It is monstrous’,13 fearing it might affect sales of the Alice books. Dodgson was guided by Macmillan’s experience in publishing, but he probably asked many questions – possibly too many questions. Macmillan did not shirk this part of the professional relationship, but at times, he needed patience to deal with Dodgson’s endless enquiries. This shows through on occasions in the correspondence; for example, on 22 March 1876, Macmillan writes: Your fear is certainly needless. I always have your letter or letters before me when I answer them. The questions you put are always full of interest, sometimes of perplexity, like Lord Dundreary’s question ‘If you had a brother, would he like cheese?’14

In his subtle way, Macmillan replies that some of the questions posed are almost unanswerable; nevertheless, they get his attention and consideration. As time went by, Macmillan frequently invited Dodgson to visit his home, but Dodgson was reluctant to be lionised as ‘Lewis Carroll’ among the literary society of London. He preferred a visit that involved only Macmillan and his family. A typical letter from Macmillan is dated 8 May 1878: My dear Mr. Dodgson, I hope you will be able to come to one of our evenings. But even better come and see us at home. Yours very sincerely, Alex. Macmillan15

And again on 28 February 1880, Macmillan wrote: ‘It is long since you have been to see us at Tooting. When you have a spare evening in town, you must come. Little Mary is nearly six now so you will have various ages.’16 Dodgson used his publisher for more than publishing matters. In the days before instant communication, the location of the Macmillan offices in central London made it an ideal place to provide additional services: purchasing theatre

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tickets, obtaining books, checking addresses, getting watches repaired and much more – all made available to Dodgson. On the other hand, Dodgson was a very successful author and the Alice books contributed to the financial security of Macmillan & Co. for decades. Alexander Macmillan’s nephew Frederick Macmillan spent some time in the New York office of the company before returning to the United Kingdom in 1878 to take on the role of senior partner. By this time, Alexander Macmillan was aged 60 and his frequent bouts of sciatica were keeping him from being the leading voice in the London office. Gradually, Frederick Macmillan assumed this role and many of the subsequent letters sent to Dodgson came from him. The first was dated 7 January 1878: Dear Sir, As you are perhaps aware there was for some years a pirated edition of Alice’s Adventures on sale in America. It of course interfered considerably with the sale of our Edition and when an opportunity occurred just before I left the country last year to purchase the plates I was glad to do so, and we have since then been printing from them. This arrangement, besides enlarging the sale, enables us to pay you a royalty on all copies sold, and we had the pleasure of crediting you with £28 in the last accounts as the result of the half year’s business. I should very much like to put Through the Looking-Glass on the same footing and if you have no objection we will have a duplicate set of plates made and sent out to our Agent in New York for this purpose. I hope you will agree to this arrangement, and from my experience in America I have no hesitation in advising it was the best for your interests and will enable us both to increase the sale and to guard against any piracy. I am Yours faithfully, Frederick Macmillan17

At this time, there was no international treaty on copyright and Dodgson’s Alice books were subject to piracy in the United States. Frederick Macmillan probably had in mind the various editions of Alice produced by American publishers in the 1870s, 80s, and 90s, all without permission, and sometimes even copying Tenniel’s illustrations. By publishing high-quality editions in the United States, Macmillan & Co. sought to make the pirated copies less attractive and thus restore the market to legitimate copies that would earn them and Dodgson any rightful fees and royalties. Although Frederick Macmillan assumed a greater role in the running of the publishing house, Alexander Macmillan kept in touch with Dodgson and continued to give good advice. For example, Dodgson relied on him to help price

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8. Frederick Macmillan, from a photograph by Dickinson, New Bond Street, published in The Sketch, July 1894

a new book so that it would cover its costs but not be too expensive. The following letter from Alexander Macmillan, dated 28 February 1879, reveals this good counsel on such matters: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I had your letter about the price before me, and quite concurred with your view that there is no reason for making such a book cheap. But the price is one of the last things we settle, as we like to see what a book looks like, outside and

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in and also what it has cost. If there is any reason why you urge a decision on this question now I am inclined to say that 6/- was the price for such a book, but if there is much formulae, or tables, then 7/6 – practically the next price could not be too much. But had we not better leave the decision as to the price until we are surer what the book will look like – and cost? Yours very truly, Alex. Macmillan18

In this case, the book under discussion was Euclid and His Modern Rivals, published under Dodgson’s real name in a small run of 250 copies initially. The price chosen was six shillings. Alexander Macmillan’s two eldest sons, Malcolm and George, wrote to Dodgson when their father was away from work – either on holiday or suffering from sciatica or other ill health. In the main, George Macmillan wrote most frequently, having joined the company at the age of 18. Malcolm did not take to working in the family publishing business and eventually went abroad on the pretext of suffering bad health. He toured the Mediterranean for more than two years. On the eve of his return to England in July 1889, he decided on a walking expedition on Mount Olympus with a friend, Arthur Hardinge, secretary to the British Embassy. Hardinge took the direct route to the highest peak and Malcolm took a gentler path to a lower peak. On the final stretch to the top of Mount Olympus, Hardinge saw that Malcolm had reached the top of the lower peak. From this point onwards, Malcolm was never seen again. A search failed to find his body or belongings. There was no sign of a fatal fall. He vanished without trace, and despite strenuous efforts to discover the truth, his disappearance remained a mystery. The loss of Alexander Macmillan’s eldest son had a devastating effect on him and he appears to have ended up a broken man, withdrawing from the running of the company. He handed over the reins to the next generation of Macmillans. His nephew, Frederick Macmillan, took over the main task of running the publishing house and he answered many of Dodgson’s letters. However, he tended to sign the letters as ‘Macmillan & Company’, so it is not absolutely certain who the author was. Dodgson preferred to write to one individual, and in 1891 he made enquiries as to who was answering his letters and to whom he should write personally. On 12 December 1891, he received this response from the company: If it would be more satisfactory to you to address your letters to one individual member of our firm we would suggest your writing to our Frederick Macmillan who usually answers you. If he were away the letter would be attended to by some other member of the firm.19

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The next letter Dodgson received, dated 22 December, was as follows: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I enclose our reader’s report on To Err is Human. Such things are written for our guidance and not to be forwarded to the authors; the opinions expressed therefore are exceedingly frank. We paid two guineas for this opinion. I am Yours truly, Frederick Macmillan20

From this point onwards, Frederick Macmillan wrote personally to Dodgson. The letter above reveals another aspect of the relationship between Dodgson and his publisher. From time to time, he asked them to consider a manuscript from a friend for possible publication. In this case, the manuscript of To Err Is Human came from a friend whose initials were C. G. S. She has never been identified. Alexander Macmillan’s second son, George, corresponded with and replied to many of Dodgson’s letters. An example is this one, dated 29 February 1876: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I enclose a letter which we think must be meant for a joke! The idea is too delicious, that you should pay them something for doing what they have no earthly right to do without your permission. If the copyright were ours we should be inclined to ask them to pay something like £500 for the right to present Alice on the stage. It would be a just reward for their insolence. Please return the letter with your answer. Yours very truly, George A. Macmillan21

The request came from the London Polytechnic. They planned a lantern slide show with music especially written by William Boyd, an Oxford man. Dodgson had already given Boyd sanction to use the Alice illustrations for the slides, but he was less keen to allow him to use the text for dramatic purposes, which was under copyright. And he did not understand why he should contribute to the costs. In the end, permission was granted, the performance went ahead and Dodgson saw it on 18 April 1876. Another example of a letter from George Macmillan is dated 2 January 1877: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I opened your letter, my father being laid up with a bad cold. All the Alices have gone to Oxford, some the day before Xmas, the rest on Friday last.

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I hope you will find your way to Knapdale (alias ‘The Elms’) as our home is now called. Couldn’t you fix a night to dine with us? All good wishes for the New Year! Yours very truly, George A. Macmillan22

Dodgson received letters from George Macmillan from time to time until the mid-1890s. A few letters came from Maurice C. Macmillan, Alexander’s nephew and Frederick’s brother. By way of example is this letter dated 12 January 1892: Dear Sir, In my brother’s absence I write to say that we have received an application from Mr. E. T. Buck of Calcutta (whose letter we enclose) for permission to reproduce some illustrations taken from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We send you also the box containing the specimens. Please let us know what answer you wish us to give. I am Yours very truly, Maurice Macmillan23

Dodgson used Macmillan & Co. as his publisher throughout his life. All books under the name ‘Lewis Carroll’ were published by them. And most of his books written under his real name were distributed by them. The arrangement was mutually beneficial; Dodgson was a successful author and Macmillan made good profits from the sale of his books. It is hardly surprising that Alexander Macmillan and Dodgson got on well together. Macmillan, with his puritanical religious upbringing, had developed into a devout churchman supporting the doctrinal ideas of F. D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley. Dodgson’s own religious beliefs began with his father’s strict High Church Tractarianism but developed into strongly held views of the Broad Church. He, too, came under the spell of Maurice for a time. Macmillan’s love of poetry mirrored Dodgson’s own: both wrote verse and both rated Tennyson as one of the greatest living poets of the day. Macmillan was well read, with great intellectual gifts. Dodgson was a bibliophile with high intellectual capacity and wide-ranging interests, with an emphasis on mathematics and logic. Macmillan had a strong sense of humour, which he used as a negotiating tool when dealing with authors and colleagues in the book publishing trade. Dodgson’s sense of humour was less obvious to adults with whom he had business dealings, but it knew no bounds when he was in an entertaining mood, particularly when

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children were present. Macmillan, with help from his brother in the early days of the company, was a self-made and successful man who gained the respect of most people he had dealings with. Dodgson was a highly successful writer for children and he had a strong sense of duty, fairness and modesty and this occasionally led him into pedantic quarrels and disputes, especially with those he commissioned to work for him. Nevertheless, although the Macmillan company worked on a commission basis with all of Dodgson’s works, the partnership between author and publisher was on a strong footing, with mutual respect. Dodgson needed sound advice about his books and the process of getting them printed and Macmillan was always truthful and supportive with his advice – whether it was with or against Dodgson’s inclinations. Macmillan made large profits out of Dodgson’s more successful books and moderate profits otherwise, but he remained loyal to him and Dodgson remained loyal to his publisher.

Elizabeth Baxter: One of Dodgson’s Oxford Printers When Dodgson needed some text set up in type, he often used one of the many jobbing printers in Oxford. It was quick and cheap to have papers printed and Dodgson used printers for drafts of his works, for agenda papers and for circular letters. On one occasion, he decided to have a book printed in Oxford – a decision he came to regret. He asked Baxter to print copies of The Game of Logic – a book he wished to use with his students of logic in the Oxford schools and colleges. The result was a disaster. It has always been assumed that the jobbing printer used by Dodgson at Oxford was William Baxter. Little is known about him apart from the fact that he is listed in an Oxford directory for 1855. However, he does not appear in the 1881 census, even though Dodgson was still using Baxter in the mid-1880s. The only Baxter listed was John H. Baxter (b. 1813), of 7 Watts Yard, Woodstock Road, Oxford, who had retired as a printer and bookseller. He was blind and living with his wife, Martha (b. 1824). There was no William Baxter apart from M. W. H. Baxter (b. 1816), a gardener at the Oxford Botanical Gardens, and the cemetery list for Holywell churchyard, Oxford, indicates that he died in 1889. The Lewis Carroll Handbook (ed. Crutch, Denis, et al., Dawson Archon Books, Folkestone, 1979 revised edition) lists a number of publications that were printed for Dodgson by Baxter of Oxford, but the printer’s name was E. Baxter, not W. Baxter. The first item listed as being printed by E. Baxter was Twelve Months in a Curatorship in 1884. However, a diary entry for 28 December 1882 states: ‘Left page of Wine Accounts Ledger at Baxters, to be set up.’24 This

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is the first mention of Baxter the printer. Hence, it is likely that this printer came to the fore when Dodgson took over the running of the Common Room at Christ Church. It is possible that Baxter was employed for other printing tasks by the Common Room before Dodgson’s curatorship. As we know, Dodgson’s main publisher was Macmillan & Co., using the services of the printer Richard Clay. He used Oxford University Press for pamphlets and circulars and this involved the services of James Parker and Co. and other printers to the university, such as Gardner, Pickard Hall and Stacy. A few other jobbing printers surface from time to time, such as Joseph Vincent, who had premises on The High (Street), Oxford. Here is a list of the Baxter publications given in The Lewis Carroll Handbook: Supplement to Twelve Months in a Curatorship (1884) Postscript to Supplement (1884) The Principles of Parliamentary Representation: Supplement (1885) The Principles of Parliamentary Representation: Postscript to Supplement (1885) The Proposed Procuratorial Cycle (1885) The Proposed Procuratorial Cycle: Postscript (1885) Three Years in a Curatorship (1886) Remarks on Report of Finance Committee (1886) Remarks on Mr. Sampson’s Proposal (1886) Observations on Mr. Sampson’s Proposal (1886) Suggestions as to Election of Proctors (1886) The Game of Logic (1886)

This last item was the end of the association because all went terribly wrong. Dodgson noted in his diary for Sunday 5 December 1886: The printing of The Game of Logic (by Baxter at Oxford) has not been a success: and I wrote today to Macmillan my decision to have it printed again by Clay, for England, and to send these 500 to America – just what happened in 1865 with Alice, when the first 2000, done at the University Press, turned out so bad that I condemned them to the same fate.25

Baxter was clearly not able to undertake a major book publication, even though Dodgson had entrusted The Game of Logic to the care of this printer. The book was quickly reprinted by Macmillan and Dodgson never used the services of Baxter again. The matter of Baxter’s identity had not been resolved apart from the initial letter ‘E’. Some further interrogation of the 1881 census found Baxter living at 89 St Aldates, the same street as Christ Church. They were three

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unmarried sisters: Anne (b. 1818), Mary (b. 1821) and Elizabeth (b. 1828). The first two were listed as governesses. Also in the family household was a married sister, Susan Connell (b. 1826), with her husband, James Connell (b. 1825), an evangelist from Ireland, and a couple of servants. Elizabeth Baxter was listed as a printer, so this is the person Dodgson employed for at least a dozen printing tasks. In all his diary entries – and there are several – he always addressed her simply as ‘Baxter’, but she was in trade and this was the protocol in those days. Dodgson had clearly chosen to use an unmarried female printer for various items he wanted printed and even tried her out on a major work but, sadly, she failed in this task – probably because she did not have the resources necessary for a major book. It appears she reused old type (maybe because she could not afford to acquire new type) and the printing did not live up to Dodgson’s usual high and exacting standards.

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4 ILLUSTRATORS

John Tenniel: Illustrator of Alice The famous Victorian artist and Punch cartoonist John Tenniel (1820–1914) is remembered today as the illustrator of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Dodgson himself felt that his own draughtsmanship was not up to public gaze and chose to commission one of the most eminent illustrators of his day to illustrate Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for publication. The books have since been illustrated countless times but, for many people, the original drawings by Tenniel have never been surpassed, for Tenniel’s images epitomise the characters in the books and successfully captured the author’s intended vision. John Tenniel was born in Kensington, London, on 28 February 1820, the youngest son of John Baptist Tenniel, of Huguenot lineage. He was a skilful artist from an early age and later studied at the Royal Academy Schools. However, he became dissatisfied with the teaching there and decided to follow a more independent line. He left for the Clipstone Street Art Society, where he met his lifelong friend Charles Keene. Together they produced a series of humorous sketches entitled Heath’s Book of Beauty, which were exhibited and subsequently sold. At the age of 16, Tenniel exhibited some of his early works in oils at the Suffolk Street Galleries in London, and for a period of five years from the age of 17, he was a contributor to exhibitions at the Royal Academy. When he was 20 he was accidentally injured in one eye as a result of a fencing match with his father, but accounts indicate that his father was never made aware of the injury. His father taught fencing, but the reasons why father and son were without masks is unknown. The injury affected Tenniel’s sense of perspective for the rest

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of his life. He submitted a cartoon entitled The Spirit of Justice for a competition aimed at attracting artists to decorate the new Houses of Parliament, but his work was not accepted. However, in 1845, he was commissioned to paint a fresco for the House of Lords. He spent a short time in Munich to study the art of fresco in preparation for his mural painting in the House, which was entitled Saint Cecilia. Realising that painting in oils was unlikely to bring him either fame or fortune, he decided to turn his hand to book illustration. His earliest recorded illustrations appeared in Samuel Carter Hall’s Book of British Ballads dated 1842. He was sole illustrator for Friedrich de La Motte-Fouqu´e’s Undine in 1845 and his series of black-and-white drawings for an edition of Aesop’s Fables was published by John Murray in 1848. His skill at drawing animals and men in dramatic situations caught the eye of Mark Lemon (1809–70), editor of Punch, a magazine then in the early stages of establishing itself as a popular Victorian weekly publication of satire and humour. When Richard Doyle (1824–83), one of the key artists associated with the magazine, resigned in 1850, a vacancy appeared and Douglas Jerrold, one of the writers for Punch, suggested that Tenniel fill it. Thus began a lifelong position at the Punch office, culminating in Tenniel becoming the magazine’s foremost illustrator. His first contribution was to volume 19 and his first political cartoon appeared in volume 20. Tenniel married Julia Giani (1824–56) in 1853. She was from an artistic and prosperous family but was already suffering from consumption at the time of her wedding. She died two years after the marriage. There were no children. According to M. H. Spielmann in The History of ‘Punch’, Tenniel professed to have no political opinions but followed the leanings of his employers and he also declared that he never used models or nature for the figure or drapery or anything else, but he had a wonderful memory of observation for anything he saw.1 This gives the lie to a popular myth that Dodgson sent Tenniel a photograph of Mary Hilton Badcock, asking him to use her as a model for ‘Alice’. The photograph was acquired by Dodgson in Ripon, with the permission of Mary’s father, the Reverend Edward Baynes Badcock, at the end of January 1865 (i.e., long after Tenniel had begun his commission, which fits with Tenniel’s claim that he did not use models). Apart from his work for Punch, Tenniel’s book and magazine illustration continued for a time. In 1859, he became a regular contributor to Once a Week, where he appeared on page 4 of volume 1 and continued until his last illustrations in that publication for Shirley Brooks’s story ‘The Silver Cord’ in volume 5. He also illustrated another of Brooks’s novels, The Gordian Knot (1860), but considered these drawings to be his worst performance as an illustrator. (He considered his

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9. John Tenniel, from a photograph by John and Charles Watkins, c.1860

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best to be those he did for the 1861 edition of Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh.2 ) During 1864, he contributed to the illustrations in R. H. Barham’s The Ingoldsby Legends, and between 1863 and 1865, he contributed to an edition of The Arabian Nights produced by the Dalziel brothers. Then, he received the commission from Dodgson. After this, he illustrated The Mirage of Life in 1867. Spielmann quotes Tenniel’s description of how he produced cartoons and this probably applied equally to his book illustrations: I [. . . ] make my rough sketch [. . . ] by means of tracing-paper – on which I make all alterations of composition and action I may consider necessary – I transfer my design to the wood, and draw on that. The first sketch I may, and often do, complete later on as a commission.3

Spielmann goes on to explain that from 1892, Tenniel drew on the Chinesewhitened surface of cardboard, the image being transferred to wood by photographic processes. But in the early days, the illustration had been drawn directly onto the boxwood block and then engraved by specialist hands; Joseph Swain was his engraver for the Punch illustrations and the Dalziel brothers did many of his book illustrations. Tenniel used a specially manufactured 6-H pencil, which gave a very fine and delicate line. The process of producing a woodblock engraving took several stages. Tenniel probably began with a rough sketch or sketches on paper for each picture. This would indicate the size and outline of the illustration but, to give the characters definition, would contain very little cross-hatching. Then, he would make a drawing of the outline on tracing paper, and by moving this around, he could make some alterations to the overall design at this stage – should this be necessary. For example, a character might be moved into a different position, which probably happened with the ape in the ‘Dodo and the Thimble’ illustration for Alice’s Adventures. Then, Tenniel made a value study of the illustration. This gave an indication of how the picture might appear when it was engraved, but the finish was still in a rough form and the amount of cross-hatching was still minimal. Some of these preliminary studies have survived, and in some cases, copies have been bound into special editions of the Alice books. Tenniel then transferred the outline of the value study onto tracing paper and this would in turn be transferred very faintly onto the prepared surface of the woodblock. Then, the detailed draughtsmanship began. Tenniel finished the drawing with his 6-H pencil in minute detail, with all the necessary crosshatching, directly onto the surface of the woodblock, ready for the engraver. Hence, his final drawing for the illustrations did not survive the process; the

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engraver destroyed it in the process of making the engraving. However, a number of finished drawings exist showing the detail of Tenniel’s finish with a drawing. These were drawn as commissions after the books were published – a common activity undertaken by Tenniel – and the fact that many are in reverse indicates that they were probably made using the outline value studies as a guide, as he himself indicated.4 In the next stage of the process, the responsibility of the engraver was to translate the original drawing of an illustrator or artist into a relief printing surface ready for press. This often required hand-eye co-ordination of a high order. In Tenniel’s case we know that his drawings were transferred to the surface of the boxwood block by his own hand, but not all artists could manage this.5

In order to assist the transfer of the drawing onto the woodblock, its surface was often prepared using Chinese white or a mild abrasive dust, which roughened the highly polished surface of the block. This gave the lead of the pencil some friction, which enabled the illustrator to employ delicate stokes and fine draughtsmanship. Using a variety of tools called gravers, burins, tint tools, scorpers and spitstickers, the engraver skilfully chiselled out areas of the surface to leave a relief image of the illustration. From this, the illustration was printed, and once wood has been removed[,] nothing can be put back without a great deal of difficulty and inconvenience. A small number of Alice blocks have had alterations or repairs made to them that are in some cases detectable from the proofs which have been taken directly from the blocks6

A plug was made to the woodblock of the Hatter at the trial scene. Part of the block was drilled out and a small piece of boxwood was used to plug the hole so that a section of the woodblock could be re-engraved. This was, no doubt, a result of late discussions between Tenniel and Dodgson, probably after a proof sheet had been taken directly from the block. In this case, the section showing the Hatter’s cup ‘with a piece bitten out’ has been re-engraved. Dodgson was encouraged to publish his manuscript by various friends, and at first, he intended to publish the book with his own illustrations. He records in his diary on 9 May 1863: ‘Heard from Mrs. MacDonald about “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground”, which I had lent them to read, and which they wish me to publish.’7 There was no further mention of this proposal for two months but, in that time, the decision was made and Dodgson embarked on the process

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of arranging for the book to be published by the Clarendon Press (Oxford University Press). The press was run by a board of delegates from the ranks of the university officers and, as we have heard, in the mid-1860s the emphasis shifted from printing Bibles, which were declining in profitability, to publishing educational books and other books with a wider interest and readership. The delegates included Bartholomew Price and Henry Liddell. Publisher Alexander Macmillan, who had recently moved his offices from Cambridge to London, became associated with the university press and was appointed its agent in 1863. The press was organised under the general management of Thomas Combe, as we have mentioned previously, who was responsible for the paper mill and all activities associated with printing the books selected by the delegates. Early in July 1863, Dodgson received some trial pages for the Alice book, printed at the press. On 16 July, he wrote: Called on Mr. Combe with my first drawing on wood. Mr. Woolner was there, just beginning a bust of Mr. Combe. He looked at the drawing (a half length of the heroine) and condemned the arms, which he says I must draw from the life.8

The evidence is clear: Dodgson was copying his manuscript drawings directly onto boxwood for engraving so that these could be used in the published version of the book. His meeting with Thomas Woolner (1825–92), a poet and sculptor and one of the original members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, shook Dodgson’s confidence in his own ability to produce illustrations of sufficient quality, but he was not completely convinced at this stage and he continued with his original plan. On 20 July, he travelled to London and ‘called on Mr. Jewitt, in Camden Town, who is to do the wood-cutting for my book, and got some hints on the subject. He is going to cut the block I have drawn, improving on it a little’.9 The engraver was Thomas Orlando Sheldon Jewitt (1799–1869), already renowned for engraving book illustrations. Jewitt did a lot of work for the Clarendon Press, particularly scientific diagrams, and Price may have suggested him to Dodgson. There was a note of dissatisfaction in Dodgson’s comment on his own work, but he clearly hoped the engraver might make amends for his lack of draughtsmanship and improve the illustration at the engraving stage. Dodgson met Alexander Macmillan for the first time on 19 October 1863 on a visit to see Mr Combe. There is no indication that the Alice book was discussed at this time. Later in the year, Dodgson made the decision to find a professional illustrator for his book. As an avid reader of Punch, Dodgson knew and admired Tenniel’s work and often cut out and kept copies of his drawings, particularly any with Shakespearean references. He used the dramatist Tom Taylor, also a

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contributor to Punch and later one of its editors, as intermediary, and on 25 January 1864, he wrote: He also gave me a note of introduction to Mr. Tenniel (to whom he had before applied, for me, about pictures for Alice’s Adventures). [. . . ] Then at Mr. Tenniel’s, whom I found at home: he was very friendly, and seemed to think favourably of undertaking the pictures, but must see the book before deciding.10

The text Tenniel saw before making his decision was probably the manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. There is strong evidence that Dodgson had the manuscript set in type at the university press and there is no doubt that Tenniel saw Dodgson’s original drawings. In fact, there is a strong correlation between Dodgson’s own illustrations and those prepared by Tenniel for the published edition: more than 70 per cent of Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice’s Adventures are based on Dodgson’s drawings in Under Ground. ‘Heard from Tenniell [sic] that he consents to draw the pictures for Alice’s Adventures Under Ground’,11 wrote Dodgson on 5 April 1864, and on 2 May: ‘Sent Tenniell [sic] the first piece of slip set up for Alice’s Adventures, from the beginning of Chap. III.’12 This is probably still the manuscript for Under Ground set up in type and thus refers to the chapter containing the enormous puppy and the caterpillar. In later dealings with illustrators, Dodgson frequently let them begin their task by illustrating verses. In this chapter, his parody ‘You Are Old, Father William’ occurs and these were some of the first illustrations prepared by Tenniel. This eventually became Chapter V in the published book. Another procedure adopted by Dodgson for his other illustrated books was not to prepare illustrations in the order in which they finally appeared in the book. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but he probably wanted to keep the full storyline of his book a secret until the last possible moment, thereby preserving the novelty value of the text. The preparation of a book for publication was always a dynamic process for Dodgson; he responded to advice from his illustrator and publisher and made his own changes in the light of experience. From this moment on, we can be sure that correspondence began in earnest between the two men, but sadly, all the letters from Dodgson to Tenniel about the book are missing and only one from Tenniel to Dodgson, dated 8 March 1865, appears to have survived. It reads: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I cannot see your objection to the page as at present arranged, but if you think it would be better to place the picture further on in the text, do it by all means.

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The ‘two Footmen’ picture is certainly too large to head a chapter. Could you manage to let me have the text of ‘A Mad Tea-party’ for a day or two? There is much more in it than my copy contains. The subjects I have selected from it are – The Hatter asking the riddle; which will do equally well for any other question that he may ask, and can go anywhere; and – The March Hare and the Hatter, putting the Dormouse into the tea-pot. We now want an intermediate one, but I don’t think ‘Twinkle twinkle’ will do, as it comes close upon the first subject, i.e. in my copy. In great haste, Yours very sincerely, J. Tenniel P.S. I am very glad you like the new pictures.13

There is a possibility that once Tenniel had acted upon the contents of a letter he then destroyed it. Alternatively, his correspondence may since have been disposed of or lost. Intensive searches have failed to uncover any letters concerning Alice’s Adventures, although a few from Tenniel referring to Looking-Glass have survived. The main sources of evidence to show the progress with the illustrations are Dodgson’s Diaries but, even here, only visits to Tenniel are recorded, such as for 30 May 1864: ‘Went to London by the 1 p.m. Called on Tenniell [sic], and had a talk.’14 There are also visits to the university press at Oxford; Thomas Combe, the printer; and Combe’s assistant, Henry Latham. At this time, the Diaries mention no details about the publication of Alice’s Adventures. Progress with the illustrations was slow. On 20 June Dodgson wrote: ‘Called on Tom Taylor, but he was out, then on Tenniell [sic], who has not begun the pictures yet.’15 The delay was fortuitous, for Macmillan, acting as adviser and agent for the press, suggested an important change. Dodgson wrote: ‘Called on Macmillan, who strongly advised my altering the size of the page of my book, and adopting that of the Water Babies. [. . . ] Then called on Tenniell [sic], who agreed to the change of page’.16 Another visit to Tenniel took place on 17 July 1864, but he was out and Dodgson only saw Tenniel’s mother and sister. In September 1864, Dodgson began a new volume of his Diaries and used this opportunity to record the genesis of Alice’s Adventures from the moment the story was first told, adding additional notes about publication and continuing until the book was well established with the issue of the eighth thousand in 1867. The volume begins with his entry for 13 September 1864, in which he records: ‘Finished drawing the pictures in the MS copy of Alice’s Adventures.’17 Hence, the notion to publish the book came well before the illustrations in the manuscript were complete. The text was begun on 13 November 1862 and finished before 10 February 1863. Tenniel was approached on 25 January 1864 and he agreed

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to illustrate the book on 5 April 1864. Dodgson presented the manuscript to Alice Liddell on 26 November 1864. In the meantime, work continued on the preparation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but the pace was slow. A month later, on 12 October 1864, Dodgson wrote: Called on Macmillan, and had some talk about the book, but settled little. [. . . ] Thence I went to Tenniel’s, who showed me one drawing on wood, the only thing he had, of Alice sitting by the pool of tears, and the rabbit hurrying away. We discussed the book, and agreed on about 34 pictures.18

The picture in question appears in Chapter II, ‘The Pool of Tears’, on page 18. Hence, by this time, Dodgson had supplied Tenniel with the earlier chapters of the book. The scene appears in Under Ground on page 13, so we do not know whether the new expanded text was completed or in use at this time. At this stage, it is likely that some of the illustrations were already with the Dalziel brothers – George (1817–1902) and Edward (1817–1905) – who were commissioned to engrave the pictures. The Dalziels were assisted by two other brothers – John (1822–69) and Thomas (1832–1906) – and a sister, Margaret (1819–94) and they had a high reputation as wood engravers for book illustration. As engravers to Tenniel, John Everett Millais, Edward Lear, George du Maurier, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and many others, they cut the blocks for many Victorian children’s classics.19 The drawing Tenniel showed to Dodgson in October 1864 may be the first completed picture containing an image of Alice for the book. However, it was not Tenniel’s first published image of Alice. In his illustrated title page for the bound volume of Punch, number 46, January to June 1864, Tenniel drew a prototype for Alice seen with the garlanded British lion. On 28 October 1864, Dodgson made another trip to Tenniel, who was not at home. But he did meet Mr (George?) Dalziel at the engravers’ workshop and saw ‘proofs of several of the pictures, including the four for “Father William”, and [Dalziel] decidedly advised my printing from the wood-blocks’.20 This advice was subsequently ignored; Dodgson chose to have electrotypes made of all the illustrations and the book was printed from these rather than the original boxwood blocks. In a letter to Macmillan dated 20 November 1864, Dodgson wrote: I fear my little book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland cannot appear this year. Mr. Tenniel writes that he is hopeless of completing the pictures by Xmas. The cause I do not know, but he writes in great trouble, having just lost his mother, and I

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have begged him to put the thing aside for the present. Under these circumstances what time should you advise our aiming at for bringing out the book? Would Easter be a good time, or would it be better to get it out before then?21

Tenniel sent Dodgson the first twelve proofs for illustrations on 16 December, the day after Dodgson sent Macmillan the whole of the book in slip (i.e., strips of paper, not yet paginated). Dodgson went to see Macmillan about the book on 21 December. Optimistically, they agreed that binding should begin about the middle of March so that the book could be published on 1 April 1865. Tenniel was still taking his time. A further meeting between the two men occurred on 26 January 1865, but Dodgson did not record any progress with the illustrations. However, around this time, a plan for the complete set of forty-two illustrations proposed for the book was made and a copy, in Dodgson’s hand, survives.22 This indicated the size and position of each illustration within the twelve chapters, with the forty-second picture being the frontispiece. At some later stage, page numbers corresponding to the printed text were added. Each picture is described briefly with reference to the text. By now Tenniel had access to the new text, as indicated in the letter to Dodgson dated 8 March 1865 already mentioned. This commented on two chapters not in Under Ground: ‘Pig and Pepper’ (Chapter VI) and ‘A Mad Tea-Party’ (Chapter VII). But publication was still delayed. On 8 April, Dodgson noted that Tenniel was working on the thirtieth picture. The dimensions of the book were finally decided with Macmillan on 17 April, but this did not affect Tenniel’s drawings. On 26 May, Dodgson received a specimen copy bound in red cloth – blank for all but the first page – of Alice’s Adventures. He received the last three proof copies of Tenniel’s illustrations on 18 June 1865. Two days later, he sent the final marked-up sections of the text to the press. Macmillan received copies from the press on 27 June and Dodgson immediately wrote asking that a copy be sent from London to Oxford so that he could present it to Alice Liddell on the anniversary of the tale being told on 4 July. Dodgson was happily unaware at the time that this first edition of Alice’s Adventures, printed in early July, was to become a major event in the history of book illustration and publishing. The impending doom was not evident when Dodgson visited Macmillan to talk about the book on 7 July 1865. A week later, on 15 July, Dodgson was at the offices of Macmillan, where he ‘wrote in twenty or more copies of Alice to go as presents to various friends’.23 This included a presentation copy for John Tenniel. However, on receipt of his copy, Tenniel wrote back to Dodgson. The letter is missing, but in essence, he did not approve of the printing of his illustrations

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in the book. Dodgson wrote on 20 July: ‘Called on Macmillan, and showed him Tenniel’s letter about the fairy-tale, he is entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures, and I suppose we shall have to do it all again.’24 Dodgson decided on a reprint of Alice’s Adventures on 2 August 1865. Just over twenty copies of the suppressed first edition are known to have survived, making this an extremely rare first edition and subsequently commanding extraordinarily high prices at auction. An examination of the 1865 Alice reveals some ‘bleed through’ from the verso pages, which shows up particularly when there is a significant amount of white space on a page (such as at the beginnings and endings of chapters), and in some cases, an illustration is affected. Some of the illustrations are printed rather faintly. However, these faults with the 1865 Alice may not have justified a reprint and suggestions have been made that Tenniel was returning some of the frustration he had experienced in working with Dodgson in preparing the illustrations. There is no evidence to support this idea and subsequent letters indicate that the relationship between the two men remained friendly and harmonious. The relationship between Tenniel and Dodgson was typical of what one might expect between two relatively conservative Victorian gentlemen. There can be no doubt that Tenniel, a man with status and a reputation to uphold as the senior illustrator at Punch, had more to lose than Dodgson, who was then an unknown author with only a couple of published mathematical works to his credit. Although Dodgson provided the commission, Tenniel was not subservient in the transaction; he had the authority to exercise his opinions in the collaborative arrangement that emerged. One writer stated: ‘Taken together, all the evidence suggests that the Carroll-Tenniel collaboration was by no means one-sided. Both men could be demanding and both sensibly found ways to accommodate the other’s demands.’25 The fact that Tenniel was reluctant to take on Looking-Glass has helped to fire the rumours of a tense relationship between the two men, but other circumstances need to be considered before coming to such a conclusion. Tenniel was a very busy man. There can be no doubt that the collaboration of author with illustrator was beneficial to both partners and the lasting friendship between the two men confounds arguments of a stormy relationship. The genesis of the book, particularly the development of the illustrations, is revealed in the surviving original preliminary drawings, tracings, value studies and commissioned finished pictures. These drawings help to identify changes that were made to the illustrations for Alice’s Adventures,26 but as already stated, the correspondence which gave cause and reason for the changes is, sadly, missing. The list incorporates the Dalziel brothers’ file copy of all the proof wood engravings for the Alice books, which is now housed at the British Library, and

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other details come from a significant collection of Tenniel’s drawings at Harvard University.27 Significant changes include the composite picture of the ‘Mad Tea-Party’ and the ‘Cheshire Cat’ being made into two separate illustrations. This probably happened before the woodblocks were engraved. The original drawing of the ‘White Rabbit as the Herald’ underwent some major changes before publication. The position of the scroll in the White Rabbit’s hand changed as, too, did his tabard, on which the ‘heart’ decorations were reversed. The direction in which the White Rabbit is looking was also changed. Proofs of both illustrations exist and it is clear that a new woodblock was prepared for this illustration. The first ‘published’ edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was issued in November 1865, but all copies are dated 1866 on the title page. Dodgson was left with the unbound sheets of what remained of the first printing made by Oxford University Press – 1,952 sets of sheets. Some 48 sets of the original print run of 2,000 had been bound and given away as presentation copies, as we have heard. Initially, he decided to sell these sheets as waste paper. Nothing happened for some months. The story continues as related by the Appleton Company of New York. William Worthen Appleton, the grandson of Daniel Appleton (founder of the company), made a business trip to London as an agent of the firm: The visit is memorable in the annals of the House, for by good judgment and good fortune he obtained a book that has achieved literary immortality. [. . . ] A large quantity of unbound sheets remained on the publisher’s hands. Forty-eight copies had been given away, and all the remainder, numbering 1,952 in sets of sheets, were sold to W. W. Appleton, the author considering them [. . . ] ‘quite good enough for Americans of whose taste his opinion was low.’ With a new title-page bearing the imprint of D. Appleton and Company and with the date 1866 they were shipped to New York.28

A new title page was printed at Oxford in a ‘two up’ process, in which two separate title pages were typeset and printed at the same time. Clearly, this process was used to save time. But as a result, there are two variations of this title page – very minor differences in the spacing of the words: the letter ‘B’ in the word ‘by’ occurs either above the ‘T’ in ‘tenniel’ or slightly to the left of it. There is no precedence in these variations. Dodgson paid for 1,000 of these new double title pages, according to the Oxford University Press ledger. All the remaining sets of sheets were bound at the bindery owned by James R. Burn (b. 1839) on behalf of Macmillan & Co. in London, with each new title page inserted on a stub created by the removal of the original title page.

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These bound copies, with the name Appleton on the base of the spine, were then shipped to New York. The edition with the imprint D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1866, is essentially the extremely rare first edition, known as the Appleton Alice. These editions emerge at auction from time to time, usually in reasonable condition, but some are in poor condition or rebound. Collectors who are unable to afford one of the suppressed true first editions – the 1865 Alice – will settle for the Appleton Alice as a good alternative. By August 1866, the first published issue (second edition) had almost sold out and Macmillan suggested that another 3,000 be printed. At this stage, Dodgson asked the printer to add the ‘thousand’ number to the title page and change this as each thousand was run off. This continued thereafter – an inconvenience for the printer but of great value to researchers, who are able to tell exactly how sales built up over the years. The books that constituted the third edition were printed in November 1866 and all were dated 1867 on the title page, beginning with the ‘fifth thousand’ and continuing to the ‘seventh thousand’. As early as February 1867, Macmillan was considering another reprint, and by June, he was suggesting another 2,500 or 3,000 copies. Writing from Moscow on 18 August 1867, Dodgson indicated that he wished whole numbers of thousands – either 2,000 or 3,000 – stating: ‘I would rather not have 2,500 done as in that case the “tenth thousand” might not be all alike.’29 Nevertheless, this is exactly what happened with the ‘fourth edition’, with the result that the ‘tenth thousand’ is split into two halves: the first 500 dated 1867 and the second 500 dated 1868. The ‘fifth edition’ consisted of another 1,500 copies (probably printed in January 1868) to restore the balance to whole numbers of thousands. Dodgson wrote to Macmillan on 8 March 1868: Don’t send me my ‘11th thousand’ Alice till you have sold the 2nd half of the 10th thousand, so that its coming may be a signal that that is accomplished. I shall be glad to be able to say that we have sold our ‘myriad’.30

Whole number ‘thousands’ were printed thereafter in most cases, but some had two different dates (63rd, 64th and 85th). Throughout the various editions, Dodgson made minor corrections to the text. The ‘sixth edition’ was produced towards the end of 1868, and clearly no more corrections were made for many years because the book was not revised for a ‘seventh edition’ until 1886. However, by the time this came out, Alice’s Adventures had reached the ‘seventy-eighth thousand’. In a letter to Alexander Macmillan dated 24 August 1866, Dodgson mentioned a ‘floating idea of writing a sort of sequel to Alice’.31 With nothing more

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than a brief outline in his mind, Dodgson set about securing the services of an illustrator; this became his usual practice for all future illustrated publications. Obviously, Tenniel was his best choice; at least, this would give some continuity in the illustrations, particularly as the new book included some of the same characters, not least Alice herself. But Tenniel declined in the first instance, claiming pressures of work. In desperation, Dodgson tried other well-known illustrators of his day. He recorded in his Diaries an approach to another Punch artist, Richard Doyle. On 24 January 1867, he wrote: ‘We left the matter unsettled for the present’32 and the matter remained unsettled for more than a year. In January 1868, he noted in his Diaries that he had ‘added a few pages’ to the new book, but the choice of illustrator was still open.33 At this stage, he had insufficient material to produce an outline for the illustrations. Some of the poems – ‘Jabberwocky’ (first stanza, 1855) and ‘The Aged Aged Man’ (originally ‘Upon the Lonely Moor’, 1856) – were written well before the idea for Looking-Glass took shape, but these alone would not provide a basis for an illustration plan. In April 1868, George MacDonald wrote to Sir No¨el Paton, the illustrator of the Water Babies, and asked whether he would be able to provide Dodgson with illustrations for the book. Paton’s reply to MacDonald, dated 16 May, indicated that ill health precluded him from taking the commission and advised that ‘even had it been possible for me to do so I should have felt constrained first to ask the author why anybody under the sun save only John Tenniel should be entrusted with the work’.34 In a letter to Mrs MacDonald dated 19 May 1868, Dodgson wrote: Many thanks also to Mr. MacDonald for the trouble he has taken, even though in vain, in my behalf. If he is writing again to Sir No¨el Paton, I should like to send my thanks to him for his kind expressions, much as I am disappointed by his declining the task. I shall try my luck again with Mr. Tenniel, and if he fails me, I really don’t know what to do. Doyle isn’t good enough (look at any of his later pictures) and Arthur Hughes has not, so far as I know, any turn for grotesque. However I haven’t quite given up hope in Tenniel yet.35

A few weeks later, Dodgson raised the subject of an illustrator again in a letter to Macmillan dated 2 June: With regard to my unfortunate Alice II both Tenniel and No¨el Paton appear to be hopeless. Have you seen the pictures in Fun signed ‘Bab’? The artist’s name, I am told is [W. S.] Gilbert: his power in grotesque is extraordinary – but I have seen no symptoms of his being able to draw anything pretty and graceful. I should be very glad if you would ascertain (without directly communicating with him, so as

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to commit me in any way) whether he has such a power. If so, I think he would do. Some of his pictures are full of fun.36

Macmillan sent Dodgson a copy of Gilbert’s Fairy-Tales, but Dodgson ruled him out as an illustrator for his new book because Gilbert appeared to draw only grotesques. However, later in June 1868, Tenniel finally agreed to do the pictures, ‘at such spare times as he can find’,37 and Dodgson’s immediate problem was solved. Tenniel, however, was slow getting started. Just before Dodgson paid him a visit on 20 January 1870 to talk about progress, Tenniel wrote to George Dalziel, the engraver; the letter is dated 11 January: Dear Dalziel, Are you disposed to undertake the engravings of another little book for Mr. Dodgson? It is a continuation of ‘Alice’s Adventures’ and I am going to work upon it at once. One line please to say ‘Yes’ – and I’ll let you know the size of blocks etc. In much haste. Yours very truly, J. Tenniel All good wishes for the New Year !!!38

This letter reveals that eighteen months elapsed before Tenniel began any serious work on the illustrations for Looking-Glass. In the meantime, an incident on 17 August 1868 confirmed Dodgson’s idea of Alice making a journey into Looking-Glass House, the title he was using at this time for the new Alice book. The idea came from a chance meeting with a distant cousin, Alice Theodora Raikes (1862–1945), on a visit to Dodgson’s uncle Skeffington Lutwidge at Onslow Square, London. She lived next door and Dodgson invited her to ‘see something rather puzzling‘: the effect of holding an orange in the right hand as viewed in a tall mirror. In her solution to the puzzle, Alice Raikes suggested that if she was on the other side of the mirror, the orange would remain in her right hand and not be in the left hand, as shown by her reflection. Dodgson was impressed with her answer. Many years later, Alice Raikes said that it was this incident that gave Dodgson the idea for LookingGlass.39 This cannot be entirely true, as Dodgson had the idea of writing the book some months previously – more a case of confirmation rather than influence. The chess game feature of the book was also probably present long before this. Dodgson played chess with Alice Liddell and her sisters many years earlier and

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he no doubt invented chess stories to amuse them, which were later included in the book. The chess framework of the story is unconventional, but the moves of the chess pieces are legitimate even though the White side appears to get a number of consecutive moves. Dodgson completed the first chapter of Looking-Glass and sent it to Macmillan on 12 January 1869 to be set up in type. He went to see Tenniel in April, but he recorded that no illustrations had yet been drawn for the book. Nine months later, on a further visit to Tenniel on 20 January 1870, Dodgson records that he saw ‘the rough sketches of about ten of the pictures for Behind the Lookingglass’.40 Letters must have passed between the two men at this stage but, sadly, this is another instance where the letters are missing. The only outcome of these preliminary meetings and correspondence is an illustration plan for the book, which is in Dodgson’s hand.41 Dodgson and Tenniel probably discussed this at their meeting held on 12 March of that year. Dodgson wrote: ‘I had about two hours’ talk, and arranged about 30 pictures. Three have gone already to be cut.’42 The surviving illustration plan shows that there were originally thirty-eight numbered illustrations indicated in black ink, together with the ‘Jabberwock’ proposed as the frontispiece and the ‘Wasp’ illustration that Tenniel eventually did not draw. At this point, Dodgson appeared to be concerned about the length of the book. Tenniel suggested that to reduce length, the ‘Wasp’ incident in the story would be worth removing from the book and Dodgson complied, suppressing this proposed chapter. Subsequent alterations to the plan were in violet ink (not used by Dodgson until October 1870). This confirms that the original date of the plan is before October 1870 but probably not before January 1870. Dodgson may have had plans for some illustrations as early as January 1869. In the end, far from reducing the size of the book, Dodgson extended it and added more illustrations. During April 1870, Macmillan sent Dodgson some trial title pages for consideration. The previous month, the title used for the book was Behind the LookingGlass and What Alice Saw There. Another title considered was Looking-Glass World. These early title pages indicate Dodgson’s intention of having forty-two illustrations drawn by Tenniel in the new book to match the number of illustrations in Alice’s Adventures. During the first six months of 1870, Tenniel’s progress with the illustrations was slow. On 25 June 1870, the children of Lord Salisbury (1830–1903), the new chancellor of the University of Oxford, visited Dodgson in his rooms at Christ Church. Dodgson took the opportunity to show them ‘the seven first pictures for Through the Looking-Glass’,43 the title which had now been settled for the sequel, suggested to him by his friend and companion during the Russian journey, Henry Parry Liddon (1829–90).

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Dodgson and Tenniel continued to negotiate about the illustrations. On 27 December 1870, Tenniel wrote to Dalziel: Mr. Dodgson said something about one of the blocks – ‘The Chessboard Landscape’ being done over again. Please send me another proof of it – he has the other – and don’t send the blocks to Messrs. Macmillan till you have heard from me. [. . . ] I’ve not been able yet to ‘touch’ the last proofs you sent.44

The ‘Chessboard Landscape’ illustration appears on page 38 of Looking-Glass. In Tenniel’s preliminary pencil drawing, in reverse, the figure of Alice appears in the foreground. In the actual illustration, the figure of Alice has been removed. This may be the alteration that Dodgson decided upon. Proofs taken directly from the woodblocks were sent to both illustrator and author and a consensus was reached before the illustrations were approved. Dodgson completed the manuscript for Looking-Glass on 4 January 1871. Nine days later, he wrote: Received from Clay slips reaching to the end of the text of the Looking-Glass. Nothing now remains to be printed but the verses at the end. The volume has cost me, I think, more trouble than the first, and ought to be equal to it in every way.45

Two days after that Dodgson ‘sent the slips off to Tenniel: it all now depends upon him, whether we get the book out by Easter or not’.46 The Easter publication date was too optimistic; Tenniel supplied no more illustrations for some months. Before February 1871, Dodgson received Tenniel’s illustration for the ‘Jabberwock’. He was pleased with the result but considered that the picture might be too frightening for some children. In order to resolve the matter, he sent a printed circular letter to some friends to seek their views. A copy of the surviving circular, addressed to Mrs Letitia Barry and dated 15 February 1871, revealed Dodgson’s concern: I am sending you, with this, a print of the proposed frontispiece for Through the Looking-Glass. It has been suggested to me that it is too terrible a monster, and likely to alarm nervous and imaginative children: and that at any rate we had better begin the book with a pleasanter subject. So I am submitting the question to a number of friends, for which purpose I have had copies of the frontispiece printed off. We have three courses open to us: (1) To retain it as the frontispiece.

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(2) To transfer it to its proper place in the book, (where the ballad occurs which it is intended to illustrate) and substitute a new frontispiece. (3) To omit it altogether. The last-named course would be a great sacrifice of the time and trouble which the picture has cost, and it would be a pity to adopt it unless it is really necessary. I should be grateful to have your opinion, (tested by exhibiting the picture to any children you think fit,) as to which of these courses is the best.47

Dodgson adds in manuscript: ‘I have no idea which of your daughters I ought to send the new volume of Alice to’ and mentions that he has called on, but not seen, her son, John (1851–1920), now at Corpus Christi College as an undergraduate. The number of copies of the circular Dodgson printed and distributed is not known, but Collingwood suggested that about thirty of his married lady friends were consulted. The letter confirms the detailed consultation between author and illustrator about each illustration. In this case, the illustration plan shows that the ‘Jabberwock’ with its caption ‘Came Whiffling’ was replaced by ‘Alice and Knight’ as the frontispiece and so it appears in all Macmillan editions of the book. On 25 April 1871, Dodgson wrote: ‘Through the Looking-Glass yet lingers on, though the text is ready, but I have only received twenty-seven pictures as yet.’48 This indicated that if the pictures were drawn in the order indicated on the plan – and there is no evidence to suggest that this was the adopted scheme – then the illustrations were complete as far as Chapter V: ‘Wool and Water’. On 4 May, Dodgson wrote: ‘I heard from Tenniel, the other day, the welcome news that he hopes to have all the pictures done by the end of July at latest,’49 but in August, the delay was still evident. On 29 August, Dodgson noted: ‘Wrote to Tenniel, accepting the melancholy, but un-alterable fact that we cannot get Through the Looking-Glass out by Michaelmas. After all it must come out as a Christmas book.’50 All this correspondence is missing; we only have Dodgson’s Diaries to indicate the ensuing problems and delays. The book commenced printing in October 1871; this confirms that Dodgson had received all the illustrations from Tenniel by this time. Dodgson received five proof sheets on 1 November 1871. On 21 November, he noted: Sent authority to Clay to electrotype all the rest of the Looking-Glass: this was by telegraph. I afterwards sent two corrections by post. So ends my part of the work. It now depends on the printers and binders whether we get it out by Christmas.51

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Dodgson received the first complete copy of Looking-Glass in early December 1871. He immediately wrote a third-person note dated 5 December to the engravers – the Dalziel brothers – ‘thanking them for the great pains which have evidently been bestowed on the pictures. He thinks them quite admirable and (so far as he is a judge) first-rate specimens of the art of wood engraving’.52 Enclosed with the letter was Dodgson’s cheque for £203.16s. to cover the cost of all the engravings for Looking-Glass. A number of changes occurred during the preparation of the illustrations for Looking-Glass. The position of the Carpenter’s hand in ‘They’d eaten every one’ and the way in which the White Queen holds her sceptre in ‘The White Queen’ were altered. The picture of ‘Hatta in prison’ underwent significant changes and evidence suggests that a new woodblock was prepared. The sitting position of Hatta has changed and his hat has moved from the left to the right of the picture. Five illustrations depicting Alice as Queen were altered because Dodgson did not like the style of dress that Tenniel originally gave her. Collingwood recorded that Mr. Dodgson was no easy man to work with; no detail was too small for his exact criticism. ‘Don’t give Alice so much crinoline,’ he would write, or ‘The White Knight must not have whiskers; he must not be made to look old’ – such were the directions he was constantly giving.53

Alice’s dress was originally made to look like a chess piece, following the style of the other queens in the story, but this gave the appearance of excessive crinoline, so Tenniel redrew Alice in a typically Victorian dress of young ladies, which obviously suited Dodgson. Five woodblocks had to be plugged for re-engraving. We know that Tenniel’s picture of the ‘White Knight’ remained an old man without whiskers but with a long moustache; hence, it is likely that he talked Dodgson into keeping it that way. In later life, Tenniel looked remarkably like the White Knight and suggestions have been made that it is a self-portrait. Staff at the Punch office thought that Tenniel had modelled the picture on Horace ‘Ponny’ Mayhew. Tenniel denied this, saying that any resemblance ‘was purely accidental, a mere unintentional caricature’.54 Through the Looking-Glass with fifty illustrations by John Tenniel was published in December 1871, but all copies of the first edition are dated 1872 on the title page, a common practice at the time. Dodgson kept in touch with Tenniel long after the two men had ceased to work together as author and illustrator of the Alice books. The few letters that

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have survived, which passed between them, were courteous and friendly. There is no doubt that Dodgson admired the work of his illustrator, and he frequently used him as a benchmark for his subsequent illustrators. Dodgson also sent copies of his main published works to Tenniel, always inscribed in a respectful and friendly manner. After Looking-Glass, Tenniel almost entirely gave up book illustration. Tenniel was exceedingly busy with his work for Punch. He was named chief artist in 1864 following the death of John Leech and he began to produce the ‘big cut’ – a full-page cartoon – each week. He held this key post until his retirement in 1901. In a letter dated 27 August 1900 to M. H. Spielmann (Tenniel’s art critic friend, who was probably collecting information for his book The First 50 Years of Punch), Tenniel indicated his move away from book illustration: This is to tell you that the list you sent me is quite correct except that I have never illustrated a Book of Games (1852) nor do I remember anything about Historic and Legendary Ballads (1876) seeing that I had given up all book illustration on the completion of Through the Looking-Glass in 1872.55

Tenniel is not entirely accurate here, as Frances Sarzano identifies Historical and Legendary Ballads and Songs (1876) by Walter Thornbury as a book containing Tenniel illustrations. She also identifies other books with Tenniel illustrations which came after Looking-Glass, including A Thousand and One Gems of English Poetry (1872) and The Trial of Sir Jasper (1873).56 To this must be added Tenniel’s illustrations for The Nursery ‘Alice’ (1889), which were not only redrawn but coloured by Tenniel. Tenniel was not against further approaches from Dodgson. A few years later, Dodgson had a new book in mind. He recorded on 1 March 1875: Wrote to Tenniel on the subject of an idea, which I first entered in my memorandum book, January 8th, of printing a little book of original puzzles etc. which I think of calling ‘Alice’s Puzzle-Book.’ I want him to draw a frontispiece for it. (He consented March 8).57

As time went by, Dodgson switched to E. Gertrude Thomson as the proposed illustrator, but the book never materialised. At some stage before August 1881, Tenniel also agreed to prepare the illustrations for The Nursery ‘Alice’. This was Dodgson’s version of the original book rewritten for younger children, with twenty coloured enlargements from Tenniel’s illustrations. In a letter to Macmillan, Dodgson wrote:

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Mr. Tenniel is going to make some changes in the figure of ‘Alice,’ so I have telegraphed to you to stop the work on two of the pictures, in which she occurs, and I may as well add the others – i.e. please tell them only to do the frontispiece and the picture at p. 63 [‘Father William,’ which does not appear in The Nursery ‘Alice’] till they receive further orders. Please tell them to take great care of that coloured frontispiece: I want to have it fastened into the book again, as a unique specimen of colouring done by the artist himself. Also please send Mr. Tenniel an Alice in sheets, that he may mark his alterations and cut the pictures out one by one. It seems a pity to spoil a bound copy for this purpose.58

However, the pictures are different in many ways and it is clear that some sections were redrawn. For example, the frontispiece has a guard who was ‘the three of clubs’ in the original book, but he became ‘the three of hearts’ in the new book. Alice’s costume is totally different in style; her dress is pleated and her apron now has a large bow at the back and her hair contains another small bow. The dress is coloured yellow and the bows are blue. The drawing of Alice on page 5 with the ‘DRINK ME’ bottle was redrawn, as, too, was Alice with the long neck on page 8. Other illustrations were modified to take account of Alice’s changed appearance. The mark of the engravers – the Dalziel brothers – was removed from all the illustrations. In the picture of the Caterpillar on page 26, part of the background is missing to the left of Alice’s head. In the picture of the Gardeners painting the roses red on page 42, drips of paint have appeared which were not in the original illustration. The feet of the flamingo under Alice’s arms in the picture with the Duchess on page 46 give clear indication that these illustrations were redrawn rather than simply enlarged from the original drawings. There are many changes to the pictures only possible by redrawing. They were very carefully copied and much of the detail and composition was retained. Edmund Evans (1826–1905), renowned colour printer, was employed by Dodgson to produce the pictures for The Nursery ‘Alice’ using what was a relatively new and expensive process known as chromoxylography. This used a number of woodblocks for each image, with colours mixed to achieve a variety of hues and tones. Tenniel painted pictures for The Nursery ‘Alice’ and these were used as a guide in the colour-printing process. Some of his original artwork survives.59 On 9 August 1883, Tenniel wrote to Evans: A week or so ago Mr. Dodgson wrote to say that he is ‘quite satisfied’ with your estimate. I should have told you this sooner, but have been away in the country.

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I shall be very glad if you will get on with the ‘enlargements’ as soon as possible. Mr. Dodgson is very anxious about it, and so am I. Of course the smaller pictures must be in the same proportion to the size of the page as the larger ones, and equally of course I must see all the photographed blocks before engraving, as they will probably require re-touching apart from the actual ‘alteration’ in the dress, etc., etc. When do you think you will be able to make a beginning? If you should wish to see me on the subject I am always at home in the morning.60

Dodgson took many months to complete the text because he was fully occupied with his other writing projects. He wrote (on 29 March 1885) a list of projects in hand, which included the ‘Nursery “Alice” – for which 20 pictures are now being coloured by Mr. Tenniel’.61 In a further letter to Macmillan dated 8 July, Dodgson noted: ‘Mr. Tenniel has finished colouring the 20 enlarged pictures for The Nursery “Alice”, and I hope you will soon hear from Mr. Evans about it.’62 Evans set to work to transfer Tenniel’s coloured pictures into printed proofs ready for the new book. Tenniel wrote again to Evans on 14 October 1885: ‘The proofs I have just received represent 12 only of the 20 subjects. Your note says, “complete set of proofs of the Alice in Wonderland pictures”. There must be a strange mistake somewhere.’63 Dodgson made a call on Tenniel to talk about The Nursery ‘Alice’ on 15 October 1885, but further delays ensued. The months went by without any real progress being made with the book. Tenniel wrote to Evans on 5 May 1886: Will you kindly send me a line to say whether you have yet begun ‘working’ the Alice book. I have heard nothing from Mr. Dodgson since I wrote to tell him that the pictures were all ready, and that you were anxious to begin printing.64

When the pages of The Nursery ‘Alice’ were finally printed, Dodgson was not satisfied with the colouring of the illustrations. He wrote to Macmillan on 23 June 1889: The pictures are far too bright and gaudy, and vulgarise the whole thing. None must be sold in England: to do so would be to sacrifice whatever reputation I now have for giving the public the best I can. Mr. Evans must begin again, and print 10,000 with Tenniel’s coloured pictures before him: and I must see all the proofs this time: and then we shall have a book really fit to offer to the public.65

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Tenniel was quiet on the subject. There was no remonstration, as with the 1865 Alice, but Dodgson’s quick action may have pre-empted a move by the illustrator. Evans repeated the process and new coloured proofs were made for Dodgson’s and Tenniel’s approval later that year. Tenniel wrote to Evans on 18 December 1889: I received the enclosed parcel this morning from Mr. Dodgson, asking me to send it on to you. The new proofs are, I think, quite satisfactory, in fact, I really don’t see how they can be improved, and can only hope you may be equally successful with the entire lot. Thanking you for the trouble you have, evidently, taken.66

The book with less bright and gaudy coloured illustrations finally appeared in 1890. The offending sheets were offered to America and 4,000 copies were bound and sold there. Eventually, the remaining 6,000 copies were bound up and some were sold as ‘The People’s Edition’, some were sold to Australia and some became a reduced price edition in 1896. Tenniel continued to smoke his churchwarden pipe at the weekly Punch dinners and drew the ‘big cut’ most weeks, covering all the main historical occasions for nearly forty years. Only once did he venture on a holiday abroad: to Venice. In 1893, Tenniel was knighted in recognition of his distinguished career at Punch. Soon after Dodgson’s death, he wrote to a friend, A. W. Mackenzie, in a letter dated 22 February 1898: Please tell your lady friend, with my compliments, that she is quite welcome to make a ‘Calendar’ out of my Alice designs, so far as I am concerned, and, if Messrs. Macmillan don’t object, which I should think hardly likely, publish it. Poor Lewis Carroll is in his grave, and we are trying to collect £1,000 to endow a ‘Cot’ in the Children’s Hospital, in his name, as the most fitting ‘Memorial’ of him, and his work.67

Sir John Tenniel retired from his post in 1901 after nearly a half-century of service to Punch and with well in excess of 2,000 cartoons to his credit. For his remaining years, he lived quietly at his Kensington home with his sister, gradually losing his eyesight. He died on 25 February 1914.

Henry Holiday: Illustrator of The Hunting of the Snark Henry George Alexander Holiday (1839–1927) was born on 17 June 1839 in Hampstead Street, Fitzroy Square, London, where he lived until 1857.

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He attended the Royal Academy Schools from 1855. On a trip to Ullswater in the Lake District in 1860, he made the acquaintance of Richard St John Tyrwhitt (1827–95) of Christ Church, Oxford. Tyrwhitt had already published books on art and the two men made studies together of the local scenery. Holiday met Holman Hunt and Burne-Jones later that year and became associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He worked for the Powell Glass Works, Whitefriars, as a designer of cartoons for stained glass from 1863 and his stained glass windows can be seen all over England, in Europe and in the United States. He married Catherine ‘Kate’ Raven (1840–1925) in 1864 and they had one daughter, Winifred (1865–1949). Holiday notes his first meeting with Dodgson, in 1869, in his autobiography: Reminiscences of My Life: It was an agreeable surprise when one morning Lewis Carroll (the Rev. C. L. Dodgson) came to see me and my work, in company with a friend of his and mine. We became friends on the spot and continued so till his death. He was intimate with Dr Kitchin and his family, and shared my admiration for the beautiful little daughter, of whom he took photographs at frequent intervals from then till she was grown up. He made a highly characteristic conundrum about these portraits. The girl was called Alexandra, after her godmother, Queen Alexandra, but as this name was long she was called in her family X, or rather Xie. She was a perfect sitter, and Dodgson asked me if I knew how to obtain excellence in a photograph. I gave it up. ‘Take a lens and put Xie before it.’ I have a collection of these portraits, all good.68

Some of Dodgson’s photographs of Xie Kitchin once owned by Holiday were sold at auction in March 1983, mostly inscribed ‘H. Holiday, from the Artist’. Dodgson spent a few days as guest at Holiday’s home, 5 Marlborough Road, St John’s Wood, from 6 July until 11 July 1870. He took his camera with him and photographed the Cecil family (children of Lord Salisbury), who came over from their London home for the occasion. He wrote on 7 July: ‘At 101/2 the four Cecils arrived to be photographed, and remained two or three hours. I got capital simple pictures, and a good group.’69 Dodgson also took the opportunity of photographing some of Holiday’s artwork. One of these photographs was sent as a gift to Sir No¨el Paton. In a letter dated 19 December 1872, Dodgson wrote: ‘The enclosed print I have just mounted (not very successfully, I fear) as a specimen of my photographs of drawings – it is from one by Mr. H. Holiday,’ but in the postscript, he wrote: ‘I find that the mounted print is too large for post, and is not worth sending by train. I will send one unmounted.’70 The photograph has not come to light.

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Dodgson admired Holiday’s drawings but wondered whether he had range enough to illustrate a book. On 16 January 1874, he wrote in his diary: Went again to the Holidays. [. . . ] Told Holiday of the idea his drawings suggested to me, that he might illustrate a child’s book for me. If only he can draw grotesques, it would be all I should desire, the grace and beauty of the pictures would quite rival Tenniel, I think.71

A few weeks later, on 4 February, Dodgson wrote: ‘Received from Holiday the five drawings of children he has done for me, as well as a lovely drawing for Sylvie and Bruno’.72 The commission to draw for The Hunting of the Snark followed soon afterwards, originally intended as one of the long poems for Sylvie and Bruno. On 23 November 1874, Dodgson wrote: Ruskin came, by my request, for a talk about the pictures Holiday is doing for the ‘Boojum’ – one (the scene on board) has been cut on wood. He much disheartened me by holding out no hopes that Holiday would be able to illustrate a book satisfactorily.73

But the criticism did not deter his objective. His friendship with Holiday was already on a firm footing and visits to the Holiday home and their visits to the theatre together are recorded in Dodgson’s diaries. Almost a year later, on 24 October 1875, Dodgson wrote: ‘A sudden idea occurred, about which I wrote to Holiday and Macmillan, of publishing the Snark poem this Christmas.’74 In his autobiography, Holiday describes Dodgson’s many visits and the events which led to the commission to illustrate The Hunting of the Snark: We saw a good deal of Mr. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) at this time. He stayed with us a week or more in 1875 when he spent most of his time photographing. He had been a week with us at Marlborough Road pursuing the same hobby. On that occasion some of the young Cecils came, the children of the Marquis of Salisbury, Lady Gwendolen, and two of the sons, I think the present Marquis and Lord Robert Cecil. This time at Oak-Tree House, he took many of his friends, and gave me a complete set of prints mounted in a beautifully bound book, with his dedication, ‘In memory of a pleasant week.’ Among others he photographed Miss Marion Terry in my chain-mail, and I drew her lying on the lawn in the same. Shortly after this he wrote to me asking if I would design three illustrations to The Hunting of the Snark, in three cantos, of which he sent me the MS. It was a new kind of work and interested me. I began them at once, and sent him the first sketches, but he had in the meantime written another canto, and asked for a drawing for it; I sent this, but meantime he had written a new canto and wanted

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another illustration; and this went on till he pulled up at the eighth canto, making, with the frontispiece, nine illustrations. We had much correspondence of a friendly character over the drawings. I remember that Dodgson criticised my introduction of the figures of Hope and Care in the scene of ‘The Hunting,’ on the ground that he had intentionally confounded two meanings of the word ‘with’ in the lines: ‘They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; They pursued it with forks and hope,’ where ‘with’ is used in the mixed senses of indicating the instrument and the mental attitude, and he thought I had missed this point by personifying Hope and Care. I answered that, on the contrary, I had particularly noted that confusion, and had endeavoured to make confusion worse confounded by laying yet another meaning on the back of poor ‘with,’ – to wit ‘in company with.’ Dodgson wrote cordially accepting this view, so the ladies were allowed to join the hunt. I have often found an unexpected use for a casual sketch taken without special purpose, and the cover of the ‘Snark’ is a case in point. A year or more after my return from India I had to go to Liverpool on business, and, having become enamoured of the sea on that trip, I decided to go by boat instead of by rail, and I invited Almquist to go with me. I do not recommend this as an economical way of reaching Liverpool, as it took us four days and nights, instead of four hours, with travelling and board for two all the time; but it was very interesting. We went down the Thames, round the Forelands, coasted round the Isle of Wight (where I could recognise all my old haunts of 1852 and 1858) into Plymouth Harbour, round Land’s End, along the Welsh coast and all round Holyhead and Llandudno to Liverpool. At the Land’s End I made a sketch which included a bell-buoy, picturesque to eye and ear, with the weird irregular tolling of the bell, and when Dodgson wanted a motive for the back-cover, something that would bear the words, ‘It was a Boojum,’ I bethought me of my bell-buoy, which exactly met his want. He gave me a presentation-copy, bound in vellum, with the following dedication: ‘Presented to Henry Holiday, most patient of Artists, by Charles L. Dodgson, most exacting, but not most ungrateful of Authors. March 29th, 1876.’75

Very few letters survive between the two men during the collaboration to illustrate The Hunting of the Snark, which is a pity, as these might have revealed some of the meaning behind the verses. One letter, dated 15 January 1876, discussed the roundels for the front and back cover of Snark: What I want you to do is to take Alice as a guide, and design covers requiring about the same amount of gold, or, better, a little less. As Alice and the

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Looking-Glass have both got grotesque faces outside, I should like these to be pretty, as a contrast, and I don’t think we can do better than to take the head of ‘Hope’ for the first side, and ‘Care’ for the second, and, as these are associated with ‘forks’ and ‘thimbles’ in the poem, what do you think of surrounding them, one with a border of interlaced forks, the other with a shower of thimbles? And what do you think of putting a bell at each corner of the cover, instead of a single line? The only thing to secure is that the total amount of gold required shall be rather less than on the cover of Alice.76

Dodgson’s ideas for the covers did not materialise; there are no interlaced forks or showers of thimbles on the covers and Holiday’s roundel designs for ‘Hope’ and ‘Care’ were not used. Instead, the covers show Holiday’s bell buoy design. However, when Dodgson returned to a cover more in line with the Alice books (for the 17th and 18th thousands), he used roundels of the Bellman and the Beaver.77 Holiday worked closely with Macmillan & Co. and Messrs Burn (the binders) in designing the cover for Snark and Dodgson took Holiday’s idea of having some bindings produced in colour. In a letter to George L. Craik at Macmillan, Dodgson wrote on 17 January 1876: ‘The “richly emblazoned” copies I should like done in that dark blue cloth which Mr. Holiday recommended.’78 In fact, Dodgson had copies prepared in red, blue (dark and light) and green (dark and light) cloth and some in white vellum, with gilt lettering and designs, but most of these were kept for personal presentations apart from the red and gold copies, which were sold at a higher price. Writing to Macmillan on 11 February 1876, Dodgson said: ‘Mr. Holiday wants to give his opinion on the colour for the cheaper cover. I am telling him he had better communicate with you. For the dearer covers I hold to Alice red, and gold.’79 The edition for sale was initially bound in a buff-coloured cloth with lettering in black. Some copies of the first edition are known to have a grey printed dust wrapper, an early example of this kind, which became a common feature of many books. Holiday received no further commissions from Dodgson, probably because his more serious style of illustration did not match the work that was required, for Dodgson’s later illustrated books depended on comic effect. As a painter, Holiday is best remembered for his picture Dante and Beatrice, which was exhibited in 1883. He published Stained Glass as an Art in 1896 and his stained glass windows are well known in churches both in the United Kingdom and the United States. His lasting testimonial as a book illustrator will surely remain The Hunting of the Snark.

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Arthur Burdett Frost: American Illustrator Arthur Burdett Frost (1851–1928) was born on 17 January 1851 in Philadelphia. As an artist he was largely self-taught. He was apprenticed as a wood engraver in his youth but he became a lithographer and worked on hard, cheap commercial designs, which gave no scope for his artistic talent. In 1874, Frost met the artist and critic William J. Clarke, whose brother, Charles Clarke, had written Out of the Hurly-Burly under his pseudonym Max Adeler, and William persuaded Charles to employ Frost as his illustrator. Frost drew nearly 400 line drawings for Out of the Hurly-Burly, and when it was published later that year, it created an immediate sensation and secured Frost’s reputation as an illustrator. Soon after this initial success, Frost was hired as an illustrator by Harper & Brothers in New York. In 1877, Frost took leave of absence and travelled to London. During his yearlong stay in London, Frost drew for Charles Dickens’s American Notes (Household Edition, 1878) and it is these illustrations and others drawn for the magazine Judy which caught Dodgson’s eye. Early in 1878, Dodgson approached Frost to secure his services as illustrator for a poem that would be featured in a new book of comic verses, some already published in Phantasmagoria (without illustrations) and other poems which would eventually become Rhyme? and Reason? Dodgson was already trying out Edward Linley Sambourne (1845–1910) as a possible artist for his new book, but nothing came of this commission. Frost accepted the offer to try a few illustrations for ‘The Three Voices’. Dodgson wrote to him on 7 February 1878: Dear Sir, By all means draw a picture, as you propose, for ‘The Three Voices.’ Your terms will suit me very well. I have so bad a memory for names that I had quite forgotten your name in connection with Out of the Hurly-Burly. You will be surprised to hear that I know the book well, and examined the pictures carefully, more than a year ago, to see if the Artist would be likely to suit me. The conclusion I came to at the time was not in favour of applying to him: and since then the name has passed out of my memory. But I sent the book, at the time, to my friend Mr. Tenniel for an opinion: and I think I may, without breach of confidence, copy what he said.80

The letter goes on to give Tenniel’s opinion, which indicated that he thought Frost had potential, particularly in grotesque humour, but he needed to develop his dexterous skills. Clearly, Dodgson was now more impressed with Frost’s accomplishments – with good reason.

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On 24 April 1878, Dodgson wrote in his diary: Went to Haverstock Hill, and paid a long visit to Mr. Frost, whom I had not seen before. He showed me two blocks done for ‘The Three Voices,’ which are deliciously funny and extremely well drawn. A Miss Barnard came to sit (head only), and while he drew I looked through two very interesting portfolios of studies etc. He is regularly working at Art now, and can evidently do anything he likes. The idea occurred to me to get him to make me a drawing of ‘Sallie’ as ‘Cupid,’ and he readily undertook it.81

In a letter to Frost dated the following day, Dodgson wrote: And now as to the volume itself, I have been thinking the matter well over, and you shall illustrate the whole of it, if you like; i.e. the comic poems, all but ‘The Lang Coortin’,’ which Sambourne is doing. And I sincerely hope it may prove, as you seemed to think likely, a means of advancing your own reputation.82

Dodgson invited Frost to visit him at Christ Church, and on 2 May the two met again to talk about the illustrations for the book of poems and to see the Oxford sights: Mr. Frost came over for the day. We talked over Phantasmagoria, looked at photographs, and went to Magdalen Chapel, St. John’s gardens, etc. He dined with me and slept at the Clarendon (having missed his train through my stupidity in misreading Bradshaw.83

Frost returned to America later that month. He now turned his hand to painting, revealing that he had been strongly influenced by the work of George du Maurier. He also continued to work on illustrations for Dodgson. Sambourne had eventually dropped out of the project, leaving Frost as the sole artist working on the comic poems. Clearly, even with the delays caused by the slow exchange of correspondence between them brought about by the Atlantic Ocean, Dodgson was impressed with the work that Frost did for him. Work on the comic poems progressed for the next three years. The correspondence from Dodgson to Frost, albeit with large intervals between letters, survives.84 Frost sent pen-and-ink drawings for the book Rhyme? and Reason?, which were transferred to the woodblocks using a photographic process. Although the book did not come out until 1883, the correspondence revealed Dodgson’s satisfaction with Frost’s work on the comic poems – so much

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so that on 25 April 1881, Dodgson wrote: ‘Took the critical step of writing to A. B. Frost to propose illustrating the serious poems in Phantasmagoria, and to engage him as illustrator for a fairy-tale! for 1882.’85 Dodgson noted later that year, that of the many books he contemplated to write that Sylvie and Bruno would be ‘illustrated, I hope, by A. B. Frost’.86 This was not to be. The only serious problem that Dodgson encountered was the lack of discussion about the requirements for each illustration. Frost took it upon himself to design an illustration to fit the poems and sometimes this did not always match up with what was in Dodgson’s mind’s eye. With the Atlantic between them, Frost probably thought he was helping bridge the gap created by the slow progress of mail, but he was omitting one crucial aspect of the commission: Dodgson’s need to have an illustrator who produced what he had in mind. After all, the arrangement was a joint collaboration. Fortunately, in the main, Frost drew what was required. At this stage, Frost decided that he needed formal training in anatomy and figure drawing, so he arranged to study with Thomas Eakins (1844–1916) at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Eakins based his classes on a system he had observed in Paris, in which the use of sculpture and dissections were the main approaches to studying anatomy and drawing from nude models and photographs were used to develop artistic skills. Eakins was a renowned artist and photographer. The 31-year-old Frost appears as the redhead in Eakins’s famous picture The Swimming Hole (1883–5) and in two portraits by Eakins in 1884 and 1886. On 19 October 1883, Frost married Emily Louise Phillips, an artist and part-time staff member at Harper’s (the publisher). She was, like Frost, born in Philadelphia and she had studied art in Germany at Dresden and Phillnitz. Frost’s biographer stated: ‘Emily was an excellent partner for the self-deprecating Frost. She was a gentle critic of his work, a staunch supporter of his career, and herself an artist and a publishing illustrator.’87 After their marriage, the Frosts moved to Huntington, Long Island, New York. Frost’s book of humorous drawings and verses, with the Carrollian title Stuff and Nonsense, was published by Scribner’s in 1884. He followed this with The Bull Calf and Other Tales in 1892. His partnership with Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus stories, resulted in a number of books with Frost’s illustrations, including Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1895), The Tar Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus (1904) and Told by Uncle Remus: New Stories of an Old Plantation (1905). On 16 June 1884, Dodgson wrote to Frost to say that he had sent him an inscribed copy of Rhyme? and Reason?:

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I sent off a presentation-copy of Rhyme? and Reason? for you, by book-post, on June the 11th. I hope it may reach you safely, but I fear there are many risks of robbery on the way, and there have been many complaints. The book on Folk-Lore, which you said you would send, has not yet appeared. It will give me great pleasure to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Frost when you bring her over the water.88

Frost’s copy of Rhyme? and Reason? arrived safely. It was inscribed: ‘Arthur B. Frost from the Author, in token of his sincere regard and grateful remembrance of the Artist’s hand which had made this book what it is’ and it is now part of the archive at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, which also houses many of the letters from Dodgson to Frost. There are other presentation copies in the archive, including a 50th thousand Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1876) inscribed ‘A. B. Frost, Esq. with the Author’s kind regards. May 2/78’ and Phantasmagoria (1869) inscribed ‘A. B. Frost Esq., with the kind regards of the Author. May 2 /78’. Frost also received inscribed copies of Through the Looking-Glass and The Hunting of the Snark. Following the publication of Rhyme? and Reason? Dodgson set about preparing for publishing A Tangled Tale, based on a series of contributions to The Monthly Packet, edited by Charlotte Mary Yonge. Each chapter, or ‘knot’, as Dodgson called them, is a story that combines one or more mathematical puzzles. He commissioned Frost to illustrate the book and wrote to him on 5 August 1884: I received your letter, dated July 8, on the 21st, 4 days after my letter, enclosing 3 chapters of A Tangled Tale, had gone. I am very glad Rhyme? and Reason? reached you safely. It encourages me to enclose 5 more chapters of the story I want you to illustrate. While I think of it, let me mention the ages I meant the young people to be, Norman, 20; Clara, 18; Lambert, 16; Hugh, 14. Anything near these ages would do very well. Please tell me if you think any Knot has matter enough for two pictures, one of which we might use as a frontispiece.89

Frost’s reply some months later gives an indication of the sight problems he was beginning to suffer from, but also shows the respect he had for Dodgson’s artistic opinions. The letter is dated 13 November 1884: I am again behind time with your drawings. I had seven out of the ten done, finished, when my eyes gave out and I had to drop pen work for a while. I had been doing too much of it during the Summer on my own book, and other work,

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and my eyes have felt badly for some time. I am glad I did not send you what I had done. I was not satisfied with them and will redraw four out of the seven. I find I can get a good deal of fun out of them. I feel sure you will like the Commanderin-chief with the pigs and the men running down the steep hill. I am working on them again for a part of a day at a time and painting the rest of the time. I will send them before this month is out, with the rejected ones, maybe. Will you kindly tell me what you think of my first effort in book-making: frankly, you know. I would value your criticism above any one else’s.90

Frost sent Dodgson a copy of his new book Stuff and Nonsense just published by Scribner. Dodgson did not like it and wrote rather bluntly about it on 24 February 1885: ‘I think I would rather not criticize Stuff and Nonsense. The fun turns too exclusively on depicting brutal violence, terror, and physical pain, and even death, none of which are funny to me.’91 Frost’s failing eyesight resulted in work that Dodgson felt was inferior and the relationship between the two men also rapidly deteriorated. Dodgson rejected four of the illustrations drawn for A Tangled Tale as not up to standard. He proposed to use only six of the ten drawings he had received and to pay full price for the accepted pictures and half price for the rejected ones. Frost was outraged by this proposal and sent an angry reply (which is missing). But commenting on it, Dodgson wrote on 1 July 1885: Dear Sir, (I feel I cannot, in common courtesy, persist in a form of address which you have discarded.) I deeply regret (as I said, by anticipation, in my last) that any remarks of mine should displease you: but I think no good would be done by discussing your letter in detail, or by mooting the question whether the change has been (as you think) in my views of your style of drawing, or (as I think) in the drawing itself. In one point you have misunderstood my letter. I had no intention of haggling about money.92

Dodgson calculated what he owed Frost and the money was dispatched on 3 July 1885 and no further correspondence took place between the two men. Dodgson used six of Frost’s drawings in A Tangled Tale – some of them trimmed to give the more acceptable part of the illustration. Not content with just book illustration, Frost also produced a number of paintings on sporting subjects. Apart from his eye strain, he also had a serious visual defect that made it difficult for him to differentiate between certain colours, especially reds and greens. Nevertheless, he had some success with

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his watercolour pictures and Scribner’s published a number of portfolios of his work. Frost was a prolific illustrator for such magazines as Harper’s, Scribner’s and Century and illustrated more than seventy books. In September 1906, Frost and his family – he now had two sons – moved to Paris but soon took on a country cottage at Giverny, near Claude Monet’s house. He wanted to establish himself as a serious painter, but the continuing success of his book illustrations convinced him that he should return to the United States and take up his black-and-white illustrations again. The Frost family moved back in 1914, settling in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Numerous commissions kept Frost in work for many years, until he retired to Pasadena, California, where he died on 22 June 1928.

Harry Furniss: An Uncomfortable Collaboration Picture to yourself a short, fat, arrogant, egocentric, rude and loud person. This person has the redeeming feature that he can draw with accuracy, at lightning speed, anything he sees before him – and there you have Harry Furniss, artist and illustrator. Picture to yourself a tall, thin, modest, polite, self-deprecating and conservative person with a talent for writing – and there you have Dodgson. How on Earth did these two men with such opposite characteristics come together to write and illustrate the Sylvie and Bruno books? And what kind of creative relationship did these two ‘opposites’ forge? It was an uncomfortable collaboration. Harry Furniss (1854–1925) was born in Wexford, Ireland, on 26 March 1854. He was always coy about his Irish birth and frequently emphasised that his father, James Furniss, was a Yorkshireman, a civil engineer who emigrated to Ireland to assist in the building of gasworks in various towns, and that his mother was from Scotland. She was gifted artistically and painted miniatures. A friend of the family, Mary Banim, recorded in later life the childhood of Furniss by describing him as ‘very small in stature, full of animation and merriment, constantly amusing himself and his friends with clever reproductions of each humorous character or scene that met his eye’.93 At the age of 12, Furniss went to Wesleyan College, Dublin, to begin his educational studies. He was already accomplished in drawing, and on arrival at school he set about producing a small manuscript periodical that he called The Schoolboys’ Punch, which was to influence his choice of career. In his early teens, he joined the Life School at the Hibernian Academy for a short time, but he was not impressed with the standard of teaching. Instead, he decided to work

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10. Harry Furniss photographed by Elliott and Fry, c.1890

at home and was, in most respects, self-taught as a caricaturist. He acquired his own models and developed his own style as an illustrator, using pencil rather than the artist’s brush. He contributed drawings to a paper called Zoximus, which was the Irish equivalent of Punch, and took on other commissions to illustrate a variety of books – from medical and scientific treatises to religious and scholastic books.

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He also set about learning the technique of engraving, and by the age of 19, he was sufficiently dextrous in the art to be able to engrave his own drawings for publication. However, he rarely practised engraving after his departure from Dublin in 1873. His character took shape: critical of his elders, strongly independent, a developing sense that he was clever and talented – in short, a very self-centred person. Just prior to leaving Ireland, he met Tom Taylor, editor of Punch, who suggested Furniss would be able to make a comfortable living in London. He took up lodgings in Holborn and very soon after obtained work as an illustrator for London Society, a magazine edited by Miss Florence Marryat. He joined a number of London clubs and began to make his way in London society. Soon, he was drawing for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News and the Illustrated London News. For the latter, he drew many character sketches and also acted as a special correspondent, in which capacity he travelled around this country and abroad. In 1877, he married Marian Rogers (b. 1853), the daughter of a feltmanufacturing company manager. They produced four children – three sons and a daughter. He frequently used his family as models when illustrating children’s books, including the central characters in Sylvie and Bruno. His son Frank (b. 1879) modelled for Bruno – he was then around 10 years old – and his daughter Dorothy (b. 1880), at 9, was the model for Sylvie. Furniss joined the staff at Punch in 1880 with the specific task of providing political illustrations for the weekly review of Parliament. At this time, John Tenniel was still producing his full-page political cartoons for Punch, a position he held for thirty years. Tenniel’s precise and rather static style was overtaken by the energetic and fluid style of Furniss, whose powerful and animated drawings, economy of line and sense of fantasy soon established Furniss as one of the foremost Punch illustrators. His own wit and sense of the ridiculous gave him ample scope for ideas in his illustrations. He reports in The Confessions of a Caricaturist that suggestions for Punch came from the most unexpected quarters, but he rarely used them. The exception was an idea from Dodgson, which provided him with a picture depicting one of Gladstone’s parliamentary incidents involving Sir William Harcourt. Dodgson’s letter to Furniss stated: Re. Gladstone’s head and its recent growth, couldn’t you make a picture of it for the ‘Essence of Parliament’? I would call it ‘Toby’s Dream of A.D. 1900,’ and have Gladstone addressing the House, with his enormous head supported by Harcourt on one side, and Parnell on the other.94

Dodgson sent his own sketch of the incident, which was developed by Furniss and reproduced in Punch.

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In 1887, Furniss produced a successful parody of the Royal Academy Exhibition. After working in secret for three years, he hired the Gainsborough Gallery in Bond Street and exhibited a series of 87 pictures that parodied the styles of well-known Royal Academy contributors. His ‘Artistic Joke’, as it was titled by The Times, was extremely well attended and helped to establish Furniss in the eyes of the public as a major illustrator of his day. It did not do much to endear him among the artistic community. Furniss worked with the staff at Punch for fourteen years until an argument over copyright and payments for his illustrations brought about his resignation. He attempted to produce his own rival magazine, Lika Joko, but this failed after a few months, running from October 1894 until April 1895. In 1908, he produced 20 illustrations for an edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that appeared in three instalments of The Children’s Encyclopaedia, edited by Arthur Mee. They only appeared in the first issue of the encyclopaedia (in eight volumes) and not the later issue (in ten volumes). Some foreign editions of The Children’s Encyclopaedia – for example, in Spain – used these Furniss pictures. They have been reprinted in a number of foreign language editions of Alice, including Russian and Hebrew, but were not used as a separate edition in English except in a small private edition issued to members of the Lewis Carroll Society in July 1985 to commemorate a visit to Hastings. Furniss also provided illustrations for editions of Dickens’s complete works in 1910 and Thackeray’s complete works in 1911. He also illustrated children’s books by other authors, including Wanted – A King by Maggie Brown (1890), the first of the Wallypug series by George E. Farrow (1895) and Gamble Gold by Edward A. Parry (1907) – all imitating the Alice books. But we must go back a bit and look more closely at Furniss and his work for Dodgson. This was more extensive than his usual commissions, for the collaboration began in 1885 and lasted for eight years. Dodgson’s custom was to seek out the best illustrator of the day who would be willing to work for him. He chose Harry Furniss as the illustrator for Sylvie and Bruno. Furniss wrote immediately in a letter dated 2 March 1885: Dear Sir, I need hardly say it would give me great pleasure to illustrate any of your works. Of course I have seen Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass but unfortunately I have neither of them by me. So if you will kindly let me have one to look over I will feel obliged. Believe me Very sincerely yours, Harry Furniss95

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The terms Dodgson offered were similar to those in his other publishing ventures. He offered an agreement to accept illustrations on a commission basis and he would pay according to the size of the illustrations required. He offered the illustrator only minimal information about the context of the illustration and very little by way of text, keeping the plot very much to himself – apparently for commercial security. In the case of Furniss, there was a sense that Dodgson did not trust him with the plot of his book. This naturally caused some problems for Furniss because he was not fully aware of what he was taking on, except perhaps by comparison with previous works. But Sylvie and Bruno was nothing like the Alice books – much to Furniss’s surprise and disappointment. Harry Furniss knew the Alice books: he was 11 years old when Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first published and he was impressed by Dodgson’s text and Tenniel’s illustrations. Clearly, when he agreed to illustrate for Dodgson, it was with this book in mind. A chance to follow Tenniel was not to be missed. However, he soon began to realise that Sylvie and Bruno was not another Alice story; it was an altogether different type of book. In the early stages, Furniss was more than a little disappointed, but as time went by, he warmed to the book and produced some excellent and remarkable illustrations that Dodgson recognised and acknowledged as being a great asset. The eight-year collaboration was not without its difficult moments. Furniss says that he had been warned by Tenniel that he would not work for Dodgson for more than seven weeks, saying that Dodgson was ‘impossible!’ From what we now know about the Dodgson/Tenniel collaboration, this does not ring true. Dodgson and Tenniel had an amicable, yet very professional, relationship. What survives of their correspondence (which is not much) shows a warm friendship. Furniss wrote his comments some years after Dodgson’s death. After the initial approach, Furniss replied, giving a tentative agreement to illustrate Dodgson’s new book. Dodgson responded immediately in a letter dated 9 March 1885: Dear Mr. Furniss, Your letter was a most welcome sight, and I hasten to reply to it. First, as to the £.s.d., I accept your terms. Secondly, as to pencil drawings versus photographing on wood, my belief is that it needn’t be ‘versus’ at all: we may combine the advantages of both. Pencil drawings photograph beautifully (I have often done them myself): so, if you will draw on cardboard (or whatever surface you find to be best adapted for delicate work) in pencil, I will get Messrs. Dalziel (who have always been my wood-cutters) to have them photographed on wood, and cut.

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Assuming that this meets your approval, the next matter to discuss is, the actual work to be done. I have a considerable mass of chaotic materials for a story, but have never had the heart to go to work and construct the story as a whole, owing to its seeming so hopeless that I should ever find a suitable artist.96

It is unfortunate that this letter is incomplete, for we do not know the full terms of the arrangement as proposed. A number of hurdles had to be negotiated as time progressed. To some extent, Dodgson was still working on the text and the full plot had probably not been formulated at this stage. First, Dodgson set about arranging illustrations for the poems within the book. From this, Furniss was unable to gain any indication of the story. When it came to illustrating Dodgson’s narrative text, Furniss was provided initially with various unconnected chapters – some even from Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, which did not see publication until 1893 – and again Furniss would have insufficient continuity of text to know the outline plot. The illustrator needed to be taken into his confidence for the project to be successful, but the evidence suggests that Dodgson was not prepared to trust Furniss to keep the text a secret. Although Furniss accepted the commission to draw for Dodgson in 1885, very little was achieved in the first two years. Furniss was reluctant to give the project his full commitment. At the time, he was still writing and illustrating his own books and drawing for Punch. Secretly, he was preparing for his ‘Artistic Joke’ to be held at the Gainsborough Gallery. The turning point was a meeting of the two men on 26 August 1887, at Furniss’s studio, following a break in correspondence which had lasted six months. Dodgson made the journey from Eastbourne to Arundel by train and recorded in his diary that he ‘had a long talk with Mr. Furniss, and left with him a list of 64 subjects for pictures’.97 From this moment, Furniss appears to have given Dodgson’s new fairy-tale a much higher priority among his many other projects and commissions. There are many instances in letters of Dodgson giving his opinion of himself as an artist to his illustrators. To some extent, he was encouraging his illustrators in their work and reminding them of their role – a role he felt he was unable to undertake. Nevertheless, he was able to criticise their work with what Gertrude Thomson described as his ‘singularly correct eye for form’.98 Dodgson once said to her: I can’t draw in the least myself – that’s the first qualification for an Art Critic. One approaches a subject in such a delightfully open and unbiased manner if you are entirely ignorant of it!99

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Of course, he was being modest when relating this. His ability to draw was better than he gave himself credit for. Furniss was the only one to mock Dodgson’s self-deprecating view of himself as an artist, when in reply to a letter dated 20 April 1885 in which Dodgson said ‘I trust you won’t think me very impertinent, for venturing to send a couple of scrawls to show my own ideas,’100 Furniss replied sarcastically: ‘I had no idea you were an artist.’ Dodgson rebuked him by replying in a letter dated 24? April 1885: I fear your words (‘I had no idea you were an artist’) were, to a certain extent, ‘rote sarkastic,’ which is a shame! I never made any profession of being able to draw, and have only had, as yet, 4 hours’ teaching (from a young friend, who is herself an artist, and who insisted on making me try, in black chalk, a foot of the Laoco¨on! The result was truly ghastly): but I have just sufficient of correct eye to see that every drawing I make, even from life, is altogether wrong anatomically: so that nearly all my attempts go into the fire as soon as they are finished.101

This response seemed to put Furniss in his place; he did not mock Dodgson’s artistic abilities from then on. The artist friend was almost certainly Gertrude Thomson. But Furniss never forgot the rebuke and took every opportunity to seek revenge. At the time he was collaborating with Dodgson, he published an article entitled ‘The Illustrating of Books’. In the article, Furniss provided useful advice to illustrators – advice he signally failed to take himself. The article began: Just as every mouthful of food [. . . ] should be bitten thirty times before it is swallowed, so most stories require reading over a certain number of times before the artist can digest the contents sufficiently for illustration, particularly if the author has not troubled to consider his creation from the artist’s standpoint as well as his own.102

Furniss went on to state: Undoubtedly there are some writers who take great trouble to see their subject from the artistic standpoint. [. . . ] Many writers, on the other hand, show an extraordinary carelessness – or, shall I say, agility? [. . . ] Two instances, among many similar experiences which have fallen to my lot, will serve to show my ground for making this observation. The authors’ names, of course, I suppress; they are both leading novelists of to-day, and as both are as genial as they are eminent, I feel sure they will forgive me should this ‘meet their eye’ and they recognise the circumstances.103

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This is ironic coming from a man who frequently did not read Dodgson’s text, causing Dodgson in some circumstances to change the text to suit the errant picture. We cannot be certain that Furniss had Dodgson in mind when writing this piece. Up to this time, he had illustrated a number of books by other authors, but at the time of writing this piece, Dodgson had been his sole author for at least three years. It would be easy for a reader to make the assumption that ‘Lewis Carroll’ was one of the eminent leading novelists of the day. Furniss criticised the inconsistencies of authors. He also complained about authors’ own sketches and the difficulties they caused him. He may have had Dodgson in mind here. He gives by way of example the author’s rough sketch of his ideal heroine. He then described an exaggerated method prescribed by the author for ensuring that the ideal was achieved. This description from Furniss’s article has been abbreviated a little: I soon receive my author’s recipe for constructing the ideal heroine. I am not to take one model for the lady – I am to take several; for all know no face is perfect. I am therefore to go to Hastings and see a certain Miss Matilda Smith, in a pastrycook’s shop, for the eyes. [. . . ] Then to Dublin there is a Miss O’Grady, ‘with oh, such a perfect nose!’ A letter of introduction is enclosed, and am enjoined that I ‘must not mind her squint.’ For the ears, a journey to Scarboro’, to see Miss Robinson, the Vicar’s daughter, is recommended. The mouth I shall find in Manchester – not an English mouth, but a sweet Spaniard’s, Senora Nicolomino, the daughter of a merchant there. For the hair I must go to Brighton; for the figure to a number of different places. My author had mapped out a complete tour for me.104

Furniss supplied his own invention of the author’s rough sketch for his ideal heroine. The article, of course, was meant to be humorous, but there is often a biting sense of sarcasm in whatever Furniss wrote and it would almost certainly appear that he had Dodgson in mind when writing this. We do know that Dodgson was concerned about the illustration of his two main characters – Sylvie and Bruno – and Furniss’s ability to capture the image Dodgson had imagined for them. He sent Furniss various photographs of children that matched up to his ideals. We also know Furniss ignored these photographs and used his own children as the models. Many years later, when Dodgson was no longer around to take him to task, Furniss took another sideswipe at him. This extract comes from Furniss’s book Some Victorian Men, published in 1924, the year before Furniss died:

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The unconscious humour of the author’s idea for pathetic pictures was a great relief to my difficult task of satisfying such a captious critic. Delightful and interesting as Carroll the author was, he unfortunately proved less acceptable when in the form of Dodgson the critic. He subjected every illustration, when finished, to a minute examination under a magnifying glass. His practice was to take a square inch of the drawing, count the lines I had made in that space, and compare their number with those on a square inch of illustration made for Alice by Tenniel! And in due course I would receive a long essay on the subject from Dodgson the mathematician.105

In reading the published letters from Dodgson to Furniss, this comment is confounded. Dodgson’s criticism was directed towards the draft drawings made by Furniss in an attempt to get him to fit the pictures to the text, to maintain some semblance of continuity in the proportions of the illustrated characters and to fit the image Dodgson had valiantly tried to describe to Furniss at meetings and in letters. Furniss continued: Lewis Carroll began [. . . ] by illustrating his own writings. [. . . ] But as a draughtsman he was, as he himself admitted, hopeless, although he took himself so seriously as to consult Ruskin.106

What Furniss did not realise was that Dodgson was very friendly with John Ruskin (as their correspondence testifies) and Dodgson frequently sought Ruskin’s opinion on artistic matters – opinions he trusted implicitly. Dodgson was conciliatory and fair in all his dealings with Furniss when it came to the illustrations. Dodgson was patient with an egocentric man with a temperament that was poles apart from his own. Fortunately, the results were good. Furniss probably produced some of his best work for Sylvie and Bruno and Dodgson must take some of the credit for encouraging this. Quite often, Dodgson would draw small preliminary sketches in the margins of letters to help explain his conception of a picture. There were times when a marginal sketch was included to ensure accuracy – for example, explaining the difference between a bluebell and a harebell. When it came to drawing people, especially children, Dodgson felt unable to provide a preliminary sketch. One gets the feeling that his image of children should not, in his mind, be tainted by a poor attempt at drawing them. We know he tried on many occasions to draw children and some examples survive. From his earlier comment, it is likely that many attempts went into the fire. In a letter to Furniss dated 27 November 1886, he began by saying:

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I have picked out what seem to me 4 subjects, suitable for pictures, in ‘Bruno’s Revenge’: but I won’t attempt to sketch them myself: my attempts at children are melancholy failures, and, as to the grouping, you will be a much better judge than I. So I will simply describe my idea of each.107

He goes on to give a detailed description of the pictures; for example, for ‘Sylvie and Beetle’, he says it should be a large beetle, so as to be a fair job for Sylvie to roll it over: her I imagine 6 or 8 inches high, so that most flowers (buttercups, etc.) would overtop her. Her dress I will discuss further on. This is a question of great importance, as Sylvie and Bruno are the chief characters in the book.

In another letter to Furniss, dated 8 June 1893, he wrote: ‘I have tried a sketch, which I enclose: but really my sketches come out so wretchedly bad, that I must try to convey my meaning by descriptions.’108 Dodgson was satisfied with the illustration of Sylvie and the Beetle that Furniss drew. However, Furniss was not always careful about the proportionate differences between characters. His later illustration of ‘Sylvie with dead hare’ made Sylvie a totally different size and thus conflicted with the proportion previously shown. This almost resulted in a breakdown between the two men – Dodgson wanted accuracy and consistency in his illustrations but Furniss was slapdash and gave no real thought to proportion or consistency of composition. Dodgson refused to accept the inconsistent drawings, much to Furniss’s annoyance, and some bitter correspondence ensued. Dodgson was forced to ‘call the bluff’ of his illustrator, who had offered inferior work for the book. Furniss was adamant that his drawings were good examples of his art. Furniss wanted to appeal to fellow artists, but when Dodgson agreed to this and suggested an article in The Art Journal, revealing the correspondence between them and reproductions of the offending pictures, Furniss backed down. Amazingly, Dodgson was most conciliatory in his attitude towards Furniss after the event. However, Furniss never forgot the incident, and after Dodgson’s death, he took yet another opportunity to seek some measure of ‘getting his own back’ with untruthful attacks on Dodgson in the pages of his autobiography. A letter dated 12 October 1889 shows that at times, Dodgson was prepared to be magnanimous when Furniss failed to follow Dodgson’s instructions and ignored the manuscript of the book. In this example, rather than waste the picture, Dodgson decided to alter his text. The incident comes from Chapter 1 in Sylvie and Bruno and concerns the Professor talking about a pair of special

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boots – the tops of which were meant to be fitted with upside-down umbrellas. The text has been put back to show how Dodgson first wrote it: The Professor was back in a moment: he had changed his dressing-gown for a frock-coat, and had put on a pair of very strange-looking boots, the tops of which were open umbrellas. ‘I thought you’d like to see them,’ he said. ‘These are the boots for [upsidedown] weather!’ ‘But what’s the use of wearing umbrellas round one’s knees?’ ‘In ordinary rain,’ the Professor admitted, ‘they would not be of much use. But if ever it rained [upwards], you know, they would be invaluable – simply invaluable!’109

Dodgson discovered an error in the picture drawn by Furniss. The Professor wears the special umbrella boots with the umbrellas the right way up. Dodgson therefore changed the upside-down rain into horizontal rain, keeping the humour but making the picture fit the text. We can be certain that Furniss did not like having to follow Dodgson’s illustrative ideas and artistic mind’s eye. He did not like following the instructions of others and he adopted ‘artistic temperament’ rather than the more likely ‘egotistical character’ as his excuse. Furniss wrote that Dodgson was the ‘most exacting of all authors’.110 He was keen to follow in the footsteps of the revered Mr Tenniel and he was expecting to illustrate another ‘Alice’ story, but sadly for him, this was not the case. In Furniss’s book The Confessions of a Caricaturist, there is a sense that Furniss found the whole process of the commission wearisome. He stated that he ‘sent [Dodgson] drawings as they were finished, and each parcel brought back a budget of letter-writing, each page being carefully numbered’.111 He reproduced an example of page 5 of a letter numbered 49,874 and went on to say, ironically, that he was ‘not sure if [he] received all the remaining 49,873 letters in the seven years’112 of their collaboration, suggesting that Dodgson’s communications were to some extent too frequent and somewhat unwelcome. Of course, we know that these numbers were part of Dodgson’s letter register – his way of keeping track of the immense amount of correspondence he had to deal with. There are eighty-four surviving Furniss letters – and this is probably the lion’s share of the correspondence. Some letters are inevitably now missing, probably destroyed by Furniss. Some are just fragments; clearly, Furniss cut out bits of letters he didn’t want made public at a later date. Furniss is again exaggerating the position about their correspondence.

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Because Dodgson knew what he wanted in terms of illustration, he was keen that his artists did not rush ahead and complete pictures until he had been afforded the opportunity of seeing them. He had good reason to request rough sketches before approving the ideas for finished drawings. His artists did not always appreciate the context of the illustrations he had in mind. In some cases, particularly with Furniss, the artist did not read Dodgson’s text sufficiently carefully, causing great difficulties. Dodgson wanted to be sure that time and money were not wasted on drawings he could not use. There may have been some advantage for Furniss to have a book which was so unlike Alice. As Furniss admitted: Fortunately for me Sylvie was not like her prototype Alice; the illustrations for Sylvie would not have suited Tenniel as Alice did. I therefore did not fear comparison, but what I did fear was that Carroll would not be Carroll, and Carroll he wasn’t – he was Dodgson. I wish I had illustrated him when he was Carroll. [. . . ] The character of the book was a bitter disappointment to me. I did not want to illustrate a book of his with any ‘purpose’ other than the purpose of delightful amusement, as Alice was.113

But after the event, Furniss described the task as enjoyable work but hinted that the commission had not run smoothly. He wrote: To meet him and to work with him was to me a great treat. I put up with his eccentricities – real ones, not sham like mine. I put up with a great deal of boredom, for he was a bore at times, and I worked over seven years with his illustrations, in which the actual working hours would not have occupied me more than seven weeks, purely out of respect for his genius. I treated him as a problem, and I solved him, and had he lived I would probably have still worked with him.114

In 1912, Furniss became very interested in the emerging film industry and worked for a time with Thomas Edison in New York, producing five cinema plays. In 1914, he published Our Lady Cinema, which was an early attempt to appraise the actors and the techniques of filmmaking. He moved to Hastings, where he spent much time with his writing and drawing projects. He died there in 1925. Thus, in this case, the relationship between author and illustrator did not start well, had moments of impasse and was frequently uncomfortable for both partners, who developed a sense of mutual respect but probably not trust. Yet it resulted in some of Furniss’s best work as a book illustrator.

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Emily Gertrude Thomson: Decorative Illustrator Emily Gertrude Thomson (1850–1929) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Her father, Alexander Thomson (1815–95), was an independent minister of Rusholme Road Chapel, Aberdeen, professor of theology at Glasgow University and later a lecturer in Greek and Hebrew at the Lancashire Independent College. Her mother, who came from Birmingham, was Emma J. East (1819–88). Emily was one of seven children: an unnamed daughter who died young; Emma Morell Mackenzie; William, who also died young; Ann Baldwin; Emily Gertrude herself; Helen; and another boy, whose name is unknown. E. Gertrude Thomson, as she became known, revealed artistic talents in her childhood and went on to study the subject seriously at the Manchester School of Art, winning many prizes. Her work included portraits, designs for stained glass windows and illustrations for books. Dodgson came across the work of Emily Gertrude Thomson in December 1878 when he acquired some illustrated Christmas cards she had designed for the Fairyland Series. He was impressed with her artistic style and wrote to Arthur Ackermann, the publisher, asking for her address. Ackermann issued original Christmas cards from 1877 to 1900 from his commercial premises at 191 Regent Street, London. Gertrude Thomson produced several sets of large cards depicting seashores, shells, fish and nude children. Ackermann presumably replied to Dodgson’s letter. Dodgson and Gertrude Thomson met in London on 27 June 1879 and a valued friendship ensued. Photographing from life – and especially photographing children – had been Dodgson’s main hobby for many years. He also attempted to draw from life, but he was never fully satisfied with his results. In the work of Gertrude Thomson, he recognised a kindred spirit; he particularly admired her cherubs and child nudes, tastefully drawn to appeal to Victorian sensibilities. The first surviving letter from Dodgson to Thomson is dated 24 January 1879. It is a long letter that discusses some drawings she loaned him and a suggestion that he might like to photograph some of her work: Some day I may perhaps possess myself of some exhibited drawing of yours: but I cannot (as I said before) afford much expenditure in such luxuries. How I should enjoy photographing drawings of yours! If you ever cared to entrust me with any for that purpose, I would, after taking a few prints for myself, present you with the negative: or, if you preferred it, I would leave the negative with the photographer who prints for me, and you could order prints from him ad libitum.115

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11. E. Gertrude Thomson, from a photograph by A. Ford Smith, c.1885

The letter goes on to discuss the restrictions placed on women artists who wished to develop skills in drawing from life, as many art schools did not include such teaching: Your view of ‘Schools of Art’ is new to me. True, I have always felt thankful, when my young-lady-friends have shown me the drawings they have done there, that I am not condemned to spending weary hours in copying scroll-work and cornices, but I had always believed that somehow, when the drudgery was done, one did

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learn drawing. A young lady, whom I know, in London, has devoted herself, from pure love of Art, to drawing; and has worked for a year and a half at the Slade School of Art. She has now reached the blissful stage of drawing from life, and is very successful, I think. Still I can’t understand why one shouldn’t begin by drawing from life, and do without casts altogether.

The lady friend in question was Theodosia Heaphy (1858–1920), daughter of the artist Thomas Heaphy. She studied at the school run by Thomas Heatherley (1825–1914) in Maddox Street, London, which was open to amateurs and provided opportunities for aspiring artists. Heatherley maintained the tradition that artists could study and paint from nude models, but such life classes were only open to men. With his second letter to Gertrude Thomson, dated 12 February 1879, Dodgson sent copies of the Alice books that had been specially bound in white morocco: After my letter had gone, a parcel arrived with some Alices I had ordered, and I am now sending you Alice and the Looking-Glass as well. There is an incompleteness about giving only one, and besides the one you bought was probably in red, and would not match these. If you are at all in doubt as to what to do with the (now) superfluous copy, let me suggest your giving it to some poor sick child. I have been distributing copies to all the hospitals and convalescent homes I can hear of, where there are sick children capable of reading them, and though of course one takes some pleasure in the popularity of the books elsewhere, it is not nearly so pleasant a thought to me as that they may be a comfort and relief to children in hours of pain and weariness. Still no recipient can be more appropriate than one who seems to have been in fairyland herself.116

Dodgson and Miss Thomson continued to correspond before actually meeting. The relationship, even at a distance, must have been important to both of them; both shared a similar artistic interest in the portrayal of fairylike figures. Gertrude Thomson described their first meeting, at the South Kensington Museum: A little before twelve I was at the rendezvous, and then the humour of the situation suddenly struck me, that I had not the ghost of an idea what he was like, nor would he have any better chance of discovering me. The room was fairly full of all sorts and conditions as usual, and I glanced at each masculine figure in turn, only to reject it as a possibility of the one I sought. Just as the big clock had clanged out

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twelve, I heard the high vivacious voices and laughter of children sounding down the corridor. At that moment a gentleman entered, two little girls clinging to his hands, and I caught sight of the tall, slim figure, with the clean-shaven, delicate, refined face, I said to myself, ‘That’s Lewis Carroll.’ He stood for a moment, head erect, glancing swiftly over the room, then bending down, whispered something to one of the children: she, after a moment’s pause, pointed straight at me. Dropping their hands, he came forward, and with that winning smile of his that utterly banished the oppressive sense of the Oxford don, said simply, ‘I am Mr Dodgson; I was to meet you, I think?’ To which I as frankly smiled and said, ‘How did you know me so soon?’ ‘My little friend found you. I told her I had come to meet a young lady who knew fairies, and she fixed on you at once. But I knew you before she spoke.’117

From this moment, they became artistic partners, often arranging joint sketching parties. Miss Thomson also helped to supply models and to arrange sittings for Dodgson so that he could sketch from life. They met on many occasions over the next five years. It was not until 1885 that Dodgson suggested that Miss Thomson might provide him with illustrations for one of his books. In 1889, Dodgson advertised a projected book – Original Games and Puzzles – with twenty illustrations by E. Gertrude Thomson. However, Miss Thomson was slow in drawing pictures to Dodgson’s specifications and the book remained incomplete at Dodgson’s death. Some of the illustrations were used instead for his book of serious poems Three Sunsets and Other Poems (February 1898). In the meantime, Dodgson commissioned Gertrude Thomson to produce a design for the cover of The Nursery ‘Alice’. He wrote in his diary on 26 February 1889: ‘Miss Thomson writes that she hopes to send sketch for picture-cover directly. We should now get the book out by Easter’118 and on 18 March: ‘But it hasn’t yet come! She has been very busy, and lately unwell. Still we may get it out by Easter after all.’119 Dodgson had already informed his publisher that the illustration was on its way. Dodgson’s optimism was premature. The illustration was still late in being delivered. The book did not go to press until 18 April 1889, without the cover design, which followed at a later date. Miss Thomson’s only other published drawings for Dodgson were twelve fairy fancies in Three Sunsets and Other Poems. However, Miss Thomson was Dodgson’s second choice of illustrator for this book. Dodgson tried unsuccessfully to get Harry Furniss to do the illustrations, but Furniss was too busy. The book was published posthumously in February 1898. The last meeting Dodgson had with Miss Thomson was on 20 November 1897, on which occasion he came to London and visited her studio in Addison

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Hall, where they did some sketches of her little model, Isy Watson, aged 13. Afterwards, they lunched with the Bowles family in Lowndes Square. Gertrude Thomson wrote: He was exceptionally brilliant that day at lunch, full of repartee and anecdote. He looked extremely well, and as if many years of work still lay before him. As we were driving to the theatre he confessed to me that he had been working very hard lately, sitting up till 5 o’clock in the morning. When I ventured to gently remonstrate, he smiled. ‘It suits me,’ he said, ‘I feel very well.’ Then suddenly, turning to me, he said, while a wistful look grew in his eyes. ‘My time is so short. I have so much to do before I go, and the call might come any day.’ Little did I dream that before two months were over the call would have come. He was charmed with The Little Minister. Miss Winifred Emery, by her enchanting personality, won his warmest admiration. The part of the boy was played by a young actress with whom he had just become acquainted. While in the theatre he scribbled a note. ‘May we come round and see you?’ and handed it to one of the officials to send in to her. Presently back came a note: he glanced at the superscription, and on his lips played the old whimsical smile. ‘This is evidently intended for you.’ He said quietly. ‘Will you allow me to open it?’ It was addressed, ‘Mrs. Dodgson.’ How we laughed.120

There are eighty-nine surviving letters from Dodgson to Thomson. Several biographies have suggested that Dodgson was infatuated with Gertrude Thomson but, if anything, the admiration came in the opposite direction; she was probably more fascinated by him. By way of a brief example: at Dodgson’s funeral in January 1898, one of the wreaths at his graveside contained this message: ‘To the sweetest soul that ever looked with human eyes.’ It was written by Gertrude Thomson.121 Miss Thomson had very little business acumen and often found herself in financial difficulties. In 1893, she declared herself bankrupt. In 1909, she was commissioned to paint a miniature of Miss Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later to become the Queen Mother). She was nominated as associate of the Royal Miniature Society (ARMS) in 1911 and achieved full membership (RMS) in 1912. She never made much money throughout her painting and illustrating career and died in relative poverty in 1929 aged 79.

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5 MATHEMATICIANS AND LOGICIANS

Mathematical Colleagues At the end of 1854, Dodgson’s mathematical tutor, Robert Godfrey Faussett (1827–1908), was about to depart temporarily from Christ Church and serve in the Crimean War, leaving a vacancy for the mathematical lectureship. Although Dodgson was well qualified to assume this key position, he had only just gained his bachelor’s degree and it would have been unusual to appoint such a young person, particularly one who had not yet acquired his MA. In June 1855, as we have heard, the dean of Christ Church died. Thomas Gaisford had been dean since 1831 and academic standards had fallen during his time in office. However, Dodgson noted in his diary that Gaisford was ‘respected by all, and [his death] I believe regretted by very many’.1 Five days later, Dodgson recorded: ‘The Times announces that Liddell of Westminster is to be the new Dean: the selection does not seem to have given much satisfaction in the college.’2 The old order was wary of change and the appointment of Henry George Liddell, with his reputation as a reformer and moderniser, sent ripples of concern through the senior members of the college – the canons more so than the academic staff. They had reason to be worried because they held the strings of power. For Dodgson, it was a major boost to his career. As already mentioned, Dodgson was made master of the house, a traditional internal honour awarded on the arrival of a new dean of Christ Church. In August 1855, Liddell, in consultation with the canons, appointed Dodgson lecturer in mathematics and he took up the post in January 1856 at the age of 24. At the end of December 1855, he wrote the following in his diary: I am sitting alone in my bedroom this last night of the old year, waiting for midnight. It has been the most eventful year of my life: I began it a poor bachelor

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student, with no definite plans or expectations; I end it a master and tutor in Ch. Ch., with an income of more than £300 a year, and the course of mathematical tuition marked out by God’s providence for at least some years to come. Great mercies, great failings, time lost, talents misapplied – such has been the past year.3

As Dodgson took over the lectureship, Bartholomew Price became an important source of advice – in teaching, in examining and in mathematical ideas. At this time, the University of Oxford expected a minimum proficiency in mathematics in order to get a degree in any subject. Now that Dodgson was a lecturer in mathematics, it was part of his responsibilities to prepare students for Responsions (Little Go), usually examined after the first year as an undergraduate. Thus began his work in the field of publications. He soon began to issue booklets designed specifically for undergraduates, especially those preparing for Responsions, such as his Notes on the First Two Books of Euclid (1860). He also wrote guides for them, such as A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry (1860) and Formulae of Plane Trigonometry (1861). He also published more serious mathematics – original ideas extending the bounds of knowledge at that time. In algebra, his new method of condensing a determinant was published as An Elementary Treatise on Determinants With Their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraical Geometry (1867). This was far from elementary in fact and provided a novel and practical algorithm for calculating determinants, a key feature in solving equations. For the next twenty-six years, Dodgson grew in stature as the mathematical lecturer at Christ Church, supporting many undergraduates in their studies with lectures, seminars and mathematical publications. He never shirked his duties, and although he may not have been a stimulating and charismatic teacher, he was proficient and diligent in his lectureship. Opinions vary about his style as a lecturer. Lord Redesdale, writing in his book entitled Memories, in 1915 said: The third great treasure, unsuspected by us, that we possessed at Christ Church, was our mathematical lecturer, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Who could have guessed that the dry little man from whom we learnt the sublime truth that things which are equal to one another are equal to themselves, was hatching in that fertile brain of his such a miracle of fancy and fun as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? The book came out whilst I was in the Far East, out of the way of all literary gossip, and I was stricken with amazement when I came home and the identity of Lewis Carrol [sic] was revealed to me.4

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Algernon Bertram Mitford (1837–1916), 1st Baron Redesdale, matriculated at Christ Church in 1855. Another undergraduate, Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, writing in The Times in 1931, described the singularly dry and perfunctory manner in which he imparted instruction to us, never betraying the slightest personal interest in matters that were of deep concern to us. Yet this must have been the very time when he was framing the immortal fantasia of Alice.5

Another, John Henry Pearson, writing in The Times in 1932, said of him: I was up at Christ Church as an undergraduate early in the eighties, he being my mathematical tutor and certainly his methods of explaining the elements of Euclid gave me the impression of being extremely lucid, so that the least intelligent of us could grasp at any rate ‘the Pons Asinorum’6

(the ‘asses’ bridge’, a name given to the fifth proposition in the first book of Euclid). Watkin Herbert Williams, later bishop of Bangor, took his BA at Christ Church in 1870 and recalled (in 1932) waiting with eight or ten other undergraduates for his first mathematical tutorial with Dodgson. He wrote: my memory of the incident is still vivid. He took me last, and, glancing at a problem of Euclid which I had written out, he placed his finger on an omission. ‘I deny your right to assert that.’ I supplied what was wanting. ‘Why did you not say so before? What is a corollary?’ Silence. ‘Do you ever play billiards?’ ‘Sometimes.’ ‘If you attempted a cannon, missed, and holed your own and the red ball, what would you call it?’ ‘A fluke.’ ‘Exactly. A corollary is a fluke in Euclid. Good morning.’7

Dodgson was a good mathematician, but many of his undergraduates were weak in the subject. He found this aspect of his lectureship something of a trial. He wrote in his diary on 26 November 1856: I am weary of lecturing and discouraged. I examined six or eight men today who are going in for Little-Go, and hardly one is really fit to go in. It is thankless uphill work, goading unwilling men to learning they have no taste for, to the inevitable neglect of others who really want to get on.8

At times, Dodgson could see the funny side of his situation, which he recorded in a humorous letter written to his sister Henrietta and his brother Edwin, probably in 1856:

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My one pupil has begun his work with me, and I will give you a description how the lecture is conducted. It is the most important point, you know, that the tutor should be dignified, and at a distance from the pupil, and that the pupils should be as much as possible degraded – otherwise you know, they are not humble enough. So I sit at the further end of the room; outside the door (which is shut) sits the scout; outside the outer door (also shut) sits the sub-scout; half-way down stairs sits the sub-sub-scout; and down the yard sits the pupil. The questions are shouted from one to the other, and the answers come back in the same way – it is rather confusing till you are well used to it. The lecture goes on, something like this. Tutor. ‘What is twice three?’ Scout. ‘What’s a rice tree?’ Sub-Scout. ‘When is ice free?’ Sub-sub-Scout. ‘What’s a nice fee?’ Pupil (timidly). ‘Half a guinea!’ Sub-sub-Scout. ‘Can’t forge any!’ Sub-Scout. ‘Ho for Jinny!’ Scout. ‘Don’t be a ninny!’ Tutor (looks offended, but tries another question). ‘Divide a hundred by twelve!’ Scout. ‘Provide wonderful bells!’ Sub-Scout. ‘Go ride under it yourself.’ Sub-sub-Scout. ‘Deride the dunder-headed elf!’ Pupil (surprised). ‘Who do you mean?’ Sub-sub-Scout. ‘Doings between!’ Sub-Scout. ‘Blue is the screen!’ Scout. ‘Soup-tureen!’ And so the lecture proceeds. Such is Life – from Your most affectionate brother, Charles L. Dodgson9

The general impression we get of Dodgson is that he worked on mathematical ideas in a solitary fashion, developed his own theories and rarely consulted other contemporary mathematicians. However, his diaries and letters tell another story. At least thirty mathematicians are mentioned, some simply because Dodgson consulted and read their published works but many because he met and corresponded with them. Henry John Stephen Smith (1826–83) was mathematical lecturer at Balliol, becoming Savilian professor of mathematics in 1861. The two men knew each other, but Dodgson’s diaries do not indicate that they met frequently. They probably rubbed shoulders at meetings of convocation when

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12. William Spottiswoode, from an engraving, c.1880

important university matters were discussed and decisions were made. On 7 June 1864, Dodgson recorded in his diary that ‘in the morning I breakfasted with Professor Smith, to meet Mr. Cayley’.10 This was Arthur Cayley (1821–95), senior wrangler and prizeman from Trinity College, Cambridge, who was about to be awarded an honorary doctorate of civil law (DCL) at Oxford the following day. Cayley was trained as a lawyer but became the first Sadleirian professor of pure mathematics at Cambridge in 1863, a position he held for the rest of his life. The diary does not go into any detail about the topics of conversation over

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breakfast. However, they may have discussed Euclid’s 12th axiom – of interest to both men. But more likely, the talk was about matrices and determinants arising from linear equations. Cayley had already published original work on this subject and Dodgson was less than two years away from publishing his major work on determinants. Cayley published the first English contribution to the theory of determinants and invented the notation of the two vertical lines to represent a determinant. His Memoir on the Theory of Matrices was published in 1858, which provided a matrix algebra for addition, multiplication, scalar multiplication and inverses and the inverse of a matrix incorporated the determinant. At this time, Cayley worked mainly on 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 matrices. Dodgson’s idea was to extend the calculation of a determinant to much larger matrices and hence make it possible to solve many more sets of linear equations. Dodgson’s possible drawback when he published his Elementary Treatise on Determinants in 1867 was the invention of a new symbol to represent the position within a matrix by its row and column – a nonstandard approach that made his book harder to follow. This was the view expressed by Thomas Muir in his History of Determinants.11 This might explain why it took well over a century for Dodgson’s method to be fully appreciated – an algorithmic approach suitable for computers. Bartholomew Price was the university’s examiner in mathematics from 1847 and did much to raise standards. Price encouraged Dodgson’s interest in the solution of linear equations by matrices and realised that Dodgson’s method of calculating a determinant – the condensation method – was original and an improvement over previous methods. Price read some of Dodgson’s early drafts and introduced him to William Hugh Spottiswoode (1825–83), mathematician, fellow of the Royal Society and a writer on determinants. Initial contact was by letter. Dodgson received a letter from William Spottiswoode dated 24 March 1866. This is an extract: My dear Sir, Price has forwarded to me your question in Determinants. I am always glad to hear of a mathematician at work upon the subject, and have no doubt that you will find plenty to do. [. . . ] It will at all times give me pleasure to hear from you upon the subject, should you be disposed to write. Believe me dear Sir Very faithfully yours, W. Spottiswoode12

In the letter, Spottiswoode suggests a method of rearranging the determinant so that some sums of the product of minors become zero (i.e., by making certain decisions, the calculation could be made simpler). Several letters were

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exchanged between them over the next two years; those from Spottiswoode survive at Princeton but, regrettably, Dodgson’s replies do not. However, the correspondence shows Spottiswoode’s influence on Dodgson’s research and his encouragement to get Dodgson’s method of evaluating a determinant known to other mathematicians and subsequently published. Charles Babbage (1791–1871) was a mathematician and inventor of calculating machines. He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and devoted thirtyseven years to perfecting his ‘difference engine’, which owing to engineering difficulties and financial problems was never fully developed according to his design. However, news of his invention spread and reached the ears of Dodgson. Under a misapprehension that Babbage was marketing calculating machines, Dodgson paid him a visit in London. He recorded in his diary on 24 January 1867: Then I called on Mr. Babbage, to ask whether any of his calculating machines are to be had. I find they are not. He received me most kindly, and I spent a very pleasant three-quarters of an hour with him, while he showed me over his workshops etc.13

This meeting was not repeated and there is no surviving correspondence between the two men. Dodgson’s lectureship required him to teach all aspects of mathematics, but one area that interested him more than most was the geometry of Euclid, especially the first six books of the Elements. All undergraduates at Oxford needed to be competent in elementary Euclidean geometry, mainly to develop logical arguments rather than understand a specific study of this branch of mathematics. To Dodgson, the logical structure of Euclid was as important as the content of geometry, and in this, he was seen as a traditionalist, unlike other mathematicians at Oxford and Cambridge. However, he did find a Cambridge mathematician, Isaac Todhunter (1820–84), who supported his own views in this respect (see next section). In a postscript to his letter dated 6 February 1867, Spottiswoode wrote: ‘Have you seen the new Edition of Salmon’s Higher Algebra?’14 As far as we can tell, Dodgson had no direct link with George Salmon (1819–1904) and no correspondence between them has come to light, but Dodgson often mentioned Salmon’s published works in his diaries and owned a copy of his Treatise on Conic Sections (fourth edition, 1863) and his Treatise of the Analytic Geometry of the Three Dimensions. When Dodgson prepared the undergraduates at Christ Church for the mathematics finals, Salmon was one of the mathematicians he used for methods

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and examples. Salmon was provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and had originally published A Treatise on Conic Sections in 1848, containing an account of some of the most important modern algebraic and geometrical methods of the time. The sequel was A Treatise on the Higher Plane Curves in 1852 and this was followed by A Treatise on the Analytic Geometry of the Three Dimensions in 1862. He published other texts, sermons and religious works. Dodgson received the following letter from Macmillan & Co., his publisher, on 8 June 1891: Dear Mr. Dodgson, Mr. W. Rouse Ball of Trinity College, Cambridge, is about to deliver a series of lectures partly on mathematical amusements, puzzles, and games, and partly on miscellaneous problems of an historical or speculative character. Mr. Ball has advertised his lectures as Curiosa Mathematica and he would like subsequently to publish them under that name, but, as you have already used the title for your New Theory of Parallels, he will of course be unable to do so without your permission. He asks us, therefore, to enquire whether you will object to his making use of this title. It is of a generic description and Mr. Ball does not think that any confusion would ensue while he would highly value this permission. Will you kindly let us know what we are to say to him. We are Yours truly, Macmillan & Company15

Permission was not granted and Walter William Rouse Ball (1850–1925) changed his title to Mathematical Recreations and Essays when the book was published in 1892. One of the mathematical ideas in the book that interested Dodgson was the calculation of the day of the week for any date. He wrote about this to David Thomas (1837–1911), rector of Garsington but formerly lecturer in mathematics at Oxford, in a letter dated 8 September 1897. This is an extract: Dear Mr. Thoms [sic], Please excuse brevity: I’m awfully busy. Zeller’s Formula is quoted by W.W. Rouse Ball, in his Mathematical Recreations, p. 242 of the 4th edition. (It is published by Macmillan and Co.) He seems to have found it in Zeller’s Acta Mathematica, Stockholm, 1887, vol. IX, pp. 131 to 136. He states it thus. [. . . ] Can you find day of week for any date, in your head? And in what time? I have devised a rule by which I can find it, in my head, in about 25 seconds. Also I have condensed Gauss’ Rule for finding Easter Day for any year, and can find it, in my head, in about 40 seconds. Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson16

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Over many years, Dodgson developed a number of shortcut mental methods of calculation. He intended to publish these methods in a book to be entitled Games and Puzzles but he did not live to see it in print. However, printed galleys for his method for finding the day of the week for any date still exist.17 Dodgson’s vain attempt to preserve the old order with regard to Euclidean geometry failed. Emerging at this time was a new breed of mathematical educators calling themselves the Association for the Improvement of Geometry Teaching and one of their leading lights was James Maurice Wilson (1836–1931). He began his career as an assistant master at Rugby School but became headmaster of Clifton College. Dodgson acquired in February 1872 a copy of his book Elementary Geometry – a second edition dated 1869. Dodgson annotated this copy throughout with comments and corrections. Wilson became one of Dodgson’s main adversaries in Euclid and His Modern Rivals, published in 1879. A letter from Dodgson to his publisher dated 31 October 1878 included this request: Dear Mr. Macmillan, If there is an edition of Wilson’s Geometry since 1869, with any material alterations, please send me a copy: if not, the 1869 edition will suit my purpose. You ask how many copies I think of printing of Euclid and His Modern Rivals. I should say ‘250, and keep the type standing for a few months.’ I don’t expect any sale, to speak of: and feel sure the total result will be a loss: so you must regulate the selling-price, not by what it will have cost to produce, but simply by the average price of such books. Yours very truly, C. L. Dodgson18

We have Macmillan’s reply the following day: Dear Mr. Dodgson, A new edition of Wilson’s Geometry is almost ready, and will be, we expect, quite ready within the next fortnight. We have not a copy of the 1869 edition left. Shall we send you the new edition when it comes?19

A few days later, Dodgson wrote back: Thanks for the copy of Mr. Wilson’s new book. It is almost entirely different from his former book, and will require to be reviewed separately in my treatise – thus perhaps causing a further delay: still I hope we may be out by Christmas.20

Wilson’s work gets significant treatment in Euclid and His Modern Rivals, with the main attack taking up pages 70 to 117. There does not appear to be any

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surviving correspondence between the two men – if any existed in the first place. Writing the Alice books was certainly a more lucrative occupation for Dodgson than his income from the lectureship, and some of his mathematical publications were sold at a loss; not that he minded very much: he could afford an occasional loss. Mathematics was the focus of many of his publications and he produced at least twenty major works on this subject – on such topics as arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. He also produced work on mathematical games and puzzles, the theory of voting, organisation of tournaments and symbolic logic. On the subject of geometry, his defence of Euclid against the modernisers – his Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), written in dramatic form – pitted Euclid’s Elements against a dozen ‘modern’ treatments, with, from Dodgson’s viewpoint, Euclid emerging the winner in each case. On the less serious side, his Dynamics of a Parti-cle was a whimsical discussion of the 1865 University of Oxford parliamentary election, expressed in geometrical language. Dodgson enjoyed showing mathematical puzzles to both adults and children and many appear in his diaries and letters. Here is just one example to give a flavour of his recreational mathematics. It is a poem where the solution is not what it seems: A stick I found, It weighed two pounds, I sawed it up one day, In pieces eight, Of equal weight, How much did each piece weigh?21

Many people calculate the answer to be ‘four ounces’, but this is incorrect. (See the explanation later in this section.) Dodgson’s theory of voting in elections arose from his role as a member of the governing body at Christ Church. He was not always satisfied that the best candidate was elected for vacancies within Christ Church. His reservations encouraged him to write a series of pamphlets – written so that he could circulate his ideas to more than just the members of the governing body. In these pamphlets, he pointed out the deficiencies of voting arrangements, such as the ‘first past the post’ system and the single transferable vote. This led to a detailed description of his method of proportional representation. He published his Principles of Parliamentary Representation in 1884 and had copies sent to every member of the Houses of Parliament.

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In his later years, Dodgson devoted his time to logic, a subject that had fascinated him throughout his life. Two of his problems – What the Tortoise Said to Achilles (1894) and A Disputed Point in Logic (1894) – were later commented on favourably by the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872– 1970). Much of Dodgson’s investigation was concerned with symbolic logic and syllogisms in which two premises, such as ‘A prudent man shuns hyaenas’ and ‘No barber is imprudent,’ resulted in the valid conclusion ‘No barber fails to shun hyaenas.’ Dodgson believed that sorting out such syllogisms was good training for the mind for both adults and children and he constructed many entertaining examples together with a board-and-counter method for solving them. Mathematics was Dodgson’s main activity throughout his life – his main occupation and career. However, few people remember him for his mathematical publications and achievements. Some of his inventions in recreational mathematics are better known. Mathematicians recognise the hand of a mathematician in the writing of the Alice books; the subject crops up from time to time. One particular number, which first appeared in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and became a feature of Dodgson’s other stories and verses, was the number 42. It was clearly Dodgson’s favourite number. For more details of Dodgson’s fascination with this number, see ‘What I Tell You Forty-Two Times Is True!’ – a paper written in 1977.22 In the stick problem, the weight of each piece is a little less than four ounces when the sawdust that blows away in the wind is taken into account.

Isaac Todhunter: Similar Minds Two letters recently came together from different sources to provide a ‘question and answer’ correspondence between Dodgson and the Cambridge mathematician Isaac Todhunter (1820–84). A number of letters that Dodgson received from Todhunter are in the Dodgson family collection. Todhunter’s papers are at St John’s College, Cambridge, and these include correspondence with Dodgson. Putting these two particular letters together gives further insight into Dodgson’s mathematical interests and competence. Todhunter was the son of George Todhunter, a congregational minister, and his wife, Mary Hume. (There is a slim chance that Dodgson and Todhunter were distantly related through the Humes. John Hume (1704–82), bishop of Bristol and later Oxford, was Dodgson’s great-great-great uncle, but a link to Mary Hume has yet to be established.) Todhunter was educated at small schools in Hastings and then in London. He became assistant master at a school at Peckham

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and later at Wimbledon, during which time he attended evening classes at University College, London. He graduated with a BA in 1842 and an MA in 1844. He was then admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge, and graduated again with a BA in 1848, being the Senior Wrangler (highest score in his mathematical degree). He was awarded several prizes and was made a fellow of St John’s in 1849, a position he held until he married Louisa Anna Maria, eldest daughter of Admiral George Davies, RN, on 13 August 1864. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1862 and an honorary fellow of St John’s in 1874. He was the writer of many books on mathematics, at both elementary and advanced level. He wrote school texts on calculus (1852), algebra (1858), trigonometry (1859), Euclid (1862), mechanics (1867) and mensuration (1869), which went through many editions, and some were translated into various languages. He also published a History of the Calculus of Variation (1861) and a History of the Mathematical Theory of Probability (1865). In his old age (1881–3) he wrote a book on arithmetic but it was not published (the manuscript remains in St John’s College Library). Todhunter was a linguist and was well versed in the history of philosophy. Dodgson made use of 78 diagrams from Todhunter’s Elements of Euclid (Macmillan, 1862) in his own Euclid I, II (1882). Dodgson wrote to Todhunter on 13 March 1873: Allow me, though a stranger, to express to you my gratitude for your great kindness in allowing me to have electrotypes of the figures of Euclid Books I, II. They are quite the best figures I have seen in any modern Edition.23

Dodgson refers to this kindness in the letter that follows, but the subject matter in the main part of the letter concerns ‘probability’. Dodgson published little on this mathematical topic, although there are many surviving manuscripts that show his interest in this subject and the laws of chance. A proportion of his book Curiosa Mathematica, Part II, Pillow Problems (1893) contains questions on probability. Dodgson received a long letter from Todhunter, dated 24 March 1876, in reply to a letter Dodgson sent on 20 March 1876. This latter correspondence, which supplies Dodgson’s questions for Todhunter, has now emerged and the two letters are reproduced here. Todhunter’s handwriting style is very hard to read and some interpolation has been necessary in this transcription: Christ Church, Oxford March 20, 1876

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Dear Sir, You will remember my name as one to whom you so kindly gave leave, some time ago, to use, for my edition of Euclid I, II (a book still in course of preparation) electrotypes from the diagrams of your Euclid. I venture again to tax your kindness with a question or two regarding the subject of ‘Probability’ as treated in your Algebra. In p. 466, you say ‘a bag contains 3 balls, and it is not known how many of these are white; a white ball has been drawn and replaced.’ Further on, ‘assuming that before the observed event the 3 hypotheses’ (www, wwb, wbb) ‘were equally probable.’ You afterwards distinguish between the phrases ‘it is not known how many of these are white’ and ‘it is known that each ball is either white or black’ and say that the latter may be taken as equivalent to the former, or as meaning that the chance of each ball being white was originally 1/2. My questions are: (1) when ‘it is not known how many are white’ is not the chance of each ball being white 1/2? If not, what is it? (2) Substituting ‘not-white’ for black, is it not always known ‘that each ball is either white or not-white’? I fail to see a distinction between the states of mind indicated by (α) ‘it is not known how many are white,’ and (β) ‘all that is known is that each is white or not-white.’ But if there is a difference, then I would ask (3) in case α, what is the ‘a priori’ probability of drawing www? To me it seems to be 1/2 ×1/ 2 ×1/ 2 = 1/ 8. But if, instead of Permutations, we take the 4 possible Combinations as equally probable, the chance is 1/4. Would you kindly say which of these you hold to be the true chance? If you could find a few leisure minutes to answer these questions, you will greatly oblige me. Believe me to be Truly and gratefully yours, C. L. Dodgson I have looked through your History of the Theory of Probability but cannot find this particular difficulty discussed.24

Dodgson’s difficulty lies in the fact that the probability of randomly selecting a white ball from the bag containing three balls depends on the colour of the other two balls. If it is known that one is black and one is red or they are both black, then the probability of selecting a white ball becomes 1/3. If one of the other balls is also white, then the probability of selecting a white ball becomes 2/3. Dodgson reasons that in this case, because the colours of the other balls are unknown, then the probability rests on two conditions: white or not-white.

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Hence, his conclusion is that the probability of selecting a white ball is 1/2. Dodgson goes on to consider the selection of three white balls from the bag. Using permutations, there are eight cases to consider, as shown in the following table: First Ball White White White White Not-white Not-white Not-white Not-white

Second Ball White White Not-white Not-white White White Not-white Not-white

Third Ball White Not-white White Not-white White Not-white White Not-white

The chance that three white balls are selected is shown by the first row in this table and hence has a probability of 1/8. Using just combinations, there are four cases to consider: in the bag, there are three white balls; two white balls; one white ball; and no white balls. Hence, the chance that three white balls are selected has a probability of 1/4. Todhunter’s reply to Dodgson’s questions came four days later: Brookside, Cambridge March 24, 1876 Dear Sir, The question to which you refer has gone through some curious vicissitudes in my book, and I am much obliged to you for drawing my attention to it again. Suppose that the whole were now to be written afresh I should perhaps proceed thus ‘A white ball has been drawn and replaced from a bag containing three balls: find the probability that another drawing will give a white ball.’ The enunciation is here somewhat abbreviated. The only part of the problem of my interest is that which relates to the probability before the observed event. Now this probability must depend on the knowledge or belief or conjecture of the person who is discussing the problem. Various cases may be imagined of which I will consider two. (A) Suppose we know or believe that there were originally 10000 boxes each containing three white balls, 10000 each containing two white balls and a black ball, and 10000 each containing one white ball and two black balls; and that the bag was supplied from one of them taken at random. Then the three hypotheses

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before the event must be taken as equally probable; and the result is that of the final solution of the book. (B) Suppose we know and believe that there were originally in one box 15000 white balls and 15000 black balls; and that three balls were taken at random and put into the bag. Then the three hypotheses before the observed event are not equally probable, but their probabilities are in the proportion of 1/8, 3/8, 3/8. Hence the second result which is given in the book. Such would perhaps be the best mode of discussing the problem. In the book however these two cases are not carefully set out as here; but an attempt to suggest them. I quite admit that the attempt is not very successful; it is open to many objections. (1) Some persons will say that the phrases ‘it is not known how many are white’ and ‘it is known that each ball is either black or white’ mean the same thing, namely the sense involved in A. (2) Some will say that the phrases mean the same thing, namely the sense involved in B. (3) Some may say that the phrases do mean different things, but may decline to admit that they mean what is asserted to them in the book. The problem is an old one. It occurs for instance in the tract on Probability by Drinkwater and Lubbock. It is there solved in my first manner; but the enunciation is not very precise, it is rather involved in the context there expressed. In my first edition I enunciated the problem with the phrase ‘it is known that each ball is either white or black’ and solved it in my first manner. There it stood for some time until a critic who had given much attention to the subject said that this phrase did not naturally suggest that the three hypotheses were equally probable before the observed event; and he wished it changed to the other phrase. Accordingly I followed his advice. Then the same critic or another maintained that the phrase which I had originally used strictly meant the view developed in B; and accordingly I adopted the language and the processes now in the book. I think that I have, implicitly, attempted to answer your questions; but I am sure that as you have studied the matter you will be at least as good a judge as I am on it. Perhaps the problem is not a very good one in the first place [. . . ] [difficult to read the next part of the sentence; possibly says ‘and hard to prove’] – the hypothesis of equal probability before the observed event may seem unnatural. The tenure rests then with my predecessors. I should be much obliged to you if you can aid me to improve the enunciations by making them more obviously leading to A and B; or perhaps I should say, by making the first more obviously leading to A, assuming that the second is fairly satisfactory. The enunciations in the book are not my own, and I am not specially satisfied with them.

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I have often been struck with the great variety of solutions which students will sometimes give for an assigned problem in chances. I have found that the difference is owing frequently, not to error strictly so called but, to differences made of understanding the question. It is curious to see how many blatantly mistaken meanings may sometimes be blamed on one enunciation. I have found it valuable both for teacher and pupil to pay close attention to this point: and to show that when a blunder is made it frequently consists in mixing up two different meanings of the problem instead of remaining consistent with one or other. I have found too in looking over papers that a solution is sometimes offered which seems to me to be hopelessly unintelligible; but at the same time by talking with the person who devised it I have found that it involved a view of the meaning not altogether unassumable. I wish some person would write in English a good comprehensive treatise on Probability, including the higher as well as the lower parts of the subject. But it is difficult for an amateur to find the leisure to produce a work which involves so costly an outlay both of time and money. The University Presses are very shy I think to undertake the labour of producing these costly uncommercial works. If each of them would give us one or some advanced part of pure or mixed mathematics we should be soon in possession of a valuable library. Yours very truly, I. Todhunter It occurs to me that in an elementary book it might be well to add a sentence to (A) of this kind: If we suppose also 10000 boxes each containing 3 black balls the final result is not affected. Instead of chances 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3, we now have chances 1/4, 1/4, 1/4, 1/4: but they are still equal chances themselves.25

Todhunter makes reference to On Probability by Sir John William Lubbock and John Eliott Drinkwater, afterwards Bethune (London, 1830). Basically, Todhunter is saying that the problem itself is possibly ambiguous because it depends on the interpretation of the reader. He attempts to clarify the position by giving two different scenarios but admits that the original problem, as written, does not lead to one of these scenarios more than the other. The publication of these two letters in full gives an opportunity for mathematicians to study this difficulty for themselves and to comment on both Dodgson’s and Todhunter’s arguments. On a different subject, both men were defenders of Euclid in the debate concerning the teaching of geometry in schools and colleges. Todhunter published an essay on elementary geometry in a volume entitled The Conflict of Studies and Other Essays on Subjects Connected With Education (1873). Dodgson makes reference to this in his prologue to Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879). He approached

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Todhunter, requesting permission to quote from this essay. Todhunter’s reply survives: Brookside, Cambridge December 20, 1876 Dear Sir, You are quite at liberty to quote me to any extent you please. I am glad to find that you are about to write on the subject. I have not thought any more about writing a new version of Euclid, since I wrote on the matter to Mr. Macmillan. You are very kind in offering to relinquish your proposed work in my favour. But I hope you will proceed with yours. Some years would probably pass before I took it in hand; and I might quite abandon the design. Indeed I have now in view quite enough to occupy me for a long time. Yours very truly, I. Todhunter26

Dodgson accepted the offer and devoted a substantial amount of space to Todhunter’s essay. He wrote in his prologue: ‘Let me take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude [. . . ] to Mr. Todhunter, for allowing me to quote ad libitum from the very interesting Essay on Elementary Geometry.’ He then provided an extensive extract in Appendix 1 of Euclid and His Modern Rivals, pp. 201–20. When the book was published three years later, Dodgson sent Todhunter a copy. This is Todhunter’s acknowledgement: Brookside, Cambridge March 29, 1879 Dear Sir, I am very much obliged to you for the volume you have kindly sent to me. I shall read it with great interest, and am sure to derive much amusement and instruction from it. I am much gratified by your reference to my essays in your preface, and by your quotation from them. A man, as Matthew Arnold says, cannot be always reading his own writings; but in glancing over your book I fell on your page 212. I think my advice to the modern rivals, is quite sound and fair; but they do not seem to follow it. Yours very truly I. Todhunter27

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Todhunter’s advice to the modern rivals is that if they ‘object to Euclid as an adequate course of plane geometry it may be replied briefly that it is easy, if thought convenient or necessary, to supply any additional matter’. He came to the conclusion that ‘until the promises of success’ by their alternative methods ‘are followed by a performance as yet never witnessed we are reminded of the case of a bald hairdresser who presses on his customers his infallible specific for producing redundant locks’.28

Logical Acquaintances Dodgson’s logical investigations spanned a period of at least twenty-five years, during which he expanded our knowledge of the subject, made many discoveries, invented new procedures for establishing the validity of arguments and published two books containing original ideas and methods of analysis. His three-part treatise on logic was incomplete at the time of his death. The first volume – Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary – was published in 1896; the second volume (advanced) was almost complete in various printed galleys but had yet to be assembled into the format of an orderly book; and the third volume (transcendental) was mostly in Dodgson’s mind. There can be no doubt that if this three-volume work had been completed and published it would have revolutionised the study of logic and its impact would have been significant among logicians and philosophers. Dodgson considered his logical research a worthwhile cause and devoted many of his last years to developing the subject, calling it ‘work for God’.29 He earnestly believed that a study of deductive reasoning was a valuable endeavour to pursue that would be particularly beneficial in the education of children. He spent the years of his retirement providing lessons in logic for various schools and colleges in the Oxford and Guildford areas. His companion book, The Game of Logic, published in 1886, was intended to assist his work in teaching young people the rudiments of this new system and was, to some extent, a preliminary version of his main treatise explaining the foundation of his new ideas and original methods. In July 1972, Professor William Warren Bartley III published ‘Lewis Carroll’s Lost Book of Logic’ in Scientific American and followed this up with Lewis Carroll’s Symbolic Logic in 1977, a reconstruction of the second volume of Dodgson’s treatise taken from surviving slips and galleys. He scoured the major institutional libraries and located Dodgson’s logical papers that had been dispersed to the four winds at the time of his death. Papers were found at Christ Church, in American libraries and in private collections. Fortunately, Dodgson sent many of his

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galleys to John Cook Wilson (1849–1915), professor of logic at Oxford, for comment, and although Cook Wilson appeared to have difficulty in understanding Dodgson’s new ideas, he kept the papers for posterity. Bartley discovered a treasure trove of material among Cook Wilson’s papers, including correspondence between the two logicians. However, the task of trying to reassemble these was difficult and some say that Bartley’s conclusions may not have been exactly right; nevertheless, his work allowed logicians to reassess Dodgson’s contributions and gave hints about the direction he was working towards. Dodgson had progressed a long way ahead of the published work of contemporary logicians – men such as George Boole, John Venn and Augustus De Morgan. These three men in particular investigated methods of symbolising deductive logic and their books had been highly successful. Dodgson’s fully developed method of symbolising deductive reasoning was, to some extent, superior to these works, but he never had the advantage of getting his full treatise published. Within ten years of Dodgson’s death, the study of logic took a different direction, begun by Gottlob Frege (1848–1925), who developed new systems of symbolic logic called ‘the propositional calculus’ and ‘the predicate calculus’. Alfred Whitehead and Bertrand Russell published Principia Mathematica in 1910, which steered logic towards a study of the foundations of mathematics. However, in all these works can be found elements of methods and ideas first developed by Dodgson; his influence can be traced. Dodgson’s interest in logic grew from his inquisitive nature and his interest in mathematics and abstract ideas evident in his childhood. He possessed a logical mind from an early age. His first professional teacher at Richmond School, James Tate, had recognised ‘that love of precise argument, which seem to him natural’.30 There is a possibility that Dodgson studied elementary logic at Rugby School and later as an undergraduate at Oxford. This would have been the ancient Greek logic of Aristotle and the ideas of Zeno the Stoic. Perhaps he was introduced to the logical arguments of Plato. Certainly, a study of the form of arguments formed a major part of his early logical investigation. Unlike today, in the 1800s logic was considered an appropriate subject to study at school; it formed a useful parallel to mathematics. Apart from being utilitarian in notions of shape and space, geometry was also seen as providing schoolboys with the mental equipment to develop deductive reasoning, logical argument and valid conclusions. The Victorian school pupil was expected to understand the numerous Euclidean theorems in geometry based on the ancient Greek text called the Elements and all written in precise logical order and form. School texts based on these theorems were widely available, such as Elementary Lessons in Logic by W. S. Jevons, published in 1876 by Macmillan & Co. as part

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of its School Class Books series. For more than a century, studying (and learning by rote) the Euclidean theorems of geometry became the bane of every pupil; the study had ceased to be the development of reasoning as originally intended, and to some extent, the two-dimensional nature of Euclid was not that relevant in a three-dimensional world. Pure Euclid is rarely taught in schools today, and with it, the study of formal logic has disappeared. In modern times, enlightened educators have realised the limitations of Euclid and algebraic ideas are now used to develop reasoning. The computer age has brought a return to the study of formal logic in programming skills and software development, which requires knowledge of certain logical terminology and deductive methods. Yet very few schools have logic as a curriculum subject even today. On 6 July 1859, the mathematician and logician George Boole (1815–64) was awarded an honorary DCL at Oxford and it is likely that Dodgson met him on this occasion. Sadly, Dodgson’s diaries for this year are missing, so the meeting cannot be confirmed. However, he owned two books by Boole: Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences and his most famous book, Laws of Thought, published in 1854. Boole was professor of mathematics at Queen’s University, Ireland. He developed an algebraic form of logic but did not use a diagrammatic representation of sentences. Logic diagrams were used by an earlier Swiss mathematician, Leonhard Euler (1707–83), who used interlocking circles. Dodgson was aware of Euler’s method and strongly criticised its shortcomings in his appendix to Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary. Euler’s circles were used to represent propositions – sentences that are either true or false. Propositions involving negations are difficult to represent with circles, whereas some propositions are made to be true in every diagram. Dodgson wrote: ‘Apparently it never occurred to him that it might sometimes fail to be true!’31 When Dodgson was developing his logical ideas in the mid-1870s, he used Boole’s algebraic notation as a basis for his own inventions but developed and extended his notation well beyond that achieved by Boole. Another contemporary mathematician and logician that Dodgson corresponded with was John Venn (1834–1923), fellow of Caius College, Cambridge. His publications included The Logic of Chance (1866), Symbolic Logic (1881) and Empirical Logic (1889). Venn collated the ideas of Boole and Euler and developed his own system, known as Venn diagrams. He had also seen the limitations of Euler’s circles but found ways of overcoming the shortcomings. Although what he offered was an improvement, it did not go as far as representing a universal set in order to cover all possibilities in a logical argument. Dodgson was the

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13. John Venn, from a portrait at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

first to realise that a logical diagram needed this important extension when representing logical statements. Venn’s publications cover many of the topics that Dodgson spent his time investigating, such as ‘the choice of symbols’, ‘logical diagrams’, ‘the import of propositions’, ‘hypotheticals’ and ‘methods of simplification by elimination’. Dodgson owned a copy of Venn’s The Logic of Chance. He found the use of interlocking circles restrictive and developed his own logic diagram based on a square divided up into regions. In Dodgson’s Symbolic Logic,

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Part 1: Elementary, he devoted a section in his ‘Appendix Addressed to Teachers’ on ‘Venn’s Method of Diagrams’. He began by saying ‘Mr. Venn’s Method of Diagrams is a great advance on the above Method’32 (referring to Euler), but he is then critical of the Venn diagrams employed for four or more attributes, indicating that for four and five attributes, the diagram is deficient by one region in each case. For six attributes and beyond, he says: ‘Mr. Venn does not go.’33 Dodgson’s major contribution was a symmetrical diagram that encompassed the universal set, ignored by Venn. Venn’s adoption of circles made it difficult to extend the method to more than six attributes. Things with a certain property or attribute (for example, ‘cakes’) are collected into a set, which is symbolised by a circle. In this case, the circle is defined as containing all the cakes in the universe. If a further set containing all the things with the attribute ‘nice’ is formed, then a new circle is required. Clearly, these two circles may overlap, in which we can represent ‘some cakes are nice’ in the intersection of the two circles. If we wish to represent ‘no cakes are nice’, this intersection is empty and the two circles may be drawn as not overlapping. If we wish to represent ‘all cakes are nice’, the circle representing ‘cakes’ is fully contained within the circle representing ‘nice things’. A complication arises when we wish to represent ‘all not-nice things are cakes’. Although this may be a false statement, in logic, it still needs a diagrammatic representation. In Venn’s method, the ‘not nice’ region is infinite, making it impossible to encircle the set of ‘cakes’ unless the set of ‘cakes’ is, itself, infinite. This was Dodgson’s complaint, but being an objective critic, he supplied a solution. Dodgson defined the universe, or universal set, by an enclosed rectangle. This rectangle (Dodgson tended to use a square) could now be divided into two regions: ‘cakes’ and ‘not cakes’. Another division could be made by dividing the rectangle into ‘nice things’ and ‘not-nice things’. Overlapping the two divisions gave four regions: ‘nice cakes’, ‘not-nice cakes’, ‘not cakes but nice things’ and ‘not cakes and not-nice things’. Dodgson used symbols or counters to represent whether these regions were empty or not. A red counter (he later adopted pink) was used to indicate that a region was occupied and a grey counter showed that a region was empty. In typical manner, Dodgson provided the following verses as a mnemonic to aid the memory: See, the sun is overhead, Shining on us, FULL and RED! *** Now the sun is gone away, And the EMPTY sky is GREY!

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Alternatively, the symbol ‘1’ is used to represent ‘occupied’ and the symbol ‘0’ for ‘empty’. In time, the limitations of Venn’s diagrams were supplemented by Dodgson’s rectangle representing the universal set. However, as more attributes are introduced, it becomes more complex to draw interlocking circles. Three is possible, but the circles become ovals when four or five attributes are required and the system breaks down for six attributes. The ‘Carroll Diagrams’ (as they are now called), however, continually subdivide the region of the universal rectangle into more and more subregions in a symmetrical fashion. Dodgson’s examples requiring ten or more attributes could not be solved by Venn’s method. Three quotes from John Venn’s Symbolic Logic are appropriate here, suggesting that he was not altogether satisfied with his own diagrams for five or more attributes. Clearly, he knew of Dodgson’s diagrams, but he did not – or would not – recognise their superiority over his own and it appears from these extracts that he felt the need to justify his own position while also realising that a symmetrical extension was impossible using closed curves: It must be admitted that such a diagram is not quite so simple to draw as one might wish it to be; but then it must be remembered what the alternative is if one undertakes to deal with five terms and all their combinations: nothing short of the disagreeable task of writing out, or in some way putting before us, all the 32 combinations involved. Beyond five terms it hardly seems as if diagrams, of the particular kind here described, offer much help, but then we have seldom occasion to trouble ourselves with problems which would introduce more than that number. We have endeavoured above to employ only symmetrical figures, such as should not only be an aid to reasoning, through the sense of sight, but should also be to some extent elegant in themselves.34

The appendix to Dodgson’s Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary addressed to teachers, contains an appraisal of some methods used by logicians of his day. The comparison is further emphasised by a worked example. Euler’s method is long and difficult to follow and the result is one which is not represented by circles. Venn sent Dodgson his own solution, which is printed as received without comment. Dodgson’s own solution is clear and well explained, but he takes us on to another method he invented, which he called the ‘method of subscripts’. This is a valuable short cut for analysing arguments, the solution coming out in just one line.

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Before we look more closely at Dodgson’s method of subscripts, it is worth mentioning that one letter from Dodgson to Venn survives, which is dated 11 August 1894: Dear Sir, You are quite welcome to make any use you like of the problem I sent you, and (of course) to refer to the article in ‘Mind.’ Your letter has, I see, crossed one from me, in which I sent you ‘Nemo’s’ algebraical illustration. I hope you may be able to find room for it in your book. Perhaps you could add it, as a note, at the end of the book, and give, at p. 442, a reference thereto? I shall be grateful if you will not mention to any one my real name, in connection with my pseudonym. I look forward with pleasure to studying the new edition of your book. Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson35

Dodgson contributed ‘A Logical Paradox’ to Mind: A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy in July 1894. There must have been other letters between Dodgson and Venn over several years, but they are now missing. Dodgson’s method of subscripts is probably one of the most important contributions he made to the study of logic. The process is very concise. Dodgson spent a great deal of time inventing and developing the symbols used. His notes and diary entries reveal many changes as the symbols took shape and reached their final form. These refinements continued for many years until he finally settled on the version that appeared in Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary in Chapter 6. He intended to use this method as the main symbolism for Part 2 and Part 3, as surviving galleys reveal. Once mastered, algebraic methods tend to be much quicker than diagrammatic methods, but it needed a clear and well-trained mind to reason them through. Augustus De Morgan (1806–71), professor of mathematics, University College, London, published Elements of Arithmetic (1830), Essay on Probabilities (1838), Differential and Integral Calculus (1842), Formal Logic (1847) and Budget of Paradoxes (1872), among other works. Dodgson owned the second and fourth books in this list. Formal Logic: or, the Calculus of Inference Necessary and Probable was an analysis of arguments based on the standard results of Aristotle, with a slight hint of new methods of inference included in an appendix. De Morgan gave the following definition of logic:

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Logic is derived from a Greek word which signifies communication of thought, usually by speech. It is the name which is generally given to the branch of enquiry (be it science or art), in which the act of the mind in reasoning is considered, particularly with reference to the connection of thought and language. But no definition yet given in few words has been found satisfactory to any considerable number of thinking persons. All existing things upon this earth, which have knowledge of their own existence, possess, some in one degree and some in another, the power of thought, accompanied by perception, which is the awakening of thought by the effect of external objects upon the senses.36

In the book, De Morgan included a reference to dreams that anticipates the Red King’s dream in Through the Looking-Glass: It is not impossible that in a real dream of sleep, someone may have created an antagonist who beat him in an argument to prove that he was awake.37

Tweedledum, who obviously had lessons in logic, tells Alice: Well, it’s no use your talking about waking him when you’re only one of the things in his dream. You know very well you’re not real.38

De Morgan used the idea of a universal set for a group A and its complement, not-A, but no diagrammatic methods are used anywhere in his book. Gottlob Frege was a German mathematician, logician and philosopher who graduated from the University of Jena and obtained his doctorate at the University of G¨ottingen in 1873. His interest was in formal logic. In 1879, he published a book using an entirely new approach to symbolising propositions. He defined the characteristic of logical words such as ‘not’, ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘if . . . then’. He went on to use quantifiers in a powerful system called the predicate calculus. In this, he defined such words as ‘all’, ‘some’ and ‘no’, as Dodgson had also defined. In particular, Frege investigated whether it could be assumed that the quantifiers asserted the existence of the subject in a proposition. For example, take the proposition ‘All Cyclops have one eye.’ If the statement is true, does that assert the existence of the Cyclops? Similarly, if true, does the abstract sentence ‘Some x are y’ really mean ‘If there are any x in existence, some of them are y’? The problem of existence is a difficult and controversial idea among logicians. Dodgson wrote at length on this and other philosophical matters, showing the depth of thought he gave to his logical investigations and resolving in his mind that the quantifiers ‘all’ and ‘some’ asserted existence, whereas ‘no’ did not.

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Other combinations either resulted in logical contradictions or involved great practical inconvenience. Dodgson was consistent in his views but is at variance with the interpretations held by most logicians today. Venn devoted a chapter to this philosophical problem in his Symbolic Logic. In Chapter 6, he wrote: There can in fact be no fixed tests for this existence, for it will vary widely according to the nature of the subject matter with which we are concerned in our reasoning. [. . . ] If again we are referring to the sum-total of all that is conceivable, whether real or imaginary, then we should mean what is meant by saying that everything must be regarded as existent which does not involve a contradiction in terms, and nothing which does. Or if we were concerned with Wonderland and its occupants we need not go deeper down than they do who tell us that March hares exist there. In other words, the interpretation of the distinction will vary very widely in different cases.39

The appeal of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to mathematicians and logicians was as evident in 1881 as it is today. The existential import of propositions was not the only ‘accepted’ logical idea that Dodgson disputed. Logicians had reservations about the effect of negations in sentences and as a result used a fairly narrow system. Diagrammatically, negations gave rise to infinite regions. In Dodgson’s system, there were no infinite regions. He was able to represent all the complicated sentences with negated subjects and predicates. In discussing this with his readers in The Game of Logic, Dodgson explained that the logicians in his day were too cautious: They have a sort of nervous dread of Attributes beginning with a negative particle. For example, such Propositions as ‘All not-x are y,’ ‘No x are not-y,’ are quite outside their system. And thus, having (from sheer nervousness) excluded a quantity of very useful forms, they have made rules which, though quite applicable to the few forms which they allow of, are no use at all when you consider all possible forms. Let us not quarrel with them, dear Reader! There is room enough in the world for both of us. Let us quietly take our broader system: and, if they choose to shut their eyes to all these useful forms, and to say ‘They are not Syllogisms at all!’ we can but stand aside, and let them Rush upon their Fate! There is scarcely anything of yours, upon which it is so dangerous to Rush, as your Fate. You may Rush upon your Potato-beds, or your Strawberry-beds, without doing much harm: you may even Rush upon your Balcony (unless it is a new house built by contract, and with no clerk of the works) and may survive the foolhardy enterprise: but if you once Rush upon your Fate – why, you must take the consequences!40

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In Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary he takes a similar line with the theory that ‘two Negative Premises prove nothing’. He wrote: ‘This I consider to be another craze of “The Logicians,” fully as morbid as their dread of a negative Attribute.’41 Dodgson proceeded to give three pairs of negative premises, which lead to a valid conclusion. The surviving draft sections of Symbolic Logic, Part 2: Advanced show that Dodgson was moving away from the traditional Aristotelian logic and towards the new logic developed by Frege. This was attempting to simplify the structure of the system, whereby the validity of arguments could be analysed. Dodgson’s method of subscripts was certainly moving in this direction. This algebraic and mechanical method was an important decision procedure and was way ahead of its time. Decision procedures are usually credited to Leopold L¨owenheim, developed in 1915. Dodgson also used ‘truth tables’, which are now widely used in contemporary logic for defining the truth values of logical words. Dodgson also made a very important discovery when he developed a method for deciding the validity of an argument, which is very similar to the method of working a genealogical tree to ascertain certain relationships. It was not until 1955 that Professor Evert Beth (1908–64), Dutch philosopher and logician and professor of logic at Amsterdam University, used an almost identical procedure to analyse the validity of arguments. His powerful method was called ‘semantic tableaux’. As Dodgson developed his logical methods, he tried to teach them to members of his family, with some success. His sister Louisa was competent and able in this subject and became a sounding board for new ideas and procedures. One particular child-friend showed equal abilities and Dodgson wrote to her from time to time to get her views. Edith Rix received this letter dated 13 December 1885, which gives some idea of the topics raised: Dear Edith, I have been a severe sufferer from Logical puzzles of late. I got into a regular tangle about the ‘import of propositions,’ as the ordinary logical books declare that ‘all x is z’ doesn’t even hint that any x’s exist, but merely that the qualities are so inseparable that, if ever x occurs, z must occur also. As to ‘some x is z,’ they are discreetly silent; and the living authorities I have appealed to, including our Professor of Logic [John Cook Wilson], take opposite sides! Some say it means that the qualities are so connected that, if any x’s did exist, some must be z – others that it only means compatibility, i.e., that some might be z, and they would go on asserting, with perfect belief in their truthfulness, ‘some boots are made of brass,’ even if they had all the boots in the world before them, and knew that none were so

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made, merely because there is no inherent impossibility in making boots of brass! Isn’t it bewildering? I shall have to mention all this in my great work on Logic – but I shall take the line ‘any writer may mean exactly what he pleases by a phrase so long as he explains it beforehand.’ But I shall not venture to assert ‘some boots are made of brass’ till I have found a pair! The Professor of Logic came over one day to talk about it, and we had a long and exciting argument, the result of which was ‘x minus x’ – a magnitude which you will be able to evaluate for yourself.42

In 1886, Dodgson took the remarkable step of offering to teach his logical method to the students at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, a college for young women. The events leading up to this decision were recorded in his diary. On Saturday 29 May, he noted: Took Ruth Woodhouse (at Lady Margaret Hall) for a walk and 5 p.m. tea. [. . . ] I promised to teach her my ‘Logic’ method – or to give lecture on it to her and others at the Hall, if it were wished.43

And on 7 June, he wrote: went to Lady Margaret Hall and lectured for about an hour, on Logic, to about 25 young ladies and Miss Wordsworth [the college principal] and Edith Argles.44

A second and third lecture quickly followed. Clearly, he found his lectures an ideal opportunity to test out his method on a willing group of young people and make appropriate revisions in the light of this teaching experience. A series of ‘test papers’ survives, written to see whether his students had grasped the main ideas but couched in an amusing style. He devised many examples of premises and syllogisms that included ‘skipping puppies’, ‘cigar smoking lambs’, ‘talkative porcupines’, ‘cats that understand French’ and ‘educated hedgehogs’. But beneath this layer of nonsense was the serious task of teaching a procedure that could assist his students in telling whether an argument was valid or fallacious. Dodgson’s logic lectures were taken up by other establishments in Oxford, Eastbourne and Guildford, mainly schools and colleges for girls and young women, although he did offer open lectures to the general public. On 24 July 1886, he noted in his diary: The idea occurred to me this morning of beginning my ‘Logic’ publication, not with ‘Book 1’ of the full work ‘Logic for Ladies’, but with a small pamphlet and a cardboard diagram, to be called The Game of Logic. I have during the day written out most of the pamphlet.45

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‘Logic for Ladies’ was Dodgson’s original title for Symbolic Logic. The pamphlet grew into a book, with the express purpose of aiding his logic students and providing them with a wealth of examples. The Game of Logic was printed by E. Baxter in Oxford and was ready by the end of 1886, but Dodgson was not satisfied with the quality of the printing, as mentioned earlier (see Chapter 3). Like copies of the suppressed version of Alice’s Adventures, the book suffered a similar fate and these unacceptable editions were despatched to the United States. A new edition was printed by Messrs. Richard Clay in London and was ready by February 1887. The symbolism in The Game of Logic was kept to a minimum. The book addressed the reader in a personal and friendly manner. Dodgson used the technique of asking questions, but all the answers were carefully given in the text. Dodgson’s preface to the book began: This Game requires nine Counters – four of one colour and five of another: say four red and five grey. Besides the nine Counters, it also requires one Player, at least. I am not aware of any Game that can be played with less than this number: while there are several that require more: take Cricket, for instance, which requires twenty-two. How much easier it is, when you want to play a Game, to find one Player than twentytwo. At the same time, though one Player is enough, a good deal more amusement may be got by two working at it together, and correcting each other’s mistakes. A second advantage, possessed by this Game, is that, besides being an endless source of amusement (the number of arguments, that may be worked by it, being infinite), it will give the Players a little instruction as well. But is there any great harm in that, so long as you get plenty of amusement?46

This instinctive didactic style capitalises on the thoughts of young people, particularly in the examples where he uses animals and food as key sources of attributes. The text reflects Dodgson’s favourite method of teaching: a one-to-one relationship with a fairly bright and confident child. Most people will agree that formal logic is not an easy subject, and the motivation in this book comes through the game, which is not played in the conventional way – in competition with others – but through personal achievement and success. Early reviewers misunderstood the purpose of the book and expected the game to result in winners and prizes. There is a similarity in the style of The Nursery ‘Alice’ insofar as the reader can easily imagine a kindly person helping the words along with amusing ideas and simple questions. Dodgson occasionally sidesteps a difficult question, particularly when it added nothing to the understanding of the procedure. Here is an example of how he achieved this:

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People have asked the question ‘Can a Thing exist without any Attributes belonging to it?’ It is a very puzzling question, and I’m not going to try to answer it: let us turn up our noses, and treat it with contemptuous silence, as if it really wasn’t worth noticing.47

Dodgson frequently provides good advice to his readers: You will find these seven words – Proposition, Attribute, Term, Subject, Predicate, Particular, Universal – charmingly useful, if any friend should happen to ask if you have ever studied Logic. Mind you bring all seven words into your answer, and your friend will go away deeply impressed – ‘a sadder and a wiser man.’48

There is a generosity of style throughout the book and the book feels as if it was meant for one person: the current reader. This intimate style replaces the personal contact of a teacher. For intelligent children, this works very well but, for many, the substitute for a teacher does not succeed. This is hardly surprising, as anyone who has tried to learn a new card game from a rulebook will testify; it is much easier to learn from an experienced player. In May 1887, Dodgson arranged with Miss Matilda Ellen Bishop (1844– 1913), headmistress of the Oxford High School for Girls, to give his lectures on The Game of Logic. At the high school, he had two classes: one consisting of the older pupils – some twenty pupils together with a few of the assistant mistresses – and the other class consisting of twenty younger girls. Most of his pupils received presentation copies of The Game of Logic. A few years later, in 1894, these lectures were repeated with a new set of girls. One of his students, Ethel Rowell (1877–1951), remembered the lectures. She wrote: When Mr. Dodgson stood at the desk in the sixth-form room and prepared to address the class I thought he looked very tall and seemed very serious and rather formidable, beyond that I did not go and, with the ready docility of a schoolgirl of the nineties, I soon settled down to the subject in hand and forgot the lecturer in his own fascinating ‘Game of Logic.’ There was a very ingenious diagram marked in squares, and there were red and grey counters, and by placing counters on appropriate squares we were able to try conclusions with such facts and fancies as: ‘All cats understand French; Some chickens are cats.’ or: ‘All selfish men are unpopular; All obliging men are popular.’

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Mr. Dodgson came to the school several times and gave us further elaborations of his most ingenious method, and as he proceeded I think the facts became more fanciful and the fancies more fantastic; nevertheless Logic had them all in hand, and it appeared that skilful manipulation of the little red and grey counters was adequate to any situation.49

During 1894, Dodgson spent a considerable amount of time compiling the text of Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary for publication. In March, he spent nine days writing out the first four sections (55 pages of the book), which cover his diagrammatic procedure used in The Game of Logic with a more formal approach. In May, he gave his logic lectures to the students at St Hugh’s Hall, Oxford. One of his students, Evelyn Hatch (1871–1951), recorded in a letter to The Times (7 January 1932): When I was a student at St. Hugh’s Hall, Oxford, in the nineties, I remember how my old friend Mr. Dodgson offered to come and give us a lecture in logic. With great eagerness my fellow-students prepared to meet the famous mathematical tutor who was the author of Alice in Wonderland, and assembled in the library armed with notebooks and pencils. To their surprise the lecturer appeared with a large black handbag, from which he proceeded to draw a number of white envelopes to be distributed among his audience. Each envelope proved to contain a card marked with two square diagrams and nine counters, some pink and some grey. Notebooks and pencils were not required: we were to play a game!50

In June 1894, Dodgson was researching a new theory in logic: a ‘verb’ in a sentence did not assert the existence of the subject. He came to the conclusion that ‘all x are y’ only meant ‘if any x exist, all of them are y’. However, when he tested it using the standard forms of syllogisms, he found the result did not always work out. He consulted John N. Keynes’s book Studies and Exercises in Formal Logic (1884) and found that he had come to the same conclusion. A month later, he made another important discovery: a new method of analysing sets of premises. He recorded in his diary for 16 July 1894: Today has proved to be an epoch in my Logical work. It occurred to me to try a complex Sorites [set of premises] by the method I have been using for ascertaining what cells, if any, survive for possible occupation when certain nullities are given. I took one of 40 premises, with ‘pairs’ within ‘pairs’ and many bars, and worked it like a genealogy, each term proving all its descendants. It came out beautifully, and much shorter than the method I have used hitherto. I think of calling it the ‘Genealogical Method.’51

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This approach using a logic tree was an important milestone in Dodgson’s discoveries and formed the basis of Professor Evert Beth’s tableau method many years later, with the forks in the tree representing the splits in the tableau and the columns worked out separately, closing a section when a contradiction was found. Dodgson continued working on the subject of logic during his summer vacation at Eastbourne. But he also made the acquaintance of the Schuster family and spent some evenings teaching the five children some logic. They proved to be enthusiastic pupils. Dodgson also gave a series of logic lessons to girls at a school run by Charlotte Lucy Barber n´ee Plume (b. 1849) at West Hill House, Upperton, Eastbourne. This pattern of research, writing and teaching, which occupied him at Eastbourne and Oxford, continued for the next few years, until Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary was published on 21 February 1896. He noted: Day of publication of Symbolic Logic, Part 1. 500 were printed, of which 100 are to come for me to give away, 100 have been presented to schools, etc. (100 more have to be given), and 50 are to go to America. Orders exhaust the rest of the First Edition, and I am correcting Press for the Second.52

The book ran to four editions over the next few months, 500 copies being produced each time. Soon after the publication of the first edition, Dodgson wrote to Margaret Mayhew (1883–1971). She was a friend of Enid Stevens (1882–1960) and Ethel Harland (b. 1880?). All three went to the Oxford High School for Girls. At this time, Dodgson’s logical method was being taught by the mistresses at the school. The letter is dated 29 February 1896: My dear Margaret, As I hear you are studying Logic with Enid, I wish to warn you not to choose any examples likely to ruffle her temper (you know how easily ruffled it is). For instance, you mustn’t think of proposing to do Example Number 17, at page 197 [the book ends at page 196]: All scamps deserve thrashing; Some dogs are scamps. Also, if she happens to propose to do the Sorites, Number 28, at page 215, Girls over four-foot-nine are lazy; Lazy girls are of no use at all; A useless girl is detestable, you had better at once turn to the next page, and choose another example. Otherwise, she will soon be out of sorts, and perhaps you may get hurt.

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I need not tell you how sorry I am to see so many little tiffs between you and her. To pull each other’s hair perhaps doesn’t matter much. It is always pleasant to be reminded, even if it hurts a little, that one’s hair is real, and not a wig. But scratching should be, if possible, avoided: it is too much like a cat. Also I need not say how sorry I am that your friend Ethel Harland won’t confess that she was the child who was being punished when I called last Tuesday at the High School. This is very sad: children should always confess everything they are accused of. Then everybody will say ‘What a sweet candid child she is! Sugar-candied, in fact!’ Your affectionate friend, C. L. D.53

In June 1896, Dodgson repeated his course of eight lectures on logic at the high school, but all the time, he was working on the content of Part 2 and Part 3 of Symbolic Logic. He was devising more and more complicated examples and problems to demonstrate the value of his method for the analysis of arguments and the power of his decision procedure to determine whether or not a series of premises gave rise to a valid conclusion. At Guildford in January 1897, he gave a series of public lectures in logic which were well attended. He used an upper room at Abbott’s Hospital and gave eight lectures at two- or three-day intervals. Of the thirty people who attended, quite a number were offered extra help in the afternoon or evening in small groups, mainly held at Shalford Rectory. The rector, Cyril Fletcher Grant (1845– 1916), was a participant in the course. In a letter to his sister Louisa, Dodgson clarifies the purpose in writing his treatise on symbolic logic. The letter is dated 28 September 1896 and this is an extract: I am beginning to realise that, if the books I am still hoping to write, are to be done at all, they must be done now, and that I am meant thus to utilise the splendid health I have had, unbroken, for the last year and a half, and the working-powers, that are fully as great as, if not greater than, what I have ever had. I brought with me here the MSS, such as it is (very fragmentary and unarranged) for the book about religious difficulties, and I meant, when I came here, to devote myself to that; but I have changed my plan. It seems to me that that subject is one that hundreds of living men could do if they would only try, much better than I could, whereas there is no living man who could (or at any rate who would take the trouble to) arrange, and finish, and publish, the 2nd Part of the Logic. Also I have the Logic book in my head: it will only need 3 or 4 months to write out; and I have not got the other book in my head, and it might take years to think out. So I have decided to get Part II finished first: and I am working at it, day and night. I

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have taken to early rising, and sometimes sit down to my work before 7, and have 11/2 hours at it before breakfast. The book will be a great novelty, and will help, I fully believe, to make the study of Logic far easier than it now is: and it will, I also believe, be a help to religious thoughts, by giving clearness of conception and of expression, which may enable many people to face, and conquer, many religious difficulties for themselves. So I do really regard it as work for God.54

One of Dodgson’s last diary entries on the subject of logic occurs on 15 February 1897. He wrote: Made a splendid Logic problem about ‘great grandsons’ (modelled on one by De Morgan). My method of solution is quite new, and I greatly doubt if any one will solve the Problem. I have sent it to Cook Wilson.55

This problem was inserted into the appendix of the fourth edition of Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary and is as follows: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

A man can always master his father; An inferior of a man’s uncle owes that man money; The father of an enemy of a friend of a man owes that man nothing; A man is always persecuted by his son’s creditors; An inferior of the master of a man’s son is senior to that man; A grandson of a man’s junior is not his nephew; A servant of an inferior of a friend of a man’s enemy is never persecuted by that man; (8) A friend of a superior of the master of a man’s victim is that man’s enemy; (9) An enemy of a persecutor of a servant of a man’s father is that man’s friend. Deduce some fact about great grandsons!56

Symbolic Logic, Part 1: Elementary was the last book to appear in print in Dodgson’s lifetime (a poetry book appeared posthumously). Devised as a school textbook with extras, its content was a serious attempt to bring the study of logic within reach of a wide audience. For that reason, it was published under the name of ‘Lewis Carroll’ rather than his real name – a name that had a following among the reading public. In the preface to the fourth edition, Dodgson said: This is, I believe, the very first attempt (with the exception of my own little book, The Game of Logic, published in 1886, a very incomplete performance) that has been made to popularise this fascinating subject. It has cost me years of hard work: but if it should prove, as I hope it may, to be of real service to the young, and

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to be taken up, in High Schools and private families, as a valuable addition to their stock of healthful mental recreations, such a result would more than repay ten times the labour that I have expended on it.57

Dodgson’s logical treatise was his contribution to humanity and he hoped it would be his legacy for future generations. In the world of mathematics, he made no lasting impact, save for his Elementary Treatise on Determinants, which was not fully appreciated for more than a hundred years. His theory of elections might have been influential if proportional representation had been adopted by politicians and parliaments in the civilised world, but the flawed ‘first past the post’ continues to be the favoured method of election. If Dodgson’s full treatise in three parts on symbolic logic had been published in his lifetime, his standing among philosophers and logicians would no doubt have been highly significant.

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6 PHOTOGRAPHERS

Photography: Early Pioneers and Sitters On 13 August 1890, Dodgson went to see a demonstration of Thomas Edison’s new phonograph at Eastbourne and he noted in his diary: It is a pity [. . . ] that we are not 50 years further on in the world’s history, so as to get this wonderful invention in its perfect form. It is now in its infancy; the new wonder of the age, just as I remember Photography was about 1850.1

Photography was invented in the 1830s, but it was not generally available to the amateur photographer until the 1850s, when the wet collodion process was invented and made available without licence. People with time and money could now choose photography as a pastime. Dodgson was one of the early pioneers to take up this new wonder of the age. Not so long ago, our knowledge of Dodgson’s photographic opus was sketchy to say the least. We had only a rough idea of how many photographs he took. Identifying the sitters was a problem for collectors, auctioneers and cataloguers. People writing books about his photography made mistakes and, in turn, the mistakes were repeated. And dating a photograph was near impossible unless the date was written on the print. In the last few years, there has been a reappraisal of Dodgson as photographer and much new research has shed light on his photographs. Some recent books have put Dodgson’s photography into its historical perspective, suggesting he should rank with other important early Victorian photographers; and, for the first time, there has been a detailed analysis of his complete photographic opus. Dodgson probably saw photographs for the first time at the home of his uncle Skeffington Lutwidge, an early photographer who used the calotype process.

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14. Reginald Southey, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1860

He probably saw photographs exhibited for the first time in 1851 at the Great Exhibition in London. And he then saw the new wet collodion process used for the first time by his friend Reginald Southey (1835–99) at Christ Church, Oxford. Southey was instrumental in helping Dodgson begin his collection of photographs taken by other photographers, an activity that continued throughout Dodgson’s life. Watching his uncle Skeffington and Reginald Southey take photographs, Dodgson’s interest was aroused. He was fascinated by this new scientific advance and he could see the potential for artistic expression. The first mention of photography in his diary came on 1 March 1855, when he wrote:

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I went to look at Southey’s photographs: he has done a very successful one of the Broad Walk from his window – about the best amateur attempt that I have seen.2

On 8 September 1855, Dodgson recorded a visit made by Uncle Skeffington to the family home at Croft. Uncle Skeffington brought his camera with him and Dodgson watched with fascination as his uncle attempted photographs of Croft Church, the bridge that crosses the River Tees and other local scenes. Dodgson noted that the pictures were not very successful and we get an inkling that he probably felt he could do better given the chance. Two days later, Dodgson went with his uncle to take photographs at nearby Richmond. Clearly, Dodgson enjoyed this photographic experience and he probably made up his mind to investigate the possibility of taking up the activity himself. However, more pressing matters were on his mind: He had just been appointed mathematical lecturer at Christ Church and there was much to do to prepare himself for this new role in his life. The following year, on 16 January 1856, he wrote in his diary: Called on Southey, and asked him to come over on Friday for a photographic day.3

Two days later, he added: Southey came over to spend the day in photography, but we went instead to Dr Diamond of the Surrey Lunatic Asylum: he gave me two he has done lately, an excellent full length of Uncle Skeffington, and a boy at King’s College, Frank Forester.4

Thus began Dodgson’s collection of photographs. Sadly, neither image appears to have survived, although an image of Dodgson’s uncle Skeffington Lutwidge has come to light in the Dodgson family, taken by R. Cade of Ipswich. Dr Hugh Welch Diamond (1809–86) was the resident superintendent of female patients at the Surrey County Asylum. He became secretary to the Photographic Society of London in 1853. Southey was also a photograph collector; some of his albums, including photographs he took and acquired, are now part of the Lloyd Cotsen Collection at Princeton University. Dodgson now mingled with this new fraternity: the amateur photographers of London. Uncle Skeffington was already making his name as a photographer of buildings and scenic views and he had already exhibited some pictures.

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On 17 March 1856, Dodgson decided he would take up photography as his hobby and noted in his diary: Called on Southey in the morning, and agreed to go together tomorrow and buy a photographic apparatus.5

And on the following day: Went again to Southey, and reached Harley Street about 1. We went to a maker of the name of Ottewill, in Charlotte Street, Caledonian Road: the camera with lens etc. will come to just about £15. I ordered it to be sent to Ch. Ch. as it will not be ready in time to do anything this vacation.6

The double-folding camera of 1853, manufactured by Thomas Ottewill and Co. and made of rosewood with brass fittings, was an expensive item and the cost of photographic chemicals added to the outlay. Dodgson probably paid about 10 per cent of his annual salary to set himself up as a photographer. The camera was delivered to Christ Church on 1 May. So began Dodgson’s ‘one recreation’, an activity that he would continue for almost twenty-five years, establishing himself as a major Victorian photographer, especially in portraiture. Among the first photographs he took were members of the Liddell family, especially the three daughters – Lorina, Alice and Edith – to whom the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first told. The first surviving image of Alice Liddell was taken in June 1857, when she was 5 years old. She was a natural photographic subject – patient and able to keep still during the process and very willing to sit before Dodgson’s camera. The process of taking a photograph was complex and time consuming. The child needed to keep still throughout the exposure time. Opinions differ on how long this was: some say about 10 seconds in bright summer sunlight, whereas others say that it was more like 40 seconds to a minute. In either case, this is a long time for a child prone to being fidgety. Dodgson’s approach was to let the children be physically active prior to the photographic session and then settle them into a comfortable place – wedged into the corner of a sofa, standing in the corner of a room, sitting on a chair with something to hold onto, pretending to be asleep and so on. All the time, he kept their attention and encouraged complete stillness as he enthralled them with a story; he was a born storyteller. The children Dodgson photographed came mainly from the middle and upper classes and they were familiar with the notion of being ‘seen and not heard’ and they had no difficulty in keeping still as they listened to his fascinating stories. This rapport between photographer and

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sitter was the secret of Dodgson’s success. If you look at photographs taken in this era, they frequently came out stiff, stilted, formal and false. Alice reminisced that when we were thoroughly happy and amused at his stories, he used to pose us, and expose the plates before the right mood had passed. He seemed to have an endless store of these fantastical tales. [. . . ] Being photographed was therefore a joy to us and not a penance as it is to most children.7

Dodgson took an unconventional photograph of Alice Liddell in 1858: a profile portrait showing her sitting sideways on a chair, head slightly bowed with hand clasping the back of the chair to prevent involuntary movement. The background is the sandstone wall in the Deanery garden at Christ Church. It reveals a photographer with a true sense of composition and style, prepared to try new ideas. Yet it was taken early in Dodgson’s photographic career. He was, however, a man who appreciated beauty in art, a regular visitor to art galleries and exhibitions, a friend of famous artists of his day. To some extent, he saw photography as an alternative to painting and sketching. He was never satisfied with his own attempts to draw and photography gave him an opportunity to use and develop his aesthetic and artistic abilities. Later, when he gave copies of his photographs to sitters and their families, he would inscribe the picture as ‘from the Artist’ rather than ‘from the Photographer’. Many of Dodgson’s early photographs look like interior settings, but this is an illusion. In order to capitalise on the strong daylight, Dodgson would set up his camera outside. There is a photograph of Edith Liddell, aged 4, taken in 1858 on a sofa in what appears to be an interior setting. However, it was photographed in the Deanery garden, Dodgson having set up a blanket wall behind the sofa, which was placed on a carpet to give the appearance that the picture was taken indoors. A gauze screen above the sofa, not visible in the picture, gives diffused light and, because the photo was taken outdoors, the light is strong enough for a good exposure. Edith is nestled into a corner of the sofa. This makes her comfortable and less likely to move. Even slight movements spoilt the picture; the glass negative would be blurred and all the effort needed to prepare, expose and develop the plate would have been in vain. Wet collodion glass plate photography was fraught with such difficulties. Considerable technical skill was needed to take successful photographs and Dodgson practised the art thoroughly with guidance from Southey. The technical skill and dexterity that an early successful photographer needed to acquire – something that came with practice, with many failures along the road – is as

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follows. In the wet collodion process, photographs were made on glass. Apart from the camera, the photographer would need a quantity of different kinds of equipment and chemicals. When he took landscape photographs, he would need a tent to prepare and develop the glass plates and a ready supply of various chemicals. Otherwise, he would use a room with subdued light, such as a cellar or a shed, to prepare the plates. Added to these were blankets and gauzes, a tripod and equipment and utensils for preparing and developing the plates. Dodgson’s glass plates and bottles of various chemicals were housed in a large strong wooden box made with iron brackets and reinforcements. He used this to transport his chemicals to various locations, usually by railway. It survives, with his initials clearly printed on the lid, and is now on permanent display in the History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford. Firstly, the glass plate had to be polished and made ready. The surface had to be entirely clean before being coated with the sticky collodion. The plates came in various sizes. The maximum size used by Dodgson was 10 by 8 inches and this would be appropriate for a still-life photograph, such as a work of art, a sculpture or a landscape in calm weather, when exposure time was not an issue. For portraits, he tended to use smaller plates, usually 6 by 5 inches, allowing the exposure time to be shorter. The plate had to be held between thumb and forefinger as the collodion was gently poured onto the glass surface and carefully spread evenly by tilting the plate in various directions. Still under subdued light, the plate was sensitised in a bath of chemicals. Throughout this process, the sticky plate had to remain entirely free from dust and any other particles because these would spoil the picture. It also had to stay wet. Cellars and sheds were not ideal places: accidentally brushing a sleeve against a shelf or object could create a cloud of dust and then all would be lost. Once the plate had been prepared, it was installed in a frame with wooden shutters to keep out the light. It was then put into the camera, the shutters were removed and the exposure could begin just by manually removing the lens cap. Most photographs were taken in the summer when the light was good; winter light often gave inferior pictures. But on occasion, photographs were taken in the winter when there was no alternative; for example, if royalty offered to sit in November for a photograph (as Prince Leopold did), then you did not refuse but hoped for the best. Next, with no time to lose, the plate had to be developed immediately. Again, the glass plate was balanced in one hand as the developing fluid was carefully poured over it. Barring accidental smudging from clothes and hands or more dust falling upon it, the plate was then fixed, washed and dried. To protect the delicate negative, the plate was then varnished. This required the plate to be

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warmed uniformly all over in front of a fire or over a candle – as hot as the back of the hand could bear. The varnish was then poured over the plate and strained off into a bottle in the same way as the collodion and developing solutions. If all had gone well, the plate was then ready for making positive prints. Dodgson used prepared paper – usually albumen or silver prints bought already coated – for making his positive prints, but eventually, he left this last part of the process to professional photographic dealers, getting them to make a specified number of prints from his glass plate negatives. Dodgson described the complex process of photography in an early poem entitled ‘Hiawatha’s Photographing’, parodying Longfellow and dating from 1857.8 Here are some extracts: From his shoulder Hiawatha Took the camera of rosewood – Made of sliding, folding rosewood – Neatly put it all together. In its case it lay compactly, Folded into nearly nothing; But he opened out the hinges, Pushed and pulled the joints and hinges, Till it looked all squares and oblongs, Like a complicated figure In the second book of Euclid. This he perched upon a tripod, And the family, in order, Sat before him for their pictures – Mystic, awful was the process.

In the poem, each member of the family in turn sits before the camera but, in every case, the photograph is a failure: First, the governor – the father – He suggested velvet curtains Looped about a massy pillar. And the corner of a table – Of a rosewood dining-table. He would hold a scroll of something – Hold it firmly in his left hand; He would keep his right-hand buried (Like Napoleon) in his waistcoat;

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He would gaze upon the distance – (Like a poet seeing visions, Like a man that plots a poem, In a dressing-gown of damask, At 12.30 in the morning, Ere the servants bring in luncheon) – With a look of pensive meaning, As of ducks that die in tempests. Grand, heroic was the notion: Yet the picture failed entirely, Failed because he moved a little – Moved because he couldn’t help it.

Dodgson fully understood the difficulties, especially dealing with the whims of the sitters. Yet his surviving opus reveals great success in portrait images, even with his pictures of the more temperamental Victorian celebrities of his day who sat for him. Somehow, he was a calming influence and skilful operator when taking photographs. ‘Hiawatha’s Photographing’ continues: Next his better half took courage – She would have her picture taken: She came dressed beyond description, Dressed in jewels and in satin, Far too gorgeous for an empress. Gracefully she sat down sideways, With a simper scarcely human, Holding in her hand a nosegay, Rather larger than a cabbage. All the while that she was taking, Still the lady chattered, chattered, Like a monkey in the forest. ‘Am I sitting still?’ she asked him: ‘Is my face enough in profile? Shall I hold the nosegay higher? Will it come into the picture?’ And the picture failed completely.

The poem continues as each member of the family is photographed and all the portraits are either a complete disaster or partially successful. Dodgson probably had his share of failures, but they were mainly caused by technical difficulties,

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such as poor chemicals or light seeping into the camera. However, he was particularly successful at photographing children, principally because he decided only to photograph those he knew well as friends and those who listened intently to what he said. Dodgson’s reputation as a photographer rests mainly on his portraits of children. Very few amateur photographers at this time were attempting pictures of children because in many cases, they were fidgety and impatient sitters. The vast majority of photographers at this time took landscapes since there was less chance of sudden movement apart from wind and flowing water. Dodgson also took landscapes but they form only a small fraction of his photographic output – probably about 4 per cent of all the photographs he took. An analysis of the various types of photographs Dodgson took reveals that about 6 per cent were of Dodgson’s own family: his brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. Some 30 per cent were of adults or family groups and this includes a number of Victorian celebrities, such as Alfred Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, Samuel Wilberforce, George MacDonald, Ellen Terry, Charlotte Yonge, John Everett Millais, Lord Salisbury and Queen Victoria’s fourth son, Prince Leopold – to name but ten. There is a portrait of Michael Faraday (1791–1867), scientist and professor of chemistry, and discoverer of many of the properties of electricity and magnetism. It was taken on 30 June 1860 on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Oxford. At this same meeting, Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce debated the new theory for the origin of species proposed by Charles Darwin. Dodgson was at this important event and invited many of the people attending to come to his studio set up in the Deanery garden to have their portrait taken. Many came, and on this occasion, Dodgson printed and distributed a list of the photographs he had taken, with others from previous sittings, and even sold some prints. Normally, he gave his prints as gifts to his sitters, but he was not against a little commerce to help pay for his expensive hobby. Dodgson’s portrait of the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) was also taken on 30 June 1860. Holman Hunt was the artist of The Light of the World – probably his most famous picture – and a founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with his two friends, John Everett Millais (1829–96) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82). Dodgson admired the actress Ellen Terry (1847–1928) from the moment he saw her on stage. In 1856, he was at her debut performance at the Princess’s Theatre, where, aged 9, she played Mamillius in The Winter’s Tale. He also photographed her in July 1865, when she was 18. Some of these images were taken with her sisters and some were in elaborate costumes.

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Just over 50 per cent of Dodgson’s photographs are portraits of children. The remaining 10 per cent are best described as ‘miscellaneous’ – pictures of artwork, still life and sculptures, live animals, assisted self-portraits and skeletons. Dodgson photographed the skeleton of a bluefin tunny fish which had been caught off the Island of Madeira by fishermen and acquired by Dr Henry Acland, who was personal physician to Henry G. Liddell, dean of Christ Church and Alice’s father. During the winter of 1856–7, the dean was residing on this warm and dry island for the sake of his health. His friend Acland went with him. Acland sent the tunny fish back to Oxford, where it was transformed into a skeleton for the Anatomy School at Christ Church. In 1857, Acland asked Dodgson and Southey to photograph it, together with other skeletal specimens, as a record of the contents of the Anatomy School. Later, these skeletons were transferred to the new Oxford University Museum of Natural History, where the tunny fish remains to this day. There are a number of myths surrounding Dodgson’s photography. Perhaps the most prevalent – frequently used by writers, biographers and journalists – is that Dodgson took hundreds of nude studies of little children. This is not borne out by the facts. Certainly, up to 1950, no one had seen any of the nude studies and Helmut Gernsheim (writing in 1949) suggested that none had survived. However, he was wrong; a few still existed among the families of descendents of child sitters and they have since come to light. The Carrollian scholar, Professor Morton Cohen, revealed four nude studies acquired by the Rosenbach Library and Museum when he published Lewis Carroll’s Photographs of Nude Children in 1978. He wrote that ‘a veritable parade of nude children, mostly girls, passes before his camera’. This suggested rather a lot of nude studies, while the truth is otherwise. The primary sources, such as his diaries, letters, published reminiscences and all his surviving photographs, indicate that the list is short. The diaries and letters are not always specific about the types of photographs Dodgson took, and although phrases such as ‘primitive costume’ and ‘sans habilement’ are nude studies, others were taken when the child was partially draped or wearing a swimming costume or nightdress. Research reveals that only eight families allowed – and in some cases positively encouraged – Dodgson to take nude studies and that about thirty nude or seminude photographs were actually taken, including some of a professional model (used by Sir Frederick Leighton). The children’s ages at the time the photographs were taken range from 1 to 9; the professional model was 10 years old. Two of the surviving nude studies are of boys aged 2 and 1. The first nude study was taken in 1867 and the last in 1880 – just before Dodgson gave up photography. From an opus of some 3,000 photographs, this is no more than 1 per cent of

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Dodgson’s output. Suggestions that Dodgson took ‘hundreds of nude photographs’ are false. There is a myth that suggests Dodgson took only portraits of little girls. This is also entirely untrue. Although girls form the majority of his pictures of children, there are many examples of boys photographed by Dodgson (at least 100 are known.) During the summers of 1858 and 1859, Dodgson took his camera to a boys’ school at Twyford in Hampshire. He spent several days photographing the boys and the masters. He photographed single portraits, small groups, whole classes and cricket teams. He also photographed the headmaster – alone and with his pupils. One of the problems Dodgson encountered was that when he visited families, the boys were invariably away at school, so only the girls were photographed. He was happy to take photographs of both girls and boys if he had the opportunity. From time to time, he met members of the landed gentry and peerage and photographed their children – boys and girls. He took a particularly good image of Victor Alexander Lionel Dawson Parnell (1852–1936), fifth son of Henry William Parnell, third Baron Congleton, and his second wife, Caroline Margaret Dawson. The pose suggests a boy from the upper classes; Victor knows his station in life. The photograph was taken at Lambeth Palace on 7 July 1864, where Dodgson had set up his camera for several days, inviting people to come and be photographed. He was personally acquainted with the archbishop of Canterbury, Charles T. Longley, whom he also photographed. Many upper-class families came and sat for him. Dodgson admired the physical beauty of both boys and girls but preferred the company and conversation of girls. Dodgson liked to try out new ideas in photographic composition and style. He once took a picture of a girl up a tree, looking through the branches. This was his very effective portrait of Kathleen Harriet Tidy (1851–1926) on the occasion of her seventh birthday. She was photographed at Ripon, Yorkshire, in April 1858. Such photographs mark Dodgson out as an original and remarkable photographer who had an eye for unusual composition and a willingness to experiment with various unconventional ways of placing his sitters. When it came to larger groups, we see Dodgson’s expertise in arranging the sitters. One of his trademarks was to arrange all the faces at different levels. He knew exactly how to pose people to make them look natural. He took a particular interest in how people arranged their hands and he studied the work of artists to see how this was done effectively. Victorian people were not solemn, as many of their photographs might suggest; it was just easier to hold a serious face for the long exposure time required. Holding a natural smile was difficult for most people, as it is today. However, Dodgson found that some sitters did

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not find this a problem. He photographed Flora Rankin (b. 1855?), a friend of George MacDonald’s family, with a broad smile. She came over for the day when Dodgson had his camera set up at the MacDonald home in Hampstead, London. Dodgson wrote in his diary: Took a few more photographs. I have now done all the MacDonalds [. . . ] and three children whom they brought in, Flora and Mary Rankin, and Margaret Campbell. Flora was the only one of the three particularly worth taking.9

Dodgson gave his photograph of Flora the title ‘No Lessons Today’, summing up a child’s feelings when school is out and it is a holiday. The photograph was taken on 31 July 1863, but in December 1872, Dodgson sent a copy to Charles Darwin, who was writing a book with photographs entitled The Expression of Emotions. He thought Darwin might be able to use it to illustrate the emotion of joy but, sadly, it was not used, although Darwin did write back: My dear Sir, I thank you most sincerely for the excellent photograph and your very kind note. I am now employed on another subject and do not think that I shall continue my observations on expression; but I will not forget your obliging offer should occasion occur. I am at present far from well, so pray excuse brevity and believe me Yours faithfully and obliged, Charles Darwin10

Darwin kept the print of Flora Rankin and it survives in the Darwin Archive at Cambridge. Dodgson became very independent about his photography. He was not one to be influenced by the work of other photographers that he saw in exhibitions. He established his own style. He knew other photographers, such as Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–79), Oscar Rejlander (1813–75), Lady Clementina Hawarden (1822–65) and Henry Peach Robinson (1830–1901), and even acquired prints of their work, but he was resolute in following his own path. He used his photography to collect the work of artists whom he admired. He copied prints from art magazines and journals and gained permission to photograph the work of some artists in their studios, such as Alexander Munro and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

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In 1868, Dodgson moved to new rooms in Christ Church. This was a large suite on the second storey in the north-west corner of Tom Quad. As we have seen, Dodgson saw the potential for a photographic studio being built on the roof, and after gaining permission from the college authorities, the studio was constructed. His first photograph taken in this new studio is dated 17 March 1872. The studio was situated behind a large Tudor chimney stack – with windows on one side – accessed by a staircase from his rooms and with an additional dressing room for his sitters. The studio was heated, allowing him to use it throughout the year. During the latter part of his photographic career, Dodgson adopted the Victorian fascination with tableaux images – children dressed in costumes representing a literary or historical event. Costume photographs were a particular feature and favourite of Dodgson’s photographic output. He acquired costumes, borrowed them from museums, bought them from theatrical friends and even had some made for children to dress up in. There are a number of photographs of young women dressed in chain mail, borrowed from Henry Holiday, representing verses from Tennyson’s ‘Sir Galahad’. In another photograph, Ella MonierWilliams, the daughter of the Monier Monier-Williams, professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, is wearing a costume of the Maori, indigenous to New Zealand. This authentic costume was borrowed from one of the Oxford museums and is now part of the Pitt Rivers Collection at Oxford. We know that Dodgson also borrowed original costumes from other museums in Oxford for his sitters to wear: South Sea Islanders, Chinese, Turkish and Japanese clothing. His friend, the wife of Professor Bartholomew Price, made him an ancient Greek dress for photography. Sometimes, the children had their own costumes: 7-year-old Wilfred Hatch was photographed dressed in a sailor’s costume, typical of Victorian boys of his age. He was photographed in April 1872 in the Christ Church Studio, where many of these costume photographs were taken. On 26 June 1875, a family with four children visited Dodgson in the morning and he appears to have told them the story of ‘St. George and the Dragon’. Afterwards, they improvised costumes, probably with their mother’s help, and enacted the story. To record the event, Dodgson suggested he take a photograph of them in their various roles. The family consisted of Xie, Herbert, Hugh and Brook Kitchin, the children of George W. Kitchin and his wife, Alice. Somehow, Dodgson managed to get a large rocking horse into his photographic studio and the children posed for the tableau: Brook, as St George sitting astride the rocking horse with wooden sword in hand, about to slay the dragon and rescue his sister, Xie, as the damsel in distress. Herbert, in cloak, lies on the floor, having failed in his attempt to destroy the dragon. And Hugh, draped in a leopard skin,

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represented the dragon. It is easy to imagine the fun the children had in playing out this game and then recording the activity in a photograph. Xie Kitchin was probably Dodgson’s most photographed sitter. At least fifty photographs of her are known – from 1869 when she was just 5 years old until she was 16, with photographs of her being taken in all the intervening years. She seemed to have a placid personality and enjoyed being photographed. One of the last photographs that Dodgson took of Xie was on 25 May 1880, when she was a young lady and by then an accomplished violinist. She stands with her violin in hand. Just a few weeks later, Dodgson put away his camera and took no more photographs. There has been much speculation about why he gave up photography. It appears to be a sudden decision. However, he usually packed away his camera in the summer before setting off for Eastbourne, the seaside resort where he spent his holidays. Sometimes, he took a few photographs on his return in October, but in 1880, the camera remained packed away and the studio unused. People have suggested that scandal about his nude photographs caused him to give up photography, but this is very unlikely. Such photographs were spread throughout his photographic career and he did not see these as cause for scandal but as perfectly respectable examples of his art as a photographer. The truth about his decision to give up taking photographs is revealed in a letter dated 8 December 1881 that has come to light in the last few years and which is now in a private collection. He wrote to Mrs Gertrude Hunt (1859–1928), wife of a London solicitor, from whom he had previously borrowed Japanese items for photographic purposes: The last photograph I took was in August 1880! Not one have I done this year: as there was no subject tempting enough to make me face the labour of getting the studio into working order again. [. . . ] It is a very tiring amusement, and anything which can be equally well, or better, done in a professional studio for a few shillings I would always rather have so done than go through the labour myself.11

We know that from then onwards, he used professional photographers, such as Debenham’s at Sandown, Isle of Wight, and Kent’s at Eastbourne, if he wanted a photograph of a child made for either the family or for himself. Clearly, the process had become a drudge and Dodgson was unwilling to spend the time and energy needed to keep his studio in working order, especially as it had become so easy to drop into a professional studio. To summarise, Dodgson took photographs from 1856 to 1880, and during this time, about 3,000 pictures were made. In 1875, he decided that he must

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catalogue his photographic opus and he spent about three weeks working on a register of his images. He chose to number each image, as far as possible in chronological order. But he was attempting this task retrospectively; hence, he made mistakes. Sadly, the register he compiled is now missing, but the numbers assigned to photographs remain against the contents lists in his albums or scratched onto surviving glass plates or on the back of loose prints. Collecting together these image numbers and reconstructing the catalogue of his photographs have been worthwhile tasks. These numbers allow us to date his photographs with much more accuracy. From a number, we can give the year in which it was taken without any doubt and we can often give the month in which it was taken; on some occasions the actual day. Dodgson is remembered as a photographer of little Victorian girls and slightly larger and more important Victorian men and women, but this is not the whole story. He is celebrated for many first-rate portraits of children from the upper class of society. He is recognised for some original costume pictures of children dressing up as characters from literature or history. He is vilified for taking ‘nude studies’ of children, even though this was common practice among other Victorian photographers. Dodgson’s photographic activity and body of work do not deserve the criticism often levelled against him. There have been a number of books written on the subject of Dodgson’s photography, and more recently, there have been some major international photographic exhibitions of his work. Photographic historians have investigated his pictures and biographers have explored his wholehearted commitment to the camera. Some of his photographic images are extremely well known: for example, Alice Liddell as beggar-maid has been reproduced in countless books and is widely available as a postcard or can be easily downloaded from the internet. But many of his photographs were seen by just a handful of people. The soon to be published catalogue raisonn´e of all his photographic images will allow people, at last, to make informed judgments. Life for Dodgson after 1880, when his photography ceased, began to change. It was the year that Alice Liddell married and Aunt Lucy died – two people who had exerted a major influence on his life up to that time. He elected to take early retirement from his position at Christ Church. Financially, he was fairly secure, with income from his books still supporting his lifestyle. The lectureship gave only a modicum of income but a lot of work. He had many books – important to him – that still needed to be written. Photography became an extravagance that could be put aside. Yet we have a body of work at the birth of photography covering a quarter of a century that has stood the march of time and established Dodgson as one of the foremost photographers of his age.

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Contemporary Photographers Not only was Dodgson a successful photographer at a time when photography was the new technology, but he was also a collector of photographs, showing a good eye for examples of high-quality work. Dodgson usually made a note in his diary when he added photographs to his collection, but not every purchase or acquisition is recorded. We have a better idea of his taste in photographs from one of his surviving albums, labelled [A].X, which is now part of the Gernsheim Collection at the University of Texas at Austin. On 16 February 1857, less than a year after he took up photography himself, he recorded: Wrote to London for an un-mounted portrait of Robson, and the two pictures of him as Medea and The Wandering Minstrel.12

These photographs were exhibited at the London Photographic Society’s 1857 Exhibition, taken by Herbert Watkins (b. 1828). Thomas Frederick Robson (1822–64) was a major actor of his day – an actor who Dodgson saw many times on the stage and admired. Robson played Medea in Robert Barnabas Brough’s Medea: or, The Best of Mothers With a Brute of a Husband at the Olympic Theatre in 1856. On 21 December 1857, Dodgson noted in his diary: Ordered various photographs, including some exquisite ones at Colnaghi’s, of paintings in the Manchester Exhibition.13

He had seen the exhibition on 14 October but did not indicate which pictures caught his attention. We know the exhibition contained paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Mallord William Turner, William Holman Hunt, William Mulready and others. Photographs of artwork became a feature of Dodgson’s collecting. In February 1858, he acquired a photograph of Alexander Munro’s sculpture entitled Children’s Play and he later received an invitation to visit Munro’s studio, where he took many photos of the sculptor’s work. On a visit in April 1858, Munro gave Dodgson a photograph entitled Juliet that had been taken by Henry Peach Robinson, previously exhibited in the photographic exhibition of that year. This showed a young girl with a phial of poison in her hand. There followed a gap of some six years where Dodgson did not record any additions to his collection of photographs apart from his own. Dodgson saw

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photographs by other photographers at exhibitions and even published a review of the Photographic Exhibition of 1860 in The Illustrated Times. The anonymous review, simply signed ‘Lounger’, was added to one of Dodgson’s family magazines, Mischmasch, identifying him as the author. He mentioned the work of various photographers of the day, including Herbert Watkins, Henry Peach Robinson, James Mudd (1821–1906), Roger Fenton (1819–69) and Francis Bedford (1816–94). Overall, he was not impressed. He wrote: There is very little novelty to call for notice this year, either in subject, or mode of treatment, or chemical process. [. . . ] The merits and demerits of photographs are, generally speaking, so entirely chemical as to leave little subject for art-criticism.14

Dodgson always aligned himself with the art photographers and had little to do with the high-street professional portrait photographers. One artistic photographer he did admire was Lady Hawarden, Clementina Maude n´ee ElphinstoneFleeming. In 1864, he had the good fortune to meet her. Dodgson noted an eventful day on 24 June 1864: Called on the Archbishop of York, to ask him to sit for a photograph, but he was out. Then on Rossetti, and saw some new pictures, one that he is now at work on will be very beautiful. It represents Venus (head and shoulders), with some butterflies hovering round her head: the back-ground is to be roses. Thence I went to the Bazaar held in the Horticultural Gardens for the benefit of the Female Artists at the Kensington Museum. I saw Lady Hawarden’s name as keeping a stall there, and wanted to buy some of her photographs. There was one of which they had no copy, and I gave my name and address that one might be sent. This led to Lord Hawarden’s introducing himself to me as an old pupil of my father’s, and he introduced me to the Viscountess. She had a studio there, and I decided on bringing some MacDonalds to be photographed by her.15

Dodgson acquired a number of photographs taken by Lady Hawarden (five are in album [A].X). Sadly, she was to die the following year, tragically at the early age of 43. The previous day, Dodgson had seen – probably for the first time – photographs taken by Julia Margaret Cameron. His opinion of her work was not flattering. He wrote: ‘I did not admire Mrs. Cameron’s large heads taken out of focus.’16 Nevertheless, he did add some of her photographs to his collection at a later time. Dodgson was interested in photographic techniques and fascinated

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by the effects that photography could produce. For example, in April 1865, he ‘bought, at a photographer’s [. . . ] a photograph of a new kind, where one person is repeated twice in the same picture’.17 Clearly, this was a photograph resulting from a double exposure of the same person. Dodgson himself had already tried double exposures, producing ‘ghost’ or ‘dream’ pictures in 1863. We have other accounts of Dodgson purchasing photographs from London dealers. For example, he visited Messrs. Southwell in July 1865 and ‘spent a long time looking over volumes of photographs’.18 On this occasion, he bought several photographs of the Terry family of actors with whom he was personally acquainted. Three photographs of Kate and Ellen Terry were included in Dodgson’s album [A].X. Sometimes, other amateur photographers would give him prints of their work. He noted on 15 December 1865 that Lord Mount Charles, George Henry Conyngham (1825–82), gave him ‘a photograph of his child’.19 Lord Mount Charles had several daughters, but it was probably the eldest, Blanche, then aged 9, who was photographed. In return, Dodgson sent her an inscribed copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in December (one of the first published copies). Another artistic photographer that Dodgson admired was Oscar Gustav Rejlander. He visited Rejlander’s studio in March 1863 and had his portrait taken. Dodgson also had his portrait taken by a number of other photographers, including Hiram Crompton Booth (dates unknown) at Ripon, Reginald Southey at Oxford and George Charles Wallich (1815–99) in London, but most surviving prints are assisted self-portraits (in which Dodgson prepared the glass plate and chose where to sit and a third party removed and replaced the lens cap). When he visited Rejlander’s studio, he noted: ‘I also looked over a great number of prints and negatives, some of which were very beautiful.’20 Whether he acquired any at this time, he does not say. But some years later, on 6 April 1866, he visited the dealer, Messrs. De La Rue, and purchased a number of Rejlander’s prints. Some of these survive in Dodgson’s album [A].X. During the summer of 1867, Dodgson – together with his Christ Church colleague Henry Parry Liddon (1829–90) – made a trip to Russia, travelling by train through Europe. On this trip, Dodgson bought a number of photographs – not just scenic views but also photographs of Russian people and children (upper-class children, of course, not the peasants). We know he acquired a photograph of Princess Olga Galitzine, aged 6. Sadly, none of these photographs appears to have survived. Annie Gertrude Chataway (1866–1951) was the dedicatee of Dodgson’s epic nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876). In some issues of the first edition given as inscribed copies to friends, Dodgson pasted in a copy of a portrait of Gertrude Chataway taken by Arthur Debenham (b. 1846), photographer at

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15. Oscar Rejlander, from a photograph in the RPS collection, c.1862

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Sandown, Isle of Wight, taken under Dodgson’s supervision. After Dodgson gave up photography in July 1880, he used professional photographers to take portraits of some of his child-friends, using in particular William Kent (b. 1820) of Eastbourne, thus continuing his collection of photographs long after he had ceased to practise the art himself. Alice, Agnes, Evie and Jessie Hull, Marion Richards, May and Edith Miller, Winnie Howes, Clare Turton, Gertrude Chataway and Edith Rix were all taken by other photographers for Dodgson’s collection. On 25 May 1882, Dodgson wrote in his diary: went (as arranged some while ago) to spend the evening with Mr. Coleman. I was with him from 8 till about 11, and had a very enjoyable evening, looking through his drawings. I selected 22, to be sent to Mr. Robinson to be photographed for me. Two of them (one dancing, and one with tamborine [sic]) were drawn from Connie Gilchrist. Two (one crouching on pillow, and one hands behind) from Frances Mace (who afterwards married a clergyman) and one (picking flower) from Ellen Feldon, who (or whose sister) is painted by Dobson in the Royal Academy this year.21

Fortunately, many of these photographs of artwork by William Stephen Coleman (1829–1904) have survived. It appears that Henry Peach Robinson not only supplied Dodgson with the prints he had ordered but also made a set for himself. This latter group has now made its way to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Some of Dodgson’s own copies have also survived, all marked with his coding on the back and with a rubber stamp of his name. Dodgson’s album [A].X shows the range of photographs he collected. The album was used specifically for ‘other photographers’ and contains 53 photographs. In addition, at the University of Texas, there is a collection of 15 cartede-visites, said to have come from Dodgson’s collection and purchased by the avid collector Warren Weaver. This claim is very spurious, especially as they have a white label attached that says ‘From the Collection of Lewis Carroll’ known to have been produced in 1902 and Dodgson’s monogram is written (forged) over the top of this label in some instances! Also, the subject matter does not at all fit Dodgson’s tastes.22 Dodgson was keen to have photographs of celebrities of his day. In many cases, he persuaded them to sit for his own camera, but this was not always possible. Album [A].X contains several photographs that could be described as Victorian celebrities, including Herbert Watkins’s portrait of Charles Dickens (1812–70) and images of dramatist John Baldwin Buckstone (1802–79),

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scientist Michael Faraday (1791–1867), politician and prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98), novelist George MacDonald (1824–1905), writer Henry Taylor (1800–86), poet laureate Alfred Tennyson (1809–92), actresses Ellen (1847–1928) and Kate Terry (1844–1924), novelist Samuel Warren (1807–77) and cleric Samuel Wilberforce (1805–73). Of the theatrical photographs, an image by Oscar Rejlander of four men in sailor costumes is perhaps uncharacteristic of Dodgson’s photographic taste, but he probably acquired it for reasons of composition and arrangement – an important feature of Dodgson’s group portraits. And the album also contains a photograph of the Stockton and Darlington Railway Engine Number 1 (1825). When the Dodgson family moved to Croft-on-Tees in 1843, they were very close to this railway line, so it was not surprising that trains and railways became a feature of Dodgson’s family games and early writings. By way of contrast, Dodgson’s own range of photographs is wider than people imagine, including landscapes and artwork, but his taste in collecting the work of other photographers mainly focuses on portraiture. Most of his photographic albums were sold after he died and several have still not come to light. This makes it difficult to assess his full taste in photography, but we can be sure he appreciated the work of amateur artistic photographers more than the commercial photographic dealers who churned out carte-de-visites in cartloads. He had a discriminating eye and good taste in quality photographs.

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7 ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS

The Victorian Art World Dodgson was fascinated by time. Time is fixed at the Mad Tea-Party in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), for it is always six o’clock. Painting and photography have this same attribute – a moment in time is captured and the scene or event is transfixed. The Hatter, Hare and Dormouse continue drinking tea, gradually moving around the table as the cups and saucers get used up. But time does not progress: they are at a perpetual tea time. A photograph of a person in 1856 may survive to this day – the portrait unchanged from the moment the glass plate was exposed. Our interpretation of that photograph might differ from the interpretation of 1856, but what we see now is what the photographer saw many decades ago. Dodgson was a great lover of art and a pioneer amateur photographer in the artistic rather than the commercial tradition. Based at Oxford, Dodgson was easily able to get to London by railway – the main Victorian form of transport – and these excursions invariably meant a visit to an art gallery or exhibition. His surviving diaries reveal that he often spent many hours at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions to see the latest work of living artists. For example, in 1855 (the first surviving year of his diaries), he ‘paid a long visit to the RA’1 on 21 June and later ‘went to the Gallery of the British Artists where I scarcely got the worth of my shilling’.2 Guided by the critical eye of John Ruskin, he had the ability to discriminate between what he saw as good and inferior work and he preferred the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and a select few of the other artists of his day. In time, he became personally acquainted with this circle of Victorian artists, visiting their homes and studios and even taking photographic portraits of them.

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Dodgson’s acquaintance with the Pre-Raphaelites began in August 1857, when a group of Oxford university men elected to decorate the walls of the Oxford Union building with Arthurian paintings. The Oxford Union was established in 1823 as a forum for free discussion and debate. Dodgson’s uncle, Hassard Hume Dodgson, was one of the union’s earliest supporters and was president in 1826. Dodgson was admitted to the union in March 1857, although he had some reservations, noting ‘it might be worth while now to be a member. [. . . ] I have avoided it hitherto, as it would have been too great a temptation to wasting time’.3 The new debating hall, designed by Benjamin Woodward (1816–61), was first used in February 1857. Six months later, the task of decorating the hall began. The main artists were Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82), whose idea it was, William Morris (1834–96) and Edward Burne-Jones (1833–98). They shared a house in the High, opposite Queen’s College. Morris and BurneJones were alumni of Exeter College. Joining them were John Hungerford Pollen (1820–1902) of Merton, Valentine Cameron Prinsep (1838–1904), John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908) of Christ Church, Arthur Hughes (1830–1915) and William Riviere (1806–76). The sculptor Alexander Munro (1825–71) also became part of this artistic group. Dodgson took an interest in the murals in the debating hall and admired the work of these new young artists, later photographing five of them and commissioning one to paint for him. An evening party at the home of Dr Henry Acland, professor of medicine at Oxford, in November 1857 resulted in Dodgson scrutinising some original drawings and photographs. Acland showed Dodgson a drawing by Ruskin of a skeleton hand, some sketches made by Dean Henry Liddell when he was an undergraduate and a photograph of a sculpture by Munro entitled Children’s Play. This latter photograph was much admired and Acland obtained a copy for Dodgson. On 22 February 1858, Mrs Sarah Acland invited Dodgson to meet Munro at her home and suggested that Dodgson show some of his photographs. Dodgson wrote in his diary that Munro ‘promised to send me a second picture of his group [. . . ] and begged I would look in at his studio [. . . ] when next in town. He suggests that I should photograph his bust of Dante, which Dr Acland has’.4 Thus began a friendship that lasted the rest of Munro’s short life (he died in 1871 at the age of 46). Most of Munro’s work consisted of busts and statues of famous people, but he was also commissioned to sculpt the children of his patrons. Dodgson visited Munro’s London studio with his brother Edwin in April 1858 and recorded:

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he showed us over his studio, containing, among many half-finished designs, four statues which are going to the Royal Academy tomorrow. He has a large collection of photographs, many from his own sculpture; one he gave me. [. . . ] He gave me carte-blanche to photograph anything and everything in his studio, when I come to town in June, whether he is there or not. It is a tempting inducement to take my camera there.5

Dodgson’s diary is missing for the rest of 1858, but a series of photographs of Munro’s sculptures confirms that Dodgson made the trip to Munro’s studio and photographed several works. Dodgson’s friendship with Munro opened the door to other significant artists of the day. On 21 July 1863, Munro took Dodgson to visit Arthur Hughes. Dodgson wrote in his diary: ‘We went together to Wandsworth, and called on Mr. A. Hughes, and saw some lovely pictures, and his four little children, one of whom is painted in The Woodman’s Return. He also is to come, with his children to be photographed.’6 This picture was also called Home From Work and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1861. On a second visit a few days later, Dodgson noted: ‘I arranged to take the little picture he is painting.’7 The picture that Arthur Hughes was painting was called The Lady With the Lilacs, possibly a study for Silver and Gold. Almost three months later, Dodgson noted on 8 October: ‘Mr. Hughes told me that the picture I bought of his is finished, and we arranged that he should bring it (as well as the children to be photographed) [. . . ] on Monday.’8 The painting, a half-length study of a young woman with her right hand raised, as if to pick a lilac blossom, hung in his sitting room at Christ Church above the fireplace. After his death, the picture remained in the family until it was sold at auction and it then went to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. Dodgson photographed the Hughes family on 12 October 1863. Alexander Munro was also instrumental in introducing Dodgson to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Munro took Dodgson to Rossetti’s Chelsea home on 30 September 1863, where Dodgson saw ‘some very lovely pictures, most of them only half finished’. Dodgson continues: ‘He was most hospitable in his offers of the use of house and garden for picture-taking, and I arranged to take my camera there on Monday.’9 On the same day, Dodgson visited the studio of William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) and saw him at work on The Afterglow in Egypt. Dodgson began a four-day photographic session at Rossetti’s home on 6 October 1863, taking pictures of the Rossetti clan as well as some of their friends. They included the translator of French, Italian, biblical, and classical

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16. Dante G. Rossetti, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1863

texts Charles Bagot Cayley (1823–83) – the younger brother of Arthur Cayley – the French painter and sculptor Alphonse Legros (1837–1911) and some of Rossetti’s models. He also photographed a portfolio of Rossetti’s drawings. Clearly, Dodgson was in his element, enjoying this foray into a new artistic world. He was just beginning to make his name as an amateur photographer, but he was still unknown as the writer Lewis Carroll, as the Alice books were yet to be published. By late 1863, Dodgson was well acquainted with two of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood – Rossetti and Holman Hunt – but he was keen to

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meet the third. He was familiar with the work of John Everett Millais (1829– 96), which he had seen exhibited, and on 7 April 1864, armed with a letter of introduction from Holman Hunt, Dodgson set out to meet Millais in person. He recorded in his diary: I first went to 7A by mistake, and while waiting at the door noticed a gentleman who was walking up and down in front of the next house, and whom I thought like the pictures of Millais. We interchanged some remarks about the difficulty of getting the door answered. Then came some children with a governess, and I said to myself ‘there comes My First Sermon,’ but they passed the door I was at, made a rush at the gentleman (evidently their father), and went into the next house. At last I found out my mistake, and that the gentleman was Millais himself: he was very kind, and took me into his studio [. . . ] and sent for his children – two boys, and three girls.10

This introduction led to a photographic session with the family in July 1865, during which Mr and Mrs Millais and two daughters were photographed. Another artist that Dodgson admired was Sophie Anderson (1823–1903). French by birth, born Gengembre, she came to England in 1854 and exhibited frequently at the British Institution and the Royal Academy. Dodgson saw her picture Rosy Morn exhibited in April 1864 and he described it as the ‘loveliest of all’ the paintings in the exhibition – ‘the head and arms of a child leaning with one elbow on a pillow, with dreamy, Sant-like eyes’.11 His reference was to the artist James Sant (1820–1916), whom Dodgson later met in April 1866. On the same day that Dodgson paid his first short visit to the Millais family, he decided to make a call on Sophie and her husband, Walter Anderson, also a renowned artist. He noted: ‘I found them at home, very pleasant people, but there were no pictures in the house except some half-coloured sketches of heads – all exceedingly pretty.’12 This was the first of several visits. In June 1864, Dodgson purchased one of Sophie Anderson’s paintings entitled Minnie Morton, which he hung in his rooms at Christ Church. When his sister Mary married in April 1869, he decided to give her the picture as a wedding gift, but he asked Sophie Anderson to make a copy for him. He also photographed the picture, so it was clearly a painting he much admired. In 1865, he made another purchase from Sophie Anderson. He wrote on 6 July: Paid another visit to the Royal Academy, then to the Andersons, where I saw several beautiful pictures, and gave Mr. Anderson some hints on the perspective

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of a picture of his, which will lead to his altering it a good deal. I bought a little picture by Mrs. Anderson, of a child’s head in profile: the original was in the house, and was called into the room, a beautiful child about 12, Elizabeth Turnbull by name. I intend taking a photograph of her in the same attitude as the picture.13

The picture was entitled Girl With Lilac and the model was photographed on 21 July 1865. This small portrait was displayed on Dodgson’s mantelpiece at Christ Church throughout the rest of his life and remained within the Dodgson family until it was sold at Christie’s in March 1998. At some time between 1858 and 1862 (when the diaries are missing), Dodgson met the artist Henry Darvall (fl. 1848–89). He had seen and admired his work exhibited at the Royal Academy and commissioned him to paint Irene MacDonald, daughter of the writer George MacDonald. The painting, probably based on a photograph of Irene, has not come to light. Dodgson visited the artist’s studio on 1 April 1864 and photographed him on 12 July 1864 at Lambeth Palace, where he had set up his camera for several days, inviting friends to come and be photographed. On at least two occasions, Dodgson walked around the British Artists’ exhibition with Darvall as his guide. On 10 April 1867, they saw two paintings by Thomas Heaphy (1813–73), one called Writing to Papa, a child lying on the floor, using a small portmanteau as a desk, the other of General Fairfax in flight, resting in a shed, with his little daughter lying fainting on his knee: her head and flowing yellow hair, against a dark blue background,

which Dodgson described as being ‘very lovely’.14 Following his usual practice, a few days later, Dodgson called on Heaphy to make his acquaintance. He wrote on 23 April 1867 that Heaphy received him very kindly, adding: We had a long and interesting talk, in spite of his being so deaf that he has to carry an ear-trumpet.15

Three days later, Dodgson wrote to his sister Mary and included this account: During my last visit to town I paid a very interesting visit to a new artist, Mr. Heaphy. Do you remember that curious story of a ghost-lady (in Household

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Words or All the Year Round), who sat to an artist for her picture? It was called ‘Mr. H – – ’s Story,’ and he was the writer. When it appeared, either William or Arthur Wilcox (I forget which) interchanged one or two letters with him on the subject. That fact, coupled with my great admiration for his pictures in the ‘British Artists’ this year, was my only pretext for calling on him. However he received me most kindly, and we had a very interesting talk about the ghost, which certainly is one of the most curious and inexplicable stories I ever heard.

Thomas Heaphy was well known for his pictures depicting ghosts and apparitions, a topic that also interested Dodgson. His letter goes on to report: Mr. Heaphy showed me a most interesting collection of drawings he has made abroad. He has been about, hunting up the earliest and most authentic pictures of Our Saviour: some merely outlines, some coloured pictures. They agree wonderfully in the character of the face, and one he says there is no doubt was done before the year 150. He wrote some papers on the subject, in the Art Journal, and gave facsimiles of some of his drawings: but he intends to publish a book, giving a more complete series of them. I feel sure from his tone, that he is doing this in a religious spirit, and not merely as an artist: and I think the book will be extremely interesting.16

Heaphy did not live to see his book published, but a number of friends, including Dodgson and John Ruskin, helped to get it published posthumously. Heaphy’s The Likeness of Christ appeared in 1880. On 4 April 1868, during a further visit to Heaphy’s studio, Dodgson saw a beautiful picture he is sending to the Royal Academy of a child making the tea for breakfast, to be called It’s only Singing. I got him to undertake to paint for me a repetition (with some necessary modifications) of the fainting child in his picture of last year.17

The picture was eventually entitled Dreaming of Fairy-land. Dodgson also acquired another picture by Heaphy of an infant St Cecilia; both paintings were completed in April 1869. Both appear to have been sold after Dodgson’s death at the dispersal of his estate in 1898 and their whereabouts are now unknown. One of Heaphy’s daughters, Theodosia ‘Theo’ (1859–1920), was an artist in her own right and she studied at Thomas Heatherley’s Newman Street Studio in London, where Dodgson often visited her and sometimes borrowed costumes for photographic purposes. Heatherley offered his studio to members of the general

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public wishing to study art, including life classes and costume modelling. On 21 December 1881, Dodgson recorded: I went to Mr. Heatherley’s, about 11, and stayed talking to Theo Heaphy, partly watching her draw, partly trying my own hand, partly watching some dozen students painting from ‘the life’ – a handsome Egyptian girl in gorgeous robes – till about 1.18

Dodgson was keen to support new artists, particularly young women, and he even paid for them to study with the help of the income he received from the sale of the Alice books. For example, a neighbour’s daughter, Lucy Walters (b. 1856), painted two of Dodgson’s nieces, Nella and Violet. Dodgson wrote to thank her for the picture on 3 May 1887 and added: Thinking over what we said about your work, and how you would like to do some with Mr. Herkomer, it occurred to me how I would like to treat you (if you will allow me) to a term or two of study with him, at Bushey.19

Lucy Walters was then aged 31 and without the financial means to pay for such tuition and she accepted Dodgson’s offer. Hubert von Herkomer (1849–1914) opened an art school at his home at Bushey, Hertfordshire, in November 1883, taking students on a termly basis. He was himself an accomplished artist and portrait painter. By strange coincidence, after Dodgson’s death his friends at Christ Church commissioned Herkomer to paint a portrait of Dodgson (based on photographs), which now hangs in Hall. Another young artist who Dodgson aimed to assist in her studies was Ethel Hatch (1869–1975). Dodgson knew the Hatch family well and photographed all the children. Their father lectured at the University of Oxford in ecclesiastical history. Dodgson tried to make arrangements for Ethel to study with Herkomer, but it was not to be. In the end, she went to the Slade School of Art in London and became an artist of flower arrangements and foreign scenes, living to the grand age of 105. Her paintings surface at art dealers from time to time, but she is not a well-known artist today. Dodgson’s own artistic abilities were developed through the medium of photography, but he did try his hand at drawing from time to time and sketchbooks of his attempts survive. He was never really satisfied with his own draughtsmanship and ended up destroying many of his drawings. Collingwood tells us that Dodgson’s own drawings

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were in no way remarkable. Ruskin, whose advice he took on his artistic capabilities, told him that he had not enough talent to make it worth his while to devote much time to sketching.20

Yet his artistic eye was effective when it came to suggesting an idea for an illustration and his criticisms of his inability to draw were probably not fully justified. Many drawings, some dating back to his childhood, still exist. In these, we see a definite skill in composing humorous sketches and drawings to illustrate poems and stories. The earliest to survive were drawn in the Dodgson family magazine Useful and Instructive Poetry. They were composed for a younger brother and sister around 1845 when Dodgson was a boy of 13 years. The pictures show a surprising competence in one so young. The proportions of the figures look right and there is accurate use of perspective, even though Dodgson does not make it easy for himself in showing one figure with legs crossed. There is clear evidence of early artistic talent that would probably have improved with appropriate nurture and encouragement. As a storyteller, he probably had images in his mind that helped him describe his tales. He wrote in a pictorial style: the reader is able to imagine the setting, the characters and the events. Several of his child-friends remembered how Dodgson often made small sketches as he told a story and a few examples of his storyboard drawings survive. By the time Dodgson added his drawings to the manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, he was 30 years old. We know he went to an immense amount of trouble to get these pictures right. There are practice drawings in the archives at Christ Church Library. He consulted books on natural history to be certain that the animals in the story looked realistic, although when it came to mythical creatures, he let his mind run riot. He left spaces for the pictures until he had decided exactly how each one should look and only then did he copy them in. In this way, he understood the art of illustrating a story, spacing the pictures throughout the text to maintain interest and providing a visual context for the tale. Tenniel’s own illustrations used many of Dodgson’s picture ideas, probably at Dodgson’s suggestion. Many years later, when Dodgson contemplated a facsimile of the manuscript being published, it was the pictures that gave him some concern. In a letter to Alice Hargreaves dated 1 March 1885, he wrote: I would be much obliged if you would lend it me (registered post I should think would be safest) that I may consider the possibilities. I have not seen it for about

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20 years: so am by no means sure that the illustrations may not prove to be so awfully bad, that to reproduce them would be absurd.21

Of course, his concern about the illustrations was unfounded. They may be quaint, amateurish and lacking in the draughtsmanship of professional artists, but they nevertheless convey the fantasy image of Wonderland that he had conceived himself. He probably first imagined them when he initially told the story to Alice Liddell and her sisters, but they were certainly well formed when he constructed the book he was to give her as an early 1864 Christmas gift. Dodgson was shrewd enough to realise that a ‘top name’ illustrator would have a significant effect on the sales of his story, especially as he was a complete ‘unknown’ as an author. Choosing Tenniel was a wise move. Tenniel was well known and some of the early reviews mention Tenniel but not the author! There is no doubt that Tenniel’s illustrations were a major contribution to the popularity and success of both Alice books. But where did Dodgson get his artistic inspiration? We know he regularly attended both art galleries and art studios. He was a connoisseur of Victorian art, particularly the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, and saw many, many pictures throughout his life. He even commissioned some to be painted for him that hung in his rooms at Christ Church. A brief mention of four examples of paintings and drawings that Dodgson saw and commented on will give some idea of what appealed to him. One of the earliest paintings Dodgson ever saw in a gallery, dating to a visit to the Royal Academy in June 1855, was Millais’s Rescue: We first hastily went over the Royal Academy exhibition, where Millais’ Rescue struck me as far the best picture there.22

The dramatic picture shows a fireman rescuing two children from a burning house – one under his arm, the other on his back with her arms around his neck – about to deliver them safely into the arms of their mother. Dodgson was impressed when he saw a painting by William Dyce (1806– 64) entitled Titian Preparing to Make His First Essay in Colouring in July 1857: A highly poetical face, the whole picture is well conceived. I took it at first to be Pre-Raphaelite.23

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The reason why Dodgson mistook it for a work of the Pre-Raphaelites was probably the bright colours used in the painting and the naturalistic woody setting. Young Titian sits on a chair, sketchbook at the ready, flowers tipped out of a basket appear to be his subject, but he is distracted by a statue of the Madonna and Child. The work of Arthur Hughes appealed to Dodgson and he commented on his painting entitled A Music Party in two diary entries for 2 April and 17 May 1864: Called on Mr. A. Hughes, and saw the two pictures nearly ready for the Royal Academy, one a lady playing music to her husband and children (the latter done from Totty and Agnes).24

Hughes’s own wife, Tryphena n´ee Foord (b. 1831), was the main model and his son, Arthur Foord ‘Totty’ (1856–1934), and a daughter, Agnes (1859–1945), pose for the children. The model for the husband is not identified. The painting, in a mediaeval setting, is richly coloured. First to the Royal Academy. I could find no pictures more beautiful than Arthur Hughes’ Music Party.25

Dodgson was so impressed by the picture that he attempted to photograph the family in a similar pose as depicted in the painting, mentioned by Hughes in a letter sent probably in late 1864: We have all the photos you mention – or shall have with those the children have chosen – except the group like the Music Party, and which I should like to have as I have not yet seen it.26

The photograph, which included another daughter, Amy Hughes (1857–1915), taking the place of the husband whilst the rest of the family assumed the same roles, was taken at Lambeth Palace on 19 July 1864. The painting was executed between 1861 and 1864 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1864 and several times thereafter and is now part of the Lady Lever Art Gallery Collection at Port Sunlight. Dodgson also admired the work of Edwin Longsden Long (1829–91) and he went to see his pictures on more than one occasion. About Anno Domini, on 27 May 1884, he wrote:

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Then took Theo to see Long’s great picture, of the flight into Egypt, called Anno Domini; the Virgin and Child I thought inferior to the accessories – a long train of Egyptians etc.27

The picture, also known as The Flight Into Egypt, was a large painting dated 1883. At least fifty people are shown in the foreground in a long procession. They include a gold statue of Isis and her son, Horus, carried aloft by slaves and many other figures in the distance. The central figures are Mary on a donkey carrying the infant Jesus, with Joseph walking beside her, as the family escape into Egypt. Dodgson went to see it again in May 1884 and for a third time in March 1893, when he wrote: Then to Bond Street, to see Edwin Long’s pictures. The best, I think, are The Flight into Egypt, and a pair about Zeuxis painting a picture of Venus from six selected maidens.28

The latter companion pictures were entitled The Search for Beauty and The Chosen Five and dated 1885. These examples of paintings seen and admired by Dodgson are just a very small selection to give some idea of the style of art that Dodgson appreciated. To a great extent, Dodgson conformed to the ideas of Victorian sentiment that pervaded art at this time. As we know, Dodgson gave up photography in 1880. He felt photography had started to take more time than he could afford to spend, especially when commercial photographers were now commonplace in all major towns and he could easily make use of their services when required. In 1882, Dodgson went back to the creative art of drawing, especially drawing from life. His association with professional artists gave him access to models and some of his contacts gave him the opportunity to draw nude studies of children, which he particularly liked to do. One such contact was with Mrs Ethel Bell (1854–1933). A sister of Gertrude Chataway, she had married the journalist Charles Frederic Moberly Bell (1847–1911), who later became the manager of The Times. They had several children, among them Iris Mary (1883–1968) and Cynthia (1887–1961), both of whom sat for Dodgson as child models. Dodgson’s models were usually young female children from well-to-do families. He strove laboriously to create a pleasing image that was anatomically accurate. His eye delighted in the figure of a female child, seen by many Victorians as an example of innocence – almost angelic in form. We know of no examples of nude studies drawn by Dodgson of mature women.

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In a letter to Gertrude Thomson, dated 8 October 1893, he makes arrangements for her to be with him for a drawing session: I have arranged to arrive at the Bells’ soon after 101/2 next Saturday, to try to draw Iris and Cynthia. Could you conveniently come and draw also? The results of my efforts will, I expect, be ‘nil’: but, if you were also to make a sketch or two, the children would not feel, quite so keenly, that their trouble in ‘sitting’ had been wasted.29

On 14 October, Dodgson wrote in his diary: To town by the 8.30. Reached the Bells about 101/2. Miss E. G. Thomson arrived soon afterwards, and, till past 12, she made, and I tried to make, sketches of Iris and Cynthia, who were very willing and very patient models, with lovely figures, and yet more lovely innocence. It purifies one even to see such purity.30

The following letter to Gertrude Thomson is dated 23 June 1893: My dear Miss Thomson, I have much pleasure in sending you this cheque: and the sooner I have to send another and the larger the amount, the better I shall be pleased! Your remarks on Art are most interesting, though I don’t quite understand about fairies losing ‘grace,’ if too like human children. Of course I grant that to be like some actual child is to lose grace, because no living child is perfect in form: many causes have lowered the race from what God made it. But the perfect human form, free from these faults, is surely equally applicable to men, and fairies, and angels? Perhaps that is what you mean, that the Artist can imagine, and design, more perfect forms than we ever find in life? Thanks for what you say of my taste for Art. I love the effort to draw: but I fail utterly to please even my own eye, though now and then I seem to get somewhere near a right line or two, when I have a live child to draw from. But I have no time left now for such things. In the next life, I do hope we shall not only see lovely forms, such as this world does not contain, but shall also be able to draw them.31

Gertrude Thomson, in her reminiscences of Dodgson, described him as not only an admirable amateur photographer, but an enthusiastic sketcher of children, especially when they were ‘dressed in nothing,’ as he called it, and, apropos of this, he once told me an amusing remark of one of Sir No¨el Paton’s children. They

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were very beautiful, and served their father as models in those two exquisite illustrations for Kingsley’s Water Babies. In the design of the fairies floating through the water the front view figure is an absolute portrait of one little daughter. One day a friend in looking at it said to the child, ‘Why, that’s you.’ ‘Yes,’ was the reply, ‘it’s me, but I don’t often dress like that!’ I consider that he naturally had a decided gift for drawing, but he was entirely untrained, so that his sketches, though they had a certain feeling for beauty, were, of course, very crude.32

Another life drawing by Dodgson shows a child on the beach at Eastbourne – a seaside sketch of Emma Louisa ‘Louie’ Waddy, dated 23 July 1877.33 She was the daughter of Samuel Danks Waddy (1830–1902), a barrister, and his wife, Emma (d. 1898). The picture shows Dodgson’s ability to execute an exterior drawing, probably taking no more than 20 minutes, and then to finish and colour it back in his rooms. Dodgson’s competence in using colour is also revealed, but we must remember that he used watercolour from the earliest sketches in the family magazines; he was not a novice when it came to colouring his drawings. Dodgson was probably right to use the professional artists of his day to illustrate his books. Their work helped to bring the books to the public’s attention, especially the two Alice books illustrated by Tenniel. But his ability to convey ideas to his illustrators using his own artistic mind’s eye greatly benefitted the illustrated books he produced. He was known among the Victorian artistic fraternity as a patron, friend and supporter.

Arthur Sullivan Dodgson first heard the music of Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900) on 11 April 1867 at a concert in St James’s Hall. Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (1821–85) sang ‘Will You Come?’ with music composed by Sullivan and words by Adelaide Anne Proctor (1825–64) and Dodgson described the concert as ‘a great treat’.34 Sullivan at this time was known as a composer of serious music, but he also tried his hand at writing music for comic opera. On 11 May 1867, Dodgson went to London to visit the Royal Academy exhibition but went to the Adelphi Theatre in the afternoon to see an amateur performance that he also described as ‘a great treat’: The first piece was a very funny operatic version of Box and Cox. ‘Box’ by Quinton Twiss [a member of Christ Church], ‘Cox’ by George Du Maurier (one of the cleverest actors and singers I have seen for a long time), and ‘Bouncer’ (a seedy military man, who always enters singing the ‘Rataplan’) by A. [Arthur] Blunt.35

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This was a comedy by Francis Cowley Burnand (1836–1917) – with music by Sullivan – this musical version being renamed Cox and Box. Sullivan did not meet the dramatist William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911) until 1869 and the partnership began two years later, when Sullivan wrote the music to accompany Gilbert’s Thespis. In 1875, Richard D’Oyly Carte (1844–1901), the manager of the Royalty Theatre in London, commissioned Gilbert to write the comic cantata Trial by Jury and suggested that Sullivan write the music. This proved to be a great success, but Dodgson does not appear to have seen it. The next collaboration was The Sorcerer, first performed at the Op´era Comique in November 1877. Dodgson saw this on 14 January 1878 and thought it ‘poor, though Mr. Grossmith as Sorcerer was excellent’.36 George Grossmith (1848–1912) was made famous by his role as ‘John Wellington Wells’ in this operetta. Long before the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan became famous, Dodgson had approached Sullivan in March 1877 about writing some music for him, but at the back of his mind was the idea of making Alice into an operetta. Without giving all the particulars, he probably suggested that Sullivan set music to some of his poems. Sullivan replied on 22 March 1877: ‘I am very glad indeed to get good words for music. But I do not accept commissions to set words, preferring to buy the right to use them.’37 Undaunted by this reply, Dodgson wrote again to Sullivan on 24 March 1877:

Dear Sir, I thank you for your letter. I thought it needless to trouble you with any particulars till I knew if my proposal were at all possible. And now, though your answer gives little or no ground to hope, I think I may as well, before giving up all hope, tell you what it is I want, as perhaps it might change your view of my question. I am the writer of a little book for children, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which has proved so unexpectedly popular that the idea of dramatising it has been several times started. If that is ever done, I shall want it done in the best possible way, sparing no expense – and one feature I should want would be good music. So I thought (knowing your charming compositions) it would be well to get 2 or 3 of the songs in it set by you, to be kept for the occasion (if that should arrive) of its being dramatised. If that idea were finally abandoned, we might then arrange for publishing them with music. In haste, Faithfully yours, C. L. Dodgson (‘Lewis Carroll’)38

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17. Arthur Sullivan, photograph by Ellis & Walery, c.1870

At this point, Sullivan realised he was dealing with a successful and well-known writer and his tone changed. He replied on 30 March 1877: I wrote hurriedly, overlooking the obvious fact that you were the Lewis Carroll who has delighted and charmed old and young alike. I have often thought that

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Alice might be dramatized, but to my thinking it would have to be done with much aid from scenery and music. It would make a beautiful ‘fairy piece.’ If you should ever give practical effect to your notion, I shall be very glad indeed to enter into it with you. I may now explain that Song writing is the largest source of my income, and as I keep a royalty on each, I could not afford to write a song, and part with it outright except under conditions which would be thought absurdly extravagant. I will gladly give you any information in my power to enable you to get a proper return for your words, if they are set to music either by myself or others.39

The stumbling block remained – both wished to keep the copyright of the production – but Dodgson was prepared to consider the possibility of Sullivan taking a royalty every time the music was performed. He wrote back to Sullivan on 31 March: My dear Sir, I have again to thank you for a letter which, like the last, is nearly final, but just leaves the gate of Hope ajar. Excuse my troubling you with more questions, but I should much like to know what the sum is, which you say you thought ‘absurdly extravagant,’ for the copyright of the musical setting of a song: and also what the terms would be, supposing you had a ‘royalty’ for every time it was sung in public. For my own part, I think the ‘royalty’ system the best of the two, usually: but the other has the advantage of finality. You speak of your readiness to enter on the matter, if I should ever carry out the idea of dramatising Alice but that is just what I don’t want to wait for. We might wait an indefinite time, and then, when the thing was settled, have to get our music prepared in a hurry – and, worse still, you might not then be able or willing to do it. That is my reason for wishing to get something ready beforehand: and what I know of your music is so delicious (they tell me I have not a musical ear – so my criticism is valueless, I fear) that I should like to secure something from you, now, while there is leisure time to do it in.40

This brought silence from Sullivan. He seemed unwilling to discuss matters concerning the royalties gained from his published songs and seemed in no hurry to enter into any contract with Dodgson for producing an Alice operetta. He was, of course, working with Gilbert on The Sorcerer, so he had plenty of work in hand. Not one to be put off, on 12 May 1877 Dodgson sent a gentle reminder to Sullivan that his letter dated 31 March had not been answered. This provoked a reply on 17 May:

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I still think it would be better to treat the whole work dramatically than to set single Songs. My idea would be to make it into a delicious little extravaganza, with a great deal of delicate music of various kinds, solo and concerted. Carefully mounted, it would be a great success, artistically and financially.41

The practicalities had not been answered nor the matter of royalty payments. Clearly, Dodgson wrote again enquiring about the financial arrangements (his letter is missing). Sullivan replied on 23 May: As [to] the songs in Alice [. . . ] I would set them to music for thirty guineas each, merely stipulating that if the sale of each reached 5000 I should then receive a royalty of 6d. a copy on all sold beyond that number.42

At this point, Dodgson was silent – at least for some weeks. He considered the matter carefully and then wrote to Sullivan on 5 July: My dear Sir, One idea (one that runs through your letter) that the Songs in Alice, if set to music for dramatic purposes, would also be bought in considerable quantities as drawing-room songs, seems to me very questionable. I doubt if they would sell at all: they would lose so much by being taken out of their surroundings. So that that ‘royalty’ would be worth very little: a royalty on each dramatic performance would be much more likely to be profitable to you. Now the question occurs to me (looking at the matter commercially), supposing Alice were produced as a drama, and I were to pay 30 guineas each for the 8 songs in it, and (say) another 160 for additional songs and incidental music i.e. 400 guineas in all. Now I do not know the amounts of author’s royalties on plays, but I have an idea that 10s. a night would be not an unusual amount. This would require a ‘run’ of nearly 2 years before the outlay on music alone would be repaid. Is it at all reasonable to expect such a run? My own feeling is that such a plan would end in heavy loss, which I should hardly be justified in risking, and that I should be inclined to ask you, if such a drama were contemplated, whether we could not arrange that, I supplying the libretto and you the music, we should divide the profits, if any, equally between us, and that I should bear the loss, if any. That however is all visionary. As a practical conclusion to my letter, if you do not mind undertaking so small a commission, I should very much like you to try one song in Alice – any that you prefer (except of course those that were written for existing tunes, such as ‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ and ‘Beautiful Star’) – or in Looking-Glass.

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The music would not be published (at any rate not at present) but laid aside in hopes of the book being dramatised some day.43

Here, the correspondence came to an end. Such a proposal as that made by Dodgson did not appeal to Sullivan and the wonderful prospect of a Dodgson and Sullivan operetta vanished like the body of the Cheshire cat – only the idea remained. Sullivan’s nephew recalled many years later that ‘My Uncle and I once had a long talk about this. He told me that Carroll wrote to him when Uncle was in a state of great distress through the death of my father and asked him to collaborate’. He went on to say that Sullivan did not know Carroll from Adam. Alice was at the beginning of her life and had not reached him so to speak. As Carroll was persistent [Sullivan] got a copy of the book and liked it greatly. Then he tried hard to set it. He sat up all hours of the night over it. But the odd metre beat him. He said he couldn’t get attuned to it.44

Although Dodgson initially gave up on the idea, his publisher, Alexander Macmillan, did not. When in November 1881 Macmillan was approached by the composer Annie E. Armstrong (1853–1918?) for permission to set all the songs in Alice’s Adventures and Looking-Glass to music, he thought that Sullivan would be the better person to make this idea a financial success. He wrote to Dodgson on 29 November: Miss Armstrong’s application is for leave to do the whole of the Alice and LookingGlass songs. I doubt if you should give this leave. A single song is different. If you could get Arthur Sullivan to do them and publish them jointly with yourself then it might be a success for common benefit – yours and his. I advise refusing the large demand but saying you will allow her one or two.45

Dodgson knew that Sullivan had already turned down the idea, so he was willing to give Annie Armstrong the permission she needed to set music to the songs. Songs From ‘Alice in Wonder-land’ was published by F. Pitman Hart & Co., London, in 1885. Dodgson was still keen to see a full dramatised version of his book with music composed to accompany the performance and he decided that he should approach other renowned Victorian composers. In July, he consulted James Taylor (1833– 1900), who was the organist at New College, Oxford. Taylor recommended the composer Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (1847–1935), and on 6 August 1883,

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Dodgson noted in his diary: ‘Wrote to Mr. A. Mackenzie to sound him on the subject of some day setting an Alice operetta’.46 His letter is reproduced here: Dear Sir, I write to ask a business-question, but must begin by introducing myself. I shall sign my real name, but I have, as ‘Lewis Carroll,’ written 2 little books for children, called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It has been suggested to me, as the books have turned out popular with children, to make, or get made, a drama embodying one or other of these books, and to have it set to music as an Operetta. I have enough friends in the stage-world to get it produced. Now of course the first question is as to the Composer, and not only have I been strongly recommended to apply to you, by a friend who is a firstclass professional musician, but I have heard enough of your work to feel sure for myself that you are a genuine and original musician, to whom I may with confidence commit the task, if you should ever be able and willing to undertake it. My one question, this time, is ‘Is there any chance, say within 2 or 3 years, that you would be willing to entertain such a proposal at all?’ If you say no, I need trouble you no further: if ‘yes,’ I will write in more detail. Believe me Faithfully yours, C. L. Dodgson47

The response was positive. Dodgson recorded: Heard from Mr. Mackenzie (at Florence) that he will be glad to undertake the Alice operetta – at the end of 1884 or beginning of 1885. So I have a motive now for trying to write it: but it is a formidable task!48

Dodgson spent several months considering the ‘formidable task’ and may have even tried to construct the libretto, but on 14 May 1884, he noted in his diary: Wrote to Mr. Mackenzie, finally abandoning the idea of writing libretto for an operetta on Alice. I feel quite sure I have not the needful constructive talent. I leave it to him to try it himself, and get any writer he likes, adding that I want no remuneration, and will give him ‘permission.’49

Either Mackenzie was unwilling or unable to pursue the project; he did not compose music for an Alice operetta. That fell to an almost unknown composer in 1886. Although Dodgson did not secure the services of Sullivan as a collaborator, he continued to attend performances of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, usually

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in the year of their premieres. H.M.S. Pinafore received its premiere in May 1878, but Dodgson saw it at a matin´ee performance given by a cast of children on 14 January 1881, at which he commented that it ‘was pretty as a whole, though it grieved one to see the sweet bevy of little girls taught to say “He said damme.” This however was the only blot’.50 He saw Patience on 31 December 1881 and noted: The play [. . . ] is I think a little weak as a whole: but it has funny bits, and the music is very pretty. It is entirely unobjectionable, which one is glad to be able to say of one of Gilbert’s plays, and the scenery and dresses are charming.51

It was first performed in April 1881. Dodgson went to see it on five subsequent occasions, writing: ‘as good as ever’.52 Dodgson saw Iolanthe on 30 December 1882 and he recorded: ‘It was pretty, but uninteresting – very inferior to Patience. Mr. Grossmith was a capital Lord Chancellor.’53 Iolanthe premiered on 25 November 1882. Dodgson saw it again on 2 June 1883. The Pirates of Penzance was first performed in December 1879, but Dodgson did not see it until 13 January 1885, when he remarked: ‘It was a very charming performance, and some of them have lovely voices, specially “Elsie Joel” who acted Mabel: she looks Jewish.’54 He saw a repeat performance a week or so later, and this time said: ‘as good as ever, except Elsie Joel is ill, and “Mabel” was acted by Amy Broughton, who has nothing like her splendid voice’.55 On 13 June 1885, Dodgson went to see The Mikado, which he thought was ‘charming, very pretty music, and very funny’.56 It opened at the Savoy Theatre in March 1885. Dodgson saw it on another four occasions. Dodgson went to a performance of The Yeoman of the Guard on 20 April 1889. He wrote: ‘It has some pretty songs, and some funny scenes, but is not equal to Patience.’57 It opened at the Savoy Theatre in October 1888. By now, Dodgson was getting a little jaded about these comic G. & S. operettas. He saw The Gondoliers (premiered December 1889) on 2 August 1890 and noted: ‘contains nothing to haunt the memory, as airs from earlier work of Sullivan do’,58 and finally Utopia (Limited) (which received its premiere in October 1893) on 6 January 1894, saying: ‘pretty and musical, but not up to the standard of former Gilbert-plays’.59

The Victorian World of Music Dodgson was not a musician in the sense that he played a musical instrument or composed and arranged music, but he was a reasonably good singer. He enjoyed music and attended concerts mainly in Oxford and London – both amateur and professional. He had a strong sense of rhythm and an appreciation

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of melody, which is well illustrated in his poetic compositions, especially so in parodies when he reflected exactly the rhyme and metre of other poems. Some of his family, friends and colleagues played the piano and he enjoyed listening to them performing classical compositions and contemporary songs. He also had a number of musical boxes to entertain visiting guests. He also acquired an orguinette, a mechanical musical instrument played with perforated paper tape wound through the machine by turning a handle. This was another novelty to entertain guests of all ages. Having completed his undergraduate studies at Christ Church and gaining financial independence, he took the opportunity of travelling to London to attend concerts or see an opera. The first recorded event from the surviving diaries came on 20 June 1855, when he recorded that he went with a friend to the people’s Opera at Drury Lane. The performance was Norma – music delicious – scenery, dresses, and specially performers, poor. Mdme. Arga made a very spirited Norma. Afterwards came a grand ballet, which Ranken did not stay for, but I did, having a curiosity to see one, and was completely disappointed: the studied ugliness of the attitudes struck one a great deal more than anything else. Talk of the poetry of motion! The instinctive grace of cottage children dancing is something far more beautiful: I never wish to see another ballet.60

Clearly, Dodgson was not impressed. The opera Norma was composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1806–35). His operas were very popular in the first half of the nineteenth century, particularly Sonnambula, I Puritani and Norma. The mezzo soprano Madame Arga was a member of the Royal Opera Company. The following day, Dodgson went to the opera at Covent Garden and again heard the first act of Norma, this time sung by Guilia Grisi (1811–69), prima donna opera singer from Milan. This was followed by Rossini’s Il Barbiere de Seviglia, which Dodgson recorded as being all the more tedious to me, as I knew hardly any of the music. However the chorus ‘Mille grazie’ was very beautiful, and Lablache very amusing – the singing of Herr Formes was the greatest treat to me.61

Dodgson notes the performances of Luigi Lablache (1794–1858), operatic bass of renown to whom Franz Schubert dedicated three songs in 1827, and Karl Johann Formes (1816–89), operatic bass and a leading singer in London at the time.

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Over the course of his life, Dodgson recorded visiting between twenty and thirty full-length operas, ranging from the comedies of Gaetano Donizetti, such as Don Pasquale and La Figlia di Reggimento, to the grand operas of Guiseppe Verdi, such as Il Trovatore. A favourite composer was Jaques Offenbach; Dodgson saw his light comedies, such as Les Deux Aveugles, Lurette, La Vie and Madame Favart, going to see the latter at least four times. The musical opportunities in Oxford were frequent and varied, with concerts being given as part of the university’s presentations for the conferment of degrees in music and traditional celebrations, such as the encaenia, the commemoration festival at the end of the academic year. On 5 March 1856, Dodgson noted that he went to the Sheldonian Theatre to hear Monk’s musical exercise for the degree of Doctor of Music, Gray’s Bard. The place was densely crowded: some of the music very fine. I liked best the Aria ‘Girt with many a barm bold.’ The solos were sung by a Mr. Thomas.62

Edwin George Monk (1819–1900) matriculated at Exeter College in 1848 and organised the Motet and Madrigal Society at Oxford. He edited The Anglican Chant Book, among other liturgical music books, and was a founder member of Radley College, later becoming the organist at York Minster. The music that Monk composed was based on Thomas Gray’s The Bard (1757) and consisted of a selection for baritone voice and chorus. The principal singer was probably Lewis William Thomas (b. 1826), a baritone/bass born at Bath of Welsh parents, lay clerk of Worcester Cathedral in 1850 and master of the choristers in 1852. His debut in London was in 1854 and then he was appointed to the choir at St Paul’s in 1856. He joined the choir of the Temple Church, London, in 1857 and was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He was mainly a singer of oratorios. Dodgson also enjoyed hearing oratorios and cantatas, especially those composed by George Frederick Handel. His diary records him hearing Alexander’s Feast, Messiah (on several occasions), Jephthah, Judas Maccabeus, Ezio, Joshua, Athaliah and parts of Saul and the occasional Handel opera, such as Orlando and Alcina. The Deanery at Christ Church became a centre of musical performance and Dodgson, as a senior member, was normally invited to attend. For example, on 8 March 1856, he reported: Went to the Deanery in the evening to a musical party: about half the college were there. The songs in Macbeth were the chief performance: a son of Chevalier Bunsen sung some things magnificently: among others, Bl¨ucher’s War Song. The choruses were taken by Pember and his brother, Mitford, Twiss, Irvine etc. The

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party broke up about half past 11. I took the opportunity of making friends with little Lorina Liddell, the second of the family.63

The son of Chevalier Bunsen was Ernest de Bunsen (1819–1903), who, after serving in the Prussian army and at the Prussian legation, settled in London and was known for his literary and biblical studies and his musical abilities. Bl¨ucher’s War Song was sung by German soldiers in the army of the Rhine and an English translation was made by A. B. Farnie (1870) and Jane Wilde, known as ‘Speranza’ (1874). Various students at Christ Church assisted with the singing, including Edward Henry Pember (1833–1911), Frederick Pember (b. 1838), Algernon Bertram Mitford (1837–1916), later Lord Redesdale, Quintin William Francis Twiss (1835–1900) and John William Irvine (1836–1906) – most of whom were taught mathematics by Dodgson. Although Dodgson met Lorina Charlotte Liddell (1849–1930) for the first time on 25 February 1856, this was his first opportunity to get more acquainted with her. He had yet to meet Alice Liddell at this time; the Liddells had only just moved into the restored and redecorated Deanery. The following year, the organist at Christ Church, Charles William Corfe (1814–1883), also a composer of anthems and glees, gave an evening concert and Dodgson’s diary entry for 24 February 1857 indicated that the pieces included Alexander’s Feast – Beethoven’s Septum – Mermaid’s Song from Oberon – and a Hunting Chorus. The Septum was a great treat, but the rest was heavy. Madame Weiss was the only professional singer, (by no means a good one), the rest being Choral society and choristers.64

Beethoven’s Septum (or Septet) for strings and wind instruments was composed in 1800. Oberon: or, The Elf-King’s Oath was an opera by Carl Maria von Weber produced in London in 1826, with a story set in the days of Charlemagne, which had nothing to do with the exploits of Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Madame Georgina Ansell Weiss n´ee Barrett (1826–80) was a student at the Royal Academy of Music from 1842 until 1845 but ‘failed to maintain the great promise of her early career, and became a useful second-class singer’.65 Dodgson’s discerning ear perceived that her singing was not to the highest standard. Later in 1857, Dodgson joined the Oxford Choral Society, probably in order to attend their concerts rather than to be actively involved singing in the choir. He noted on 20 May 1857:

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Heard from Jelf that I am to be elected today a member of the Choral Society, for which I consented the other day to be nominated. Went to the concert in the evening, and enjoyed some of the pieces very much. We had Dryden’s ‘Come if you Dare,’ and a four-part song ‘The Nightingale’ from Mendelssohn and Duckworth of University sang two songs.66

George Edward Jelf (1834–1908) was a colleague at Christ Church and Robinson Duckworth (1834–1911) was studying for his degree at University College, later to become a fellow of Trinity College but made famous by being a crew member of the famous boat trip in 1862 during which Alice’s Adventures were incubated. ‘Come If You Dare’ was a song in Henry Purcell’s opera King Arthur, with words by John Dryden, first performed in 1691. Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Die Nachtigall’ (‘The Nightingale’) was composed in 1843, with words by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Victorian society had few ways of producing music mechanically, but most middle-class families had a piano and someone who could play it. The three Liddell sisters could play and sing and Dodgson recorded hearing them performing ‘Beautiful Star’ on 1 August 1862.67 This was a popular song composed by James M. Sayles, later parodied by Dodgson as ‘Beautiful Soup’ in Alice’s Adventures. Dodgson’s sister Margaret could play the piano, and with her help and possibly another sister, Dodgson created a medley of popular tunes that he called ‘Miss Jones’. This embodies 21 different extracts from well-known tunes, such as ‘Cherry Ripe’, ‘Annie Laurie’ and ‘Rule Britannia’. Dodgson recorded a performance of ‘Miss Jones’ on 1 May 1863: Went over to the Deanery at 11 to arrange about our expedition on the river, and remained till 1 playing croquˆet etc. At half-past two Duckworth and I went down the river with the three Liddells and Miss Prickett: we did not get quite down to the island, but rowed up and down, varying the performance by songs from the children. (I sang them ‘Miss Jones’).68

The manuscript of ‘Miss Jones’ survives in the Dodgson family and at least one recording has been made by the Syndicat du Wonderland, Paris: Lewis Carroll’s Songs (1986). Dodgson tried to get professional singers and entertainers to take ‘Miss Jones’ as part of their repertoire, but in this aim, he failed. Dodgson’s attitude towards music was sometimes affected by circumstances. Mendelssohn had become a champion of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music, which was mainly in obscurity at this time. He organised performances of Bach’s works

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and Victorian society particularly appreciated Bach’s cantatas, passions and religious compositions. Dodgson noted on 20 March 1873: ‘Bach’s ‘Passion-Music’ performed in the Cathedral to about 1200 people. I did not go. I think it a pity churches should be so used.’69 Dodgson’s objection was that the performance was given as a concert, entry was by ticket (paid for) and the audience applauded at the conclusion – all in his eyes inappropriate behaviour for a place of worship. Hence, he boycotted the event and wrote negatively about it in his pamphlet The Vision of the Three T’s, in which he included a ‘Bachanalian Ode’, the third verse being: Here’s to the Chapter, melodious crew! Whose harmony surely intends well: For, though it commences with ‘harm,’ it is true Yet its motto is ‘All’s well that ends well!’ ’Tis love, I’ll be bound, That makes it go round! For ‘In for a penny is in for a pound!’70

Sadly, this event prejudiced Dodgson’s view of Bach as a composer. As a mathematician, he would surely have appreciated the figurative approach to composition that Bach frequently adopted, especially in his preludes and fugues. The poems in Alice’s Adventures and Looking-Glass have inspired countless composers to set them to music. The first attempt was made by William Boyd (1845–1928) of Worcester College. He sought and was granted permission from the author to add music to the words of several poems, thus producing a series of songs that was published in 1870 as Songs From ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, followed by Songs From ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ in 1872. Alfred Scott Gatty (1847–1918), son of Margaret Gatty n´ee Scott (1809–73), the editor of Aunt Judy’s Magazine, also received permission to set some of the poems to music and he produced ‘Will You Walk a Little Faster?’ (March 1871), ‘Pig and Pepper’ (August 1871) and ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter (May 1872) – all published in his mother’s magazine. Dodgson having given permission to set the Alice songs and poems to music, more composers began to write to him to allow them to do the same. In 1872, C. H. R. Marriott published with permission The Wonderland Quadrille and later The Looking Glass Quadrille, with music composed for the pianoforte issued by Robert Cocks & Co. of New Burlington Street, London. E. C. Llewellyn published Alice in Wonderland Waltzes later in the same year. Dodgson appeared very willing to let composers publish musical versions of his song from Alice.

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He probably saw it as good advertising, keeping the book in people’s minds. Writing to Macmillan on 24 March 1887, he listed the composers who had already been granted his permission: The following have had leave to publish the songs (or one or more of them with music). (1) Mr. Grattan Cooke (publisher’s address not known). (2) Mr. W. Boyd (published by Weekes & Co., 16 Hanover Street, Regent Street). (3) Mr. S. Gatty (published in Aunt Judy’s Magazine). (4) Miss F. Allies (22 Portman Street). (5) Miss F. Olliffe (95 Sloane Street). (6) Mr. A. F. Maning (Keble Hall, 337, 4th Avenue, New York). (7) Mr. Julian Mount (Messrs. W. Marshall & Co., 7 Prince’s Street, Oxford Street). (8) Mrs. Pearson (Drayton Parslow Rectory, Bletchley). (9) Mr. F. Helmore (Masters & Co., 78 New Bond Street). (10) Miss A. Armstrong (37 Walterton Road, St. Peter’s Park). (11) Mr. W. Slaughter (for drama at Prince of Wales’ Theatre: but the music is not yet published). You may as well keep this letter by you for reference, in case any one else asks you about music.71

Whether all these composers took up the task of composing the music is not known, but some certainly did. For example, Phillippa Pearson (Mrs A. Cyril) produced Songs From Wonderland (Weekes and Co., London, 1882) and Dodgson noted on 29 August, when visiting a family he knew: ‘Went in to the Hulls in afternoon [. . . ] to get Alice to try Mrs. Pearson’s book (just received) of music for songs in Alice and Looking-Glass’.72 There were ten songs. Frederick John Ottley Helmore (b. 1852) published The Little Ones’ Book, Containing Songs in Alice in Wonderland, Those in Through the Looking-Glass, and a Selection of Nursery Rhymes (J. Masters & Co., London, 1882). This contained eight songs from each book. Annie E. Armstrong published her 20 Songs From ‘Alice in Wonder-land’ in 1885. In 1882, Dodgson’s friend Charles Edward Hutchinson (1855–1926) of Brasenose College discussed a dream in which he had seen a procession of ‘warriors, saints and sages’ together with a choir singing an original melody. On waking, he wrote out the music of this melody and asked Dodgson to compose some suitable words. The result of this collaboration was ‘Dreamland’ – a

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typically Victorian hymn-like gloomy tune with sentimental words, the last verse being: I see the shadows falling, The forms of old recalling: Around me tread the mighty dead, And slowly pass away.73

One of Dodgson’s child-friends, Isa Bowman, in her reminiscences published in 1899 wrote: He never went to a music-hall, but considered that, properly managed, they might be beneficial to the public. It was only when the refrain of some particularly vulgar music-hall song broke upon his ears in the streets, that he permitted himself to speak harshly about variety theatres.74

She also revealed that Dodgson’s rooms at Christ Church contained one of the finest collections of musical-boxes to be found anywhere in the world. There were big black ebony boxes with glass tops, through which you could see all the works. There was a big box with a handle, which it was quite hard exercise for a little girl to turn, and there must have been twenty or thirty little ones which could only play one tune.75

There may be some exaggeration in Isa’s comments, for which she was prone. For example, far from being a little girl when she visited Dodgson at Eastbourne, she was at least 14 when they first met and a year or two older when she stayed with him at Eastbourne. Two or three musical boxes remain in the Dodgson family, but whether he owned as many as thirty is in some doubt. While at Eastbourne, Dodgson frequently attended summer concerts at the Devonshire Park Gardens, but unfortunately, he rarely noted the programme. The entertainment was varied, but any music was likely to be light classical in style. He also enjoyed musicals at the Devonshire Park Theatre, with composers such as Edmond Audran (1842–1901) and Alfred Cellier (1844–91), figures now almost forgotten. Finally, here are some of Dodgson’s views of music as expressed in his diary. On 12 March 1857, he noted: I tried the other night to compose a piece of verse imitating the effects of music, but had not much success, some of what I intended as an explanatory note to

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it I have today set down to form a portion of an essay, which I think of calling ‘Word-Music.’76

Sadly, the essay has not survived. Dodgson’s taste in music was cosmopolitan and he was always willing to try out new experiences. While visiting Paris in 1867, he recorded hearing oriental music being played at the International Exhibition. His diary entry for 12 September recorded the following: We wandered through the grounds outside, and passed a pavilion where Chinese music was going on, and paid half a franc to go in and listen to it nearer: and certainly the difference between being outside and inside was worth the half-franc – only the outside was the pleasantest of the two. It was just the kind of music which, once heard, one desires never to hear again.77

In an early diary entry dated 1 September 1855, Dodgson commented on the effect of listening to music, the level of concentration required and the outcome if the music was of good quality or merely mediocre: There is a peculiar pleasure in listening to what I may call ‘unsatisfactory’ music, which arises, I think, from the fact that we do not feel called on to enjoy it to the utmost: we may take things as they come. In listening to first-rate music there is a sense of anxiety and labour, labour to enjoy it to the utmost, anxiety not to waste our opportunity: there is, I verily believe, a sensation of pain in the realisation of our highest pleasures, knowing that now they must soon be over: we had rather prolong anticipation by postponing them. In truth we are not intended to rest content in any pleasure of earth, however intense: the yearning has been wisely given us, which points to an eternity of happiness, as the only perfect happiness possible.78

Dodgson’s influence on future music was more than he could have anticipated. The songs from the Alice books continue to inspire composers. The music accompanies theatrical performances or provides soundtracks for films. Some compositions are for concerts, whereas others are performed by popular singers or groups. Classical and jazz composers alike get inspiration from Alice and composers invent music for operas and ballets based on Alice’s Adventures. Dodgson’s own literary creativity has resonated among musicians ever since the books were first published.

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8 ACTORS AND DRAMATISTS

Victorian Stage People As a young boy, Dodgson was very interested in theatricals, and with the help of a local carpenter at Croft-on-Tees, he had a marionette theatre constructed. Not only did he entertain his brothers and sisters with marionette performances, but he even wrote some of the plays himself. On 11 April 1855, he wrote in his diary: we got up an entertainment for the assembled party with the Marionette Theatre. I chose the Tragedy of King John, which went off very successfully.

He then added a note to this entry which said: A Christmas book for children that would sell well. Practical hints for constructing Marionettes and a theatre (we have managed to get up the whole thing with about 20 figures, for a very few shillings) – this might be followed by several plays for representation by Marionettes or by children. All existing plays for such objects seem to me to have one of two faults – either (1) they are meant for the real theatre, and are therefore not fitted for children, or (2) they are overpoweringly dull – no idea of fun in them. The three already written for our theatre have at least the advantage of having been tested by experience and found to be popular.1

From this, we can determine his view, probably influenced by his father, that the real theatre was no place for children – a view he would change over the ensuing years. Surviving documentation indicates that Dodgson’s experience of the real theatre in 1855 was limited. He heard Mrs Fanny Kemble recite Henry V at Oxford Town Hall on 19 February 1855 and he noted at the time that he had

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never seen any Shakespeare on the stage, but he felt that a staged version with scenery and costumes would add greatly to the enjoyment of the performance. He experienced his first taste of the stage on 20 June 1855, when he saw Bellini’s Norma performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, Covent Garden. But as we have already heard, he described the music as ‘delicious’ but the scenery, dresses and especially the performers, as ‘poor’.2 Not deterred, Dodgson visited the same theatre the following day and saw a different actress playing ‘Norma’, describing her as ‘magnificent in voice and acting but in appearance is red-faced and coarse, though wonderfully young looking for 50’.3 To complete three days immersed in theatre, on the next day, Dodgson saw the farce Away With Melancholy by John Maddison Morton (1811–91) at the Princess’s Theatre. But his most influential theatrical experience came after the farce: a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. He wrote in glowing terms in his diary: ‘the greatest theatrical treat I ever had or expect to have. I had no idea that anything so superb as the scenery and dresses was ever to be seen on the stage’. He then described the breathtaking experience, which brought tears to his eyes, as he watched the full mastery of stage effects created by scene changes, expert lighting and excellent acting. He summed up the occasion by saying: ‘I never enjoyed anything so much in my life before.’4 And so began a lifetime passion for the theatre. In an age of visual arts confined by exhibition and stage, Dodgson took both creative forms to his heart. He was a frequent visitor to art exhibitions, but his attendance at the theatre outstrips all his other indulgences in the visual experience (not counting his own creative talents as an art photographer). Every year in his life from then on, he went to the theatre, his diary recording nearly 400 different theatrical productions – some seen more than once. If a play pleased him, he would see it several times. His taste was for the heavy dramas of Shakespeare and the lighter farcical comedies of his day, providing there was nothing coarse or profane within them and they were plenty of fun. He wanted to be able to take his younger friends to see a stage performance without the embarrassment of rudeness or unhealthy tones. He enjoyed musicals, especially the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. And nothing pleased him more than a good family pantomime over the Christmas period. Not only did Dodgson enjoy attending the theatre: he also enjoyed meeting and talking with the key actors of his day. On a number of occasions, he went behind the scenes at the invitation of an actor or producer, and during the end of his life, he made this opportunity available to his young friends, especially the aspiring actresses among his child-friends. One major theatrical person who was most accommodating in this respect was the great Victorian actress Ellen Terry

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(1847–1928). As mentioned previously, Dodgson first saw her as Mamillius in The Winter’s Tale at the Princess’s Theatre, London, on 16 June 1856, when Ellen was just 9 years old and appearing on the stage for the first time. Even then, Dodgson could see talent. He wrote: I especially admired the acting of little Mamillius, Ellen Terry, a beautiful little creature, who played with remarkable ease and spirit.5

Even at her young age, the potential for a brilliant career on the stage was already clearly evident. Some years later, Dodgson had the chance to meet Ellen Terry in person. He had watched her develop into a first-rate actress and was clearly much taken by her abilities on the stage. On 20 August 1864, with a note of introduction from the dramatist Tom Taylor, who was already an influential friend, Dodgson made his first visit to the home of Mr and Mrs Terry. Initially, he did not see the two main acting daughters – Kate and Ellen – as they were away from home. Nevertheless, Dodgson soon became a regular visitor to the Terry home and befriended the younger members of the family. In December of that year, he recorded in his diary: Polly and Benjamin met me in the hall, and in the drawing room I found Miss Kate Terry [. . . ] and to my delight, the one I have always most wished to meet of the family, Mrs. Watts.6

While Dodgson was with the family, Tom Taylor called to read to Kate Terry her part in his new play Settling Day. Dodgson noted: I remained to listen. I was very much pleased with what I saw of Mrs. Watts, lively and pleasant, almost childish in her face, but perfectly ladylike. Her sister seemed ill and out of spirits. I fancy her gaity yesterday, and Mrs. Watts’ today, were both partly assumed. However, both sisters are charming, and I think it a piece of rare good fortune to have made two such acquaintances in two days.7

Dodgson remained in touch with both sisters throughout his life. Kate Terry left the stage after her marriage to Arthur Lewis and moved to Moray Lodge, Campden Hill, Kensington, where they established a social centre for the artistic and theatrical community in London. Dodgson was a visitor from time to time. He became friends with the Lewis children: Janet, Katie, Lucy and Mabel. Ellen Terry, whose marriage to George Frederic Watts lasted only months, then

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18. Ellen Terry, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1865

set up home with Edward William Godwin. This partnership resulted in two children: Edith and Edward. For a time, Dodgson was scandalised by such an arrangement outside marriage and he shunned Ellen for many years. Eventually, this partnership ended and Ellen married Charles Clavering Wardell in 1876, whose stage name was Charles Kelly. Once Ellen Terry and Charles Wardell had established a more acceptable social position, Dodgson was willing to forgive and

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forget and he took steps to re-establish his friendship with Mrs Wardell. Dodgson was unusual in this respect: many Victorian mothers were still scandalised by the lifestyle of Ellen Terry and she was ostracised by a good number of people. Dodgson was active in supporting her new position and took the view that if people made amends and followed the social norms of the day, they should be forgiven. He even wrote to mothers who had expressed a concern that Dodgson planned to introduce their daughters to Ellen Terry, making it clear that he saw no difficulty in such an arrangement now that Ellen Terry was married again and deserved a second chance. Not that it made much difference to Ellen Terry herself. Her talent as an actress ensured her future would be successful. An incident involving Ellen Terry’s reputation is recorded in a letter that Dodgson wrote to his cousin Dora Wilcox in June 1893: My dear Dora, I don’t know who that lady was, whom I met at the Club but I observed that, when we talked of Miss Ellen Terry (‘Mrs. Wardell’), she put on a sour expression; and I think it very likely that, after I had gone, she would tell you the story, as if on good authority, that I am constantly hearing, of the (alleged) immoral life of Miss E. T. and Mr. Irving. It is to me simply astounding, the wicked recklessness with which people repeat scandalous reports about actresses, without taking the slightest trouble to verify them. I have more than once investigated such stories, and have found them to be (as I know, on perfectly good evidence, this one to be) simply false. If the lady did tell you this story, will you kindly accept me as decidedly a more competent witness on the subject than she is: and, if you hear the story told again, will you kindly say that you have reliable authority for declaring it to be absolutely false? I know all Miss Ellen Terry’s history, and, knowing it, am proud to still regard her as my friend. I have introduced to her several girl-friends – always first telling the mother of the girl the whole history, and asking leave to introduce the daughter; and, in every case, leave was given. Always yours affectionately, C. L. Dodgson8

Dodgson was a staunch supporter and friend of Ellen Terry and did much to dispel the rumours circulating about her supposed immoral behaviour. On this occasion, an unfounded relationship with Henry Irving (1838–1905) was the substance of the rumour. Ellen Terry and Henry Irving were stage partners, taking many roles as ‘lovers’ on the stage, which fuelled gossip that they were lovers in real life – clearly not true, according to Dodgson.

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Dodgson saw many of the key performances by Ellen Terry and frequently took others to see this famous actress. In particular, he knew that some of his friends greatly admired this star of the Victorian stage and he was able to give them a treat they would remember for a very long time: a visit to see Miss Terry behind the scenes. He was always grateful and this example of a letter written in 1894 reveals his motivation and appreciation: My dear Miss Ellen Terry, I want to thank you, as heartily as words can do it, for your true kindness in letting me bring Dolly behind the scenes to you. You will know, without my telling you, what an intense pleasure you thereby gave to a warm-hearted girl, and what love (which I fancy you value more than mere admiration: I know I do!) you have won from her.9

In times gone by, actresses on the stage were often accused of living an immoral life. Victorian society was changing and the theatre was gradually becoming a more respected source of wholesome entertainment, especially with royal patronage and the emergence of high-quality performances by such actors as Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. But gossip still circulated. Oxford society was less forgiving than other parts of the country. The stage was still seen as a place of evil among the university community and the few people who encouraged amateur dramatics did not find it easy in this narrow-minded world. Theatre had moved on to become a place of entertainment and education, doing good work in encouraging moral behaviour in many of the plays performed at the time. There was still an element of the theatre, such as the musical halls and the coarseness of some actors and plays, which fell outside the moral standards of the day, but Dodgson always kept clear of such activity and occasionally wrote to complain if he accidently attended a theatre and saw such immorality. He is known to have walked out of a play if anything disrespectful or profane was performed on stage and a letter of complaint would soon follow from him to the theatre manager. Yet he was a strong supporter of the theatre and particularly the role of children on the stage. He knew that some poorer families relied on the income of children as actors, and as long as they were well treated and not overworked, he saw no difficulty. Some of his friends at Oxford held theatrical performances at their homes and Dodgson attended when he could and even wrote prologues for some productions. Thomas Coe (1822–86), a stage manager, sowed a new seed in Dodgson’s mind: he suggested that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland would make a good theatrical extravaganza. Some years later, in 1872, Dodgson again took advice about

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getting his two Alice books (Through the Looking-Glass had just been published) into a dramatic form for the stage. He was warned that the dramatic rights of the books were not protected, so he wrote urgently to Alexander Macmillan, his publisher, on 26 November 1872: Dear Mr. Macmillan, Will you kindly, with all reasonable expedition on receipt of this, engage a couple of copying-clerks, and have all the speeches in Alice and the Looking-Glass written out, with the names of the speakers, and such directions as ‘Enter the White Rabbit,’ ‘Exit the Red Queen,’ in the ordinary dramatic form, and get them registered as two dramas, with the same names as the books. I am told that is the only way to retain a right to forbid their being represented by any one who may choose to dramatise them. I trust to you to get it all done in such a way as will satisfy the requirements of the law. Please put in all the speeches. In haste. Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson10

Dodgson went up to London on 26 December and registered both books as dramas at Stationers’ Hall. From then on, Dodgson gave permission for a number of amateur and professional adaptations of the book in dramatic form: the family of Thomas Arnold performed the ‘Mad Tea-Party’ at Oxford in December 1874 and Mr George Buckland of the Royal Polytechnic in London produced Alice’s Adventures: or, The Queen of Hearts and the Missing Tarts in April 1876. Dodgson took his two sisters, Caroline and Henrietta, to see the Polytechnic version on 18 April and noted: It lasted 11/4 hours. A good deal of it was done by dissolving views, extracts from the story being read, or sung to Mr. Boyd’s music, but the latter part had a real scene and five performers (Alice, Queen, Knave, Hatter, Rabbit) who acted in dumb show, the speeches being read by Mr. Buckland. The ‘Alice’ was a rather pretty child of about 10 (Martha Wooldridge) who acted simply and gracefully. An interpolated song for the Cat, about a footman and housemaid, was so out of place, that I wrote afterwards to ask Mr. Buckland to omit it.11

The song was probably too suggestive for Dodgson. Buckland removed it and added a song about a naughty boy, which Dodgson saw on 10 June and thought was too horrible to be comic and again he protested. Dodgson saw it again on 21 June, making no comment on this occasion. Buckland’s production ran until 19 August 1876.

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Dodgson heard in December 1877 that a group calling themselves the ‘Elliston Family’ intended giving a performance of ‘Alice in Fairy-Land’ without seeking the author’s permission. He asked Macmillan to get a copy of the libretto, but enquiries failed. Dodgson went to a performance held at Diplock’s Assembly Rooms, Eastbourne, on 28 September 1878, describing it as very third rate, with poor articulation and the singing painfully out of tune. Dodgson attempted to write a dramatic version of Alice for the stage, but he found it beyond his capabilities. This seems surprising since much of the story is already written in dialogue form and his experience of the theatre would have been a good guide to what would work and be appropriate for the stage. As we have heard, he even approached Arthur Sullivan in 1877 with a view to getting him to write some music for the production, but Sullivan was too busy with other commissions. Alexander Mackenzie (1847–1935) was the next composer to be approached, in 1883, but he, too, was unable to oblige. Sullivan and Mackenzie were among the top musical composers at this time, which reveals Dodgson’s aim always to seek the best when contemplating a project that involved a presentation to the general public. In August 1886, Henry Savile Clarke (1841–93) approached Dodgson with an application to dramatise the Alice books. Although not a household name now, Savile Clarke, a journalist and dramatic author, had already been successful in adapting children’s literary works for the stage. Dodgson wrote back, stating his conditions for such an arrangement: Dear Sir, There is one, and only one, condition which I should regard as absolutely essential before allowing my name to appear as ‘sanctioning’ any dramatic version of Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass. There are one or two wishes on the subject, which I will name for your consideration: but the only essential condition is that I should have your written guarantee that, neither in the libretto nor in any of the stage business, shall any coarseness, or anything suggestive of coarseness, be admitted.12

Dodgson went on to state his wishes: no harlequinade as in a pantomime (often coarse; Dodgson wanted an operetta in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan); only one book adapted because children don’t like mixtures (not accepted by Savile Clarke, but he split the books into a first act and a second act, with an interval between); the dialogues should be as verbatim as possible; and the old tunes of the parodied rhymes should be used rather than inventing new ones. Within a few days, Savile Clarke wrote to say he accepted the conditions (except

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as noted) and he set to work to prepare his dramatisation. Dodgson took a keen interest in the entire process and many letters passed between the two men on such subjects as who is to write the music and who will play the role of ‘Alice’. Eventually, they met in London on 30 October 1886 and progress with Alice in Wonderland: A Dream Play for Children was discussed. Phoebe Carlo (b. 1874) was engaged as ‘Alice’ and the music was composed by a young musician named Walter Slaughter (1860–1908). The play opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 December 1886 and was reviewed widely and positively in the press, such as in this report from The Theatre: Mr. Savile Clarke has achieved a wonderful and surprising success; he has given the little folk this winter a genuine children’s pantomime and founded it upon that marvellous and delightful book, of which no one ever grows weary, ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ There was not a little excitement and curiosity as to how this venture would turn out, but the hearty applause and shouts of laughter which greeted the first performance [. . . ] must have convinced the most confirmed Didymus that the idea was as good as it was happy.13

Dodgson went to see the performance on 30 December and thought the first act went well but that the second act was ‘flat’. He singled out the ‘Hatter’ and the ‘Dormouse’ for praise and marvelled at Phoebe Carlo’s portrayal of ‘Alice’. In an article he subsequently wrote for The Theatre (1 April 1887) entitled ‘Alice on the Stage’, he commented further on Phoebe’s performance: ‘[A]s a mere effort of memory, it was surely a marvellous feat for so young a child, to learn no less than two hundred and fifteen speeches [. . . ] realising most nearly my ideal heroine.’ Dodgson was critical of the two Queens in the second act and realised that ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ did not end well. With this in mind, he wrote an additional verse to end the poem on a positive note, to which Savile Clarke added some dialogue for the oyster ghosts. Overall, the play was a great success. It ran initially for fifty performances until 16 February, when it was due to end, but was extended by two weeks until 2 March, when it transferred to the Theatre Royal, Brighton, for a prearranged short run. It then returned to London and continued until 18 March. It was played again at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, in July 1887, where Dodgson saw it again on 14 July. In August, it transferred to the Devonshire Park Theatre at Eastbourne, and although Dodgson bought tickets for the production on 17 August, news of the death of a cousin, Margaret Wilcox, caused him to change his plans. When the play eventually ended, Dodgson arranged that each member of the cast should have a copy of Alice inscribed by him as a memento of the highly successful performance.

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Savile Clarke’s production was revived in December 1888 at the Globe Theatre, London, with Isa Bowman (1874–1958), Dodgson’s personal choice, as ‘Alice’. She had performed in a minor role in the first production. Further revivals and different dramatic adaptations of the books took place in London, with performances around Christmastime as an alternative to the usual children’s pantomimes, with twenty-four productions between 1888 and 1940. The number of different stage versions of Alice would be impossible to determine today, as it is so frequently performed at schools and by amateur groups, with the occasional professional company reviving the play. Although Dodgson did not dramatise his own Alice books, he did write and publish a play in 1879. Originally intended as a serious work of mathematics, Euclid and His Modern Rivals was recast in dramatic form to give it a wider readership. Dodgson’s plan was to show the inadequacies of modern geometric textbooks as compared with the Elements of Euclid. In the play, ‘Herr Niemand’ (Mr Nobody) judges the logical structure of twelve ‘rivals’ (modern writers on geometry) and systematically takes them apart, proving that Euclid cannot be improved. There is wit and humour in the play, but it requires an educated and mathematically informed audience for it to be of any value. Very few performances are known to have taken place. Dodgson’s passion for the theatre lasted all his life. He was a strong supporter of children on the stage and even tried to establish a national theatre for children with the help of dramatists and actors. Apart from his article ‘Alice on the Stage’, he wrote other campaigning papers which were published in The Theatre: ‘The Stage and the Spirit of Reverence’ in June 1888 and ‘Stage Children’ in September 1889. The latter was originally published in the Sunday Times on 4 August 1889. He also contributed ‘Children in Theatres’ to the St. James’s Gazette on 19 July 1887. From his experience with child actors, Dodgson resisted changes that began to emerge in the mid-1880s to prevent children under the age of 10 performing on the stage. Dodgson knew many families of young actors and actresses and was well aware of the important income that could support these families. The notion that parents were exploiting their children was not always accurate; many of these children thoroughly enjoyed acting and Dodgson saw many good examples of talented children being strongly supported by theatre managers in educational and financial ways. The young Ellen Terry began as a child actress and grew to become one of the most successful actresses of her day. In Dodgson’s letter to the Sunday Times, mentioned above, he gave his argument for supporting children on the stage but he also suggested some safeguards for their welfare to appease those seeking a complete ban. He wrote:

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The legislation that seems to me desirable would take some such form as this:That every child under sixteen (ten is too low a limit), employed in a theatre, should hold a licence, annually renewable. That such licence should only be granted on condition of the child having passed the examination for a certain ‘standard,’ adapted to the age of the child. That a limit should be fixed for the number of weeks in the year that the child may be engaged, and for the number of hours in the day that he or she may be at the theatre. (This rule to be relaxed during rehearsals.) That, during a theatrical engagement, the child shall attend a specified number of hours, during the afternoons, at some school; at other times in the year during the usual hours, if attending a Board school. (High schools would probably adopt the same principle, and allow half-day attendance during engagements.) That some guarantee be required that girls under sixteen are provided with sufficient escort to and from a theatre. But I do not believe that the law can absolutely prohibit children under ten from acting in theatres without doing a cruel wrong to many a poor struggling family, to whom the child’s stage salary is a godsend, and making many poor children miserable by debarring them from a healthy and innocent occupation which they dearly love.14

Throughout his lifetime, children continued to work in theatres, but modern working practices are very different today, with age restrictions, licensing, chaperones and limits on the number of days in a year that child actors may perform.

Tom Taylor: Man of Many Talents Tom Taylor (1817–80) and Dodgson were two Victorian gentlemen with many similarities, but they took very different paths in life. Both were intellectually gifted, with wide interests and varied talents. Both worked hard to embody the Victorian principles of duty and service. Both had creative energy. They shared a common overlap of friends. Their own friendship was marked with a willingness to offer the other constructive advice and support, always received in a spirit of acceptance and gratitude. Tom Taylor was older than Dodgson by fifteen years, and in the early stages of their friendship, the younger man relied on the older man’s wealth of experience and mature commonsense. Dodgson first encountered Taylor through his role as a dramatist, spending an evening at the Olympic Theatre in London in June 1856 and seeing, among other productions, a play entitled Retribution. It was a domestic drama adapted by Taylor from a French novel. Dodgson commented: ‘I never saw any of these before, and thought them all excellent.’15

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19. Tom Taylor, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1863

Tom Taylor was the son of Thomas Taylor (1769–1843), a farm labourer in Cumberland and later a partner in a brewery firm in Durham, and his wife of German origin, Maria Josephina Arnold (1784–1858). Taylor was educated at the Grange School, Sunderland, and then attended the University of Glasgow, where he attained three gold medals. In 1837, he continued his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, gaining his BA in 1840 and graduating junior optime in mathematics and first class in the classical tripos. In 1842, he was appointed a fellow and took his MA in 1843. He spent his early career acting as a ‘coach’ at Cambridge, with great success both academically and financially. He left Cambridge at the end of 1844 and was appointed professor of English literature and

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language at London University in 1845. He also studied law and was called to the Bar in November 1846, practising on the northern circuit. In 1850, as a result of the Public Health Act, the Board of Health was called into existence and he was appointed assistant secretary. In August 1854 he became secretary. He remained in public service until he took early retirement in 1871, with a substantial pension. During his time at the Board of Health, he wrote a biography of the artist Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846), which was published in three volumes in 1853. Dodgson recorded in his diary on 3 January 1855: ‘Read about half the first volume of Haydon’s Life.’16 This became his main reading for the next two weeks while he was at Ripon – so engrossed was he with the account written by Taylor. He noted a few comments at various times, such as ‘he urges, I think rightly, the importance of cultivating art in the Universities’ and ‘it is a book to inspirit any one’.17 By the time he returned to Oxford on 19 January, he had completed the first two volumes. Six months later, in the middle of July, he recorded: ‘about this time I finished reading the life of Haydon, which I consider one of the most instructive biographies ever published, and a grand example of perseverance and indomitable courage’.18 Taylor was also a journalist operating as a leader-writer for the Morning Chronicle and the Daily News. He was also art critic for the Times and the Graphic. He published other books, mainly connected with the arts. Taylor was a regular contributor to Punch throughout his life and became editor in 1874. In addition, he was a successful dramatist, with four burlesques performed in London during 1844, and many successes followed. On 19 June 1855, he married Laura Wilson Barker (1819–1905), one of the highly talented daughters of Thomas Barker. She had a particular talent in musical composition. They had two children: John Wycliffe (1859–1925) and Laura Lucy Arnold (b. 1863). Dodgson spent another evening at the Olympic Theatre in April 1857. This time, he saw Tom Taylor’s A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing, a one-act historical play which was extremely popular with the theatregoing public. Another great success was his Ticket-of-Leave Man, which Dodgson saw in July 1863, describing it as ‘a very clever play’. Dodgson was now keen to meet this talented dramatist and to get him to sit for a photograph. Dodgson was always eager to add Victorian celebrities to his portfolio of photographic portraits. The chance came the day after seeing Ticket-of-Leave Man. Dodgson wrote in his diary on 21 July 1863: ‘Called on Mr. Munro, and settled that I would bring my camera down there from the MacDonalds. He promises to get me Mr. Tom Taylor’.19 Tom Taylor’s circle of friends included many famous actors and actresses, including the Terry sisters: Kate and Ellen. He also had good contacts with his

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colleagues at Punch – both writers and illustrators. Dodgson first saw Tom Taylor performing on stage in his own play A Lesson for Life at the St James’s Theatre on 24 July 1863. This was a special benefit performance for a friend, but of all the actors who took part – professional and amateur – Dodgson recorded that the ‘best acting was his’,20 referring to Tom Taylor. Determined to meet Taylor, Dodgson called at his home on 31 July 1863, taking Mary MacDonald with him, but it was doomed to failure: he discovered that Taylor had been away from home for some days. A letter from Alexander Munro to Dodgson dated 30 August 1863 arranging for photographic sittings stated: I saw the Tom Taylors a fortnight ago – and they’ll all be glad if they’re in town when you return which most likely they will be – and he will get the Terrys for you. He was sorry to have been away when you called.21

Success came a month or two later when Dodgson was back in London on a photographic mission. He recorded in his diary for 1 October: Went over in the afternoon to see Mr. Tom Taylor, who received me very cordially, and with whom I settled that I would go over on Saturday, the probable sitters being he and his family, a little child of Sir Alexander Duff Gordon, Mrs. Nassau Senior, and perhaps the two youngest Terrys, Mary [Marion] and Florence, if he can get them.22

This meeting must have been a pleasure for both men, sharing their common interest in all things theatrical. On the following day, Dodgson was offered the use of Taylor’s private box at the Olympic Theatre to see a repeat performance of the Ticket-of-Leave Man and also another play by Taylor entitled An Awful Rise in Spirits. The arranged photographic day at the home of Tom Taylor followed on 3 October 1863. Dodgson wrote: Set off for Wandsworth in a fly soon after 8, and got there in about half an hour, before they had assembled for breakfast. The party were Mr. Taylor, his wife and sister, and Wickliffe [sic] and Ranie (alias Urania) Gordon. I had the cellar as a dark room, and the conservatory as a studio, and succeeded in getting some very good portraits. I had some interesting conversation with Mr. Taylor about his plays, and suggested a few little defects in the Ticket-of-Leave Man, two of them arithmetical ones, that ‘Sam’ continues 15 years old for nearly three years, and that May Edwards during that time appears to have saved £2 at the rate of 1 shilling a week!23

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Dodgson was treading on dangerous ground criticising the work of this highly successful dramatist, but it appears that Dodgson’s rather pedantic nature was accepted without question. It caused no rift between the two men. Dodgson was back at Taylor’s home two days later taking more photographs and he left some of his albums with the family, which were returned the following day. The only slight problem Dodgson experienced during his two days of photographing the Taylor household was the young son, Wycliffe, then aged 4. He described having a ‘regular “scene” with the intractable’ boy,24 mainly because he would not sit still to have his photograph taken. Several were attempted and some reveal the ghostly outline of where the boy was seated before the image was fully exposed – he having wandered off. In desperation, Mrs Taylor holds Wycliffe in her arms and the photograph succeeds. Not one to give up easily, Dodgson discovered that if the boy dressed up as a knight with a shining helmet, he was more likely to cooperate with the photographic process. It is clear that Wycliffe was spoilt and indulged in every way, particularly by his mother. Dodgson was not entirely in favour of her manner. In a later diary entry, Dodgson noted: ‘Mrs. T. Taylor seemed to be, as on my former visit, rather too ‘brusque’ and severe in her remarks’ but added that Wycliffe ‘was improved, and more under authority’.25 Dodgson understood the importance of consistency in parenting, even though he had not experienced being a parent himself, and probably realised that Wycliffe’s behaviour was linked to the way his mother dealt with him. In typical fashion, a few years later, Wycliffe was sent away to school – Summerfield at Oxford. In a letter written home, Wycliffe is busy asking favours: ‘thank you very much for the crest book you are going to send me’ and ‘please send some miniature peg tops – they are a half penny each – some of the boys have got some here’. At the back of the letter, his teacher sent a message back to mother: ‘Wycliffe is thoroughly well and strong again, and continues to be a very good boy and to give us satisfaction with his work. Thanks for your last most kind notes, and the oranges.’26 Clearly, Wycliffe still received treats from his mother while he was away at school, but the school seemed successful in getting him to settle down and work hard while away from his doting parent. Perhaps the most significant event in the relationship between Taylor and Dodgson came at the end of 1863. Dodgson wrote to Taylor on 20 December 1863 with the following request: Do you know Mr. Tenniel enough to be able to say whether he could undertake such a thing as drawing a dozen wood-cuts to illustrate a child’s book, and if so, could you put me into communication with him? The reasons for which I ask (which however can be of but little interest if your answer be in the negative) are

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that I have written such a tale for a young friend, and illustrated it in pen and ink. It has been read and liked by so many children, and I have been so often asked to publish it, that I have decided on doing so. I have tried my hand at drawing on the wood, and come to the conclusion that it would take much more time than I can afford, and that the result would not be satisfactory after all. I want some figure-pictures done in pure outline, or nearly so, and of all artists on wood, I should prefer Mr. Tenniel. If he should be willing to undertake them, I would send him the book to look over, not that he should at all follow my pictures, but simply to give him an idea of the sort of thing I want. I should be much obliged if you would find out for me what he thinks about it.27

We do not have Taylor’s reply, but he was clearly willing to oblige. At this time, he was a staff officer at Punch and John Tenniel was one of the main illustrators. A previously unpublished letter from Taylor to Dodgson dated 19 January with no year specified (the correspondence number 1459 indicates it was sent in 1864) shows the developing friendship between these men: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I have not seen any of the Xmas pieces except that at the Haymarket which was quite enough. I should think if you have not seen Leah, or Bel Demonio, you ought, as ‘a man of wit and pleasure about town’ to remain no longer under the stigma of last having seen what everybody is supposed to have seen. I should like to hear your opinion of Miss Bateman. We shall be very glad of a visit from you on Sunday, or any day, though we have had but a sick house from colds and catarrhs, and our Nanny is still at Dover. Wycliffe misses his little companion much. We were much obliged for his head and we believe it has given great satisfaction. With kind regards from my wife and sister. Believe me Yours truly, Tom Taylor PS. Both the Miss Terrys have been ill and unable to act. Kate from injury and Ellen from inflammation of the chest. The absence of Kate is a loss to Bel Demonio.28

Dodgson’s reputation as a theatrical critic was valued by Taylor in his role as a dramatist and he obviously welcomed Dodgson’s opinion of plays and actors. However, there is no record in Dodgson’s diary of him going to see Taylor’s recommendations. Leah the Forsaken was a five-act drama by Augustin Daly (1838– 99), which opened at the Adelphi Theatre in October 1863 with Kate Bateman (1842–1917) in the role of Leah. Bel Demonio: A Love Story was a four-act

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drama by John Brougham (1810–80), which opened at the Lyceum in October 1863 with Kate Terry in the role of Lena. Wycliffe’s ‘little companion’ mentioned in the letter was, no doubt, his sister, Laura, who was born at the end of 1863. The ‘head’ referred to was Dodgson’s photograph of Wycliffe. Dodgson wrote in his diary on 25 January 1864: Called at the ‘Board of Health’ and saw Mr. Tom Taylor: we talked a little about my photographic prospects at Easter, and he begged I would write about a fortnight before coming to town that he might see if he could get me any sitters. He also gave me a note of introduction to Mr. Tenniel (to whom he had before applied, for me, about pictures for Alice’s Adventures).29

Armed with his letter of introduction, Dodgson wasted no time in calling on Tenniel at his home that same day – ‘whom I found at home: he was very friendly, and seemed to think favourably of undertaking the pictures, but must see the book before deciding’.30 The text of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground was completed by February 1863 and Dodgson probably loaned the handwritten sheets of his story to Tenniel to help him decide whether he was willing to accept the commission. Tenniel consented to draw the pictures on 5 April 1864. It then seems likely that Dodgson had the text of Under Ground set up in type for Tenniel to work from and Dodgson noted that he sent Tenniel the first slips on 2 May. Christ Church Library has a page of Under Ground set in type with manuscript corrections in Dodgson’s hand. Sadly, Tenniel’s copy has not come to light. He was in the habit of destroying letters and papers once he had dealt with them. Dodgson wrote to Taylor on 10 June 1864, abiding by the request to give notice of any photographic expedition so that Taylor could find some friends to sit for Dodgson’s camera: My dear Sir, You were kind enough to wish me to let you know some while before I came to town on my photographic visit, that you might see whether you could entrap any victims for me. My plans are not definitely settled yet, but, so far as I can see, I shall be in town on or before the 20th (though I could come sooner if there were reason to do so). After that I shall be photographing at various friends’ houses for 2 or 3 weeks. I am obliged to speak vaguely, as my plans will be liable to change from day to day. I have many children sitters engaged, among others, Mr. Millais’, who will make most picturesque subjects. Believe me Ever yours truly, C. L. Dodgson31

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More important in terms of the development of Dodgson’s manuscript story into a published book was the postscript of this letter, which has become separated from the main letter: P.S. I should be very glad if you could help me in fixing on a name for my fairy-tale, which Mr. Tenniel (in consequence of your kind introduction) is now illustrating for me, and which I hope to get published before Xmas. The heroine spends an hour underground, and meets various birds, beasts, etc. (no fairies), endowed with speech. The whole thing is a dream, but that I don’t want revealed till the end. I first thought of ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,’ but that was pronounced too like a lesson-book, in which instruction about mines would be administered in the form of a grill; then I took ‘Alice’s Golden Hour,’ but that I gave up, having a dark suspicion* that there is already a book called ‘Lily’s Golden Hours.’ Here are the other names I have thought of: Alice among the

elves Alice’s doings goblins

hours in adventures

elf-land wonderland.

Of all these I at present prefer ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’ In spite of your ‘morality,’ I want something sensational. Perhaps you can suggest a better name than any of these.32

Since no elves or goblins eventually appeared in the story, the most appropriate title was Dodgson’s preferred Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and it is likely, although not confirmed, that Taylor supported this choice. Dodgson made his promised call at the Taylor home on 22 June 1864 and noted that he ‘can do nothing for me in the photography line. His father-in-law is with them, so the house is not available, and Miss Terry and the children are all going away ill’.33 He was equally unsuccessful when he called on Taylor at his office on 14 July; Taylor was not there, so he left a note seeking an introduction to the artist George Frederic Watts (1817–1904), probably hoping to get a photographic sitting, although none materialised. However, Taylor did send Dodgson a note of introduction to Benjamin Terry (1818–96), father of the acting dynasty, on 13 August. Dodgson continued to call on Tom Taylor when he was in London – either at his Wandsworth home or his office at the Board of Health. The next recorded visit took place on 21 December 1864, when Dodgson ‘had a long talk with him on many things, including the Terrys and Mrs. Watts’.34 At this time, Ellen Terry’s marriage to G. F. Watts was beginning to falter and Taylor probably advised Dodgson to keep away from Little Holland House, where they resided – a

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location to which Dodgson had intended taking his camera. Later the same day, Dodgson visited the Terry family at their home in Stanhope Street. Dodgson saw several plays by Taylor over the next few months, including Settling Day, The Serf: or, Love Levels All and A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing. Not all the plays were to Dodgson’s taste. Taylor’s adaption of a novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837–1915) entitled Henry Dunbar: A Daughter’s Trial was described by Dodgson as ‘a disagreeable sensation play, though the acting was very good’.35 Taylor’s plays were popular not only in the United Kingdom but also in the United States. It was during a performance of his play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC, on 14 April 1865, that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Taylor received one of the presentation copies of the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland sent out by Dodgson on 15 July 1865. Less than a week later, as we have heard, Tenniel expressed his concern about the printing of the pictures and the edition was suppressed. On 3 August, Dodgson wrote to Taylor as follows: Dear Sir, I write to beg that, if you have received the copy I sent you of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, you will suspend your judgment on it till I can send you a better copy. We are printing it again, as the pictures are so badly done. I got several capital pictures of the Terry party, and hope shortly to send a few of the best for your acceptance. Believe me Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson36

Whether Taylor returned the faulty copy is not known, but he received a copy of the second edition when the book was reprinted in November 1865 and Dodgson inscribed it ‘Tom Taylor with the Author’s kind regards.’ (This copy is now housed at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, together with an inscribed copy of Through the Looking-Glass.) In January 1866, Dodgson tried his own hand as a dramatist, sketching out a play which he entitled ‘Morning Clouds’. On 25 January, he noted in his diary: ‘Spent two or three hours in writing out, to send to Tom Taylor, a sketch of a domestic drama’37 and the lengthy letter to Taylor together with the outline of the play survives, of which this is an extract. The letter begins with some exchange of gossip about the Terry sisters and continues: Dear Mr. Taylor, . . . the John Bull critic, who has noticed my little fairy-tale, has evidently had some such private information, as he says that ‘Lewis Carroll is ‘of course a nom

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de plume,’ and adds that the book furnishes evidence that Mathematics are not inconsistent with writing works of imagination – hinting that, though in Cambridge men may be dried up by Mathematics, the ‘classic atmosphere of Oxford’ has something in it which neutralises the evil influence which overshadows the Sister University. Do you feel inclined to admit this distinction? Seeing the performance of Percy Roselle in the Pantomime the other day suggested to me the idea how well he might succeed in a domestic drama, the interest of which might mainly centre in him, and forthwith uprose before my mind’s eye the shadowy outline of a play, which I think might have the merit of novelty, now that the public has been fed to satiety with dramas whose interest depends on love and murder. I will give you a sketch of it, and would try to elaborate it further, should you give me any encouragement to hope that you might ultimately adopt it as part of the basis of a drama. It would contain a capital part for Miss Terry, I think. The main idea is that the boy should be of gentle birth, and stolen away, and (of course) restored at the end. This would exhibit him in scenes of low life, with thieves, in which he should show heroism worthy of his birth. This part would be something like Oliver Twist, though it would be easy to avoid too close a resemblance. Before giving you the general outline, I will sketch two incidental scenes, which took my fancy much, as being pathetic and picturesque. In one, the boy is wandering in London in the winter’s night (snow falling), never dreaming that his mother has come up to town to search for him, and he sits down on the door-step of the very house she is in. You might give him a very touching little soliloquy, ending by his singing a little child’s song he had learnt at home, and so wandering off into the dark night, still singing. Then the scene changes to the warm, bright interior, where the mother is sitting with her little girl (I want Polly or Flo to take this part), and while they are talking they hear the little gentle voice singing outside. The little girl at once thinks it is her brother’s voice, and wants to open the window. The mother prevents her at first, but afterwards, moved by a sudden instinct, hurriedly and excitedly sends her to the window. But it is too late – nothing is to be seen but the dark night and the driving snow, and she returns to the fireside consoling herself with the idea of the wild improbability of its having been her own boy. The other is the concluding scene, which (I have great hope you will agree with me in thinking) might make a beautiful ending for the play, and would be in marked contrast with the popular wind-up, in which all the characters are brought in, in utter defiance of all probability, to form a grand tableau. It is a firelight scene, a group of four (there is nothing more picturesque, I think, than a group lit by a ruddy light, thrown upwards) – the mother (who, by the way, is a widow), her aged father, and her little boy and girl. All the storms of the drama are blown over – the villain has met his reward – and she is left in peace, with her recovered child, to cheer her father’s last days. Something is said

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of this happiness, and then the old man asks that the children should sing to him (the same little ditty I mentioned before). He is in an easy chair, and she on a low seat at his side. The children get up from the floor (they have been sitting at their mother’s feet, looking over a picture-book together) and come and stand at her side, that all three may look over the song-book. After a verse or two, sung very low (it should be a plaintive, wailing ditty), she glances round and sees that the old man has fallen asleep, and silences the children by laying her finger on her lips. They noiselessly return to their places at her feet, and she resumes her former attitude, leaning her head on her hand, and gazing dreamily into the fire. There is silence for a few moments, and then the curtain glides quietly down. I only wish this scene could be put upon the stage as I see it now in my mind’s eye: I feel sure it would succeed. I want the same little ditty to come in 3 times, and I think it should be an original one – the words yours, the music Mrs. Taylor’s.38

Dodgson continues by elaborating the plot and sketching out a plan for the scenes of each of the four acts he envisages. He ends the letter by seeking Taylor’s opinion and suggests that Miss Terry might also offer her views. Tom Taylor’s reply is polite. Dodgson recorded on 27 January: ‘Heard from Tom Taylor, who takes a very favourable view of my drama, and is going to show it to Miss Terry, and to ascertain whether Percy Roselle can be had’.39 Percy Roselle (b. 1856) was a very talented child actor Dodgson had already seen on stage. Two weeks later, encouraged by Taylor’s initial response, Dodgson wrote out a narrative version of the drama and began writing some fragments of dialogue, which he sent to Taylor. But it all came to a sudden end on 5 April 1866, when Dodgson noted that he called on Tom Taylor to have a talk about the sketch I sent him for ‘Morning Clouds.’ He has read it and shown it to Miss Terry and their opinion seems to be that it is impracticable [. . . ] public taste demands more sensation.40

The project was dropped. This setback did not affect the friendship between the two men. A few days later, Taylor accompanied Dodgson to the studio of the artist James Sant (1820– 1916). Dodgson appeared to be encouraging Tom Taylor and his wife to become art collectors. Other studio visits were suggested. The London circle of artists and actors became a common meeting point for the two men. Dodgson’s interest in stage children gave him another reason for contact with Taylor. Dodgson was keen to promote his young actress friends with the famous playwright and he often encouraged Taylor to see their performances with a view

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to getting him to write something specifically for them – the purpose being to enhance their careers. The following letter, dated 27 June 1878, exemplifies Dodgson’s motives: My dear Taylor, I write to tell you that my young friend Miss Lizzie Coote (about whom I wrote to you not long ago) is going to appear at the Olympic, on July 8, as ‘Oliver Twist.’ I very much hope you will be able to go and see it, if not the first night, at any rate soon. It is the first serious part she has taken, and would I should think give you good materials for judging whether she has, or has not, a real talent for acting. If you do manage to go, I shall be very much interested to hear what you think of her. Thanks for your last letter. I was interested to hear about Such is the Law (though it was withdrawn before I had any opportunity of going to see it) and the child you mentioned, ‘Katie Brown.’ Do you know her personally, and her family? and are they ‘nice people’ (to use a vague but very useful phrase). By-the-way, Carrie Coote (aged 8) is acting in Proof at the Adelphi. She is a clever little thing: and if you ever thought of writing a piece to introduce the elder sister, you might do worse than introduce both. Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson41

Lizzie Coote (1862–86) was one of several young actresses supported and encouraged by Dodgson. Such Is the Law was a drama in three acts by Tom Taylor and Paul Merritt (d. 1895), with Katie Brown in the role of ‘Little Georgy’. The play opened at the St James’s Theatre in April 1878. Finally, a letter written to Tom Taylor a few months before his death, dated 24 February 1880: The little friend, on whose behalf I asked the authorship of the Punch critique, is one you may possibly know – little Sallie Sinclair (really Scrivener) whose father died some months ago (he was an actor, chiefly at Drury Lane, the Princess, and the Adelphi), the mother having died about a year before, so that Sallie, her two sisters, and her little brother, are now orphans. When I first saw Sallie, she was the premi`ere danseuse in the ‘Children’s Pantomime’ at the Adelphi – a sweet-looking and graceful little creature: and when I made friends with the family, I found her quite as charming in real life as she had looked on the stage. She is now 8 or 9; her elder sister, Jessie, about 12, is lame (I fear for life), but is said to recite exceedingly well; the other two children are about 7 and 6 years old. I was much afraid that when the father died, leaving debts, instead of property behind him, the poor children would be actual paupers – but several kind friends

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have come forward to help them – the Lionel Broughs and others – as I hear from Mrs. Neate, a lady who made friends with them, much as I did, from having seen Sallie on the stage. Theatrical children always have a special attraction for me. The last time I wrote to you was, I think, when I wanted to introduce to your notice one of them, Lizzie Coote by name. I don’t know if she ever called on you. Just about that time she appeared as ‘Oliver Twist,’ at the Olympic, in one of the most detestably realistic plays I ever saw. The murder of ‘Nancy’ was simply brutal. I’m afraid Lizzie will never rise to the higher grades of the dramatic profession. She has been too long in the burlesque and pantomime business to have much chance of ever being a refined actress. Her little sister Carrie is another friend of mine, and acted, I thought, with refinement and sweetness as ‘Eva’ in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I should have much liked to see the Aquarium Pantomime, particularly the little black-eyed child you praise so much: but I heard nothing of it while I was within reach of it. The stage-name ‘Ada Blanche’ is not new to me. I saw her in the ‘Children’s Pantomime,’ and much admired her singing of ‘Here stands a post.’ Next time you know of anything really good, in the child-actress line, I hope you’ll let me know in time for me to go before Oxford term swallows me up. I renewed my acquaintance with Mrs. Wardell last year. All the sad past is now, one may hope, passed for ever, and I am only too glad to forget it, and to rejoice in her present position as a wife. [. . . ] And I also saw the two children. Poor little things! I hope they will never know their own sad history. [. . . ] I thought Mrs. Wardell looking fairly well, when we met at the Steinway Hall (about a month ago) but fagged: she said she was ‘very tired.’ Portia is a trying part I should think. By the way I am curious to know (if you can tell me without a breach of confidence) how much of the £1800 a week goes to Portia; she ought to have a good share of it. P.S. I suppose you never run over to Oxford? And yet it isn’t far. I can always find you dinner – and generally a bed. I enclose you a photo of one of my little Oxford friends.42

Tom Taylor never made the trip to Oxford. He died, rather unexpectedly, at his London home, Lavender Sweep, Wandsworth, on 12 July 1880.

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9 FRIENDS AND CHILDREN

Robinson Duckworth Dodgson’s university friends were usually mathematical or members of Christ Church. His friendship with Robinson Duckworth (1834–1911) was different. Duckworth was intelligent, well read, a classical scholar and a talented singer who made his career as a pedagogue and cleric at the highest levels, mixing easily with royalty and the leaders of the Church of England. Unbeknown to him, a chance river trip on 4 July 1862 sealed his future fame. Robinson Duckworth was born on 4 December 1834 in the commercial and industrial heartland of England, the port of Liverpool, and was the second son of Robinson Duckworth (1794–1875), director of the Union Bank at Liverpool, and his wife, Elizabeth Forbes Nicol (d. 1868). He attended the Royal Institution School at Liverpool and then matriculated with a scholarship at University College, Oxford. He took his BA degree in 1857, gaining a first class in classics. For the next few years he was an assistant master at Marlborough School, and while he was there he studied for ordination, becoming deacon in 1858 and priest in 1859 at Salisbury Cathedral. He took his MA in 1859 and was then appointed a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, a position he held until 1876. During this time, he was appointed master of the schools (1860–2), classical tutor at Trinity (1861–6), junior bursar (1862) and dean (1863). This indicates that his abilities as a teacher were recognised and utilised for the benefit of the university, but others sought to exploit his strengths in the field of education. In 1864, he was appointed examining chaplain to the bishop of Peterborough, and later (1870), he became vicar of St Mark’s, Hamilton Terrace, Marylebone, a post he held until 1906.

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Queen Victoria’s youngest son, Prince Leopold (1853–84), had delicate health and suffered from haemophilia. The queen took every precaution to avoid risk to her son’s health, and as a result, he was brought up in a sheltered and confined manner. The boy was not given any opportunity to broaden his mind and a natural intelligence and thirst for knowledge added to his frustration. In 1866, Robinson Duckworth was appointed to the royal household on the recommendations of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–81), dean of Westminster, and Henry George Liddell (1811–98), dean of Christ Church. He was specifically given the task of instructing the 13-year-old Prince Leopold. On his arrival at Windsor Castle, he found a miserable young boy, almost immobile, and completely cut off from society. Duckworth began the task of educating Prince Leopold not only in terms of the acquisition of knowledge but also in the skills of living a normal life in society. Very quickly, a bond of mutual respect and friendship grew between them. Duckworth was appointed governor to Prince Leopold the following year, a post he held until 1870, during which time he transformed the introverted boy into a confident, ambitious and inquisitive young man. Queen Victoria, writing to her eldest daughter, described Duckworth as a really most talented and charming person. [. . . ] The only objection I have to him is that he is a clergyman. However, he is enlightened and so free from the usual prejudices of his profession that I feel I must get over my dislike to that. Mr. Duckworth is an excellent preacher and good-looking besides.1

Duckworth instigated a number of outings for the boy when they were at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. This greatly improved the prince’s mobility, and within months, he has able to get around, albeit with the aid of a stick. Duckworth’s duties also included conducting services for the royal family and, on 4 August 1866, The Times reported that the Reverend Robinson Duckworth officiated at Osborne House in a service attended by the queen and members of the royal household. When at Balmoral, Duckworth took Leopold out to deliver toys to poor children in an attempt to show the prince some of the moral dilemmas of society. One activity that Duckworth introduced to the prince was the collection of autographed letters from distinguished people of the day: politicians, writers, artists, clerics and statesmen. In this way, Duckworth introduced the prince to important members of society without the need for a personal visit. Prince Leopold’s autographs included examples from Charles Kingsley, Charles Hall´e, Edwin Landseer, Alfred Tennyson and Benjamin Disraeli. Leopold was very enthusiastic about this activity and an album was made for his collection – bound

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20. Robinson Duckworth, from a photograph probably by CLD, taken in 1876

in leather with his name and coronet stamped in gold on the cover. (The album is now at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.) Clearly, Duckworth was the principal source of the autographs and he used his Oxford connections to get the collection established. One person he approached was Dodgson, now gaining fame as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, who responded in a most encouraging way. Dodgson wrote in his diary: ‘On the 12th [November 1867] I sent Duckworth a collection of autograph-letters to be presented to his pupil, Prince Leopold.’2 Dodgson not only sent his own autograph: he also sent other letters he had received from George MacDonald, Charlotte Yonge, Henry P. Liddon, Arthur Hughes and William Holman Hunt for the prince’s growing collection. Dodgson’s autograph was a slip cut from a letter to Duckworth that said: ‘Believe me, at 1.30 a.m., sleepily but sincerely yours, C. L. Dodgson.’3 One important letter Dodgson sent was written by John Tenniel, his illustrator, and

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a key artist working for Punch. Very few letters from Tenniel to Dodgson have survived, although there must have been many, as the two men collaborated on the illustrations for Alice’s Adventures.4 Perhaps at this point it is worth reminding ourselves of Duckworth’s active role in the creation of Alice’s Adventures. While at Oxford he became a member of the university choral society. Dodgson was also a member, although, as previously mentioned, he probably joined to obtain access to the concerts rather than to play an active role in the choir. However, membership of the Oxford Choral Society brought these two men together. Dodgson noted in his diary for 20 May 1857: Heard from Jelf that I am to be elected today a member of the Choral Society. [. . . ] Went to the concert in the evening, and enjoyed some of the pieces very much. [. . . ] Duckworth of University sang two songs.5

This is the first mention of Duckworth in Dodgson’s diaries. Dodgson quickly established his friendship with Duckworth, and before long, he was inviting him to help row the Liddell children (the three eldest daughters of Dean Liddell – Lorina, Alice and Edith) on excursions up and down the river Isis. It is possible that the Liddells were party to this invitation; Duckworth’s reputation as a singer may have been known to them and this would add to their entertainment as they slowly rowed along the river on warm summer days. A letter from Dodgson to Duckworth survives, which is undated but bears Dodgson’s correspondence number 685. From other dated letters with correspondence numbers similar to this, the date can be calculated with some accuracy; it turns out to be 11 June 1862 (give or take a day). The letter is a brief invitation: Dear Duckworth, Could you help to row my friends on Wednesday? Truly yours, C. L. Dodgson6

The excursion actually took place on the following Tuesday. Dodgson was entertaining a visit to Oxford by his two sisters Fanny and Elizabeth and his aunt Lucy. They arrived on Saturday 14 June and remained in Oxford until Friday 20 June. Dodgson introduced them to his colleagues at Christ Church and took them to see some of the other colleges. He recorded visiting Magdalen, Exeter Chapel, Trinity, Wadham and the New Museum, with Duckworth joining them on some of these excursions. On Tuesday 17 June 1862, his diary recorded the river trip, during which things did not go as planned:

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Expedition to Nuneham. Duckworth (of Trinity) and Ina, Alice, and Edith came with us. We set out about 121/2 and got to Nuneham about 2: dined there, then walked in the park, and set off for home about 41/2. About a mile above Nuneham heavy rain came on, and after bearing it a short time I settled that we had better leave the boat and walk: three miles of this drenched us all pretty well. I went on first with the children, as they could walk much faster than Elizabeth, and took them to the only house I knew in Sandford, Mrs. Boughton’s, where Ranken lodges. I left them with her to get their clothes dried, and went off to find a vehicle, but none was to be had there, so on the others arriving, Duckworth and I walked on to Iffley, whence we sent them a fly. We all had tea in my rooms about 81/2, after which I took the children home, and we adjourned to Bayne’s rooms for music and singing, ‘Adelaida’ etc.7

Duckworth sang the Beethoven song ‘Adelaida’ (‘Einsam Wandelt Dein Freund’), with words by Friedrich von Matthison, probably as a rehearsal for the concert he was to give on 28 June. Dodgson attended the concert, describing Duckworth’s performance as ‘a great musical treat’.8 There can be no doubt that this particular river expedition to Nuneham influenced Dodgson when he began his extempore story of Alice’s Adventures a few days later. The soaking and the drying is incorporated in Chapter II of the manuscript version, later developed as the ‘The Pool of Tears’ and the ‘Caucus-Race’ in the published book. On 27 June, Francis Home Atkinson (1840–1901) came on a visit to Oxford to attend some of the university’s ‘end of academic year’ celebrations known as Commemoration. He was a recent graduate of Cambridge (BA 1861), but his connection with Dodgson is not entirely clear. Like the Lutwidges, his family were landed gentry in the north-west of England and this may be the link. Alternatively, Atkinson was a friend of Alfred Tennyson, staying with him at Farringford, Isle of Wight, on several occasions and it is possible that Dodgson met him there on one of his visits. Dodgson and Atkinson enjoyed the various entertainments arranged for Commemoration, including a boat procession down the Isis, a firework display at Holywell Green, Charles Blondin (of Niagara Falls fame) performing on a tightrope and the University Amateur Concert, at which Duckworth sang ‘Adelaida’. On Monday 30 June, they rowed down to Iffley and back. On Thursday 3 July, Dodgson wrote in his diary: Atkinson and I went to lunch at the Deanery, after which we were to have gone down the river with the children, but as it rained, we remained to hear some music and singing instead – the three sang ‘Sally come up’ with great spirit. Then croquˆet, at which Duckworth joined us, and he and Atkinson afterwards dined with me. I mark this day with a white stone.9

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The planned river trip was postponed because of the weather – Dodgson not wishing to repeat the events of just over a fortnight ago. ‘Sally Come Up! Sally Go Down!’ was an American ‘minstrel song’ with words by T. Ramsey and music by E. W. Mackney. Dodgson parodied the song, particularly the chorus, with ‘Salmon Come Up! Salmon Go Down!’ in his telling of Alice’s Adventures the next day. Marking a day with a ‘white stone’ was Dodgson’s way of saying it was a highly memorable and enjoyable day. By the afternoon of the following day, Friday 4 July 1862, the weather had improved sufficiently in Oxford for the planned river trip to go ahead. Atkinson was entertaining guests of his own and was unable to help with the rowing. Instead, Duckworth stepped in at the last moment and joined the three Liddell sisters for an excursion up the river to Godstow – a day that has gone down in literary history. Dodgson’s diary entry was brief and gave no indication of the subsequent importance of this event: Atkinson brought over to my rooms some friends of his, a Mrs. and Miss Peters, of whom I took photographs, and who afterwards looked over my albums and staid to lunch. They then went off to the Museum, and Duckworth and I made an expedition up the river to Godstow with the three Liddells: we had tea on the bank there, and did not reach Ch. Ch. again till quarter past 8, when we took them on to my rooms to see my collection of micro-photographs, and restored them to the Deanery just before 9.10

Dodgson kept his diary in a notebook, usually writing on the right-hand page and leaving the left-hand page for subsequent notes and additions. Later, on 10 February 1863, he appended the following note: On which occasion I told them the fairy-tale of ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,’ which I undertook to write out for Alice, and which is now finished (as to the text) though the pictures are not yet nearly done.11

Many years later, Duckworth recorded his memories of this particular river excursion that was the birth of a story now known and loved by countless people around the globe as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – a story that has been in print for a century and a half and is likely to remain so for many years to come. Duckworth’s reminiscences were published by Dodgson’s nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, in The Lewis Carroll Picture Book:

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Five-and-thirty years ago, when I was an Oxford tutor, I received frequent notes from the Rev. C. L. Dodgson, but I am afraid that these have all been destroyed, and since I left Oxford in 1866 I have seldom had communication with him. I was very closely associated with him in the production and publication of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ I rowed stroke and he rowed bow in the famous Long Vacation voyage to Godstow, when the three Miss Liddells were our passengers, and the story was actually composed and spoken over my shoulder for the benefit of Alice Liddell, who was acting as ‘cox’ of our gig. I remember turning round and saying, ‘Dodgson, is this an extempore romance of yours?’ And he replied, ‘Yes, I’m inventing as we go along.’ I also well remember how, when we had conducted the three children back to the Deanery, Alice said, as she bade us good-night, ‘Oh, Mr. Dodgson, I wish you would write out Alice’s adventures for me.’ He said he should try, and he afterwards told me that he sat up nearly the whole night, committing to a MS. book his recollections of the drolleries with which he had enlivened the afternoon. He added illustrations of his own, and presented the volume, which used often to be seen on the drawing-room table at the Deanery. One day Henry Kingsley, when on a visit to the Dean, took up the MS., and read it through with the greatest delight, urging Mrs. Liddell to persuade the author to publish it. On hearing this, Dodgson wrote and asked me if I would come and read ‘Alice’s Adventures,’ and give him my candid opinion whether it was worthy of publication or not, as he himself felt very doubtful, and could not afford to lose money over it. I assured him that, if only he could induce John Tenniel to illustrate it, the book would be perfectly certain of success, and at my instance he sent the MS. to Tenniel, who soon replied in terms of warm admiration, and said that he should feel it a pleasure to provide the illustrations for so delightful a story. Every time that a batch of Tenniel’s drawings arrived, Dodgson sent me word inviting me to dine, and to feast after dinner on the pictures which the world now knows so well. I figure as the ‘duck’ in the ‘Adventures,’ Lorina Liddell (now Mrs. Skene) is the ‘lory’ or parrot, Edith Liddell (now no more) is the ‘eagle.’ I wish I had preserved some of the interesting notes which Dodgson had occasion to write to me before and after the publication of the book which has made him famous – but in those days one did not foresee the interest which was destined to attach to his name.12

Dodgson died in 1898 and Duckworth was then a man of 65 years. His memory may have been a little unreliable by this time; certainly, communications between the two men are recorded during Duckworth’s time at Oxford and thereafter. In fact, other letters have survived, such as the following dated 12 April 1864:

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Dear Duckworth, Will you dine with me in Hall on Thursday? or on Saturday? And should you be disposed any day soon for a row on the river, for which I could procure some Liddells as companions? Ever truly yours, C. L. Dodgson13

The history of Dodgson’s decision to publish the story, as related by Duckworth, does not entirely fit the known facts. We know he lent the manuscript to his friends, the family of George MacDonald, and a reading to the children received high praise. We also know that Dodgson originally intended to illustrate the published version with his own drawings from the manuscript. However, when he consulted John Ruskin, Thomas Combe at the university press and Thomas Woolner (a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor who happened to be working on a bust of Combe), the response was unanimous: he was strongly advised to use the services of a professional illustrator. Duckworth may have suggested John Tenniel but, as an avid reader of Punch, Dodgson would have known his work and, as we have already heard, he sought an introduction through another friend: dramatist Tom Taylor. It was Taylor who provided the letter of introduction and Dodgson immediately visited John Tenniel at his London home and invited him to illustrate Alice’s Adventures – a commission Tenniel accepted. Duckworth also hints at the ‘reality’ incorporated in the story: all members of the boat crew on that adventitious day were included in the story in various scenes, as were previous events and places associated with the Liddell children – for example, the disastrous wet journey home from the boat trip to Nuneham, which was related almost verbatim in the manuscript version of the story but amended in the published story. Duckworth tells us that he was the ‘Duck’ in Chapter 3: ‘A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale’; Lorina was the ‘Lory’ and Edith was the ‘Eaglet’. We also know that Dodgson adopted the character of the ‘Dodo’. In a presentation copy of the published facsimile of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground issued in 1886, Dodgson wrote: ‘The Duck from the Dodo. 9 June 1887.’14 The Liddell children reappear in the tale told by the Dormouse in Chapter 7: ‘A Mad Tea-Party‘; the three sisters in the treacle well were ‘Elsie’ (L. C. – Lorina Charlotte), ‘Lacie’ (anagram of Alice) and ‘Tillie’ (short for Matilda, the pet name of Edith). There were certainly other people known to the crew who became part of the story as Dodgson’s imagination flowed. The ‘Hatter’, it has been suggested, was an eccentric salesman in Oxford, Theophilus Carter (1824–1904), who wore top hats with price labels attached by way of advertising them. More recently, Thomas Randall (1805–87) has been proposed as the model for the ‘Hatter’. He

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was known to the Liddell family and was an actual manufacturer of hats.15 The ‘Dormouse’ has been associated with Thomas Jones Prout (1823–1909), vicar of Binsey (the site of the treacle well) and a Christ Church colleague who helped wrest power from the canons and share it more fairly with the academic staff; he attended many of the meetings held by the tutors who were asked to provide a report for the Reform Commission set up to review the administration of Christ Church. Although he was an avid supporter of these changes, Prout had the habit of falling asleep during these meetings, yet he is known as ‘the man who slew the canons’. Incidentally, Duckworth’s cousin, William Edward Nicol (1846– 1914), married Catherine Nicholl Lewis Prout (1848–1914), daughter of John William Prout of Neasden House, Middlesex, on 20 November 1873. John W. Prout was the brother of Thomas Jones Prout. There are records of further river trips with Dodgson, Duckworth and the Liddell children. For example, on Thursday 1 May 1863, Dodgson wrote this entry in his diary: Went over to the Deanery at 11 to arrange about our expedition on the river, and remained till 1 playing croquˆet etc. At half-past two Duckworth and I went down the river with the three Liddells and Miss Prickett. We did not get quite down to the island, but rowed up and down, varying the performance by songs from the children. (I sang them ‘Miss Jones’). Got back about five, that Duckworth might return to Trinity. I stayed with the children at the Deanery till nearly six.16

On 28 May, Dodgson was invited to dine with Duckworth at Trinity and they may have discussed the possibility of publishing the text of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but by this time, Dodgson had already completed the manuscript version except for his illustrations, for which spaces had been left to be filled. A final decision to publish was reached at the end of 1863 and steps to obtain the services of Tenniel as illustrator were set in motion in early 1864. On 6 May 1864, Dodgson noted: ‘walked with Duckworth, and went home with him to tea. Sent to the Press a batch of MS. from the first chapter of Alice’s Adventures’.17 Duckworth, as a key member of the river trip crew and a valued friend and adviser, confirms his role as an active supporter of the story in published form. Dodgson gave presentation copies of many of his published works to Duckworth and some survive in collections today. No doubt he received one of the fifty inscribed copies of the first edition of Alice’s Adventures (1865), but it has not come to light. The first edition was replaced with a new printing and distributed to friends at the end of 1865, but all copies have the date 1866 on the title page. Duckworth’s copy is inscribed: ‘R. Duckworth with the sincere

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regards of the Author, in memory of our voyage’ (Rosenbach). Duckworth received copies of the first translations into German and French, dated 1869 and both inscribed: ‘R. Duckworth, with the Author’s sincere regards’. (These copies are in the Berol Collection.) Other presentation copies include Phantasmagoria (1869): ‘Rev. R. Duckworth with the Author’s sincere regards. Jan. 1869’ (Beale Collection); The Vision of the Three T’s (1873): ‘Rev. R. Duckworth from the Author’ (Harvard); Notes by an Oxford Chiel (1874): ‘R. Duckworth from the Author, June 17. 1876’ (Morgan); and The Hunting of the Snark (1876): ‘R. Duckworth with the Author’s sincere regards. June 17, 1876’ (Berol). Duckworth’s name appears on Dodgson’s list for presentation copies of The Nursery ‘Alice’, but the current location is unknown and there can be no doubt that he also received a copy of Through the Looking-Glass (1872), but this, too, has not come to light. Duckworth did receive a Looking-Glass biscuit tin in 1892. Duckworth remained as governor to Prince Leopold for three years, by which time the prince attained the age of 17. Duckworth began to realise that in the queen’s eyes, his task was done and he would be replaced. He had given the prince confidence in his own abilities and probably encouraged him to continue his studies at university, following in the footsteps of his older brother, the Prince of Wales. Duckworth’s dismissal came in April 1870. Leopold, writing to his sister Princess Alice on 21 April, said: Mamma thinks that, on account of the bad state of my health, I require to have a doctor constantly about me and therefore Mr. Duckworth, who has been with me for the last four years, will have to leave. He has ever been more like a brother to me than anything else, and I am, as you know, very fond, indeed, of him, so the separation will be very painful to both of us.18

Princess Louise, another of Leopold’s sisters, designed a gold ring as a leaving gift for Duckworth from both her and Leopold. It was inscribed, commemorating the year that Duckworth became governor, with the following words: ‘Forget us not. Le. Lo. ‘67.’ By way of some compensation, Queen Victoria appointed Duckworth as her chaplain in ordinary in 1870, a post he held until her death in 1901. Five years later, in 1875, the Prince of Wales appointed Duckworth as his honorary chaplain. Duckworth preached regularly for them and officiated at services at Windsor, Osborne and Balmoral. He accompanied the Prince of Wales on his state visit to India in 1875, but he found the task difficult because he was asked to show neutrality towards the Christian missions operating in the country and

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not draw attention to the work of the various missionary societies in their educational and religious activities. However, Duckworth did take an opportunity when visiting the garrison church at Lucknow to emphasise the responsibilities of promoting the Christian faith among the Indian people. The Prince of Wales was present at the service. Duckworth visited various mission stations along the prince’s route. In the meantime, Prince Leopold achieved his ambition to study at Oxford, despite the queen’s misgivings. He matriculated on 27 November 1872, becoming a member of Christ Church. Rather than study a particular degree course, Leopold was able to select subjects that appealed to him and his choices were wide and varied: John Ruskin (1819–1900) on the art of engraving, Montagu Burrows (1819–1905) on modern history, Robert Bellamy Clifton (1836–1921) on the human eye, John Phillips (1800–74) on geology, Augustus George Vernon Harcourt (1834–1919) on chemistry and Henry William Chandler (1828– 89) on moral and metaphysical philosophy. During his time as tutor, Duckworth had given Prince Leopold an eagerness to learn and the prince was determined to make good use of his time at Oxford. But time was not all spent in study; there was time to make friends, particularly female friends. Leopold became a regular visitor to the Deanery at Christ Church and the Liddell sisters became a fascinating attraction. Lorina Liddell was engaged to marry William Baillie Skene and Edith Liddell was romantically linked with Aubrey Harcourt, leaving Alice Liddell as the main focus of Prince Leopold’s attentions. Dodgson was keen to get an opportunity to photograph the prince, and in May 1875, he wrote to Robert Hawthorn Collins (1841–1908), who was then comptroller of the prince’s household, asking if the prince would sit for his camera. On 24 May, Dodgson met ‘Duckworth, who was on his way to the Prince’s house’,19 and the latter may have put in a good word for Dodgson. The request was granted, but first, Dodgson was invited to meet the prince at Wykeham House, the royal residence at Oxford. Dodgson joined the prince for lunch on 26 May and recorded: I found myself treated as senior guest, and had to sit next to the young host, who was particularly unassuming and genial in manner: I do not wonder at his being so universal a favourite.20

The prince came alone to Dodgson’s studio on 2 June, later to be joined by Collins, and Dodgson took two photographs, ‘but neither was quite free from moving’21 (probably resulting from Leopold’s condition). Leopold chose a few

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of Dodgson’s photographs – probably some of the pictures of the Liddell sisters when they were younger – to be accepted as gifts. Rumours of Leopold’s infatuation with Alice Liddell reached the ears of Queen Victoria and the prince was ordered to leave Oxford. However, Alice and Leopold kept in touch. Alice wore a brooch given to her by Leopold on her wedding dress when she married Reginald Hargreaves at Westminster Abbey on 15 September 1880. Leopold married Princess Helen Frederica Augusta of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany (1861–1922), on 27 April 1882. Their first daughter was named ‘Alice’. Alice Hargreaves named her second son Leopold, known as ‘Rex’ (no doubt to show the royal link). Both children were born in 1883. In 1875, on the death of Charles Kingsley, Duckworth was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to replace him as canon of Westminster, probably with encouragement from within the royal family. He was also made subdean of Westminster Abbey. He continued to hold his parish at Hamilton Terrace, sharing his time between his two church responsibilities. He had two addresses: 6 Little Cloisters, Westminster Abbey, SW London, and 5 Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, London. He was made rural dean of St Marylebone in 1891, holding this position until 1905. He was held in high esteem by his parishioners. A police report gave some indication of Duckworth’s character. On 11 October 1872, a certain Frederick Morse, aged 21, had visited Duckworth and asked for an order to the Guardians of the Poor, saying he was utterly destitute and starving. Duckworth gave the young man some money and paid for an advertisement in The Times in an attempt to locate his family and friends. He had recently returned from India and he said that he had lost touch with them. It turned out he was acting under false pretences in order to obtain charitable payments. He was subsequently arrested, convicted and sentenced to one month hard labour. Duckworth, a trusting and kind person, acted in good faith, seeking to help someone in financial difficulty.22 The following year, it was Duckworth’s portrait that Dodgson added to his photographic opus. On 16 June 1876, Dodgson wrote in his diary: ‘Duckworth came up to stay over Commemoration: I am giving him a bed.’23 Dodgson took the opportunity of taking Duckworth up to his rooftop studio the following day and the photograph was taken. A portrait of Duckworth surfaced a few years ago in an album that also contained other Dodgson photographs and this may be the image taken on this day.24 As we have seen, although Duckworth reported little contact with Dodgson after leaving Oxford in 1866, this was not entirely true. Some letters between them have also survived. For example, this letter dated 2 June 1879 concerns

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Duckworth’s younger brother, Dyce Duckworth (1840–1928), who was then a consulting physician to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London: Dear Duckworth, Would you kindly direct this note to your brother. I hear he has left Lexham Gardens, and I do not know his new address. Yours very truly, C. L. Dodgson25

The purpose of the note to Duckworth’s brother is unknown, but it may be in connection with Dodgson’s aunt Lucy, who at this time was beginning to show signs of senility. Dodgson sought advice from various medical friends and acquaintances – often choosing doctors with the highest of reputations. Dyce Duckworth was a much respected doctor, later to become physician to the Prince of Wales, and was awarded a baronetcy for his services in 1909. Duckworth gained his doctor of divinity degree in 1879. In April 1887, he recommended recipients for the Royal Maundy Money given out to sixty-eight members of the church and community who had given long and valued service. The number always represented the age of the monarch and the service took place in Whitehall Chapel. In 1895, he was a member of the governing body of Westminster School. In 1910, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII, having attended the coronation at Westminster Abbey in August 1902. He was almoner and chaplain of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, chaplain to the Civil Service Rifle Volunteers (for which he gained the volunteer decoration in 1901) and chaplain of the Musicians Company of London. In this latter capacity, he attended a celebration dinner on 25 October 1904. He also received an award for services to the royal family in 1902 when he was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. Duckworth enjoyed foreign travel and at some time visited Palestine. As a result, he wrote The Holy Land, which was published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, London, in 1903 and illustrated by W. J. Webb. He spent many summer holidays in Scotland with one of his brothers. In London, he was a member of the Athenæum Club and the Grosvenor Club, which was typical for a Victorian man in the professional classes. A number of his sermons were published and a book entitled Occasional Sermons was published in 1913 posthumously. During his time at university, he published The Public Teaching of the Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford, 1861) about Professor Benjamin Jowett (1817–93), whose unconventional views on religion had caused controversy. Dodgson joined in the

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debate and published a satirical pamphlet entitled Endowment of the Greek Professorship in the same year. Duckworth, who was unmarried, died on 20 September 1911. The Times obituary the following day said: We regret to record the death of Canon Robinson Duckworth, DD, Sub-Dean and Canon of Westminster, which took place at 6 o’clock yesterday morning at Sandhurst Rectory, Hawkhurst, Kent, where he was visiting friends. It had been known since last autumn, when symptoms of serious heart weakness showed themselves, that his health was infirm. But he had taken care, and during the Coronation and the summer his friends had been glad to notice that he seemed to be gaining strength. Early in August he went to Scotland to spend a holiday, as usual, with his brother, and had but lately returned. Last Sunday morning he preached at St. Margaret, Westminster, and he left town on Monday for a few days.

The obituary went on to say: the diversity of his duties, and perhaps to some extent his early advancement, had a disappointing effect on his progress as scholar and thinker. The promise of his Oxford degree was not fulfilled. At all times a delightful companion and a voracious reader in several languages, he counted for less, intellectually, than might have been anticipated. His sermons were neat without being powerful, as though he had missed some incentive to high thinking.

Queen Victoria did not hold this view; she and other members of the royal family greatly appreciated Duckworth’s style of preaching. The obituary also said: Very few London clergy have had the good fortune to enjoy to the same extent the affection and confidence of their flock. It is true that the process of change which alters the social conditions of many wealthy parishes did not spare St. Mark’s, and probably in the later years of his incumbency he was not induced to remain there by any financial advantages, but only by his affection for his people and cure.26

The funeral took place at Westminster Abbey, after cremation at Golder’s Green, and his ashes were buried in a grave near the subdean’s stall. Among the mourners were representatives of the king and the Duchess of Albany (widow of Prince Leopold), together with the president of Trinity College, Oxford, and many others associated with his positions in life. As far as we know, no mention was made of his role as the ‘Duck’ in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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Alice Liddell Alice Pleasance Liddell was born on 4 May 1852 at Westminster School, where her father was headmaster. She was the second daughter and fourth child of Henry George Liddell and his wife, Lorina Hannah Reeve. Alice had a brother, Edward Henry (1847–1911), known as Harry, and a sister named Lorina Charlotte (1849–1930). Another brother, James Arthur Charles, contracted scarlet fever when Alice was just eighteen months old and did not survive. One of the problems of living at a boarding school was that diseases quickly spread through the community, added to which the neighbourhood was far from healthy. The surroundings at Westminster were squalid: drainage of the sewers into the Thames caused many problems. Many people lived in abject poverty. Alice’s mother nearly died in 1848 when typhoid broke out. Two scholars at the school perished. Later, the Liddell family grew and Alice had six more siblings: Edith Mary (1854–76), Albert Edward Arthur (1863, died aged 8 weeks), Rhoda Caroline Anne (1859–1949), Violet Constance (1864–1927), Frederick Francis (1865–1950) and Lionel Charles (1868–1942). In order to make their existence more pleasant, Mr and Mrs Liddell organised musical parties and entertainments at Westminster School for the cultured and distinguished people of London, thus getting known in the right circles. The fame of Westminster School rose under the headship of Henry Liddell; he was highly regarded by educationalists and parents. His reform of school practices and modernisation of buildings probably saved the school from closure. On 2 June 1855, the dean of Christ Church, Thomas Gaisford, died and Liddell was appointed his successor. Liddell had been a distinguished scholar at Christ Church, gaining a double first, which led to his appointment as a tutor. He also held the post of sublibrarian jointly with Robert Scott. The two men undertook a major scholastic work when they compiled the Greek-English Lexicon. The task took nine years to achieve, but when it was published in 1843, it brought academic recognition to both of them. Before bringing his family to Christ Church, Dean Liddell began a number of alterations and modernisations to the Deanery. The Liddell household did not move in until 1856. One major change made at this time was the installation of a magnificent new wooden staircase with carved lion posts and other elaborate decorations. Dean Liddell paid for this improvement with the profits he received from sales of the Lexicon and it is known today as the Lexicon staircase. Dodgson soon became acquainted with his new head of college. He visited the Deanery from time to time to discuss academic matters and even arranged to use the Deanery garden as a location for his photographic apparatus. On one

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such occasion in April 1856, he was with his friend Reginald Southey and was trying to take some photographs of the cathedral. The Deanery garden provided an excellent view, but all their attempts proved to be failures. However, the day was a success in other respects. This was the first time Dodgson met the young Liddell daughters together: Lorina Charlotte, Alice Pleasance and Edith Mary. Initially, Dodgson befriended the dean’s son, Edward Henry Liddell (1847– 1911), known as Harry. He attempted to coach the young boy in arithmetic in preparation for public school. This was not a very successful activity. He then took Harry on the river with his other Christ Church colleagues and taught him to row. This was much more successful. When Harry was sent away to school, Dodgson’s interest was transferred to the dean’s daughters. Dodgson took many successful photographs of the Liddell family. Tennyson, the eminent poet, was said to have remarked that a photograph of Alice Liddell as a beggar child was the most beautiful picture he had ever seen. As time progressed, it became clear that Alice was Dodgson’s favourite, although he delighted in the company of all three girls. The Liddell sisters did not attend school. Instead, they had a governess, Mary Prickett (1833–1916), and she was their main teacher, although other friends of the family provided specific tuition. Alice was taught art by John Ruskin. She was also very proficient at speaking French and even sent letters to Dodgson in this language when she was older. In appearance, Alice was dark haired, unlike her fictional character. Her hair was short and cut in a fringe. She had dark eyes. The three children often wore dresses from the same material and must have looked very distinctive as they walked around Christ Church. Dodgson visited them at the Deanery and joined them for meals. He entertained them with stories and games, teaching them to play chess and croquet, together with other games he invented. He took them on walks around Christ Church meadow and other exciting places in the local area. Sometimes, he arranged for a picnic hamper to be prepared for them or they bought cakes and pastries from the general store in St Aldates. As they grew older, the excursions became more adventurous and exciting and lasted longer – perhaps all day. One particular adventure was a boat trip up the river Isis to Godstow, which lasted all afternoon and part of the evening. As we have seen, Dodgson invited his friend Robinson Duckworth to join them and Duckworth added to the entertainment with his marvellous singing voice and he took charge of the general singsong, with the whole crew joining in. All the latest songs and tunes were included. We know that Dodgson’s imagination fed on real people, places and events, so it was only natural that the story should be about Alice, who follows a White

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21. Alice Liddell, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1858

Rabbit down a rabbit hole into Wonderland. She meets other identifiable characters as already outlined. The treacle well also really existed, in the churchyard at Binsey, on the way to Godstow. The ancient well, which was reputed to contain a healing mud, or ‘treacle’, had recently been rediscovered and was called St Margaret’s Well. The children visited it – perhaps not on this occasion but on other trips with Dodgson. Alice Liddell remembered the occasion when she was asked to give talks in her old age and the following reminiscence is in her hand. The passage of time resulted in some lack of accuracy:

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How many of you have never heard of Alice in Wonderland? Very few, I expect – though to such as have not, this will have no interest: but I will ask those who go further and really know their Alice to bear with me a little, while I try to tell them a few more facts about its author and his heroine with whom they may not be already acquainted. I am doing this in the hopes of bringing to their notice some new details and to try and make them even more intimate with the real Alice. One hot summer day in 186- [Alice did not give the actual year; it was 1862], to be more exact a day about the beginning of June in that year [actually 4 July], a happy party of four [there were five including Duckworth] might have been seen walking across Tom Quadrangle in Christ Church from the Deanery door making their way to the river carrying tell-tale baskets, which betrayed the fact that they were going to spend the whole afternoon in blissful idleness. If we look more closely we shall find these four consist of Mr. C. L. Dodgson, a mathematical tutor of Christ Church, and three Miss Liddells, daughters of the Dean of Christ Church. Mr. Dodgson has a rather handsome and very interesting face, while as for the three girls, the tallest has lightish brown hair and very clean-cut features, the middle one black hair and a rather plump cherubic countenance, while the third attracts our attention from her beauty and her bright auburn hair: but it is with the middle one that we shall concern ourselves most. Let us follow the party: they walk down to the river along a narrow path which has longtime given way to a broad walk with a stately row of trees on each side, and arrive at Salters where the rowing boats are kept: and we can see them choosing nice comfortable cushions to go in the boat, and then when all is finally ready, and the task of rowing has been assigned, the competition is to sit next to the great mathematician who possessed such an intricate mind, we are told, that he could by perfectly faultless logic prove that a man is not a man! Such is the fairy godfather who helps row, in a delightfully lazy sort of manner, three happy little girls, up or down the Isis, not only on this particular, but on many a hot, afternoon. We can imagine he is not left long in peace: was there ever a child whom when it thought it had one completely at its mercy did not at once say ‘Tell me a story’? How much more so, and how much more irresistible with three! And that this happened on this actual occasion we know full well – for we have Lewis Carroll’s own words for it? In case you may not know them I will quote them: All in the golden afternoon Full leisurely we glide; Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour, Beneath such dreamy weather, To beg a tale of breath too weak To stir the tiniest feather! Yet what can one poor voice avail

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Against three tongues together? Imperious Prima flashes forth Her edict ‘to begin it’ – In gentler tone Secunda hopes ‘There will be nonsense in it!’ – While Tertia interrupts the tale Not more than once a minute. So we can see them gliding along with Mr. Dodgson rowing now and again, and yet at the same time telling the story in his quiet voice with its curious stutter – sometimes pretending to fall asleep to the great dismay of the three – sometimes saying ‘that is all till next time’ only to resume on being told that it is already next time. Thus started the ever-delightful tale which has found its way into the hearts of so many.27

At the end of the river trip, it was Alice who beseeched Dodgson to write down the story for her. And almost two-and-a-half years later, Dodgson completed the story – written in his own best hand, with drawings carefully added to illustrate the text – and he presented a small green leather notebook to Alice Liddell as a Christmas gift in 1864. The title of the book was Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and Dodgson added a message just for Alice: ‘A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer Day.’ The book ends with Alice waking up from her dream, for it had all been a dream, and she tells her sister about her many exciting adventures. The last page reads: But her sister sat there some while longer, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and her Adventures, till she too began dreaming after a fashion, and this was her dream. She saw an ancient city [Oxford], and a quiet river [Isis] winding near it along the plain [Port Meadow, north of Oxford towards Godstow], and up the stream went slowly gliding a boat with a merry party of children on board – she could hear their voices and laughter like music over the water – and among them was another little Alice, who sat listening with bright eager eyes to a tale that was being told, and she listened for the words of the tale, and lo! it was the dream of her own little sister. So the boat wound slowly along, beneath the bright summer day, with its merry crew and its music of voices and laughter, till it passed round one of the many turnings of the stream, and she saw it no more.28

The little notebook was kept at the Deanery and, from time to time, visitors were given the opportunity to read it for themselves. As we have heard, Dodgson was strongly encouraged to publish the story, which he did with the new

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title of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. After the initial problems with the printing of the first edition at Oxford, the book was reset and reprinted in London and went on sale in November 1865. Gradually, the book began to sell in large numbers. Fired by this success, Dodgson decided to use other stories, which he had invented for the Liddell children, in a sequel. Some of the ideas came from a royal visit to Oxford in June 1863. The Prince and Princess of Wales, recently married, favoured Oxford with a visit; it had been the prince’s home during his undergraduate years. Naturally, the couple resided at the Deanery with the Liddells for the duration of the visit and elaborate preparations ensued. Alice, now aged 11, together with her sisters, played an important part in the celebrations, learning how to behave in the company of royalty. They had taken part in a ceremony to plant trees in Christ Church on the actual wedding day. The town had also taken an active part in the celebrations and a number of events and illuminations were organised. Some of the activities and entertainments, such as the ‘talking fish’, found a place in the second book of Alice’s adventures, which was based upon a game of chess – a game Dodgson played with the children at the Deanery on wet afternoons. But there was a sense of poignancy and sadness about the story, for within it, Alice grows up and leaves her childhood friends behind, including Dodgson. The White Knight, Dodgson’s adopted character, has a tearful farewell with Alice as she progresses across the chess board and is transformed from pawn to queen. In real life, Alice grew from a precocious and lively minded child who loved to tease and question Mr Dodgson to a self-possessed young lady who was groomed by her family for a good marriage, with the possibility of marrying into royalty not entirely ruled out. Her youthful playfulness was curbed and she attended to more sober activities. Through the Looking-Glass was published in December 1871, by which time Alice Liddell was 19 years old. The book ends with an acrostic poem which spells out Alice’s name by taking the first letter in each line. The rapport with Dodgson had significantly diminished, although he always remembered her as his inspiration and muse – the alert and inquisitive 7-year-old child. Dodgson never quite recaptured that inspirational effect that Alice Liddell produced in him, which gave rise to two of the most popular and timeless books in all of children’s literature. Alice drifted away and they saw very little of each other. She did not marry into royalty, although as we have heard, she was amorously linked to Prince Leopold for a time. At age 28, she married a wealthy country squire named Reginald Gervis Hargreaves (1852–1926), who had been an undergraduate at Christ Church. They lived at the Hargreaves’ country seat, Cuffnells at Lyndhurst in the New Forest. The marriage resulted in three sons: Alan Knyveton (1881–1915), Leopold Reginald (1883–1916) and Caryl Liddell

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(1887–1955), the second son being named after the prince. Speculation arises as to whether Alice named the third son after Dodgson’s famous pseudonym, but during her lifetime she denied this. The name is very similar to Carroll and is pronounced almost the same way. The first two sons were soldiers in World War I and tragically both were killed in action. This was devastating for Alice. As time went by, she lived the life of a country gentlewoman, enjoying the social life that such a position gave her, revered by her servants and respected by the local community. Very few people knew she was the inspiration for a world-famous book for children. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland continued to be highly successful, selling in large numbers and being translated into many different languages. When Alice reached her late seventies, she decided to sell off many of the treasures which she had been given by Dodgson, including the original manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. She attended the sale at Sotheby’s on 3 April 1928 and was surprised by the price when the manuscript fetched a staggering £15,400, a record for a children’s book at that time. The manuscript was bought by Dr A. S. W. Rosenbach, an American book dealer. Attempts were made to keep it in this country but these failed. The book was sold to an American collector, Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867–1945), who by all accounts was something of an eccentric who made his money by inventing the technology for the gramophone record. He kept the book, together with other rare manuscript items, in a safe which travelled with him, even on his yacht. He also arranged to have a facsimile made; about fifty copies were given away to his special friends. After the death of Eldridge Johnson, the book passed back through the hands of the same dealer who had bought it at Sotheby’s. This time, with the help of a group of American benefactors, the book was purchased and presented back to the British Nation as a token of the sacrifice made by the British during World War II. The manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground was presented to the archbishop of Canterbury in 1948 and can now be seen in the British Library, where it is on permanent display. In 1932, Alice Hargreaves was invited to the United States to attend the centenary celebrations of Lewis Carroll’s birth. Columbia University wanted to present her with an honorary doctorate. By this time, Alice was a frail but alert 79-year-old lady who was not given to travelling far. Nevertheless, she agreed to go to America – not during the wintry weather of January for the actual centenary but in May, when she could celebrate her eightieth birthday. She travelled across the Atlantic to New York in the Cunard liner RMS Berengaria with her son Caryl and her sister Rhoda. The press were out in force on her arrival and made a great fuss of her. She was showered with gifts and invitations to attend

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functions. Alice was very surprised at the attention she received. In England, she had managed to live a quiet and uninterrupted life. She had escaped media attention in this country. On arrival in New York, she made a short speech while still aboard ship: It is a great honour and a great pleasure to have come over here, and I think now my adventures overseas will be almost as interesting as my adventures under ground were. I think that I have every prospect of having a most wonderful time as I had down the rabbit-hole.29

At this point, she was interrupted by one of the delegation sent to greet her, who asked: ‘Then is it true that you are the original Alice in Wonderland, Mrs. Hargreaves?’ She replied: Well, yes, the story was told to me, and my sisters – we were all in the boat together, with Mr. Dodgson, who was rowing us down the river.

At the inauguration at Columbia University, she made a speech about her childhood with Mr Dodgson and the events which gave rise to the book. From surviving fragments, it seems likely she used the usual speech she had adopted when asked to explain the origin of Alice’s Adventures but possibly with a few additions for the occasion. The family papers include a sheet written on notepaper from the RMS Berengaria, suggesting that part of it was written on the journey across the Atlantic. In it, she addresses the children of America: they might have looked at us again wondering whether we were quite ordinary children going down a rabbit-hole and having tea with a dormouse. I should like to take all the children, who want to go, down the rabbit-hole with me again, but, as I cannot do that, I am going to read you some letters which Lewis Carroll wrote to me in later life. In these letters you will notice the great interest he took in helping children’s homes and hospitals and in this connection it is interesting to hear that funds are being collected in New York and London for that purpose.30

One of the letters to which Alice Hargreaves referred, reproduced here, was dated 15 July 1885. Dodgson asked Alice if he could borrow the manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground so he could prepare a facsimile for publication. Initially, Alice was reluctant to do so, but when Dodgson explained that all the profits would support children’s charities, she relented.

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Dear Mrs. Hargreaves, After a good deal of casting about among various photographers and photozincographers, I seem at last to have found out the man who will reproduce Alice’s Adventures Under Ground in really first-rate style. He has brought his things to Oxford, and I am having all the photographs taken in my own studio, so that no one touches the MS book except myself. By this method I hope to be able to return it to you in as good a condition as when you so kindly lent it me – or even better, if you will allow me to have it rebound before returning it. May I? Whether the publication will be a source of gain, or not, it is impossible to say: but if it is, I hardly like the idea of taking the whole profits, considering that the book is now your property, and I was thinking of proposing to send half of them to you. But a better idea has now occurred to me, which I now submit for your approval: it is to hand over the profits to Hospitals, and Homes, for Sick Children. The following is the announcement which I propose to make (if you approve) at the beginning of the book, and also at the end of all advertisements of it: ‘The profits, if any, of this book will be devoted to Hospitals, and Homes, for Sick Children: and the accounts, up to June 30 in each year, will be published in the St. James’s Gazette on the second Tuesday in the following December.’ I hope to be able to return the book to you (or to send it to the binder, as you prefer) in about a week. Believe me Very sincerely yours, C. L. Dodgson31

Later, many of Alice’s reminiscences were recorded by her son Caryl and published in articles that appeared on both sides of the Atlantic. Suddenly, Alice found herself in the role of a celebrity, not a position she relished. She did agree to be a patron of various charities and events to commemorate the life of Lewis Carroll, many of which took place in 1932 to celebrate Dodgson’s centenary. On her return to England, she tried to re-enter obscurity, but from now on she was known and recognised as the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece. The last few years of her life were spent living near her sister Rhoda at Westerham, Kent. Interest in Dodgson grew after the anniversary celebrations in 1932 and a number of people began to write biographies and articles about the author. Alice was pursued by writers but did her best to avoid such contact. Even her sister Lorina, who then lived in Scotland, was pestered by biographers. The main point of interest was the relationship between the Oxford don and the dean’s daughter, which had given rise to a classic in children’s literature. Alice and other surviving members of the Liddell family maintained their privacy and silence on this matter. There can be no doubt that Dodgson had a great affection for Alice. The outcome of the relationship was a token of love and admiration: a

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small notebook containing the record of a series of impromptu stories which had been invented to entertain a boat crew one summer’s day in 1862. Yet this little notebook became the foundation of one of the most popular children’s books that has ever been written. Alice Pleasance Hargreaves was taken ill in early November 1934 and died on 15 November, aged 82 years. The Times ran bulletins about her illness up to the time of her death. She was cremated and her ashes were interred in the Hargreaves grave at Lyndhurst Church alongside her husband, Reginald, who had died in 1926. The church also contains a memorial plaque, commemorating her two sons killed in World War I. Caryl Hargreaves married and his wife gave birth to a daughter. Descendants of Alice Liddell survive to this day.

Child-Friends From childhood, Dodgson had a natural flair for telling amusing and entertaining stories, and with a large number of siblings at his disposal he had a readymade audience. He had the ability to capture the attention of his young listeners – a rare creative talent. Sadly, many of his invented stories were not written down and we only have his listeners’ recollections to tell us that storytelling was an important part of his character and was something he used throughout his life to amuse children. Fortunately, some of the early tales were included in the Dodgson family magazines and, from age 12 or 13, he was already showing his facility in writing exciting stories, parodying verses and using wordplay and puns. He even invented new words – an idea that reached its peak in his renowned nonsense poem ‘Jabberwocky’, composed in 1855 when he was 23. The original stanza used as the first and last verse, with five additional verses, was included in Through the Looking-Glass in 1871. Words such as ‘galumph’ and ‘chortle’ have now entered English dictionaries. The family magazines, mainly written and edited by Dodgson, show his youthful sense of humour and playfulness. In later life, he was in demand as a storyteller, especially when he visited families with children. Even at house parties, such as those given by the prime minister, Lord Salisbury, at his family seat Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, Dodgson was often invited to entertain the assembled children. His Diaries reveal that in later life, he had a stock of exciting stories he could turn to at a moment’s notice to entertain a collection of children – stories such as ‘The Three Little Foxes’ and ‘The Hobgoblin and the Blacksmith’, which may not have been original inventions but would have been told in his special way sufficiently to enthral his audience.

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Dodgson’s friendship with children throughout his life has exercised the minds of biographers and commentators and many have come to rather spurious conclusions. The facts are often ignored. On Christmas Eve in 1852, Dodgson was nominated for a studentship at Christ Church. On accepting this position, which came with a small stipend, he was expected to take holy orders and remain celibate for as long as he remained resident at Christ Church. Dodgson accepted this serious and binding commitment. When he took on the role of lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church in 1856, this commitment was extended for life – or as long as he held this position at the college. He was free to take on a role outside the college, but this would mean giving up the studentship and finding some other career in life. He chose not to take this path. In December 1861, he proceeded to deacon’s orders. Although a deeply religious man, he did not proceed to full priest’s orders. His own self-doubts about his worthiness for such a position may lie behind this decision, but his speech hesitation, making it difficult for him to take on pastoral duties, probably also contributed to his choice. He consulted the dean and chapter at Christ Church, and after due consideration, the dean accepted that Dodgson’s role as mathematical lecturer was a ‘lay’ one and the need to become full priest was waived. Dodgson’s position, like that of most of his colleagues, was such that he was denied a normal family life. He had grown up in a comfortable family environment with his ten siblings, taking on the role of leader, chief entertainer and guide. He was particularly at ease in the company of children. He found plenty of opportunities to befriend the children of large Victorian families that abounded in Oxford and elsewhere. In the main, boys were sent away to boarding school at a fairly young age, so Dodgson’s attention usually focused on the girls within a family. His friendships were with the families of the middle and upper classes: clerics, university people, barristers, artists, writers and statesmen. Friendships began with personal contact – storytelling, games and puzzles, intellectual teasing and photography – but often continued with letter-writing. Dodgson’s letters to children are in a class of their own – full of whimsy and delight, often cleverly constructed and always entertaining. This is probably why so many survive to this day; his letters were treasured by their recipients. Here is an example of the kind of letters he wrote to children – in this case, Mary MacDonald (1853–78), daughter of the writer George MacDonald. Mary was aged 11 at the time of the letter: Christ Church, Oxford May 23, 1864 My dear Child,

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It’s been so frightfully hot here that I’ve been almost too weak to hold a pen, and even if I had been able, there was no ink – it had all evaporated into a cloud of black steam, and in that state it has been floating about the room, inking the walls and ceiling till they’re hardly fit to be seen: today it is cooler, and a little has come back into the ink-bottle in the form of black snow – there will soon be enough for me to write and order those photographs your Mamma wants. This hot weather makes me very sad and sulky: I can hardly keep my temper sometimes. For instance, just now the Bishop of Oxford came in to see me – it was a civil thing to do, and he meant no harm, poor man: but I was so provoked at his coming in that I threw a book at his head, which I am afraid hurt him a good deal (Mem: this isn’t quite true, so you needn’t believe it. Don’t be in such a hurry to believe next time – I’ll tell you why. If you set to work to believe everything, you will tire out the believing-muscles of your mind, and then you’ll be so weak you won’t be able to believe the simplest true things. Only last week a friend of mine set to work to believe Jack-the-giant-killer. He managed to do it, but he was so exhausted by it that when I told him it was raining (which was true) he couldn’t believe it, but rushed out into the street without his hat or umbrella, the consequence of which was his hair got seriously damp, and one curl didn’t recover its right shape for nearly 2 days. (Mem: some of that is not quite true, I’m afraid.)) Will you tell Greville I am getting on with his picture (to go into the oval frame, you know) and I hope to send it in a day or two. Also tell your Mamma that I’m sorry to say none of my sisters are coming to London this summer. With my kind regards to your Papa and Mamma, and love to you and the other infants, I remain Your affectionate Friend, Charles L. Dodgson The only unlucky thing that happened to me last Friday was your writing to me. There!32

Child-friendships sometimes lasted only for a few years. When children stopped writing to him, he stopped writing to them. And they did so as they reached maturity. But in some cases, the friendship lasted for life and the children of his child-friends became a new set of friends to add to his list. He showered them with presentation copies of his books and other gifts, listed their birthdays and took their photographs if possible. To some extent, his friendship with children was important to him as the writer of books for children; he needed to know what interested them, what amused them and what would benefit them. The accounts we have from child-friends – and there are many to choose from – reveal a period during which they felt his friendship was as important as it was influential. It was the key to developing good and kind attitudes, providing them with a voice when most Victorian children had none and

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giving them a source of wise counsel. Many of his child-friends wrote to the press soon after his death in 1898 to testify to the value of his friendship in exceedingly positive ways. A similar flood of letters occurred in 1928 at the time the manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground was sent to auction, with many child-friends expressing the hope the book would remain in England. The third outpouring of child memories happened in 1932 at the centenary celebrations of his birth. This example comes from Ella Bickersteth n´ee Monier-Williams: Sir, – As one of the rapidly diminishing band of those who in their childhood enjoyed the rare privilege of the friendship of Lewis Carroll at Oxford, let me thank you warmly for your leading article to-day expressing the hope that on April 3 the MS. of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ may find an English purchaser and remain this side of the Atlantic. The last time I saw Mr. Dodgson, not long before his death, was at the Indian Institute at Oxford, when, full of his characteristic teasing, as usual, he tried to prove to me, the mother of six sons, how infinitely superior he considered girls to boys; and that was indeed a settled conviction he was always ready to defend. I am Yours, etc., Ella C. F. Bickersteth33

Ella Chlora Faithfull Bickersteth (1859–1954) first met Dodgson at a dinner party at her father’s home in May 1866; her father was professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. She was photographed on a number of occasions. Another account of friendship and storytelling comes from Enid Gertrude Shawyer n´ee Stevens (1882–1960), one of Dodgson’s last great Oxford childfriends. Dodgson dedicated Sylvie and Bruno Concluded to her in 1893 with an acrostic poem which embodies her name in the third letter of each line. She gave a BBC radio interview about her memories of Lewis Carroll, of which this is an extract: I first met him, I think, when I was nine: it was 1891, and I had a very bad cold and they made me go to bed upstairs. He called on my mama and I was singing ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ at the top of my voice and he heard me. He didn’t know there was me before that. I was not allowed down that day, but what happened the next morning was a perfectly delightful little note – oh, a tiny little note, the tiniest hand-writing – asking me to tea. That was the beginning of it. After that he used to fetch me – he used to call it borrowing me – two or three times a week, take me for long walks and take me back to tea in his rooms.

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Stories poured out of him, one after another, and I can’t remember any of them because they never were repeated. During our walks he was making up all the mad gardener and the spherical proctor verses in Sylvie and Bruno, and there were far more of them than ever came into print. But when he found one that he really thought he must print, he would scribble it down and when we got back to the rooms I was allowed to type it – tremendous joy.34

Dodgson owned a Hammond typewriter, newly invented and manufactured by Remington in America, which he purchased in 1888. It survives today in a private collection and a number of typed letters also exist. To a large extent, the typewriter was another acquisition used to entertain visitors in Dodgson’s rooms. In 1958, the BBC broadcast a number of the child-friends talking about their memories of Lewis Carroll. The Listener carried transcripts of these accounts, which were heard on the Third Programme, including the reminiscences of Audrey Fuller, May Barber and Enid Stevens. Audrey Fuller (b. 1885) was the daughter of Herbert Henry Fuller and his wife, Mary ‘Minnie’ Frances Drury (1859–1935). Her mother was also a child-friend, first met on a railway journey with her two sisters in August 1869, and Audrey described Dodgson meeting the Drury sisters: One day [. . . ] my mother, Minnie Drury, her sister Ella, and her other sister Emmie were sitting in a railway carriage with their governess, going back to Southwold after the summer holidays, when they saw a clergyman on the platform, passing and re-passing their carriage window; and, just as my children would have done, they hoped he wouldn’t get in. He did get in, and he amused them all the way to London with puzzles, paper toys, and stories. He had a little brown bag with scissors for cutting out things, and all sorts of oddments with which he could amuse children. [. . . ] The friendship continued all through my mother’s married life, and I remember him coming from the time I was quite a small child to stay with us.35

Mary ‘May’ Barber (1877–1962) must count as a late child-friend, as she did not meet Dodgson until October 1894 at Eastbourne and was aged 17 at the time. She remembered him coming to her mother’s school: I knew him because he used to spend all his holidays in Eastbourne. My mother had a school there, and until I was married I was there. He used to come up quite a lot to the school. He was awfully good to them. He used to come up to tea and supper, and play Mischmasch – which was a game he taught you for logic. Then he used to tell the children stories. [. . . ] He was very good with small children. But I

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think he was rather chastened if they didn’t behave quite as politely and properly as they should have done. They used to go to tea, generally in twos and threes, to his rooms in Lushington Road. He would have a very nice tea, and I think they always behaved very nicely. You never thought of him as a middle-aged man: you never thought of him as any age in particular. He was just a friend. Because I think he did become the same age as the children he was talking to. He seemed to be able to draw them out, and they did talk to him very happily. I have seen him a lot with children, and they liked him.36

Such friendships would be misunderstood today, but in Victorian society, a clergyman giving tea to groups of children would be seen as an innocent act of kindness, which, no doubt, it was. There are many newspaper reports and letters from child-friends clearly stating that their friendship with Dodgson was an important part of their lives. There were no contradictory reports ever published, probably because not one was written. Isabella ‘Isa’ Bowman (1874–1958) was a child actress who took part in the first dramatised version of Alice in Wonderland staged in December 1886; she played the role of an oyster ghost in the first performance but took the lead role in the revised production that opened in December 1888. She was the first childfriend to write a full biography (as far as it related to her own experience) of Lewis Carroll, published in 1899, a year after his death. As with other children, she imagined herself as being the most important of his child-friends, but this was because Dodgson always devoted his full attention to a child, making them feel important and unique in his friendship. He carefully avoided jealousies between his child-friends. Isa Bowman wrote of him: It is not easy to make an effort and to remember all the little personalia of some one one has loved very much, and by whom one has been loved. And yet it is in a measure one’s duty to tell the world something of the inner life of a famous man; and Lewis Carroll was so wonderful a personality, and so good a man, that if my pen dragged ever so slowly, I feel that I can at least tell something of his life which is worthy the telling.

She went on to give a physical description of Dodgson, and because she was one of the few biographers who actually knew him, her account is given here: Lewis Carroll was a man of medium height. When I knew him his hair was a silver-grey, rather longer than it was the fashion to wear, and his eyes were a deep

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blue. He was clean shaven, and, as he walked, always seemed a little unsteady in his gait. At Oxford he was a well-known figure. He was a little eccentric in his clothes. In the coldest weather he would never wear an overcoat, and he had a curious habit of always wearing, in all seasons of the year, a pair of grey and black cotton gloves.37

The gloves were probably a result of his quarter-century of taking photographs: the chemicals used meant his hands were often stained black, so he disguised them by keeping them covered. The habit persisted after he gave up photography. Beatrice Sheward (1866–1947), Ethel Charlotte (1869–1975) and Evelyn Maud (1871–1951) were the daughters of Edwin Hatch (1835–89), vice principal of St Mary Hall, Oxford, and reader in ecclesiastical history. His wife was Bessie Cartwright Thomas (1839–91), who took an interest in theatrical performances and entertained like-minded people at her home – much to the indignity of the more staid and traditional members of the university. Dodgson was very much in support of her ideas and even wrote prologues for some of her theatrical entertainments. Dodgson met the children at a performance of tableaux and theatricals presented at the home of Bartholomew Price in November 1870. Later, he photographed the children on numerous occasions. Beatrice published her memories of Lewis Carroll in The Strand Magazine (April 1898) and Evelyn edited A Selection From the Letters of Lewis Carroll (1933). Here is an extract from Beatrice’s memories: He never spared himself in any detail; everything was done in the neatest and most methodical manner. The arrangement of his papers, the classification of his photographs, the order of his books, the lists and registers that he kept about everything imaginable – all this betokened his well-ordered mind. There was a wonderful letter-register of his own invention, which not only recorded the names of his correspondents, and the dates of their letters, but which also summarized the contents of each communication, so that in a few seconds Mr. Dodgson could tell you what you had written to him about on a certain day in years gone by. Another register contained a list of every menu supplied to every guest who dined at Mr. Dodgson’s table! This sounds like the doing of an epicure, but Mr. Dodgson was not that – far from it. His dinners were simple enough, and never of more than two courses. But everything that he did must be done in the most perfect manner possible; and the same care and attention would be given to other people’s affairs, if in any way he could assist or give them pleasure. If he took you up to London to see a play at the theatre, you were no sooner seated in the

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railway carriage than a game was produced from his bag, and all occupants of the compartment were invited to join in playing a kind of ‘halma’ or ‘draughts’ of his own invention, on the little wooden board that had been specially made to his design for railway use, with ‘men’ warranted not to tumble down, because they fitted into little holes in the board! And the rest of these happy days spent with him were remarkable for the consideration that was shown for your comfort and happiness. Sometimes I have spent an evening with Mr. Dodgson in conversation only. With all his humour he took a serious view of life, and had a very grave vein running through his mind. The simplicity of his faith, his deep reverence, and his child-like trust in the goodness of God were very striking.38

This gives the impression of a man who needed order in his life, was at times obsessive in his manner and always organised. He was a ‘list maker’ and a compiler of ‘registers’, so his personal information files were ordered and accessible (sadly, many of these manuscript registers were destroyed at his death). If he needed an address, a child’s birth date or a summary of previous correspondence, it was at hand. The next reminiscence comes from Edith Alice Litton (1849–1919), one of Dodgson’s early child-friends. She does not appear much in the surviving diaries, but this may be due to the fact that their friendship was at its height in 1858 to 1862, a period for which the diaries are missing. During this time, her father, Edward Arthur Litton (1813–97), was rector of St Clement’s, Oxford. I only remember him first when I was about seven [. . . ] he was one of my most delightful friends. I shall never forget when, sitting on a rustic seat with Mr. Dodgson under a dear old tree in the Botanical Gardens, I heard for the first time the delightful and ever-entertaining story of Hans Andersen’s ‘Ugly Duckling.’ I was devoted to books, and could read quite well for so small a child, but I cannot explain the delightful way in which Mr. Dodgson read and told his stories: as he read, the characters were real flesh and blood – living creatures. This particular story made a great impression on me, and, being very sensitive about my ugly little self, it greatly interested me. I remember his impressing upon me that it was better to be good, truthful, and to try not to think of self, than be a pretty, selfish child, spoilt and disagreeable, and he, from that story, gave me the name of ‘Ducky,’ which name clung to me for many years. [. . . ] Many a time has Mr. Dodgson said, ‘Never mind, little Ducky; perhaps some day you will turn out a swan.’ It was his sweet smile and face that endeared him so much to his youthful friends, his never-failing interest in their childlike joys and sorrows. Mr. Dodgson

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was a very quiet, reserved man, and cared little for society, such as large parties and receptions; but to come and go as he liked in the homes of those with whom he was intimate, these visits were some of the pleasures he allowed himself.39

Dodgson met Isabel Julia Standen (1859–1941) and her family in 1869 at some public gardens at Reading while waiting for a rail connection to continue his journey from Oxford to Guildford. It resulted in Dodgson sending her a presentation copy of Alice’s Adventures. He photographed Isabel and her sisters, but much of the friendship was continued by letter. She published her memories in an article entitled ‘Lewis Carroll as I Remember Him’ in The Queen. This is an extract: Mr. Dodgson was as generous as he was kind, and as time went on he duly presented us girls with copies of his charming books as they came out, and there were eight of us! Some were translations in German, French, Italian, etc. and the Baby of the family had one in Dutch, but she, thinking it was not a real language, but only Double Dutch, did not treat the book with much respect. I am proud to think that the friendship formed when I was a child lasted long after I had ‘put away childish things.’ In a letter he wrote me once (in his favourite purple ink), he said ‘I always feel specially grateful to friends who, like you, have given me a child-friendship and a woman-friendship, too. About nine out of ten, I think, of my child-friendships get ship-wrecked at the critical point ‘where the stream and river meet,’ and the child-friends, once so affectionate, become uninteresting acquaintances.’ An attractive side to his nature was that he loved to help and encourage young people who were studying. [. . . ] I remember how he helped me when I was learning singing. I feel it was a great privilege to have enjoyed the friendship of such a man for so many years, and the memory will remain while life lasts.40

To conclude this selection of memories from child-friends, here are the reminiscences of Annie Gertrude Chataway (1866–1951), written a few years before her death. She was the daughter of James Chataway (1827–1907), rector of Rotherwick, Hampshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Drinkwater (1833–93). Dodgson first met the family at Sandown, Isle of Wight, in September 1875 and remained friendly with them for many years. Gertrude, as she was known, became the dedicatee of The Hunting of the Snark (1976), in which Dodgson composed and printed an acrostic on her name (appearing as the first word of each stanza and the first letter of each line). Her complete article is reproduced here:

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22. Gertrude Chataway, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1876

Imagine the seaside at Sandown in the Isle of Wight, where lodgings stretched along the front each with its balcony on the upper floor and standing in a little garden with steps leading down on to the shore. Imagine a little girl about 81/2 absolutely entranced with the lodger next door. To her he seemed quite an old gentleman. In the morning he came out on to his balcony breathing in the sea air as if he could not get enough; and whenever she heard him coming she would rush out on to the balcony to see him. After a few days he spoke to her: ‘Little girl, why do you come so fast on to your balcony whenever I come out?’ ‘To see

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you sniff,’ she said. ‘It is lovely to see you sniff like this’ – she threw up her head and drew in the air. Thus began a long friendship which ended only with his death. It was the happiest summer holiday of my childhood, that summer of 1875. He was writing The Hunting of the Snark at that time, and was also thinking about Sylvie and Bruno, which he wrote later, and Rhyme? and Reason?. He told me, while we sat on the steps or walked up and down on the shore, many stories in these, as well as others that he thought of at the time. I would dash off into the sea for a little paddle, but even paddling was often forgotten in the delight of the wonderful stories. I took it as a child does, as if it were true, and asked sooner or later for some particulars. That was enough as I now see to start a new train of thought; at once he caught my idea, and off he would go into a fresh series of adventures. He was pleased because my mother let me run in and out of the sea in little bathing pants and a fisherman’s jersey, a thing quite unheard of in those days. He thought it so sensible and told her not to listen to the mothers who were shocked. He and my mother became very good friends, and after that summer he often invited her to bring me to stay with him in Oxford, where he got us lodgings where we could sleep, and we had all our meals with him in his rooms in Christ Church. He also came to stay with us at Rotherwick, not far from Basingstoke, where my father was the Rector.

The Hunting of the Snark Now that I am over 81 it is still interesting to take up my copy of The Hunting of the Snark and read the charming double acrostic in which it is dedicated to me, then Gertrude Chataway. Inscribed to a dear child in memory of golden summer hours and whispers of a summer sea. Girt with a boyish garb for boyish task, Eager she wields her spade; yet loves as well Rest on a friendly knee, intent to ask The tale he loves to tell. Rude spirits of the seething outer strife Unmeet to read her pure and simple spright Deem if you list, such hours a waste of life, Empty of all delight. Chat on sweet maid and rescue from annoy Hearts that by wiser talk are unbeguiled.

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Ah, happy he who owns that tenderest joy The heart love of a child. Away fond thoughts and vex my soul no more Work claims my wakeful nights, my busy days, Albeit bright memories of that sunlit shore Yet haunt my dreaming gaze.

There cannot be many of his child friends of so long ago still living. His charm to a child was greatly entranced by the very sympathetic way that he would see the drift of her thoughts and make her feel she was part of the story. He wrote me many letters in the years that followed – lovely nonsense letters. Some are printed in The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll by his nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, and also in Miss E. M. Hatch’s book. The following was written the next year after our Sandown friendship began:– My dear Gertrude Explain to me how I am to enjoy Sandown without you. How can I walk on the beach alone? How can I sit alone on those wooden steps? So you see, as I shan’t be able to do without you, you will have to come. If Violet comes, I shall tell her to invite you to stay with her, and then I shall come over in the Heather-Bell and fetch you. If ever I do come over, I see I couldn’t go back the same day; so you will have to engage me a bed somewhere in Swanage; and if you can’t find one, I shall expect you to spend your night on the beach, and give up your bed to me. Guests, of course, must be thought of before children; and I am sure in these warm nights the beach will be quite good enough for you. If you did feel a little chilly, of course, you could go into a bathing-machine, which everybody knows is very comfortable to sleep in. You know they make the floor of soft wood for that purpose. I send you seven kisses to last a week and remain, Your loving friend, Lewis Carroll.

More letters: 2 January, 1876. My dearest Gertrude, I wish you and all your party a very Happy New Year, and many thanks for the card you sent me; as to your other present, I am not quite sure if I am obliged for it or not – you say you wish me ‘a kiss under the mistletoe.’ Now, the question is, who from? It all depends on that, whether I should care to have it or not. Now, my fear is that you mean one of those Sandown boys [. . . ] one of those boys who

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pelted you, you know, when you first went out in your paddling dress. So I think my answer must be ‘thank you, I would rather not.’ It is a bright summer day almost. Is summer beginning with you? When the real warm weather begins again (about April or May let us say) you must beg hard to be brought over to Oxford again. I want to do some better photographs of you; those were not really good ones I did [. . . ] it was such a wretched day for it. And mind you don’t grow a bit older, for I shall want to take you in the same dress again; if anything, you had better grow a little younger [. . . ] go back to your last birthday but one. Your ever loving friend, C. L. Dodgson.

In April, 1878, my mother asked him to come and stay with us.

My dear Gertrude, I have to wait half-an-hour at Reading station, so have been studying Bradshaw (most things you know ought to be studied; even a trunk is studded with nails), and the result is that it seems I could come any day next week to Winchfield, so as to arrive there about 1, and that by leaving Winchfield again about half-past six I could reach Guildford again for dinner. The next question is, how far is it from Winchfield to Rotherwick? Now do not deceive me, you wretched child. If it is more than 100 miles I cannot come to see you, and there is no use talking about it. If it is less, the next question is, how much less? These are serious questions and you must be as serious as a judge in answering them. There mustn’t be a smile in your pen, or a wink in your ink. Perhaps you will say there can’t be a wink in ink, but there may be ‘ink in a wink,’ but this is trifling: you must not make jokes like that when I tell you to be serious. When you answer these two questions you might as well tell me at the same time whether you are still living at Rotherwick [. . . ] whether you are at home, whether you get my letter, and whether you’re still a child or a grown-up person, and anything else (except the alphabet and the multiplication table) that you happen to know. I send you 10,000,000 kisses and am Your loving friend, C. L. Dodgson. Many people have said that he liked children only as long as they were really children and did not care about them when they grew up. That was not my experience; we were warm friends always. I think sometimes misunderstandings came from the fact that many girls when grown up do not like to be treated as if they were still 10 years old. Personally I found that habit of his very refreshing. I did

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not see him often in the last years of his life because I was so much of the time abroad; but the memory of him will always be a very great happiness to me.41

Naturally, reminiscences written long after the friendship ceased following Dodgson’s death in 1898 should be taken with a certain amount of caution. As one gets older, memory begins to blur and there is a strong likelihood that events contain a gloss of sentimentality that is some way from the truth. These chosen accounts are, in the main, recorded by lucid and precise writers based on evidence from primary sources and their own good memories accord with the facts as described in Dodgson’s diaries. There are two issues that have emerged over the last few decades – both myths that need to be dispelled. The first is that Dodgson only liked little girls. The second is that his relationship with them was unhealthy. Suggestions about Dodgson’s unhealthy attitude towards children seems to be one of the most prevalent myths that have dominated our present age – an age which looks askance at any relationship between adults and children. We live in a suspicious and untrusting world. For people who work with children, such as teachers, life can be fraught with dangers. In the Victorian age, life and attitudes were very different. If a man took a group of young children – all unrelated to him – on a boat trip that lasted all afternoon, no one would mind in the slightest. If a man took an unaccompanied young lady aged 17 to 25 on a similar boat trip, he would cause untold damage to that lady’s reputation and marriage prospects. Today, the reverse is true. Take a group of unrelated children on an excursion and the man would be open to suspicions of child abuse. A man and a young lady enjoying an afternoon’s boating would cause no concern. Standards in society are fickle. Where did the suggestion that Dodgson had an overriding passion for children come from? In his biography The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (1898), Stuart Dodgson Collingwood devoted two chapters to child-friends and talked about his uncle’s fondness for children. Inadvertently, he may have begun the myth about Dodgson’s special interest in young girls, describing this as a ‘very important and distinct side of his nature.’ He went on to explain the causes for this ‘beautiful side of Lewis Carroll’s character’ as being two sided: the children’s strong attraction to him and his appeal as a teacher to their unspoiled minds as material for him to work on. He also talked of Dodgson’s interest in the physical beauty of children and his fascination in their intellectual development. Such innocuous ideas are now very misunderstood and frequently misinterpreted. Within a few years, other biographers had taken up the suggestions made by Collingwood, but the emphasis had changed. In his somewhat ‘tongue in cheek’ article ‘Alice in Wonderland Psychoanalyzed’ (1933), Anthony M. E.

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Goldschmidt wrote about Dodgson’s ‘abnormal instinct’ for child-friends. He said: ‘It is difficult to hold that his interest in children was inspired by a love of childhood in general.’ He reported that Dodgson detested little boys to an extent that he had an aversion amounting to terror (probably misinterpreting Dodgson’s letter to Edith Blakemore, see below). Goldschmidt was writing as an undergraduate and his paper inspires very little credence, although it influenced many other writers who followed him. More recently, we have been hearing about Dodgson’s relationship with older women – to some extent, a foil against the accusations of having too great an interest in children. Dodgson felt at ease in, and enjoyed, female society. His college was a masculine enclave; very few women ventured in. They were not allowed to dine in Hall or visit the Common Room. Dodgson spent much of his time away from college and this enabled him to develop female companions – all the time aware of his commitment to his studentship. Hence, he appeared to gravitate towards those who were ‘safe’: married women, widows, often young widows with children. Dodgson revealed paternal instincts towards such families, with a desire to help the mother bring up the fatherless children. Many families can be identified to support this idea: Mrs Sophia Balfour (1830–1902) with two daughters, Mrs Letitia Barry (1824–1911) with five children, Mrs Sophia Drury (1830–86) with three daughters, Mrs Mary Harington (1815?–86) with two daughters, Mrs Eliza Heaphy (1818?–95) with eleven children, Mrs Louisa Miller (1844–1919) with two daughters, Mrs Elizabeth Ottley (1817–1902) with sixteen children, Mrs Frances Smith (b. 1835) with three children and the Duchess of Albany (1861–1922) with two children – all were befriended by Dodgson. There were also older widows, such as Mrs Mary Bayne (1805–88) and Mrs Elizabeth Hussey (1810–96), and spinsters, such as Miss Catharine Lloyd (1824–98), whom Dodgson used as confidantes and advisers. There were some married women who seem to have been much attracted to Dodgson for other personal reasons (possibly admiration for a famous author or a senior member of the University of Oxford or because he was a generous and kind-hearted person), such as Mrs Constance Burch (1855–1937). We must remember that Dodgson also numbered actresses and artists as friends, such as Ellen Terry, Kate Lewis, the Coote family, the Bowman sisters, Mrs Edith Shute and Mrs Sophie Anderson, among others. There can be no doubt that Dodgson was happy and comfortable in the company of women of any age. Hence, the ‘child centred’ view of Dodgson that prevails in books, newspapers, journals and television programmes is very out of date and inaccurate. Dodgson himself must take part of the blame for the suggestion he was hiding something from the world at large. His rigorous attempts to protect his privacy and to shun all forms of publicity made successive generations suspect he had

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something to hide – some dark secret that if revealed would tarnish his reputation forever, some dreadful error of judgement that would cause society to shun him, or some awful characteristic that would repel even the most broadminded of souls. He had a public name but not a public face. After his death, the custodians of his literary estate did little to release the truth. They followed the social sensitivities of the late Victorian and early Edwardian age – the private life of Lewis Carroll was not for public consumption. His literary legacy fared badly: many of his papers and personal effects were destroyed in the name of haste and expediency, but other motives were in play. Highly important documents were removed from the scope of future research: his twenty-four-volume letter register containing summaries of all correspondence received and sent since 1860, his complete photographic catalogue of all pictures taken from 1856 to 1880, the drafts and proofs of many publications and four journals from his thirteenvolume diary. Thus, biographers are bereft of key primary source material. But to indulge in unfounded speculation is not the way forward.

Friendships with Boys Dodgson once wrote: ‘I am fond of children (except boys).’ Writers and biographers have long seized upon this statement as meaning he had a strong dislike for boy children. The comment was written in a letter to the 12-year-old Kathleen Eschwege (1867–1934) and was probably part of his characteristic teasing.42 There can be no doubt that Dodgson had a preference for girls, but boys were also his friends; he met them, enjoyed their company, wrote to them, sent them gifts, inscribed copies of his books to them and photographed them. Not all boys he met appealed to him. The same is true of girls. He looked for a particular spark in children – those who understood his ‘teasing’ and appreciated his sense of humour. He liked intellectual children. He was also attracted by the physical beauty of both boys and girls. On 6 March 1856, he wrote: ‘Made friends with little Harry Liddell, (whom I first spoke to down at the boats last week): he is certainly the handsomest boy I ever saw.’43 And on 18 September 1857, he commented on Lord Tennyson’s sons: ‘I saw also the two children, Hallam and Lionel, 5 and 3 years old, the most beautiful boys of their age I ever saw.’44 In a letter to a married friend, Mrs Marianne Richards (b. 1843), dated 23 November 1881, he explained his preference for girls in a manner that is both well reasoned and sensible: Your boy is no doubt as much to you as your girl: but I’m sure you won’t mind my being candid enough to say that I cannot even pretend to feel as much interest in boys as in girls. It is, to a certain extent, human nature.45

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Dodgson was drawn to girls rather than boys. However, this did not preclude him from admiring boys who were both well behaved and handsome. In December 1857, he made a trip to Twyford School in Hampshire to visit some old colleagues from Christ Church who taught there. He wrote: ‘Collyns had over to his rooms after tea Jimmy [Dodgson’s cousin] and Harry Liddell as before, and two other boys, Malet and Manning, the former a remarkably nice-looking and gentlemanly boy.’46 Clement Drake Elton Malet (1845–1930), a keen cricketer and batsman, caught his eye and he later photographed him on subsequent visits to Twyford School in 1858 and 1859. The following year, at Ripon, he noted the charming and good-looking children of Robert Bickersteth (1816–84), bishop of Ripon. He recorded on 14 January 1858: Dined at the Palace, with a party from the Residence, the children all appeared in the course of the evening. I especially admire the eldest boy, Robin. His thoughtful and intellectual face make him look some years older than he is. The youngest boy is also a beauty, the others are not so remarkable.47

Some years later, he photographed both boys. The main characters in Dodgson’s best-remembered books are invariably young girls – ‘Alice’ and ‘Sylvie’ being the most significant. But he also invented boy characters. ‘Bruno’ first appeared in 1867 in Dodgson’s short story ‘Bruno’s Revenge’ that was published in Aunt Judy’s Magazine in December of that year. In 1866, Dodgson nursed the idea of writing a drama of a sentimental nature in which the main character was a lost boy to be played by the child actor Percy Roselle (b. 1856). At the end of his life, Dodgson told stories to large groups of children – sometimes groups of 150 to 200 boys at schools. One such story was called ‘Victor and Arnion’, which Dodgson used as a moral tale first told at a children’s church service at Eastbourne and probably involved two well-behaved and kind boys doing good deeds. Unfortunately, the tale was not written down; at any event, it has not come to light. Some of Dodgson’s boy characters are less pleasant, as in ‘Uggug’, the awful child of the Sub Warden and his foolish wife in Sylvie and Bruno. Inventing child characters – both male and female, both good and bad – are part and parcel of being a good author; they tell us little about Dodgson’s preferences for one or the other. There are many other examples of boys who caught Dodgson’s eye that are mentioned in his journals. By way of example, the following selected extracts will suffice: ‘Spent the evening with the Simpsons, where I saw two younger children, Frances, about 6 years old, and a beautiful little boy (Percy) about 2’ (2 July 1865)48 ; ‘Had a chat on the beach with a Mr. Stopford, from Witley,

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who has five children, the eldest, Mabel, a pretty little “blonde” of 7, and the next, George, one of the prettiest boys I have seen’ (25 September 1875)49 ; ‘The children are very charming, and soon got over all shyness. I specially admire Willie, a glorious boy of 2’ (the son of his brother Wilfred, recorded on 23 July 1878)50 ; ‘The Murdoch party walked up in the evening (including Mr. Murdoch and the boy – a very pretty boy of about 8)’ (12 August 1880)51 ; and ‘The very picturesque little boy, Arthur, was also there’ (29 March 1889).52 I suppose we must be fair in saying that Dodgson disliked the rough and tumble of boys and those who interested him were the quieter, more thoughtful boys from literary and educated circles in the upper and middle classes of society. For example, he took to the son of Coventry Patmore, ‘Piffy’ (Francis Epiphanius), because he was ‘a very bright little creature, who taught me how to fold paper pistols’.53 In March 1863, a long list of girls’ names appeared in Dodgson’s journal under the heading ‘Photographed or to be photographed’.54 There were 107 names, including six Constances, seven Ediths and fourteen Marys. There was no similar list of boys’ names. This might suggest that Dodgson’s intention was to take photographs only of girls, but this was far from the truth. Dodgson took many photographs of boys; at least 100 portraits are known. Some of these boys who sat for his camera were photographed several times. Most of these boys were under the age of 10 when photographed. Two are nude studies taken when the boys were less than two years old, probably at the request of the parents. Other photographs of boys were taken in family groups and some in school photographs to show whole classes of boys and cricket teams. He took a photograph of the boy choristers at Christ Church. This does make the point that boys played an important part in Dodgson’s photographic opus and helps to dispel the myth that he only photographed little girls. The problem we have in understanding Dodgson’s true feelings is that he often deceived us with his unrevealing dry sense of humour. Statements in letters, even to adults, are frequently tinged with irony. We need to be wary when we read blunt sentences, such as: ‘Boys are not in my line: I think they are a mistake: girls are less objectionable.’55 If we take this literally, then we have fallen into his trap. The same tactic is used in a letter to Edith Blakemore: ‘Sometimes they [children] are a real terror to me – especially boys: little girls I can now and then get on with, when they’re few enough.’56 Dodgson goes on to explain that an Oxford friend suggested bringing his son to pay a visit. Dodgson wrote: ‘He thought I doted on all children. But I’m not omnivorous! – like a pig. I pick and choose.’ And pick and choose he did – with both boys and girls.

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 10  PROFESSIONALS

Barristers and Judges Dodgson’s interest in the system of trial by jury is well documented. He was fascinated by legal procedures and in particular the language and logic used by barristers. There are many instances of him spending half a day or more in court at the Oxford Assizes, listening to cases being tried – anything from theft of a few vegetables from an employer to a deranged mother murdering her children. We get a sense of Dodgson’s detachment from the emotional experience. His interest was clearly centred on the ceremony and delivery of evidence upon which judgment was made. Dodgson admired the way in which a case was presented. After spending a day in court on 3 March 1865, he wrote in his diary: I admired the simple, straight forward way in which the case was dealt with, which, like the plain Saxon English of the lessons read in church, robbed it of all that could suggest evil to the listeners.1

He had been listening to a case of indecent assault and one of damage to property. The drama of a court scene was used as the finale to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The emphasis here is not on crime and punishment but on court procedure and language: sentence first; verdict afterwards. The crime of stealing jam tarts from the Queen seems irrelevant, especially as the principal evidence can clearly be seen on a table just below the judge. Stolen yet returned or retrieved perhaps. Nevertheless, the case is tried with all the usual pomp and ceremony: a jury of twelve good men and true (a little noisy and distracting at times),

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witnesses brought forward to give their evidence and court officials to ensure that procedure took high priority. Dodgson applied his own first-hand experience of attending trials, but he parodies the dignity, impartiality and seriousness of such occasions. Dodgson was on familiar terms with some barristers and judges. His cousin, Amy Menella Dodgson (1842–1922), married Charles Edward Pollock (1823– 97), judge in the High Court and last baron of the Court of Exchequer. Dodgson attended their wedding on 23 December 1866. From time to time, Dodgson dined with the Pollocks at their home in Putney. When Charles Pollock came to Oxford to oversee the local assizes, Dodgson usually invited him to call. For example, on 22 February 1877, Dodgson noted: ‘C. Pollock (Baron) came in the evening, with his “Marshal” (a nephew of his, named Hamilton). [. . . ] The assizes are tomorrow’.2 The nephew was Frederick Alexander Pollock Hamilton (1852–78), barrister-at-law and son of Judge Pollock’s sister, Emma Pollock, who married Alexander Hamilton JP. Dodgson was in court the following day and heard the case of a labourer who stole 20 fowls, a bushel and a half of wheat, a peck and a half of beans and peas and ten sack bags, all worth £3. He was given six months hard labour for his offence. Afterwards, Dodgson joined Pollock and the other judge, together with their marshals, when they visited the Taylor Gallery and All Souls College, dining with them in the evening. The vice chancellor of the university was with them at the dinner. Another close friend was Judge George Denman (1819–96), son of Baron Denman, the lord chief justice, who trained as a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn in 1843 and who was called to the Bar in 1846. By 1851, he was a Queen’s Councillor, and in 1881, he was made a judge of the High Court. Dodgson first met Judge Denman’s daughter Grace (1858–1935) at the home of the MacDonalds in 1864, and later that year, he met the parents. Mrs Charlotte Denman n´ee Hope (1830–1905) brought three of her six children to Lambeth Palace to be photographed by Dodgson on 8 July 1864. From then on, Dodgson kept in touch with the Denmans and sent them presentation copies of his books. On receiving in January 1869 a copy of Dodgson’s book of verses entitled Phantasmagoria, Judge Denman wrote: ‘I did not lay down the book until I had read them through; and enjoyed many a hearty laugh, and something like a cry or two.’3 On being sent a copy of Through the Looking-Glass, Grace Denman wrote in December 1871: ‘I was quite surprised and delighted to get the book you sent me, this morning – it seems awfully jolly and just as nice as Alice in Wonderland.’4 On 12 July 1873, on hearing that Judge Denman was about to visit Oxford, Dodgson wrote to him:

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My dear Judge, (You will perhaps forgive me if, in my profound ignorance of judicial etiquette, I address you wrongly.) This is simply to say that I am staying on, hermit-fashion, in my rooms here. I fear your engagements make it vain for me to suggest what pleasure a call from you would give me, and still more vain to mention that I have a Studio on the top of my rooms, and that a Judge in robes is a rara avis that has never yet presented itself to my Camera.5

Three days later, Dodgson received this message from Judge Denman: It looks as though I should not be out of court in time for the sun today, but tomorrow morning at 10 I will be with you. [. . . ] Shall I sit in the big wig or the bob-wig or both? Will you come into court today to look at the latter, which is the ordinary working dress? If so, please come and shake hands with me.6

The photograph was duly taken, with Judge Denman in full robes and a large wig.7 A letter has recently come to light that reveals Dodgson’s relationship with Judge Denman. Clearly, the two men corresponded and Dodgson – with his knowledge of legal matters – was not afraid to contradict a verdict arrived at by due process of the law based on the evidence presented. Dodgson’s cousin, William Edward Wilcox, hosted a visit by Dodgson in 1876 at the home of his wife and family at Whitburn, and writing an account of the visit to his sister, Lucy, William recorded: Charles is still with us, and very entertaining. He has brought a lot of photographs etc. to show us, and he brings out a few each evening. He had a long and most interesting letter from Denman, the Judge, yesterday about a case which the latter has lately tried in which the Judge and Jury made it manslaughter, and Charles Dodgson made it (from newspaper report) insanity, and immediately wrote to the Judge on the subject.8

Dodgson entertained Grace’s sister, Charlotte Edith Denman (1855–84), and her fianc´e, William Henry Draper (1855–1933), vicar of Alfreton, in his rooms at Oxford on 26 January 1883. He spent a couple of hours showing them photographs and marked the day with a ‘white stone’. The wedding took place later that year, and in September 1884, Dodgson visited them at Alfreton, Derbyshire. During his stay, he delivered a public talk, at the invitation of Mr Draper, which was entitled ‘Feeding the Mind’. Edith Denman was pregnant

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23. George Denman, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1873

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with her first child, Mark Denman Draper, who was born on 15 December 1884, but she died on 30 December as a result of complications following the birth. The death of Edith Draper at the age of 29 was a great sadness for Dodgson. Dodgson was able to see at firsthand how the legal system in this country worked and his friendship with judges and barristers gave him access to courtrooms and the chambers of court officials. Many of Dodgson’s acquaintances were trained barristers – some of whom were taught mathematics by him at Oxford. On one occasion, Dodgson became a member of an inquest jury and saw proceedings from a different perspective. He does not mention this specifically in his diary, probably because the emotions of the event were overwhelming. Dodgson did not relish the position he found himself experiencing. Tragic events had resulted in an inquest held within Christ Church and Dodgson was appointed a member of the inquest jury. The event took place on 2 May 1872; there is no entry in Dodgson’s diary for this day. In fact, there are only two short entries between Dodgson’s return to Christ Church after the Easter break on 12 April and the end of May, a period of almost seven weeks. He noted some photographs he had taken at the end of April and recorded that he missed afternoon church on Sunday 5 May, so he read the service to himself in his rooms. With hindsight, perhaps he was going through a period of quiet reflection following what must have been a traumatic time for him and his colleagues: the death of an able and gifted junior student. Contemporary local newspapers help us understand the context of the times. The tragedy, which occurred on 30 April 1872, was reported within the pages of the Oxford University Herald. This indicated that the inquest was held at Christ Church on Thursday 2 May, following the drowning of a member of the college: ‘Inquest held in one of the libraries of Tom Quad on the body of George William Manuel Dasent drowned while bathing in Sandford Lasher.’ George W. M. Dasent (1849–72) matriculated at Christ Church in 1868 from Westminster School and was appointed a junior student. The vice chancellor (Dean Liddell) was present at the inquest, Robert Godfrey Faussett was foreman of the jury and members included Canon William Bright, Henry Lewis Thompson, Thomas Vere Bayne and Dodgson. The newspaper also gave some details of the incident and the circumstances of the drowning. Henry Scott Holland (1847– 1918) was a key witness to the tragedy. The biography of this senior student at Christ Church revealed a long first-hand account written by Holland to his sister, in which he describes the tragic event: Dasent lunched with me, and then he and Fremantle and I rowed down the river to bathe. It was the loveliest day of the whole year – but the lasher [the pool just

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below the fast-running weir] of Sandford was running very hard with a regular flood stream from these late rains – I had had my swim and got back, before Dasent went in; he took his header and came up quick and began swimming all right, but I saw that he made no way and could not get out of the current, so I made signs to Fremantle to keep near him – he did not notice at first: at last I saw Dasent giving way to the stream and drifting down, so I shouted to Fremantle, who turned and followed him; he had some way to go, and before he got up, Dasent had gradually got lower and lower in the water till his head had been twice under – and I almost feared he was gone, but Fremantle caught hold of his hair at last and began pulling him in: all this time I was swimming out from land to them, and when I came up I got my arm round Dasent’s waist, who just hung down over it under water quite unconscious, and freed Fremantle, who was getting beat and made for the shore to get help – I swam on easily enough with the back-current, till I got within 10 or 12 yds. of land, when the back-current began drawing me round into the main lasher-stream again [. . . ] it seemed to swallow Dasent up from my arm, and before I knew what had happened almost, he had been sucked away from me – I turned and just saw him go down, but he never came to the top again.9

The following day, after a search of the lasher, Dasent’s body was found and recovered. The whole of Christ Church was in shock. Three graduate members of the college had chosen a bright spring day to row the river and swim. The 23-year-old George Dasent was never to return alive. His older brother, John Roche Dasent (1847–1914), was also a junior student of Christ Church. The two members of Christ Church who had been swimming with George Dasent were Stephen James Fremantle (1845–74), tutor and senior student, and Henry Scott Holland, senior student. The inquest probably took place in the Law Library just below Christ Church Hall, adjacent to the Senior Common Room in Tom Quad. The jury members were all senior members of the college. The procedures and evidence were not reported in the press apart from the fact that both Fremantle and Holland tried valiantly to save Dasent but that he was swept away by the strong current in the river. One can imagine the sombre character of the inquest. The evidence was listened to by the jury, Dodgson among them, and the verdict of the inquest was pronounced as ‘accidental drowning’. Dasent’s funeral was held in the cathedral the following Saturday. Henry Scott Holland wrote that they filled the coffin with freshly picked bluebells. Dodgson made no comment whatever. Today, a small plaque in Christ Church Cathedral to George Dasent signifies a talented life cut short – a life of potential academic excellence not realised.

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Dodgson’s family had links with the legal profession: his uncle Hassard (his father’s brother), a former student at Christ Church, was a student at Lincoln’s Inn in 1827. Later, he became a barrister-at-law at the Inner Temple and practised as a special pleader for many years before being appointed a master of the Court of Common Pleas in the 1870s and of the Supreme Court of Judicature from 1879. As we have heard, Uncle Hassard’s third daughter, Amy Menella, married Charles Edward Pollock (his third wife), a judge in the High Court. Dodgson’s uncle Skeffington (his mother’s brother) took his degree at St John’s College, Cambridge (in mathematics), but trained to be a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn and was called to the Bar in July 1827. He went on to become a commissioner in lunacy in 1842 and secretary to the lunacy commissioners in 1845. Dodgson had a close relationship with both uncles and visited them frequently. Topics of a legal nature were discussed from time to time. One canto of Dodgson’s epic nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark is entitled ‘Fit the Sixth, The Barrister’s Dream’. Again, it represents a parody of a real courtroom. The Barrister is a member of the 10-man crew (all with positions in life that begin with the letter ‘B’) on a quest to locate the Snark, but in the sixth canto, he falls asleep and dreams that the Snark, dressed as a barrister, is defending a pig for deserting his sty. His defence took at least three hours to deliver, in which he dismisses charges of treason, insolvency and desertion, although he admits that the pig is no longer in his sty. The Snark, now assuming the role of the judge, sums up the case and finds the pig guilty, without reference to the jury, and passes sentence of ‘transportation for life’ and then to be ‘fined forty pounds’. The jury cheered: But their wild exultation was suddenly checked When the jailer informed them, with tears, Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect, As the pig had been dead for some years.

Dodgson avidly read newspaper reports of key trials and was always fascinated by the outcomes. One particular trial that caught Dodgson’s attention was the Tichborne case that occupied the courts for almost two years, commencing in May 1871, when it was brought before the Court of Common Pleas. The case involved the long-lost heir to a baronetcy and estates worth in those days £24,000. The plaintiff claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne (b. 1829), eldest son of Sir James Doughty Tichborne, who sailed to South America in 1852, arriving at Valparaiso in 1853. In April 1854, he set sail back to England, but the ship was wrecked and the crew and passengers were not heard from again, presumed

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drowned. The Tichborne estates had been passed to Franklin Lushington, tenant of the trustees of the infant Alfred Joseph Tichborne, the succeeding heir, and nephew of Sir Roger. For thirteen years nothing was heard from Sir Roger Tichborne. The claimant said he was picked up with eight of the crew and taken to Melbourne, Australia, where he resided in the interior under an assumed name. Sir Roger’s mother, Dowager Lady Tichborne, was unable to believe that her son was dead and advertised for his discovery. An attorney in Wagga Wagga, Australia, wrote to her saying that her son was alive and well. The claimant then sailed for England, where the dowager is said to have recognised him as her son, but her death soon after deprived the court of an opportunity to cross-examine her. The claimant then sued Franklin Lushington to recover possession of the estates. Edward Vaughan Kenealy (1819–80), for the defence of the claimant, concluded his opening speech in August 1873, having spoken for twenty-one days, and the evidence for the defence concluded on 27 October 1873, the 124th day of the trial, with Kenealy’s summary lasting another twenty-four days. Mr Henry Hawkins (1817–1907), for the prosecution, began his address in January 1874. The judge’s summing up began on 29 January. The trial lasted for 188 days. The jury took half an hour to consider its unanimous verdict against the claimant, and on 28 February, the judge, Lord Chief Justice Bovill, sentenced the claimant to fourteen years penal servitude and he was sent to Newgate Prison. The case had commanded great public interest and had been the subject of much discussion in the press. Dodgson believed in the power of the British legal system and, in most cases, trusted its fairness in reaching verdicts.

Doctors and Dentists Dodgson suffered infantile fever as a small child and contracted mumps when he was at Rugby School. Together, these two illnesses made him deaf in his right ear, something he suffered for the rest of his life. When talking to friends on a walk, he would always place himself on their right so that his good ear was closest to them, and when he bought theatre tickets, he always aimed to sit on the right of the auditorium. He had a bout of whooping cough before he went to Oxford, but otherwise, he was healthy during his youth. Occasionally, he suffered a form of neuralgia that affected his face, giving him pain for a few days. He had the usual aches and pains in adult life. During periods of overwork and strain, he sometimes experienced ‘moving fortifications’ when his eyesight was blurred with zigzag lines, but rest and quietness cured this in a few hours. He was a great walker, sometimes going long distances of 18 or 20 miles in a

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day. When he was alone, he would walk fast, clocking his time and recording the result in his diary. When he was with friends, his walking was much slower. On 5 August 1882, he recorded his weight as 10 st. 31/2 lb. and this probably did not vary very much.10 A few incidents stand out in Dodgson’s diary when he was clearly not well, but these are isolated and need to be read in the context of being unusual in a lifetime of relatively good health. The first happened at the end of 1885 while Dodgson was at Guildford spending Christmas and the New Year with his siblings. He wrote: On the morning of Dec. 31st or late New Year (I think it was) I had an attack (‘epileptiform’ – Dr Morshead called out) which left me with a sort of headache, and not feeling my usual self, for a week or 10 days. Edwin heard me, and he and Fanny came in: and they got Dr Morshead and Dr Stedman (!). It seems to have been but a mild attack, and I don’t think it’s in the family. Stuart Collingwood’s case is I think, in family, as Charles Collingwood has had similar attacks.11

In Victorian times, epilepsy was not understood and came with a social stigma. This paragraph in the diary has been heavily scrawled over by an unknown hand, but it is still just possible to read the text. However, medical opinion indicates that this attack was probably not epilepsy but showed similar symptoms, as suggested by Dodgson’s doctor at Guildford, Dr Ernest Garstin Anderson Morshead (1851–1912), who was in partnership with Dr Henry Sharp Taylor (1817–96), medical officer of health for the Guildford Union. Dodgson seemed surprised that the family also called in Dr James Remington Stedman (1817–91) for a second opinion, but there may have been some concern that Dr Morshead was a fairly young doctor lacking in experience (although he had been in practice for ten years). Dodgson appears to have suffered from synovitis in his knees – an inflammation of the joints. On 29 March 1888, he recorded: While packing my bag to go to Guildford for Good Friday and Easter, I found something wrong with my right knee: so went to consult Mr. Doyne, who pronounced it to be ‘synovitis,’ and sentenced me to a week of sofa. He came and bandaged the knee (from the foot upwards), after painting the knee with iodine.12

On this occasion, he consulted one of his Oxford doctors, Dr Robert Walter Doyne (1857–1916), who had been a royal navy surgeon and founder of the first District Eye Dispensary in Oxford in May 1885. He was a surgeon at St John’s

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Hospital, Cowley, and later consulting ophthalmic surgeon of the Radcliffe Infirmary at Oxford. Problems with Dodgson’s knees occurred from time to time and his long walks may have exacerbated the condition. The following year, Dodgson experienced a number of health problems and he wrote, on 2 September 1889, whilst on holiday at Eastbourne: Just now I am the victim of various maladies! A boil on the left wrist, which has lasted about a month, is scarcely healed yet. A suppurating ‘pile’ drove me to Mr. Sherwood on Saturday, but is now better. The ‘synovitis,’ which a year ago was in the right knee, has now attacked the left, and today I have begun a course of bandaging and iodine. Also today I saw ‘fortifications’: but no headache followed.13

This time, Dodgson consulted Dr Arthur Paul Sherwood (1852–1923), who founded the Princess Alice Memorial Hospital at Eastbourne and was its resident surgeon. Although ostensibly on holiday, Dodgson was probably working very hard long hours preparing Sylvie and Bruno for publication (which came out in December 1889). In 1891, Dodgson experienced his first lack of consciousness while in Christ Church Cathedral; at the end of the service he was attending, he completely fainted away. This is what he wrote in his diary for 6 February: I must have fainted just at the end of morning chapel, as I found myself, an hour afterwards, lying on the floor of the stalls; and had probably struck my nose against the hassock, as it had been bleeding considerably. It is the first time I fainted quite away. I sent for Dr Brooks. I had some headache afterwards, but felt very little the worse. It is of course possible it may have been epilepsy and not fainting: but Dr Brooks thinks the latter.14

Dr Walter Tyrrell Brooks (1859–1942) was one of Dodgson’s Oxford doctors. In a letter to Edith Blakemore (1872–1947), dated 26 April 1891, Dodgson goes into much more detail about this incident: More than 2 months ago, I woke up one morning from an uneasy dream, saying to myself ‘how very uncomfortable the pillow is!’ and found myself lying on the floor, up in the stalls of the Cathedral. I wouldn’t believe it at first, but thought I was still dreaming: but in a few moments I was broad awake, and found it really was so. I was lying in a pool of blood, having bled profusely from the nose, which no doubt had received a heavy blow in my fall (in fact the doctor said the bones were loosened, and would take several weeks to get set firm again), and had been

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lying there exactly an hour. I remembered distinctly the reader of morning-prayers having come to within a few words of the end: and I find I remained kneeling when the others left the building. The 2 tutors, who went last, noticed that I did not get up, but concluded I was only going on in private prayer a little longer than usual, and thought no more of it: and the verger never noticed I had not gone out, but barred the doors, and left by another door. So I had the place all to myself, to sleep off the attack (epileptic, no doubt), and then unbarred the doors and let myself out. Luckily I met no one on my way back to my rooms, for I was a pretty figure! With my face and shirt-front all covered with blood. My doctor found me to be out of health generally – at least the digestion was out of order – and this may have caused the attack. Anyhow, the result has been a great deal of headache, and unfitness for brain-work, and the managers of the College Servants’ Services decided not to ask me to preach this term. I daresay this is wise, as the doctor thought I had been doing too much brain-work, and sitting up too late. You laugh at me for the ‘fearful agonies’ you say I suffer ‘over a coming sermon,’ but really I think sermons may have had something to do with it. I had preached 3 in the previous month: and I do feel that preparing them takes a good deal out of me, in the way of vital force. But I would not have it otherwise: it is work that, if it is to do any good, needs that one should put one’s whole self into it. I have been ‘taking it easy,’ now, for a good while, and my headaches are getting fewer, and my brain recovering its usual power: and I should like to know during what periods of this year there would be any use in proposing to come over and give this long-delayed address.15

Again, Dodgson mentions epilepsy, but current medical intelligence suggests two possible causes, for which I am grateful to Dr Selwyn Goodacre for his opinion. He tells me that the two likely causes for Dodgson’s faint are (a) a vasovagal attack or (b) a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) – both occur without warning. He explains that they are due to a sudden spasm of a blood vessel in the brain, causing sudden loss of consciousness. As the spasm wears off, the person comes round. In Dodgson’s case, he probably knocked himself out in the collapse and this would account for the post-traumatic headaches he recorded. Another possibility is pressure on the carotid sinus, but Dr Goodacre now thinks this less likely. He supports the idea that the faint had nothing to do with epilepsy. (See also The Illnesses of Lewis Carroll by Dr S. H. Goodacre.)16 That same year, Dodgson recorded being a ‘prisoner with lumbago, and synovitis in left knee’ (15 November 1891) and later reported: ‘I have now been on my sofa most of the day, for a fortnight, or rather three weeks: but the left knee, by dint of much bandaging and painting with iodine, is getting decidedly

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better’ (6 December).17 Dodgson was forced to abandon his usual plan of going to Guildford for Christmas and noted in his diary on 25 December: For the first time in my life, I am spending Christmas Day alone: at Ch. Ch., the cold being so intense that Dr Brooks advises me not to face the risk of travelling. Both my epileptic attacks have been in the winter: and the first (end of 1885) was ascribed partly to a cold day in London. My knee (thanks, I believe, to my change of treatments, by discarding bandaging, and the case Dr Brooks made for it, and the constant straight position – and treating it simply to rest and a daily coating of iodine-paint) seems nearly well: and my enforced solitary leisure gives a grand opportunity for writing and reading. My headaches have vanished, and my full powers of work have returned.18

To reiterate, Dodgson was fit and well most of the time; these are just a few examples of ill health affecting his life for short periods. Dodgson made the acquaintance of a number of highly skilled and respected doctors, including James Wilkes, who was appointed jointly with Skeffington Lutwidge to the Commission of Inquiry into the State of Lunatic Asylums in Ireland in September 1856. Dodgson recorded on 31 May 1865: ‘Went to the Mitre to dine with Uncle Skeffington who is here inspecting asylums, and met also Mr. Wilkes, one of the Lunacy doctors.’19 The Mitre was an inn situated in the High (Street) in Oxford. It was Wilkes who sent a telegram to Dodgson when Uncle Skeffington was seriously injured at Salisbury. Dodgson consulted Wilkes from time to time when he wanted advice about friends and acquaintances with mental health problems. Whilst visiting Wilkes in London on 19 October 1883, Dodgson met another commissioner in lunacy, John Davies Cleaton (1825–1901), resident medical superintendent of the West Riding Lunatic Asylum, Yorkshire, and medical superintendent of the Lancashire County Asylum. Dodgson’s longstanding friend and Christ Church colleague Reginald Southey became a commissioner in lunacy at the end of his medical career. It is not clear how Dodgson came into contact with Sir James Paget (1814– 99), surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, surgeon ‘extraordinary’ to the queen (1858–67), sergeant-surgeon ‘extraordinary’ (1867–77) and ‘in ordinary’ (1877) and surgeon to the Prince of Wales in 1867. His first mention in Dodgson’s diaries was when Dr Paget went to attend Uncle Skeffington, who had been attacked by an inmate of the Salisbury Lunatic Asylum. Dodgson arrived on 22 May 1873 and noted that he saw Sir James Paget (he was made a baronet in 1871). Uncle Skeffington rallied, so Dodgson returned to Oxford,

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only to get a telegraph six days later. Dodgson then recorded: ‘Went to Salisbury, joining Sir James Paget on the way, we arrived a few minutes after my dear Uncle’s death.’20 One of Paget’s sons was Francis Paget (1851–1911), a tutor at Christ Church (1875–82), regius professor of pastoral theology and canon in 1885, who later succeeded Henry Liddell as dean of Christ Church from 1892 until 1901. Dodgson may have met Dr James Paget at Oxford. Nevertheless, the friendship grew and Dodgson presented him with a facsimile copy of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, inscribed: ‘Sir James Paget from the Author, Ap. 29. 1887.’ He also gave a Looking-Glass biscuit tin to Lady Paget. She also received presentation copies of Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. According to a letter from Dodgson to Lady Paget, her husband made a contribution to the story (not specified, but it is in the second book).21 Correspondence between Dodgson and Paget survives, including this letter dated 1 May 1887 seeking advice about finding a painless way of destroying a cat: Dear Sir James Paget, Many thanks for your letter. It seems a shame to occupy your time and attention with so trivial a matter as a pet-cat: but all the modes you suggest, except the poisoned meat, would be unsuitable. To shut it up in a cage would produce an agony of terror: and the same may be said of the hypodermic injection (which would have to be done by a stranger, I suppose), and, most of all, of the journey to London. Is there no kind of poison which would not involve the risk of being vomited, and which would produce a painless sleep? My own idea would have been to give laudanum (I don’t know what quantity, say a drachm) mixed with some meat or fish. Would this do?22

We do not have Dr Paget’s reply. Dodgson’s enquiries usually concerned human friends and the following letter (dated 9 November 1891) is an example of the reply he received: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I will gladly see the poor lady for whom you have written, if she will come at or near 10 o’clock on any morning of which I can have a day’s notice. Sincerely yours, James Paget23

Because Dodgson resided at various locations during his life, he required a number of doctors to deal with his medical needs. In Oxford, he was well acquainted with Henry Wentworth Acland (1815–1900), regius professor of medicine from

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24. Henry Acland, photograph by Maull & Polyblanke, c.1857

1857 to 1894, who was Dean Liddell’s personal physician, but Dodgson did not use him for medical purposes. He used the services of Dr W. T. Brooks as already mentioned. He also consulted George Charles Henry Hitchings (b. 1822), medical practitioner at 37 Holywell Street, Oxford, from time to time. When Dodgson was at Guildford, his doctor was James Percy Alwyne Gabb (1853– 1934), who attended him just before his death. When at Eastbourne, Dodgson consulted Charles Norton Hayman (1852–1908). Dodgson believed in regular trips to the dentist and he encouraged his family and friends to do likewise. He attended the dentistry practice of Edmund Bevers (1812–80) at 46 Broad Street, Oxford. When Bevers died, the practice was taken over by his son, Edmund Augustine Bevers (b. 1850), and Dodgson continued to see him for any dental treatment he required. When Dodgson was at Eastbourne,

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his dentist was Jack Henry Whatford (b. 1855), who practised at Seaside Road. One child-friend remembered almost daily visits to the dentist when she was staying with Dodgson at Eastbourne. In her biography of Dodgson, Isa Bowman wrote: I was learning swimming at the Devonshire Park baths, and we always had a bargain together. He would never allow me to go to the swimming-bath – which I revelled in – until I had promised him faithfully that I would go afterwards to the dentist’s. He had great ideas upon the importance of a regular and almost daily visit to the dentist. He himself went to a dentist as he would have gone to a hairdresser’s, and he insisted that all the little girls he knew should go too. The precaution sounds strange, and one might be inclined to think that Lewis Carroll carried it to an unnecessary length; but I can only bear personal witness to the fact that I have firm strong teeth, and have never had a toothache in my life.24

There may, of course, be an element of exaggeration in this account because Isa, a child actress, was prone to elaborating on the truth. Dodgson sent the following letter to Jack Whatford on 24 September 1892: Dear Mr. Whatford, The appearance of a small gum-boil, opposite that double tooth which you thought you had quite killed, has, I think, convicted it of being the cause of the pain I have had. And the aching of the front teeth seems to be due merely to a brotherly sympathy between tooth and tooth, which, however creditable it may be to the teeth themselves, is decidedly inconvenient to their owner! Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson I enclose the well-earned 5 guineas.25

Dodgson’s highly creative mind and writing have led some people to suggest that he, like other Victorians, used drugs to stimulate his imagination. They make reference to the caterpillar in Wonderland, who is languidly smoking from a hookah, suggesting that Dodgson may have indulged in nicotine smoke or something stronger. But we know that Dodgson was a nonsmoker. During his time as curator of the Common Room, he had the responsibility of ensuring that his colleagues who took tobacco were sufficiently catered for and he set up a special smoking room for their purposes. As curator, he was occasionally supplied with samples of tobacco from the various retailers who dealt with the

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college. He sent this letter dated 14 October 1890 to Arthur Hassall (1853– 1930), a member of the Common Room, revealing a dry sense of humour: Dear Hassall, The ‘Alexandra Cigarette Company, 4 Arthur Street, New Oxford Street’ have sent me some samples of their ‘Dragoumis’ Cigarettes (price not named). You may as well try them: the ‘Smoking Room Committee’ might like to order some. I can honestly say I have never tasted better!26

The operative words in his last remark are ‘never tasted’ because Dodgson is known never to have smoked throughout his life. It is true, however, that Dodgson took drugs throughout his life and he had a box of them he carried around with him. Not only did he take these drugs himself: he also gave them to others – sometimes even to children! The explanation is that Dodgson was a keen exponent of homoeopathic medicines and kept a chest of these – fully stocked – for emergencies. And it is also known that he used other remedies, mainly herbal. The details are in his Diaries and Letters. He took homoeopathic drugs in very small quantities and other herbal essences. He was friendly with other homoeopaths, including doctors who practised this alternative medicine, such as Edward Barton Shuldham (b. 1838), who was also a Christ Church man. Dodgson had reference books on this subject in his library. He even gave books on homoeopathy to his family and friends. He may have used laudanum (opium) for medicinal purposes – for example, to take away the pain of a toothache – but this would have been a rare occurrence and was not an illegal practice at this time. Even alcohol was taken in moderation, despite designing and building a new wine cellar for the Common Room and being on the Christ Church Common Room Wine Committee for nearly ten years. His interest in the Common Room wines was mainly in providing for the needs of his colleagues and the financial gain that could be made by buying wine in bulk and letting it mature over a period of years, although he liked a glass of wine with his evening meal. We are talking about a man with an incredible imagination, a true storyteller and a man who needed very little to spark his creative talents. Throughout his life, he not only conceived fantastic tales but also originated new and exciting branches of mathematics that extended current knowledge and devised real practical inventions that are still in use today, such as the illustrated book jacket and the voting procedure known as proportional representation. This man was a born inventor. He needed no drugs to stimulate his imagination – it came naturally.

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Here is some evidence of his homoeopathic drug-taking. For example, on 20 April 1878, he wrote in his diary: Two days of homeopathy (aconite and arsenic) seem to have cured the cold which had kept me in for several days. I put myself under Shuldham’s care on Thursday.27

And here is an example of giving drugs to children, dated 1 September 1879: Went down to the beach, and found that Agnes Hull had cut her foot on a broken bottle. I carried her up to the road, and took her home in a bath-chair, and then had an opportunity for a bit of amateur-doctoring with ‘calendula’.28

Another use of homoeopathic medicine took place on 19 January 1880: Have been prisoner for Saturday, Sunday, and today with a bad cold, caught I believe through the cold of my rooms when I first arrived. Took Acon. and Merc. Sol. for two days, and today substituted Ars. for Merc., as the latter seemed to produce saliva and perspiration.29

There are many other references in his diary to this particular activity. The homoeopathic (mainly herbal) remedies Dodgson took were aconite (monkshood) for fever, mercury solution as a disinfectant and treatment for cough and hoarseness and white oxide of metallic arsenic as a general cure for most ailments. They are, of course, all poisons that are taken in extremely small doses. One of Dodgson’s nephews, Bertram James Collingwood (1871–1934), the son of his sister Mary, trained as a doctor at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and worked at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. In Dodgson’s instructions for his own funeral arrangements, he appended a note dated 11 June 1891: Now that my nephew, Bertram Collingwood, is studying for the medical profession, I should like him to have what he likes of the books on the subjects of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and kindred subjects.30

Dodgson’s library contained many books on medical and physiological matters; they were subjects that interested him. The books went to Bertram Collingwood on his death, but they appear to have been destroyed during the London Blitz of World War II. Brief mention is made of William ‘Willie’ Halse Rivers (1864–1922), son of Dodgson’s speech therapist, Henry Frederick Rivers (1830–1911). Dodgson knew him as a child. Willie Rivers went on to have an illustrious

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career as an anthropologist and then in the medical profession. He was house surgeon at Chichester Infirmary from 1887 for two years and house physician at St Bartholomew’s, London, from 1889 to 1890. He lectured in physiological and experimental psychology, as well as the physiology of the senses, up until 1916. He served as captain of the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Great War and did much to help wounded soldiers, particularly those suffering from shellshock and psychological trauma, for which he received many accolades. Pat Barker’s The Regeneration Trilogy (1991–5) has Dr Rivers as a main character and Dodgson appears in the final book: The Ghost Road.

Steamship Brokers From the profits of the Alice books, Dodgson invested heavily in steamships. His cousin, Herbert Francis Wilcox (1844–1918), was a manager of steamships at Sunderland. Dodgson was not a capitalist at heart. His motivation was more to do with supporting members of his extended family than making money. His first investment in steamships began in September 1875. While taking a holiday on the Isle of Wight, he looked for a magistrate to witness his signature on a paper concerning shares in the steamship Tartessus. In December 1877, Dodgson had increased his investment in the Tartessus to six shares. At that time, he was probably getting a good dividend and the investment seemed secure. Dodgson had shares in at least two steamships by 1879: the Tartessus and another called the Corsica. Both of these ships were managed by Herbert Wilcox, who acted as broker. In April of that year, Herbert ran into financial difficulties; the reasons for his problems are not known. Dodgson noted in his journal the events of this financial disaster as it unfolded. He recorded on 19 April 1879: Heard from Herbert Wilcox that he has ‘suspended payment’ in consequence of the ‘forcible sale’ of the Corsica at a loss. As he had undertaken, in asking my consent to sell, to bear all ‘loss’ himself, he owes me the £1000 I have sent him towards my three shares etc., as loan.31

We do not know for sure why the Corsica was sold, but we can assume it was running at a loss and Herbert’s creditors had decided to cut their losses and sell off the ship. We do know that the Corsica continued to sail and the master of the Tartessus, Captain Day, left to become the captain of this steamship instead. Matters began to get worse. Dodgson noted over the following few days:

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Heard from Messrs. Yeld & Charlton, who are looking into Herbert F. Wilcox’s affairs, that there will be a meeting of his creditors on the 2nd of May. Messrs. Fell will manage Tartessus. Sent Messrs. Yeld and Charlton, at their request, particulars of my claim as creditor. (They had debited me with the item ‘Loss by sale of Corsica – £1039 (!) which I decline to allow). (The item was subsequently withdrawn – and my claim admitted to be just). Sent Messrs. Yeld and Charlton a letter, to be read (if they think fit) at the Creditors’ Meeting May 2, pleading that a month’s delay should be given to Herbert Wilcox before selling him up. (He can only pay 6d. in the pound).32

Dodgson’s letter supporting his cousin Herbert has not survived. However, it appeared to have little effect because Herbert’s financial troubles were more extensive than at first realised. Dodgson recorded the outcome of Herbert’s bankruptcy on 5 May: I have now received the account of Herbert F. Wilcox’s failure. I shall lose even the £60 he happened to have in his hands on account of the Tartessus, my total loss is about £1100! He fails for about £13,000, it seems: the loss of the Corsica not being the half of his liabilities.33

After the collapse of Herbert’s involvement in these steamships, the management of the Tartessus was put in the hands of Messrs. Fell, but in June, less than two months later, plans were drawn up to transfer this to Mr Thomas Kish (b. 1836), a shipbroker at Sunderland. Dodgson continued to be a shareholder. He took advice about the transfer of ownership to Mr Kish from another cousin, Frederick Hume Wilcox (1837–80), then a solicitor at Stokesley, Yorkshire. From this point on, Dodgson’s dealings in steamships were conducted through Mr Thomas Kish. A number of letters and share papers relating to this arrangement survive in the Morris L. Parrish Collection at Princeton University, with others in institutional libraries or private collections. They reveal Dodgson’s keen interest in the use of shares to enable new steamships to be built, but he was frequently alarmed when dividends failed to appear on time and when information about his portfolio was in short supply. Mr Kish was a better correspondent when it came to selling more shares and Dodgson occasionally found colleagues willing to invest. Dodgson bought shares in a new steamship called the Claudius. It was built at Sunderland by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company in 1880 and

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was a two-masted rigged schooner with an iron framework on two decks. It was 250-feet long and had two engines, giving the ship 180 horsepower. Early in 1882, disaster struck. Dodgson noted in his journal on 7 January: Heard from Mr. Kish that the Tartessus is aground on Bilbao Bar, and is condemned by the Surveyors: so the Insurance Company will have to pay the value to the shareholders.34

On the same day, Dodgson wrote to Kish: Mr. C. L. Dodgson is obliged to Mr. Kish for his communication, and trusts that the captain and crew of the Tartessus suffered no personal damage or loss in the wreck. He will be much obliged if Mr. Kish will let him know what his share of the Insurance will amount to, and will also send him information about the steamers (other than the Claudius) under Mr. Kish’s management, and in which shares are to be had.35

Dodgson wanted to maintain his faith in steamship holdings and he invested the insurance money in a new two-masted rigged schooner called the Croesus, purchasing 5 of the 64 shares in March 1882. About this time, Dodgson also bought shares in steamships named Glaucus and Cyrus. By this time, Dodgson’s dividends were beginning to mount up, as this letter dated 31 May 1883 reveals: I enclose, with thanks, the receipt for £75 (Acct. Croesus). As to the £226, which will be due in December I suppose, it will be most convenient to me to pay it then rather than at any earlier date.36

Another letter, dated 30 July 1883, shows Dodgson the mathematician trying to keep accurate accounts of his steamship portfolio of shares, compounded by the sporadic information he received from Thomas Kish: I am trying to keep separate accounts for my shares in the 4 steamers: but they are rather complicated, and I have not succeeded in getting them clearly made out. Would you kindly have 4 complete accounts made out for me (charging me, of course, for all time and trouble expended on it) from the commencement of each steamer, and giving the dates of launching and of completion? I find I have only one list of share-holders, that of the Claudius. Will you kindly send me the other 3 lists?

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Also I have a question to ask. Several times lately I have had applications from perfect strangers, who wish to buy or sell shares in these steamers. I have not replied to any of them: but what I wish to ask you is this – is such transference of shares, without the manager even knowing of the transaction, possible and legitimate? If so, it seems to me that you might at any time find that you were managing the steamer for a new set of shareholders, of whom you knew nothing, and some of whom might be ‘men of straw,’ who could not be found if any ‘call’ had to be made.37

For the next seven years, a steady stream of letters passed between Dodgson and his broker. Eventually, Thomas Kish resigned in favour of two relatives (possibly his sons) – James Kish (b. 1864) and Edward Kish (b. 1868) – who took control of the shipping business. The transfer was not smooth and a counterbid to gain control was mounted but failed. Dodgson remained loyal to the new management, but he became increasingly concerned about the dividends that were due to him. In the end, Dodgson’s patience ran out, and in October 1890, he took steps to sell all his shares, selling them to a new shareholder, Mr William J. Johnson (b. 1833), an insurance agent from Gateshead. Dodgson originally received an enquiry from Mr Johnson, to which he replied on 18 October: Mr. C. L. Dodgson returns to Mr. W. J. Johnson the papers, filled up. His terms are such sums as will yield, after deducting broker’s commissions, as follows 5 shares Claudius – £1000 5 shares Croesus – £600 1 share Cyrus – £130 £1730 But he would accept £1600 net for the whole 11 shares together.38

Mr Johnson negotiated a lower price and Dodgson replied on 26 October: Mr. Dodgson is obliged to Mr. Johnson for his letter. The result of his enquiries, into the present price of shares was that about £1460 might fairly be asked for the lot. He finds he did not repeat, in his last letter, what he said, in a previous letter, as to his claim for the Croesus dividends for the past year, which are now due: but of course it must be understood as repeated.39

On 9 November, Dodgson wrote to Mr Johnson:

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Mr. C. L. Dodgson has received Mr. Johnson’s two letters, and cheque for £1413.15.0, and the three Bills of Sale. He will attend to the matter on Monday.40

His five shares in Claudius brought him £800, his five shares in Croesus brought him £550 and his single share in Cyrus brought him £100 – a total of £1,450, minus broker’s commission. On 15 November 1890, Dodgson recorded in his journal: I am now entirely free from shares in Steamers – a most unsatisfactory form of investment, and I am heartily glad to have done with it.41

This is the last known reference to steamships in Dodgson’s journals and letters. Looking through Dodgson’s bank account given in Lewis Carroll in His Own Account, edited by Jenny Woolf (Jabberwock Press, 2005), his outlay on shares and his dividends can be determined. Assuming that when a ship went aground or was decommissioned Dodgson reinvested the insurance in further shares (which appears to be what happened), we can see that he invested from 1877 to 1883 a total of £2,078. Although sustaining serious losses as a result of the bankruptcy of his cousin Herbert Wilcox, Dodgson held his nerve and continued to increase his portfolio of shares. The dividends he received over the fourteen years of his investment amounted to approximately £1,853. He sold his shares for £1,413, making a profit of £1,188. This amounts to an interest rate of roughly 4 per cent for that time period. Dodgson’s bank account also reveals investments in railway shares and other stocks and dividends. He managed the trust fund set up by his father for his sisters and looked after the family’s general finances. He was a shrewd investor, not shaken by the ups and downs of the stock market but willing to hold his nerve until better days came along.

Wine Merchants Dodgson retired from the mathematical lectureship at Christ Church at the end of 1881. Apart from this important role, he had held no other major college position. His appointment as sublibrarian in 1855 for two years was just a way to secure sufficient income so he could remain a resident member of Christ Church and offer tutoring in mathematics to the undergraduates. He never held the posts of censor, treasurer, steward, proctor (for the university), librarian or was incumbent of one of the parishes in the Oxford area in the gift of Christ Church (such

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as Binsey). He was, however, an active member of the governing body, which was set up by Dean Liddell in 1867. There is a sense that Dodgson accepted the role of curator of the Common Room to appease his colleagues, many of whom had taken on additional duties running concurrently with their lecturing and tutoring commitments. The task of curator was not particularly onerous; the butler did much of the day-to-day organisation. However, Dodgson developed the role into something quite different. For a start, he totally revised the accounting system, spending weeks setting up new procedures and preparing new account books. A stack of previous correspondence was organised, registered in a new correspondence numbering system and filed. The membership of the Common Room came under close scrutiny. Dodgson discovered that automatic membership was secured at the time graduates of Christ Church took their MA – whether they intended to make use of the Common Room services or not. Dodgson’s sense of fair play immediately came to the fore and dozens of letters were sent to members of Christ Church to make them aware of the situation, offering them the services of the Common Room or an opportunity to cease paying the annual fees. The Common Room Archive is comprehensive, but the bulk of it stems from Dodgson’s nine years as its curator. He probably devoted more time and energy to the role than any previous curator or, for that matter, any subsequent holder of this position. One of the important duties of the curator was to manage the wine cellar. Even though we associate Dodgson with modest eating and drinking habits – a fact borne out by diary references and the reminiscences of his friends – when Dodgson was appointed curator of the Common Room at Christ Church in 1882, in typical fashion he decided to become a wine expert in order to keep his colleagues supplied with the best wines. He became knowledgeable about the various wines used at meal times, how to store wine to keep it in peak condition, at what temperature wine should be stored, how it should be ventilated, when to transfer wine from casks to bottles, how to lay in quantities of wine for future use and how to organise wine tastings for his colleagues. Dodgson made good use of the wine merchants and their agents to gain this expertise. But all this was carried out in a businesslike manner, and as a result, we have a wealth of correspondence that survives in the Common Room Archive to tell the story. To assist him in his task, a wine committee was appointed and the rules governing its activities were left to this small group of Common Room members. Dodgson was quick to realise that the wine committee rules were becoming cumbersome and not helpful. He described the rules as growing ‘ever more complex and stringent, till they became, in the humble opinion of the present Curator, rather too tight a fit to be altogether comfortable’.42 Hence, one of his first

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tasks was to rewrite the rules. He had great difficulty in getting them adopted and only succeeded in doing so by threatening to resign at the end of his first year as curator. The Common Room letter register set up by Dodgson survives; the last recorded item is numbered 5326 (and this is entirely separate from Dodgson’s own personal letter register). Much of this correspondence is unpublished and few people have taken the opportunity to look at it. The contents of the letter register and the wealth of surviving correspondence give remarkable insights into Dodgson’s activities in the 1880s on behalf of the Common Room. Much of this correspondence was written using carbon copy duplicated sheets, giving us a record of his many transactions. The Common Room was (and still is) an independent organisation, selfgoverning and separate from the day-to-day running of Christ Church. The dean and chapter, together with the governing body, ran the administration of the college. Essentially, the Common Room acted as a ‘home’ for the resident senior members of the college – a place to socialise, have meals, read the papers, entertain their friends and be looked after by a team of servants headed by the butler of the Common Room. Membership was open to anyone taking his MA at Christ Church and a fee, known as a ‘quarterage’, was payable each year. One of the assets of the Common Room, open to resident and non-resident members alike, was the wine cellar – stocked with only the best wines. Some of the earliest letters Dodgson sent as curator were to wine merchants. These business letters were written in the third person; Dodgson followed the Victorian approach of communicating with ‘trade’ in this way – a respectful distance to distinguish social standing. The following letters were sent during January 1883. The first was to Augustus Hellmers, wine merchant at 42 Great Tower Street, London: Christ Church, Oxford January 2, 1883 The Rev. C. L. Dodgson, writing as Curator of the Common Room, will thank Mr. Hellmers to send 6 dozen of Sparkling Moselle of the same quality as that which he has supplied for so many years.43

The following letter was sent to Messrs. Tanqueray and Co. of 5 Pall Mall East, London: Christ Church, Oxford January 2, 1883

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The Rev. C. L. Dodgson will thank Messrs. Tanqueray & Co. to supply, on behalf of the Common Room (of which he is now Curator), 6 dozen of each kind of the champagnes he has been in the habit of supplying. He observes that 2 kinds have been supplied by Messrs. Tanqueray – one at 78/-, the other at 60/-.44

The costs are given in old money, with 1/- as the way of writing one shilling, which is the equivalent of 5p today. The next letter was sent to Mr Max Greger of 7 Mincing Lane, London: Christ Church, Oxford January 2, 1883 The Rev. C. L. Dodgson, writing on behalf of the Common Room, of which he is now Curator, will thank Mr. Max Greger to supply 24 dozen of Mediano, of the same quality as that which he has been in the habit of sending.45

Similar letters were sent to Messrs Pfungst and Co. of 23 Crutched Friars, London (ordering Rauenthaler); Madame Juliette Dieudonn´e of 11 Ryder Street, St James’s, London (asking for samples of claret); and Messrs Barratt and Clay of 241/2 Old Burlington Street, London (also asking for samples of claret). From these letters, we get an idea of the quantity of wine consumed by the Common Room. There were at this time about fifty resident members of the Common Room, but about five times that number were non resident. One of the benefits of being a member was that wine could be bought directly from the Christ Church Common Room cellar. On occasions, non-residents were able to buy wines and have them delivered to their homes. In Dodgson’s pamphlet Twelve Months in a Curatorship, he indicated the stock in the cellars and the consumption of wine by the Common Room: Roughly speaking, we had, when the year began, 23,000 bottles in our cellar: we have added 5,000 during the year, making a total of 28,000. Of these we have consumed about 3,000, leaving 25,000 to go on with. [. . . ] We have now about 700 bottles of old Port (enough for 30 years), and 11,000 ordinary (enough for 20 years). Of best Sherry, 570 (60 years); pale, 1,500 (9 years); brown, 6,000 (30 years). Of best Claret, 200 (5 years); dessert Claret, 600 (11/2 years): both these will be largely added to forthwith. Of other wines we have but small stocks, except Rauenthaler, of which we have 900 (enough for 11 years), and Madeira (B), the stock of which may be expected, as we shall see hereafter, to last for much longer time than any I have yet named.46

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25. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, from an assisted self-portrait taken in 1876

Dodgson was meticulous in keeping account of the wine cellar, auditing the stock each term with the help of a colleague. He noticed that the consumption of Madeira (B), was zero during the year. He wryly commented: ‘After careful calculation, I estimate that, if this rate of consumption be steadily maintained, our present stock will last us an infinite number of years.’47 Before long, Dodgson was buying in ‘hogsheads’ of wine – large casks equivalent to more than 52 gallons at a time. Another letter confirms the large amounts of wine being bought and consumed by members of the Common Room. The following letter is addressed to Mr Charles Rousselet, London agent

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for the wine merchant Messrs A. de Luze et fils of 88 Quai des Chartrons, Bordeaux. Christ Church, Oxford March 13, 1883 Mr. Dodgson thanks Mr. Rousselet for his letter, and thinks what he says is perfectly reasonable, and he therefore holds to his offer to order the whole 8 hogsheads – i.e. 4 of ‘Pichon Longueville’ 1875 (to be bottled as follows: 48 dozen pints, to be charged £3 extra, and the rest in quarts; i.e. rather over 72 dozen quarts), to be sent so soon as the weather is favourable – and 4 of ‘RauzanSegla’ 1881 (to be bottled as above, but without extra charge), to be sent next year, along with the ‘Ch. Margeaux’ already ordered. He understands that the ‘Ch. Margeaux’ will be charged (£72 + £5.5 =) £77.5., and the ‘Rauzan-Segla’ (£56 + £5.5) per hogshead, i.e. £245. He supposes he may reckon on a hogshead being a little over 290 bottles. The charge for the Pichon Longueville, being reckoned by the dozen instead of the hogshead, will of course, depend on the exact number of bottles filled.48

All this needed adequate storage. The Common Room cellar soon became overstocked and alternative action was necessary. Dodgson made arrangements with the wine merchants to keep wine in reserve for the Common Room, supplying it only when space became available. But this service by the merchants came at a premium. Dodgson realised that a better solution was to increase the capacity of the cellars. The Common Room was situated in the south range of Tom Quad, built in the sixteenth century. The only space available was below the existing rooms. Construction would be a major undertaking, – not least because the buildings had great historical and architectural importance. Above the Common Room is the great hall of Christ Church. Dodgson sought professional advice from Thomas Axtell (1826–1901), a partner in the building firm of Symm and Co. of Oxford. (The company still exists today, in the hands of Malcolm Axtell, Thomas’s great-grandson.) Dodgson was already familiar with Symm and Co. At the end of 1882, he employed Thomas Axtell to construct a new coal cellar for the use of the Common Room. Dodgson sent Mr Axtell the following letter. Christ Church Common Room March 31, 1886 Mr. C. L. Dodgson will thank Mr. Axtell to survey the Common Room Cellars, and the surrounding premises, in order to ascertain on what sides it is capable of being extended, and how far.

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Mr. Faussett thinks there is room for a new cellar under the Treasury: but it might require piercing through a great thickness of wall. Mr. Dodgson would like to know, in each direction, what thickness of wall there would be to pierce. He is leaving Oxford for a few days, but expects to be back by the 6th or 7th. Perhaps Mr. Axtell will by that time have made the survey.49

The survey was carried out by Thomas Axtell and plans for the construction of a new wine cellar below the Common Room were drawn up. These plans survive in the Common Room Archives at Christ Church. Dodgson gained approval from the governing body for the building work to proceed. A building consultant named Mr Fitzwilliam made contact with Dodgson, offering to oversee the work. It is not clear how this approach came about, but it seems likely from the following letter that someone in the governing body suggested his services. The letter indicates Dodgson’s careful attitude and good business sense in ensuring that all arrangements were understood before any action took place. Christ Church, Oxford July 5, 1886 Mr. Dodgson is much obliged to Mr. Fitzwilliam for his note, and will be glad to see him on Tuesday morning, any time after 11. He thinks it necessary, in doing business for Common Room, to have a clear understanding with all concerned, and it is well to write what he wishes to say, that Mr. Fitzwilliam and he may have it to refer to. He does not know who can have told Mr. Fitzwilliam to call on him: and his coming so took him by surprise that he forgot to say that though intending to send for him, he had not yet done so: and he begs Mr. Fitzwilliam not to consider himself, as yet, as being engaged by the Common Room. Whoever named the matter to him had no authority to do so. Before engaging the services of Mr. Fitzwilliam, several things need to be clearly understood. (1) The business, for which Mr. Fitzwilliam’s services are desired is Common Room business only; there is nothing for him to do except what is named to him by the Curator. If the Governing Body like to direct him to do anything more, that is a matter with which the Curator is not concerned. (2) The business required is simply to give an opinion, so soon as sufficient earth has been removed to enable him to see the premises sufficiently, whether the proposed doorway can be cut, and the proposed excavations made, without danger to the stability of the wall of the room. (3) Mr. Dodgson must be informed, before engaging his services, what his fee would be for this visit of inspection and opinion. He considers such a step necessary in the interests of both parties, employed and employer. The employed

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can then, if not satisfied with the terms offered, decline the task: and the employer can, if dissatisfied, engage some one else: and no difficulties can arise afterwards, such as may occur when business is undertaken, leaving the terms to be settled afterwards. Mr. Fitzwilliam spoke (or so Mr. Dodgson understood him) as if he thought he was wished to inspect the work constantly, as a sort of ‘clerk of the works.’ Mr. Dodgson does not require anything of this sort. An opinion, on the one question he has named, is all he wishes Mr. Fitzwilliam to do. To form this opinion, one simple inspection ought to be enough.50

We do not have Mr Fitzwilliam’s reply, but it clearly did not satisfy Dodgson. The following letter was the result. Christ Church [Oxford] July 11, 1886 Mr. Dodgson finds, on reading through Mr. Fitzwilliam’s opinion, that it does not answer the questions he had asked. These were (1) ‘whether the proposed doorway can be cut,’ and (2) ‘whether the proposed excavations can be made,’ ‘without danger to the stability of the walls of the room.’ The ‘proposed doorway’ is to lead from Mr. Telling’s room, down into the new cellar. Mr. Fitzwilliam states that ‘there will be no danger etc. etc. in piercing a doorway from the present cellars to connect them with the proposed extension.’ No such doorway is proposed. Secondly, as to the risk of danger. The question was as to ‘the walls of the room’ – meaning, of course, all 4 walls, but chiefly its east and west walls, one of which it was proposed to pierce, while the other, being a party-wall, was known to have but little foundation. Mr. Fitzwilliam’s opinion only names ‘the North and South walls,’ as to which no apprehension was felt. Mr. Fitzwilliam recommends underpinning ‘the western most wall of the proposed extension.’ Mr. Dodgson presumes he means ‘the western most wall of the New Common Room.’ It was intended to build ‘the western most wall of the proposed extension’ some feet off this: but, on second thoughts, Mr. Dodgson has decided not to build a new wall, but to underpin the wall of the Common Room, and make that the wall of the Cellar. Mr. Dodgson will thank Mr. Fitzwilliam to send his written opinion as to the safety of the East and West walls of the New Common Room, and to send his bill with it.51

Mr Fitzwilliam’s services were probably terminated at this point; no further correspondence is found in the Common Room Archives. The construction was left in the capable hands of Thomas Axtell and work began early in 1887. But prior

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to the building work, Dodgson consulted another supplier of wine to the Common Room: Mr Francis Snow of Messrs Snow and Co. of Gandy Street, Exeter. Dodgson took the opportunity of making sure the new wine cellar would be built in such a way that wine could be stored in the most advantageous manner. Christ Church, Oxford July 12, 1886 Dear Mr. Snow, We are making a new Wine-Cellar, and I shall be grateful for your opinion on some points, as we have the opportunity, now of introducing any features that may be desirable. (1) My present idea is to line it wholly with brick-work, and to leave it untouched. I find Shaw’s book recommends white-wash. Do you think it advisable? (2) The floors of the upper bins. Should they be stone, or slate? And how thick? (3) Ventilation. How can this best be done? Should the openings be through walls to the open air, or merely through doors with other rooms or passages? Should they be high or low? And how large? (4) Warming. We use oil-lamp stoves. There is no escape, into the open air, for the water formed by the combustion, which therefore gathers on the walls, and drips from the roof, and reduces the paper, in which many of the bottles are wrapped, to wet pulp, and causes the corks and the oak laths, laid between layers of bottles, to rot. We are trying arched tubes of zinc (as here shown [Dodgson draws a diagram]: ‘A’ being the stove, ‘B’ a vessel to receive water): and there condense some of the water, but not all. How do you avoid damp? And how do you warm your cellars? I fancy myself that gas-stoves, with asbestos, and with flues to carry off the products of combustion, would do well. (5) Do you keep any of the bottles in paper? (6) Is there anything better than oak-laths to lay between layers of bottles? (7) What size of bin do you find most convenient? Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson52

Excavating the space below the Common Room soon revealed a major problem: the foundations for some of the walls were found to be inadequate, especially those supporting interior walls of Tom Quad, above which was the hall. Symm and Co. reported to Dodgson: In excavating for the [new] cellar we discovered a wall, built against the end of Dining Hall, which carries the ceiling of Small Common Room. [. . . ] There was evidence of recent settlements such as cracks in the ceiling, angles of wall, chimney

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breasts, etc. In our opinion it was absolutely necessary to shore up and underpin it for the safety of the Fabric. [. . . ] This work must soon have been done had not the New Wine Cellar been formed.53

Dodgson consulted William Baillie Skene, pro-treasurer of Christ Church (and husband of Lorina Liddell since 1874): Christ Church Common Room February 13, 1887 Dear Pro-Treasurer, In the course of constructing our new Wine-cellar, under the New Common Room, Mr. Axtell discovered that its east wall only went down 2 feet below the level of the ground, and he considered it so entirely necessary, for the safety of the fabric, that this wall (which has to bear the great iron girder, an additional strain not contemplated when it was built), should be underpinned, that he at once proceeded to do this, without even referring the question to the Curator. He estimated the cost, thus incurred, to have been £50. Do you not think that, as this cost has been incurred for the benefit of the House, and not in the special interests of Common Room, the Governing Body may fairly be asked to pay for it? Yours most truly, C. L. Dodgson (Curator)54

The governing body considered the matter and decided on 9 March 1887 to contribute £30 towards the additional cost incurred in constructing the new cellar. The work was completed by the end of March and the archives contain a plan of the new Common Room wine cellar, in Dodgson’s hand, dated 4 April 1887, on which the location of wines in 18 new bins is set out. The Common Room wine cellar, built to Dodgson’s specifications, is still in use today, but a thorough search has failed to find any bottles of Madeira (B).

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 11  ROYALTY

Queen Victoria and the Royal Family Dodgson was acquainted with various members of the royal family and met Queen Victoria at the Deanery, Christ Church, although he does not record any conversation with her. However, in some cases, the acquaintance with members of the royal family can be described as intimate and friendly. Both of his Alice books abound with royalty. They contain kings and queens, royal children, courtiers and extended members of a royal family, such as a marchioness (in the original story) and a duchess. Part of this is because Dodgson adopted the games of playing cards and chess to structure his two stories. The royal members have key roles, their parts are important to the plot and their dialogue is significant and memorable, as in this extract from Through the LookingGlass: ‘Where do you come from?’ said the Red Queen. ‘And where are you going? Look up, speak nicely, and don’t twiddle your fingers all the time.’ Alice attended to all these directions, and explained, as well as she could, that she had lost her way. ‘I don’t know what you mean by your way,’ said the Queen: ‘all the ways about here belong to me – but why did you come out here at all?’ she added in a kinder tone. ‘Curtsey while you’re thinking what to say. It saves time.’ Alice wondered a little at this, but she was too much in awe of the Queen to disbelieve it. ‘I’ll try it when I go home,’ she thought to herself, ‘the next time I’m a little late for dinner.’ ‘It’s time for you to answer now,’ the Queen said, looking at her watch: ‘open your mouth a little wider when you speak, and always say “your Majesty.”’

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There is a strong sense that Dodgson is parodying the way adults tend to instruct children, with an emphasis on ‘instructing’ rather than ‘talking to’. Maybe it is the governess who speaks here. Miss Mary Prickett, governess to the Liddell children – or ‘Pricks’, as the children called her – had a reputation for being very much in control and in charge. In 1887, Dodgson wrote an article for The Theatre entitled ‘Alice on the Stage’, in which he described: ‘The Red Queen [. . . ] as a Fury [. . . ] her passion must be cold and calm; she must be formal and strict, yet not unkindly; pedantic to the tenth degree, the concentrated essence of all governesses.’1 Alice and her sisters probably recognised the role of the Red Queen. Yet on the other hand, they were no strangers to actual royalty. Dodgson may have parodied the instructions Alice and her sisters were given whenever they were introduced to members of the royal family. The Deanery frequently received royalty; Queen Victoria went there from time to time in her role as Visitor to Christ Church. Each of the Oxford colleges has assigned to them a Visitor (with a capital ‘V’). This is someone with high status. The nominated person pays an official visit to the college to ensure all is proceeding according to the demands of tradition, protocol and custom and acts as mediator and adviser. The Visitor of Christ Church is usually the reigning monarch, although on occasions, it has been the lord chancellor. Queen Victoria was Visitor and made several journeys to Christ Church during her reign, always spending time at the Deanery as guest of the current dean. The college was founded by Henry VIII under letters patent dated 4 November 1546. However, the buildings were begun in 1525 when Cardinal Wolsey, then at the height of his power and fame, decided to create the college under royal licence and to name it Cardinal College. It was projected on a magnificent scale and supported financially by Wolsey from his own private wealth. Cardinal Wolsey fell out of the king’s favour in 1529 and all his possessions were forfeited to the crown and Cardinal College in its incomplete state was dissolved. But in 1532, Henry established a new college on the same site, calling it King Henry VIII’s College in Oxford. In 1546, the institution as we know it today – Christ Church – was established, combining the academic college with Oxford Cathedral, which was built on the site to replace the old cathedral at Osney. The link with the royal household was firmly established and remains to this day. Our present queen with her sculptured head resting below the great Holbein portrait of Henry VIII in central position at the far end of Hall is today’s Visitor of Christ Church. She makes private visits to the Deanery from time to time. Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne following the death of her uncle, William IV, in 1837. Hence, by the time Dodgson came to Christ Church in 1851 as an undergraduate, she was already the Visitor. Thomas Gaisford was

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made dean in 1831 and therefore his appointment was not influenced by Queen Victoria. However, when he died in 1855, the new appointment of Henry Liddell was made by Lord Palmerston with the queen’s approval. Liddell was already well known to the queen. In 1846, Liddell was appointed domestic chaplain to the prince consort and this required him to preach at Windsor in the presence of the royal family. He was also appointed headmaster of Westminster School in the same year and this brought about royal patronage; the queen contributed £800 to the school so that the Queen’s Scholars could have new accommodation. As an undergraduate, Dodgson was unlikely to meet the queen, but when he was appointed mathematical lecturer in 1855, his position and status changed. The Liddells frequently entertained members of the university at the Deanery, including the Visitor, and Dodgson received invitations to attend. His first meeting with the royal family at the Deanery came in 1860. However, he mentions the queen in his diary for the first time in 1855. On 17 May, he wrote: I hear that Millais’ picture of ‘The Rescue’ in the R.A. this year is considered very fine: as also Leighton’s picture of Cimabue’s Madonna, which the Queen has given 600 guineas for – but it is said to be the poorest exhibition for years.2

During the summer of 1858, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bestowed a special honour on Christ Church: They decided to send the Prince of Wales to Oxford and Christ Church was the chosen college to which he would be attached. Dean Liddell received a royal summons to meet the queen at Osborne House to discuss arrangements. Henry Acland, friend and doctor to Liddell, was also summoned; he was to be the Prince of Wales’s medical adviser. The prince matriculated on 18 October 1859. Liddell recorded the ceremony in a letter to his father: I had not time to write last night, after our grand doings with the Prince of Wales. He came down in a royal carriage (not by special train) at about four o’clock. I received him on the platform, and followed him to his house. The Vice-Chancellor and Proctors then called to pay their respects; then the Mayor and two Aldermen with an address; I standing by and introducing them. Then I went down to Christ Church, where we had the gates shut and all the men drawn up in the Quadrangle. At five he came, and the bells struck up as he entered. He walked to my house between two lines of men, who capped him. I went out to meet him, and as we entered the house there was a spontaneous cheer. All through the streets, which were very full, the people cheered him well. Then I took him up to the drawingroom, and entered his name on the buttery book. He then retired with his Tutor,

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Mr. Fisher, and put on a nobleman’s cap and gown in the gallery, and returned to receive greetings as the first Prince of Wales who had matriculated since Henry V. He was also introduced to the Sub-Dean and Censors. I then walked him across the Quadrangle, and across the streets to Pembroke College, where we found the Vice-Chancellor waiting at the door. He took him upstairs, and there matriculated him in due form. This morning at eight he came down on foot from his house to chapel. His Governor is Colonel Bruce, brother of Lord Elgin, a very nice person indeed; and his Equerry Major Teesdale, one of the heroes of Kars, a very pleasing young man. Now you will ask, how it all went off. Very well, very well. Colonel Bruce came down to see me this morning, and said everything was done a` merveille, and that the whole ceremony was a kind of model of how to do this sort of thing, and that the Queen and Prince Consort would be highly gratified by the account which he should send. The Prince himself is the nicest little fellow possible, so simple, naif, ingenuous and modest, and moreover with extremely good wits; possessing also the royal faculty of never forgetting a face.3

There can be no doubt that Dodgson witnessed this event. Sadly, his diaries are missing for this period, so we do not know what he wrote about the occasion. The prince resided at Frewin Hall in central Oxford for two years, attending chapel and lectures and occasionally dining in Hall. On 12 December 1860, the queen paid a visit to Oxford, probably to discuss the progress of her son at Christ Church with the dean. On this occasion, Dodgson was present and he gave a detailed account of the event: Visit of the Queen to Oxford, to the great surprise of everybody, as it had been kept a secret up to the time. She arrived in Christ Church about twelve, and came into Hall with the Dean, where the Collections were still going on, about a dozen men being in Hall. The party consisted of the Queen, Prince Albert, Princess Alice and her intended husband, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, and suite. They remained a minute or two looking at the pictures, and the Sub-Dean was presented: they then visited the Cathedral and Library. Evening entertainment at the Deanery, tableaux vivants. I went a little after half-past eight, and found a great party assembled – the Prince had not yet come. He arrived before nine, and I found an opportunity of reminding General Bruce of his promise to introduce me to the Prince, which he did at the next break in the conversation H.R.H. was holding with Mrs. Fellowes. He shook hands very graciously, and I began with a sort of apology for having been so importunate about the photograph. He said something of the weather being against it, and I asked if the Americans had victimised him much as a sitter; he said they had, but he did not think they had succeeded well, and I told him of the new American process of taking twelve thousand photographs in an hour. Edith

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Liddell coming by at the moment, I remarked on the beautiful tableau which the children might make: he assented, and also said, in answer to my question, that he had seen and admired my photographs of them. I then said that I hoped, as I had missed the photograph, he would at least give me his autograph in my album, which he promised to do. Thinking I had better bring the talk to an end, I concluded by saying that, if he would like copies of any of my photographs, I should feel honoured by his accepting them; he thanked me for this, and I then drew back, as he did not seem inclined to pursue the conversation.4

Dodgson’s rather bland account of the visit in his diary is in stark contrast to the letter he sent home to his brothers and sisters in which he recounts the same occasion with more candour, not to mention a lack of royal respect. Unfortunately, the first page of the letter is missing – and we begin partway through a sentence, no doubt recounting Dodgson’s examination of an undergraduate for Collections: [. . . ] proposition we had been doing! – he was less influenced by the presence of Majesty, and remembered it. She was only a minute or two in the Hall, during which the Dean pointed out some of the chief pictures, and presented the Subdean. With her were Prince Albert, Princess Alice, Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, and suite. I had never seen her so near before, nor on her feet, and was shocked to find how short, not to say dumpy, and (with all loyalty be it spoken), how plain she is. She is exactly like the little full-length photograph published of her. I have got the whole set of the Royal Family, and will bring them home with me. You will be sorry to hear that I have failed, finally and completely, in getting H.R.H. to sit for his photograph. I will give you the history of my proceedings in the matter, which will show you that I did not fail for want of asking, and that, if ever impudence and importunity deserved to succeed, I did. When the Royal party returned to Frewin Hall, I called to enter my name (as usual) in the visiting book, and to see General Bruce, whom I reminded of the promised photograph, and also asked him to take some opportunity of introducing me to H.R.H. as I had never had an opportunity of thanking him for consenting to sit. This he promised to do, and also said he would arrange for a sitting. Weeks passed, and I heard no more of it. When it was so near the end of term as to be ‘now or never,’ I wrote to tell him that I had got out my chemicals, and found they worked very fairly, and hoped he would come without delay. He answered that the Prince feared it could not be done in such rainy weather. I wrote once more to say that if that was the only objection, it could be done, but if there was any other reason against it, I withdrew my request. I happened to meet General Bruce, who at once entered on the subject, and admitted that the Prince’s real reason was that he was utterly weary of being photographed, having been so often

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victimised. Though I thought this hardly sufficient excuse for not keeping his promise, of course I could only beg that he might be no more troubled on the subject. Last Wednesday we were asked to an evening party at the Deanery to meet the Prince. I need not say that I got hold of General Bruce, and claimed the fulfillment of his promise to introduce me, which he most readily did. The Prince shook hands very graciously, and I began by apologising for having been so troublesome about the photograph. He looked perhaps a little ashamed of himself, and said something about the weather being unfavourable. I asked him if the Americans had victimised him much as a sitter, and he said ‘yes, but they had not succeeded well,’ and we talked for 2 or 3 minutes about photographs, my pictures of the Liddells, and the tableaux vivants which were to form the entertainment of the evening. When I say ‘we,’ it should rather be, that I talked to him, for he was anything but suggestive of conversation himself; seeming rather shy and silent. I told him that as I could not get the photograph of himself, I meant to take one from his published picture (by Richmond) for my album, and hoped he would at least give me his autograph, which he promised to do. I also said if he would like copies of any of my photographs, I should think it an honour for him to accept them, and he thanked me, saying he should like some of them, or something to that effect. When the talk came to a pause, and he did not seem inclined to go on, I drew back, and the interview came to an end. You will not wonder at these minute details, knowing how unique a thing an interview with Royalty is to me. To return to the Prince, I wrote a note to General Bruce, asking if I might bring my album to Frewin Hall, and see the autograph done, pleading that that would much increase its value in my eyes. He wrote appointing 10 on Saturday, and added that the Prince would at the same time select some of the photographs. I sent over the box of albums, and went at 10. General Bruce joined me in the hall (a sort of morning room), and the Prince came in directly afterwards, and seemed very friendly and more at his ease than he was at the Deanery. He saw that I was noticing his dog (an enormous Newfoundland, given him in America), and began to talk to me about it, telling me, in answer to my question, that it was not yet a year old. When the box was opened, he looked through the second album, especially admiring the ‘cherry’ group, the Chinese group, and the large one of the 2 Haringtons. He said he had no time to finish looking through them then, and proposed they should be left, but on my saying (an awful breach of court etiquette, no doubt), that I was expecting some friends that morning to see them (the John Slatters), he fixed on Tuesday (today) to have them sent over again. He consented to give the autograph then, but would not use my gold pen, as I wanted, saying that he wrote best with quill, and went to fetch a good one, with which he signed,

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adding the place and date at my suggestion. There ends my interview with Royalty. I have sent over the box this morning, and General Bruce is to send me a list of those of which he would like to have copies. We must do them if possible in the Easter Vacation: I expect there will be no lack of volunteers to print for the Prince – of course none but first-raters must be sent. By this time you will have had about enough on this subject. I am going out now bill-paying, which cheerful occupation will probably last till post-time, so I here conclude one of the longest letters I have written for some time. Make the most of it.5

By Dodgson’s own hand, the queen was ‘dumpy’ and ‘plain’. His opinion of the queen was recorded just eighteen months before the invention of ‘Alice’s Adventures’, in which the Queen of Hearts plays a prominent and far from plain part. By this time, Dodgson had taken a number of photographs of the Liddell children, and clearly, the Prince of Wales had already seen some of them, probably in albums at the Deanery. The group photograph of the three sisters, with Alice trying to reach some cherries held by Lorina (IN-0611), and the photograph of Alice and Lorina dressed in Chinese costume (IN-0540) were taken in the Deanery garden in 1860. The large photograph of Beatrice Cecilia Harington (1852–1936) and Alice Margaret Harington (1854–1901) was also taken in 1860, probably in the Deanery garden (IN-0667). The prince saw all three of these photographs mounted in Dodgson’s album [A].II (now at Princeton). The governor of the Prince of Wales at this time was the Hon. Robert Bruce (1813–62), described by Liddell as ‘Colonel’ and by Dodgson as ‘General’. He was a member of the Grenadier Guards: lieutenant (1830), captain (1833), lieutenant colonel (1844), colonel (1854), major (1856) and major-general (1860). His sister was Lady Augusta Frederica Elizabeth Stanley n´ee Bruce (1822–76), wife of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley and lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. We must not assume that Dodgson was anything but a loyal subject of the queen. He had been brought up to respect both his god and his sovereign. In this, he was certainly steadfast. He was in all respects a true Victorian; he looked up to the royal family as a model for society’s conduct. He was socially aware of his situation, coming from the upper middle class of the clergy, legal profession and officers of the armed forces. His forebears came from all three of these ranks of society. His own position as a lecturer at Christ Church also held him in that social class. And we must not forget that he said he had a ‘complete’ photographic set of members of the royal family – to prove his admiration of them.

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Acquiring a set of professionally produced photographs of the royal family is not quite the same as getting them to sit before his own camera and Dodgson was eager to achieve this latter task. As we have heard, he was unsuccessful with the Prince of Wales. We can assume that he did not pursue the queen with this idea. However, he succeeded in getting the Prince of Wales’s brother-inlaw to have his photograph taken. Frederick, the crown prince of Denmark, was an undergraduate at Christ Church. His sister, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, married the Prince of Wales in 1863. Another of Dodgson’s important photographic sitters was named after the princess: she was Alexandra ‘Xie’ Kitchin. Mrs Kitchin’s father was British consul in Copenhagen and she herself was a personal friend of Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The princess became Xie’s godmother. The crown prince’s career at Oxford was interrupted by the outbreak of war between Denmark and Prussia on the Schleswig-Holstein problem. But before he left Oxford, Dodgson succeeded in getting the prince to sit before his camera. The Kitchins helped in setting up the photographic session. Dodgson recorded the day, 18 November 1863, in his diary: A memorable day. Kitchin called about half-past 11 to say he would bring the Prince to be photographed at half-past 12 (he had consented some time ago to sit). Went over to Badcocks and had everything ready when they arrived. They staid about half an hour, and I took two negatives of him, a 6 × 5 half-length, and a 10 × 8 full-length. In the intervals he looked over my photographs that are mounted on cards, and he also signed his name in my album, saying as he did so that it was the first time he had used his new title. (He is now Crown-Prince, the news of the death of the old king having come on Monday). He conversed pleasantly and sensibly, and is evidently a much brighter specimen of royalty than his brother-in-law.6

Clearly, Dodgson was still annoyed with the rebuff he had received from the Prince of Wales, who refused to let Dodgson take his photograph. Frederick, Prince of Denmark, was more cooperative. He stood for a full-length portrait (IN-1197) and was seated at a desk for the other image (IN-1196?). Earlier in 1863, Dodgson had further contact with royalty and it has been suggested that this occasion influenced him in the writing of Through the LookingGlass. Mavis Batey, the author of Alice’s Adventures in Oxford (Pitkin, 1980), was the first to realise that Looking-Glass contained echoes of the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales on 10 March 1863. Oxford celebrated the wedding with illuminations and a tree-planting ceremony that involved the three Liddell children: Lorina, Alice and Edith. The

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event unfolds with the arrival of Dodgson’s brother Edwin from Rugby School, the day before the wedding, to join in the Oxford celebrations. Dodgson wrote: Received a note from Alice, asking me to escort her round to see the illuminations tomorrow evening. Goodeve is to act as escort for Ina, and Bigg for Edith.7

Louis Arthur Goodeve (b. 1841) and Charles Bigg (1840–1908) were, like Dodgson, students of Christ Church, the latter being a tutor. On the day of the wedding, Dodgson recorded: Called at the Deanery at 10, to arrange about our expedition tonight, and to borrow a Natural History to help in illustrating ‘Alice’s Adventures.’ Afterwards Edwin and I went into the Broad Walk to see the three Deanery children plant three trees along the Cherwell, in memory of the day, each delivered a short speech over her tree ‘long life to this tree, and may it prosper from this auspicious day,’ and they named them Alexandra [planted by Lorina], Albert [named by Alice], and Victoria [Edith’s tree]. After the tree-planting we escorted the Liddells and Mrs. Reeve to see the ox roasted whole near Worcester, which was not an exciting spectacle. At three was the last Torpid race, for which we went on to the barge, and of course met the Liddells again. After Hall we went to the Deanery for the children, and set out. We soon lost the others, and Alice and I with Edwin, took the round of all the principal streets in about two hours, bringing her home by half-past nine. The mob was dense, but well conducted. The fireworks abundant, and some of the illuminations very beautiful. It was delightful to see the thorough abandonment with which Alice enjoyed the whole thing. The Wedding-day of the Prince of Wales I mark with a white stone.8

Was the white stone for the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales or some other activity that day (perhaps escorting Alice for the evening)? I think we can safely assume the latter. It certainly was not the ox roast! The trees planted by the children have not survived; they were destroyed by the devastating outbreak of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s that killed off most of the trees in the Broad Walk, elm and plane trees alike. After the royal wedding, the happy couple toured various parts of the country so they could be seen by the people. One visit was to Oxford during the following June and the entourage stayed at the Deanery. Dodgson wrote on 15 June 1863: Went over to the Deanery in the forenoon, and was shown the Royal chamber (most splendidly furnished) and the things for the Bazaar. I noticed also a magnificent Album (for Cartes de Visite) hired from Howell and James, which had

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been originally made for the maids of honour to give the Royal couple (and has the plume etc. emblazoned on a magnificent onyx); I offered to fill this from my own albums, which I took over to the Deanery, and had an hour or two of work in transferring the pictures.9

A question arises about this album filled by Dodgson with examples of his photography. Did the Prince and Princess of Wales keep it? A search among the royal archives at Windsor Castle has failed to find it. Maybe it was for show only and the photographs were subsequently returned to Dodgson after the royal couple left Oxford. The prince and princess arrived the following day on 16 June. Dodgson’s diary provided the detail from his perspective: An eventful day. The Prince and Princess arrived at about one. I was up in Bayne’s rooms with a number of friends of his (he had to go to the Theatre as Proctor). I had my telescope up there (for the accommodation of which he broke out a pane of one window) and with it we managed to see them wonderfully well, as they stood under the awning opposite, for the Princess to present to the Volunteers their prizes. Then lunch in Common Room. Then I went with Mrs. Bayne etc. to the Theatre and afterwards went off myself to the Bazaar. I had intended to go only into the gardens, and not into the Bazaar itself; but when I got there the Bazaar was not yet open, so I thought I would go in at the back and make myself useful to the Liddells. After I had helped in their stall a short time the Royal party arrived. There were very few admitted with them and the place was comparatively clear. I crept under the counter and joined the children outside, and the Prince (I don’t know whether he knew me) bowed and made a remark about a picture. The children were selling some white kittens (like Persian) and as Alice did not dare offer hers to the Princess, I volunteered to plead for her, and asked the Prince if the Princess would not like a kitten, on which she turned round and said to me ‘oh, but I’ve bought one of those kittens already,’ (which I record as the only remark she is likely ever to make to me). Ina’s had been the favoured one. For some while I went about with the children, trying to get their kittens sold, when suddenly the Bazaar was opened, and the place filled with a dense mob. Rhoda was missing, and I set out to hunt her up, with Edith, who insisted on coming too, and after some time spied her out in a stall. I begged them to hand her over to me, and, carrying her, and pushing Edith, I fought my way down the whole Bazaar, through a tremendous crush, back to their stall. I remained there all the afternoon, sometimes behind the counter, and finally got them a fly to go back in. At eight was the banquet in Hall, gorgeously done, with a large collection of grandees, and many ladies, music (much too loud) during dinner, and singing by the Orpheus’ Club after the healths, which were ‘The Queen,’ ‘The Prince and

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Princess of Wales,’ ‘Lord Derby,’ ‘The Burgesses of the University,’ and ‘Ch. Ch.’ A day to be remembered, as unique and most interesting.10

Dodgson was in the habit of making fulsome diary entries when the events of the day warranted it. This is one such occasion during which he met and spoke to some of the royals. A few days later, on 23 June, Dodgson went back to the Deanery and took two pictures with dry collodion plates [. . . ] one of the bedstead in the Royal room at the Deanery, and the other of the Deanery and Cathedral, from Sandford’s rooms. For the latter picture Ina and Alice sat in the windows of the Royal chamber, and have come out very well in the picture.11

These pictures, taken with a borrowed camera, have not come to light. So, what has all this to do with Through the Looking-Glass? We recall that in the first few paragraphs, Alice is saying ‘Let’s pretend we’re kings and queens’ and goes on to say to her kitten: ‘Let’s pretend that you’re the Red Queen.’ And so we enter the world of chess that is the structure that bonds the book into a cohesive whole. The extract given at the outset of this chapter is the Red Queen telling Alice how she should behave in the company of royalty. One can imagine that the Liddell children were all groomed to do and say the right thing when the Prince and Princess of Wales became part of the household for a couple of days. ‘Speak in French when you ca’n’t think of the English for a thing – turn out your toes as you walk – and remember who you are!’ was further advice from the Red Queen. One can almost imagine the tone of Miss Prickett or even Mrs Liddell in these words of instruction. Illuminations, fireworks, garden fetes and great dinners played their part in the visit of the newlyweds to Christ Church and also in Alice’s adventures in Looking-Glass Land. An entertainment brought to Oxford after the royal wedding was the ‘Talking Fish’ extravaganza. Humpty Dumpty recites: I sent a message to the fish: I told them ‘This is what I wish’ The little fishes of the sea, They sent an answer back to me. The little fishes answer was ‘We cannot do it, Sir, because – ’ I sent to them again to say

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‘It will be better to obey.’ The fishes answered with a grin, ‘Why, what a temper you are in!’

We do not know for certain if Dodgson saw this ‘wondrous phenomenon’ at the assembly rooms in Oxford or whether he took the Liddell children with him to see it, but it does seem an interesting coincidence that the entertainment and the poem take the same most unusual theme. Mavis Batey points out that the lion and unicorn from the royal coat of arms were illuminated on many of the Oxford buildings during the celebrations. Above Canterbury Gate at Christ Church, there was a large rotating crown which Alice could easily see from the Deanery. Mavis Batey’s book and her sequel, The Adventures of Alice (Macmillan, 1991), give more details of the links between fiction and reality. We know that the royal family had access to the Alice books. Dodgson sent a copy of Alice’s Adventures to Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter, on 22 November 1865. Dodgson’s diary lists the recipients of presentation copies and Princess Beatrice was second only to Alice Liddell on that list. Dodgson received the following letter from Lady Augusta Stanley, lady-in-waiting to the queen, in response to his presentation copy of Alice’s Adventures sent to Princess Beatrice. The letter is dated 18 December 1865: The Deanery, Westminster Dear Mr. Dodgson, It seems in consequence of an oversight that Sir Charles Phipps did not write to acknowledge the little book of which Her Majesty was pleased to sanction the presentation to the Princess Beatrice. He requested me to convey Her acknowledgement to you. I must add, that various members of the Household have added it to their nursery Libraries where it is established as a proven favourite. Yours truly, Augusta Stanley12

Dodgson also sent Princess Beatrice copies of the foreign language editions of Alice. The Windsor Castle Royal Archive contains a copy of the German Alice (1869) with an inscription to the princess that reads: ‘Presented to Her Royal Highness, The Princess Beatrice, by Her obedient Servant, the Author.’ The book bears Princess Beatrice’s bookplate and is bound in full leather in green

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morocco with one decorative and three plain lines of border round each cover (not the usual decoration for this book). There is an anecdote that links Dodgson to Queen Victoria, which is almost certainly untrue. Dodgson, who indicated that he had seen reports in newspapers about it, denied it in the second edition to Symbolic Logic: Part 1, Elementary in a postscript to an advertisement for the other two parts of this projected book. He wrote: I take this opportunity of giving what publicity I can to my contradiction of a silly story, which has been going the round of the papers, about my having presented certain books to Her Majesty the Queen. It is so constantly repeated, and is such absolute fiction, that I think it worth while to state, once for all, that it is utterly false in every particular: nothing even resembling it has ever occurred.

This story and its denial were recalled by Thomas Banks Strong (1861–1944), bishop of Oxford, when he wrote a lengthy reminiscence entitled ‘Mr. Dodgson: Lewis Carroll at Oxford’. Bishop Strong, who knew Dodgson as well as anyone living at the time, said: The [. . . ] legend, frequently repeated, as to which I am wholly sceptical, is that some one presented a copy of Alice in Wonderland to the Queen, who asked to have any future works by the author sent to her, and that he sent her a work on the Theory of Numbers or some such subject. [It would have been Dodgson’s book on Determinants.] I disbelieve this for two reasons. It would have been contrary to Dodgson’s whole attitude towards the Throne and to his good manners to put a gibe of this sort upon the Queen. And it was entirely contrary to his attitude towards his books. He always refused to admit to any but specially privileged persons that he was Lewis Carroll. [. . . ] It would have been clean contrary to all his practice to identify himself as author of Alice with the author of his mathematical works.13

So far, nobody has been able to find the offending rumour printed in any British newspaper of the time. The anecdote had probably existed for many years; Alice came out in late 1865 and this was followed by An Elementary Treatise on Determinants in 1867. Why did Dodgson wait almost thirty years before going into print to deny the story? For one with great respect for the queen, it is surprising to find him pretending in a letter to the 13-year-old Margaret Cunnynghame that he refused to

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supply the queen with a photograph of himself. The letter, dated 7 April 1868, includes this paragraph: But oh, Maggie, how can you ask for a better one of me than the one I sent! It is one of the best ever done! Such grace, such dignity, such benevolence, such – as a great secret (please don’t repeat it) the Queen sent to ask for a copy of it, but as it is against my rule to give in such a case, [I was obliged to answer:] ‘Mr. Dodgson presents his compliments to Her Majesty, and regrets to say that his rule is never to give his photograph except to young ladies.’ I am told she was annoyed about it, and said, ‘I’m not so old as all that comes to,’ and one doesn’t like to annoy Queens, but really I couldn’t help it, you know.14

This is, of course, exactly how stories and rumours begin. Another instance of pretence occurred when he fabricated a letter from Queen Victoria to himself and gave it to the Drury sisters to impress them that the queen had invited him to Buckingham Palace to attend a garden party: Buckingham Palace, June 22 Dear Mr. Dodgson, I hope you will be able to come to our Garden Party on Friday afternoon. Yours truly, Victoria R.15

The Dodgson family has a slight claim to being linked with royalty. William the Conqueror’s illegitimate daughter, Matilda, is cited in history books as having a son, Adam de Hoghton (fl. 1100). From him is descended Richard de Hoghton (1279–1341), a Knight of the Shire. His son, Adam (1310–86), married Ellen Venables (1315–86) and they had a son named Richard (d. 1422). This Richard de Hoghton was also a Knight of the Shire and High Sheriff in 1410 and served on the Commission of Array for the defence against the Scots and became chief steward of the county between 1399 and 1422. His son, William, predeceased him, so he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard (d. 1468). His son was Henry de Hoghton (d. 1479), who was succeeded by his second son, William (d. 1501). On the death of William, a younger half-brother, Thomas (d. 1589), succeeded to the title. His son, Richard (1570–1630), was created the first Baron de Hoghton. Sir Richard married Katherine (d. 1617), daughter of Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls. They had thirteen children, with the eldest son, Gilbert (d. 1647), becoming the second Baron de Hoghton. He

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married Margaret (d. 1657), eldest daughter of Sir Roger Aston, Master of the Great Wardrobe to King James I. He distinguished himself in the ranks of the Cavaliers. His eldest son was Richard (d. 1677 or 1678). He was an upholder of the Puritan cause in Lancashire, MP for Lancashire, and Gentleman of HM Privy Chamber. His son, Charles (1643–1710), became the fourth Baron de Hoghton. In 1676, he married Lady Mary (1655–1732), eldest daughter of John Skeffington (d. 1665), Viscount Massereene. Their youngest daughter, Lucy de Hoghton (1694–1780), married Thomas Lutwidge (1670–1745) of Whitehaven in 1721, an officer in the army of King William III, JP and High Sheriff of Cumberland, who was Dodgson’s maternal great-great-great-uncle. However, the link between Alice Liddell and the present queen – and therefore back to Queen Victoria – is much clearer. In Anne Clark’s book The Real Alice, that link is made apparent with a family tree that shows the Liddells descended from the family of Lyon and from this family comes the Bowes-Lyon branch that included Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, the late queen mother.16

The Duke and Duchess of Albany One lasting relationship between Dodgson and the royals came with Queen Victoria’s youngest son, Prince Leopold. This began when Leopold was a teenage child. By all accounts, the prince was strong willed and intelligent and had a great love of life. As already mentioned, he suffered from haemophilia. As such, the queen was very protective towards him and his youth was very restricted, allowing few outside influences. He had a personal tutor named Mr. Shuldham, from Eton, who left the royal household to get married in 1866. As we have heard, his replacement was Robinson Duckworth, who found a very introverted 13-year-old who was emotionally depressed and almost immobile. He set about reconstructing the prince’s life, removing the claustrophobic atmosphere the prince had suffered up until then. In July 1867, Duckworth, who had gained the trust of the queen, was appointed the prince’s governor. Duckworth left the royal household in 1870 and was replaced as tutor by Robert Hawthorn Collins (1841–1908), who became comptroller and would follow Leopold to Oxford and remain a member of the prince’s household for many years. Prince Leopold had a burning ambition to study at university, probably influenced by Duckworth. Although the queen was not entirely in favour of Leopold attending university, she finally relented but set stringent rules about it

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being for study alone and not for general amusement. On 27 November 1872, at the age of 19, Prince Leopold matriculated at Oxford in the Deanery at Christ Church. Bells were rung in the churches in Oxford and also at Christ Church to celebrate the occasion. Dr Acland, appointed his medical adviser, and Dean Liddell became responsible for the prince. Collins was the link between the prince and the queen. Acland found a house in St Giles, Wykeham House, to be the prince’s residence. After the matriculation ceremony, Acland and Liddell dined with the prince at Wykeham House – no doubt to discuss the options for study. Leopold did not select a degree course but chose a range of lectures to attend. As we have seen, Dodgson managed to get a photographic sitting from Prince Leopold on 2 June 1875. One of these photographs shows Leopold standing (IN2305) the other sitting (IN-2306). They were taken in Dodgson’s Tom Quad rooftop studio above his rooms at Christ Church. Leopold signed his name in Dodgson’s album. Although it was expressly against the queen’s instructions, Leopold began to enjoy the social life that Oxford had to offer. He became acquainted with the Liddell household and with the Liddell daughters in particular: Lorina, Alice and Edith, now aged 25, 22 and 20, respectively. He had undergraduate friends too; Aubrey Harcourt, later to become engaged to Edith Liddell, was one of them. In the spring of 1873, Leopold confided to his closest friends that he was in love. He talked of marriage. She was an Oxford girl, but her name does not appear in the records kept by the royal household. It is likely that the queen found out, probably as a result of a tip-off from Collins. We have a clue to the identity of this maiden in Dodgson’s squib on the architectural changes that Dean Liddell had set in motion at Christ Church entitled The Vision of the Three T’s (1873), a dramatic parody of Isaak Walton’s Compleat Angler (1653). In this, Dodgson mocks Mrs Liddell, calling her a ‘King-fisher’ – no doubt satirising the frequent visits of the prince to the Deanery and her wish to make him a royal son-in-law! Piscator: I will now say somewhat of the Nobler kinds, and chiefly of the Goldfish, which is a species highly thought of, and much sought after in these parts, not only by men, but by divers birds, as for example the King-fishers.17

An undergraduate adds to the speculation. John Howe Jenkins (1854–1885?) wrote a scurrilous piece about life at Oxford at the time, the gossip and the rumour thinly disguised in another dramatic pamphlet called Cakeless (1874). Although it was published anonymously, the author’s name was discovered and Jenkins was sent down. He dared to suggest that Dean and Mrs Liddell, named

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26. Prince Leopold, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1875

Apollo and Diana in the verse play, had been disappointed with the marriage of their eldest daughter, Lorina, to William Baillie Skene in February 1874 and that they were being more careful with their remaining daughters. He went on to suggest that the potential bridegrooms were Yerbua (Aubrey Harcourt, a friend of the prince), Rivulus (Lord Brooke, another close friend of the prince) and Regius (obviously Leopold). He muddled the possible brides, probably because he did not know the Liddell daughters well enough, but the attack on Mrs Liddell was entirely transparent.

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The name of Leopold’s love – by tradition rather than record – was Alice Liddell. Because the prince did not come into contact with many young ladies at Oxford, the Liddell sisters were certainly an attraction. Alice was well educated, artistic, musical and good looking and would have caught his eye. Edith Liddell may have already formed an attachment to Aubrey Harcourt, although they did not announce their engagement until 1876, two years later. Rhoda was probably too young to be considered at this point, being just 15 and not as attractive as her older sisters. But it was not to be: the romance between Alice Liddell and Prince Leopold either foundered or was blocked. We will never know for certain what happened. Dodgson made further contact with Prince Leopold in 1876, when he wished to present a copy of The Hunting of the Snark to Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales. His letter, dated 31 January, explains his problem: Christ Church, Oxford January 31, 1876 Sir, I fear the liberty I am taking in writing is not really justified by your Royal Highness’ condescension and kindness, whether in coming to sit for a photograph, or in the message that, but for illness, you would have written yourself to acknowledge the packet of photographs. The occasion of my writing is that I am hoping to bring out a new child’s book this Easter, and that I wish to be allowed the honour of presenting a copy to the Princess of Wales’ eldest daughter. I have asked one or two friends, who I thought would be able to obtain this permission, but they assure me that the request, and the gift itself, must go through the hands of a Secretary, or some other official. I should feel that all the poetry of such a gift, as sent by an author to a child, would evaporate in such a process of transmission. I could as easily imagine Othello’s defence, ‘Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,’ read out by the Clerk of the Court. If your Royal Highness could either present the book, for me, to the little Princess herself; or get permission for me to send it direct, I should esteem such an honour highly: but if the only available process is that the book should pass through the hands of a Secretary, I had rather not send it at all. This remark does not apply to its receipt being acknowledged through a Secretary, which I suppose to be the inevitable routine. With many apologies for all the breaches of etiquette which I fear I am committing, I remain Faithfully and gratefully your Royal Highness’, C. L. Dodgson18

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The prince replied on 2 February 1876, promising Dodgson to transmit the request to his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, on her return from Denmark. ‘The amount of etiquette with which we are surrounded is indeed very tiresome,’ the prince added, ‘(though, at times, useful), but it is not in my power to diminish it.’19 It is not known whether Dodgson ever sent the book to Princess Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar, eldest daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Prince Leopold was created Duke of Albany in 1881 and married Princess Helene Frederica Augusta Waldeck-Pyrmont (1861–1922) in April 1882. Their first child, Princess Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline (1883–1981), Countess of Athlone, was born in February 1883. Alice Hargreaves wrote to congratulate the prince, at the same time inviting him to be godfather to her second son, who had been born in January that year. Leopold wrote from Windsor: Dear Alice, Many thanks for your very kind letter of good wishes on the birth of our little girl. The event is, as you can imagine, a source of great pleasure to us. It is very good of you asking me to be godfather to your boy, and I shall have great pleasure in being so. Please let me know what his names are to be. [. . . ] Our child will probably be christened on Easter Monday, we mean to call her Alice. Yours very sincerely, Leopold20

Alice and Reginald Hargreaves named their second son Leopold Reginald, but he was always known in the family as Rex. Within a year, Leopold was dead of a brain haemorrhage following convulsions after a fall. A few months later, his wife, the Duchess of Albany, gave birth to a son, Prince Leopold Charles Edward George Albert (1884–1954), 2nd Duke of Albany. Five years later, Dodgson appeared on the scene. He met the Duchess of Albany and her two children as a guest of Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, at Hatfield House in June 1889. In a letter to Isa Bowman, written from Hatfield House on 8 June, Dodgson wrote: Then there is the Duchess of Albany here, with two such sweet little children. She is the widow of Prince Leopold (the Queen’s youngest son), so her children are a Prince and Princess: the girl is ‘Alice,’ but I don’t know the boy’s Christian name: they call him ‘Albany,’ because he is the Duke of Albany. Now that I have

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made friends with a real live little Princess, I don’t intend ever to speak to any more children that haven’t titles. In fact, I’m so proud, and I hold my chin so high, that I shouldn’t even see you if we met! No, darling, you mustn’t believe that. If I made friends with a dozen Princesses, I would love you better than all of them together, even [if] I had them all rolled up into a sort of child roly-poly.21

Dodgson was clearly impressed at being introduced to the duchess and her children. He recorded in his diary the same meeting: Once at luncheon I had the Duchess as neighbour, and once at breakfast; and had several other chats with her, and found her very pleasant indeed. Princess Alice is a sweet little girl, though with rather unruly high spirits. Her little brother was entirely fascinating: a perfect little Prince, and the picture of good humour.22

On 10 June, he noted in his diary: ‘I got the Duchess’ leave to send the little Alice a copy of the Nursery ‘Alice’: and mean to send with it Alice Under Ground for herself.’23 There was something in Dodgson’s personality that inclined him to help and support a widow with children, even though the family was of royal blood. There are many other instances of him befriending widows and families who had lost their father, as has already been outlined. Dodgson began by sending gifts to the Albany family, but he was highly conscious of this royal favour – so much so that his tone becomes a little gushing and embarrassing to us today. For example, this letter to the duchess, which he wrote on 1 July 1889: Christ Church, Oxford July 1, 1889 Dear and honoured Madam, In sending the book, promised for the little Princess Alice, and one also which (as I understand from Miss Maxwell) I am permitted to give to the little Duke of Albany, I am bold enough to hope that your Royal Highness will honour me by accepting one more book as well, which will follow in a few days. May I also take the opportunity – perhaps the only one I shall ever have – of adding a few words to what I said on a subject we spoke of; in one of those interesting little talks which I remember with so much pleasure. The subject was the desirability of remembering, or forgetting, a remark made by one of your children, on a scene in the life of Our Lord – a remark which (of course without any consciousness on the part of the child) gave a humorous turn to the passage. I am not going to urge any directly religious grounds for reverent treatm[ent of the] sacred narrative – I am persuaded [that] such reasons weigh as fully with

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your Royal Highness as with myself – and all I wish to say may be put into these few words. Is it not a cruelty (however unintentionally done) to tell any one an amusing story of that sort, which will be for ever linked, in his or her memory, with the Bible words, and which may have the effect, just when those words are most needed, for comfort in sorrow, or for strength in temptation, or for light in ‘the valley of the shadow of death,’ of robbing them of all their sacredness and spoiling all their beauty? There are beautiful texts in the Bible, that have been thus spoiled for me: and I have never, for years now, repeated any such story, lest I should cause to others the pain I cannot now avoid for myself: for our memories are not under our command, and we often remember best what we most passionately long to forget. Imagine some poor widow, in the first agony of her grief; opening her Bible to read some of those wonderful words that bring to the mourner peace and the hope of a life beyond the grave, and finding that some wanton hand has scrawled the page with grotesque caricatures – and you will realise what I mean. I ask pardon for writing so freely, and at such length: but it is a matter about which I feel very deeply. Permit me to inscribe myself Your Royal Highness’s most sincerely, Charles L. Dodgson P.S. I send the Nursery ‘Alice’ in brown ink only, because the coloured edition has turned out a failure, and will have to be printed again. The new edition will be out by Christmas, I hope: and I will then send a copy for the little Princess – trusting that she will not object to possessing both kinds!24

Miss Maxwell was Beatrice Ethel Heron Maxwell, youngest daughter of Sir John Heron-Maxwell, 6th Baronet, who was lady-in-attendance on the Duchess of Albany. The duchess replied on 17 August, acknowledging what must have been the copy of Alice’s Adventure’s Under Ground that Dodgson sent to her: Dear Mr. Dodgson, Accept my best thanks for the nice book you kindly sent me. It gives me much pleasure as I am a great friend of your Alice and her adventures. I must now also thank you for your letter to me and the two charming books with which you made my children very happy. I think they will well remember the kind gentleman who spent so much time with them in amusing them and telling them stories. In thanking you again for your books to us three, Believe me Yours truly, Helen25

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Dodgson sent a copy of the reprinted coloured Nursery ‘Alice’ to the 6-year-old Princess Alice later that year and received a letter of thanks from her written in her best handwriting – no doubt guided by a governess or her mother: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I thank you very much for the pretty book which I like very much. I like very much the painted pictures and I have read the story myself. Alice 26

Collingwood recorded that, when Dodgson sent a copy of The Nursery ‘Alice’ to the princess, he received a note of thanks from her and also a letter from her mother, in which she said that the book had taught the princess to like reading and to do it out of lesson time. Collingwood also reported that Dodgson gave Prince Charles a copy of the Merry Elves: or, Little Adventures in Fairyland, written anonymously but illustrated by C. O. Murray and first published in 1874. In his note of thanks for the gift, the prince wrote: ‘Alice and I want you to love us both.’ Dodgson sent Princess Alice a puzzle, promising that if she found it out, he would give her a ‘golden chair from Wonderland’.27 Princess Alice later recalled in her autobiography For My Grandchildren (1966) her early friendship with Dodgson: Doctor Dodgson or ‘Lewis Carroll’ was especially kind to Charlie and me, though when I was only five I offended him once when, at a children’s party at Hatfield, he was telling us a story. He was a stammerer and being unable to follow what he was saying I suddenly asked in a loud voice, ‘Why does he waggle his mouth like that?’ I was hastily removed by the lady-in-waiting. Afterwards he wrote that he ‘liked Charlie but thought Alice would turn out badly.’ He soon forgot all this and gave us books for Christmas with anagrams of our names on the fly-leaf.28

Dodgson composed two acrostics for the royal children, which were later published in Three Sunsets and Other Poems (1898). The initial letters of the verses spell out the names of the prince and princess: Puck Lost and Found Puck has fled the haunts of men: Ridicule has made him wary: In the woods, and down the glen, No one meets a Fairy!

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‘Cream!’ the greedy Goblin cries – Empties the deserted dairy – Steals the spoons, and off he flies. Still we seek our Fairy! Ah! What form is entering? Lovelit eyes and laughter airy! Is not this a better thing, Child, whose visit thus I sing, Even than a Fairy? Nov. 22, 1891. Puck has ventured back agen: Ridicule no more affrights him: In the very haunts of men Newer sport delights him. Capering lightly to and fro, Ever frolicking and funning – ‘Crack!’ the mimic pistols go! Hark! The noise is stunning! All too soon will Childhood gay Realise Life’s sober sadness. Let’s be merry while we may, Innocent and happy Fay! Elves were made for gladness! Nov. 25, 1891.

Recalling her childhood memories, Princess Alice wrote in her autobiography: we played a lot with a collection of little bronze animals we had acquired by knitting, as Mother had wrapped them in paper and then wound them inside a great ball of wool – a bribe on her part. We kept them in tins given to us by Lewis Carroll with pictures from Alice in Wonderland on their sides and our names scratched by him on the bottom.29

In fact, the pictures were from Through the Looking-Glass and the containers were the famous and extremely rare biscuit tins that Manners and Co. produced in 1892 with Dodgson’s approval. Dodgson had 300 empty tins to give away as gifts (50,000 are said to have been produced); for some unknown reason, he did not wish to send his friends a tin full of biscuits (made by Messrs Jacob and Co.,

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Dublin). Dodgson received letters of thanks from both the prince and princess, written from the family home at Claremont, Surrey, and dated 17 August 1892: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I thank you very much for the pretty box you sent me. I think Charlie is much too big to get into it. I have not forgotten you, nor how to make pistols. I should like to go to Oxford again, and see you. Your affec. Alice30

She was responding to the following letter from Dodgson that accompanied the tins. Dodgson showed the two children how to make paper pistols when they visited him at his rooms in Oxford. 7 Lushington Road, Eastbourne August 15, 1892 My dear Alice, There’s just a chance that this note will get to you before you’ve quite forgotten me. Somebody asked me if they might copy some of the Alice pictures on what they call ‘Children’s Tins.’ Did you ever hear of such things? I never did, till now. They say children use them to keep biscuits in or sweets, or anything. But I think you can find a much better use for the one I’m sending you. Whenever Charlie is very naughty, you can just pop him in, and shut the lid! Then he’ll soon be good. I’m sending one for him, as well: so now you know what will happen when you’re naughty! I’ve written your names on your boxes, that you may know which is which. Please excuse the writing: it’s not very easy to write on tin, you know. I send my best love, for you to divide with your brother: and I would advise you to give two-thirds to him, and take three-quarters for yourself. Yours affectionately, C. L. Dodgson31

The 8-year old Prince Charles replied: Dear Mr. Dodgson, I thank you very much for the nice box you have sent me. I have put all my toy animals into it. We are going to Scotland next week. Your affec. Charles Edward32

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There is no clue in Dodgson’s diary to provide the background to the following letter received from the Duchess of Albany and his letter to her is also missing. However, it seems he tried to arrange a meeting with the duchess for an unknown friend (possibly an actress) while she was staying at Balmoral with other members of the royal family: Claremont, Esher November 2, 1892 Dear Mr. Dodgson, Unfortunately I was already home again when I received your letter, and therefore cannot oblige you or your friend, and I am afraid I cannot do anything either for your friend at Balmoral for I know it is useless to make any request of that kind. I am afraid your friend and her company will have a bitterly cold tour up in the north but perhaps it will make a full house more likely at Aberdeen. My little people are, I am thankful to say, very well and grown very much since you saw them. They were very happy in Scotland, and have come home very rosy. Every day they become more companions to me, and reading to them in the evenings, while they knit, is a great pleasure, for they have good memories and are very eager and interested, and I think I learn as much as they do, by all the questions they want answers to. You would be much amused by their inventions at their play for they have a very lively imagination, and yet are very matter of fact. Hoping you have been and are keeping well and with kindest regards. Believe me Yours sincerely, Helen33

On 7 August 1893, Dodgson wrote to Collins with a proposal to send more gifts to the royal children: My dear Collins, I have several questions to ask you. (1) Does Alice possess an illustrated child’s book, called Little Thumb? If not, I want to give it her. The pictures (of children and animals) are lovely, and enough to inspire her with the wish to learn to draw, if that wish has not yet occurred to her. (2) Does either of them possess a wire-puzzle, lately published, called ‘HomeRule’? If not, I want to give it to Alice, if she already has the book: if not, I’ll send the book for her, and the puzzle for Charlie.

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(3) I have several times written to the Duchess (and have had most kind letters from her), but I have never known what is the proper way, either to begin, or to end, my letters: and have had to rely on what so many men in the ‘Schools’ rely on for their ‘paper-work,’ viz., ‘the light of Nature’! Would you kindly enlighten my ignorance? With love to the children, I am Sincerely yours, C. L. Dodgson34

Princess Alice received the book and Prince Charles was sent the wire puzzle. Their replies are as follows: Claremont, August 24, 1893 Dear Mr. Dodgson, I thank you very much for the pretty book you have sent me. I have already finished it and I think the story and the pictures very pretty. I am glad to say your spider has remained on your letter and has not been impertinent enough to crawl over my papers as it did over yours. You asked me which was my favourite animal, it is a dog and Charlie’s is a kitten. Charlie and I send our love to you. Your affec. Alice35 Claremont, August 24, 1893 Dear Mr. Dodgson, I thank you very much for the puzzle you so kindly sent to me. I watched Mother do it up and un-do it, so that now I can do it myself. Next Thursday we are going yachting. Yours affectly, Charles Edward36

It is easy to understand Prince Charles’s greater interest in perhaps spending some time yachting – maybe on the Royal Yacht. In the final surviving letter from Princess Alice, we hear of an event that took place on the Royal Yacht: Claremont, October 6, 1893 Dear Mr. Dodgson,

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I thank you very much for the dear little pig you have sent me. Is the answer to your riddle ‘Alice’ (all ice)? Charlie has had chickenpox but is nearly well again. I had it on the yacht. Your affec. Alice37

The following November, Dodgson sent this letter to the duchess: Christ Church, Oxford, November 30, 1893 Dear Madam, Will you kindly send your copy of Sylvie and Bruno to Messrs. Macmillan, 29 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, that the forthcoming volume, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, may be bound to match. I hope it may be out by Christmas, but am not sure. The labour of getting such a book through the Press, is more than any one, who has not experienced it, would imagine. I have been engaged on it more than 4 months (not in writing it – it was nearly all written, years ago), and am working about 8 hours a day at it. The other day I worked for 13 hours! As you do me the honour (and I do indeed consider it as a great honour) of allowing me to send messages of love to your children, will you kindly give them my love, and believe me, dear Madam, with all affectionate regards, Very sincerely yours, Charles L. Dodgson38

It appears that the duchess sent the children’s copy to Macmillan (not presented by him; he saw the Sylvie and Bruno books as being for older children and adults, and presentation copies to young children are rare). So, Dodgson had to write to Collins to put the matter right. Clearly, the duchess had a special moroccobound copy that he wanted to match. There is no further evidence of contact between Dodgson and the Albany family. Let us return to the kings and queens in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It is interesting that Tenniel chose to include the state crown of England – St Edward’s Crown – in his illustration of Alice meeting the Queen of Hearts. He was no stranger to depicting the royal family, especially Queen Victoria, in the pages of Punch. The crown adds a respectful element of realism in his illustration. The Queen of Hearts is a three-dimensional character in Tenniel’s illustrations, whereas the King of Hearts is a more two-dimensional character. The queens in Wonderland and Looking-Glass play significant roles. They expect to get their way, ruling with firmness and determination and ordering Alice to submit to their every wish.

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The White Queen in Looking-Glass is an exception; she is more muddleheaded and mild. Is Dodgson parodying perceived regality and majesty? This is a distinct possibility. He had first-hand experience of the royal family and he knew that the queen ruled her family with strictness and determination, preparing them for their role in society and preparing them for their duty to their country. He saw the outcome of this upbringing when he met two of the princes who became undergraduates at Oxford. His own attitude towards children was very different. He probably did not agree with the stern approach meted out by Queen Victoria in bringing up her children. The ruthless Queen of Hearts has echoes of Queen Victoria and this is possibly by design. After the copyright ran out in 1907, some illustrators – for example, Brinsley Le Fanu – depicted the Queen of Hearts as Queen Victoria. The White Queen is described by Dodgson in his article for The Theatre as ‘gentle, stupid, fat and pale; helpless as an infant; and with a slow, maundering, bewildered air about her, just suggesting imbecility; but never quite passing into it’.39 Is this Dodgson’s view of the real Queen Victoria, the private image not seen by her subjects but seen by Dodgson at Christ Church as a short, plain, dumpy individual? Did he want to make some statement about the way she had brought up her children? Dodgson took a keen interest in the royal children. We have already heard about his gifts to Princess Beatrice, the queen’s youngest daughter. She did not forget Dodgson’s kindness, even in later life. During the run-up to the centenary celebrations of Dodgson’s birth in 1932, Princess Beatrice became one of the most significant supporters and was patroness of the Lewis Carroll Exhibition in London. She loaned her 1866 white vellum bound Alice for display, where, according to the catalogue prepared by Falconer Madan, it had pride of place. Madan, together with Sidney Herbert Williams, brought out during the previous year the Handbook of the Literature of C. L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (Oxford: 1931) in a limited edition of 754 copies, four of which were on mould-made paper. This book was dedicated to Princess Beatrice and bears the following printed dedication: ‘This book is respectfully dedicated to Her Royal Highness, Princess Beatrice (by permission), with gratitude for her gracious and kindly interest in this tribute to “Alice” S.H.W.’ Princess Beatrice was presented with one of the four special copies bound in dark blue leather with gilt decorations. To summarise, Dodgson was no stranger to royalty. He was in the privileged position of seeing them close up, conversing with them, corresponding with them and seeing them as real people rather than the distant and often false view that prevailed among ordinary folk. His impression of Queen Victoria was influenced by his meeting with her and the way in which she treated her children. To some extent, he did not approve of her rigid and controlling manner. He gave

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many gifts to members of the royal household and developed a close and warm friendship with some of them. His attitude towards royalty may have influenced his depiction of the kings and queens in his two Alice books – not always showing them in the best light but as flawed and strange beings and often ruthlessly parodying royal etiquette. Yet he remained a loyal subject of his queen and a true believer in Victorian standards and values.

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 12  FAMOUS ACQUAINTANCES

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Poet Laureate Dodgson’s strong sense of fair play and honesty occasionally compromised his friendships. This was true of his contact with the poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92). Dodgson quickly became a friend of the whole family but, sadly, the friendship turned sour. Tennyson was the fourth son of George Clayton Tennyson (1778–1831), rector of Somersby, from whom he received much of his early education. He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1828 and there he met Arthur Hallam (1811–33), with whom he became very close. Hallam’s untimely death at the age of 22 resulted in Tennyson writing ‘In Memoriam’ (published in 1850) and ‘The Two Voices’ – both expressions of his grief. He became engaged to Emily Sellwood (1813–96) in 1833, although they were not married until 1850. He became poet laureate on the death of William Wordsworth in 1850. Dodgson avidly read Tennyson’s works as they appeared. He read the whole of Maud as soon as he received his copy in 1855. He parodied ‘The Two Voices’ with his own humorous poem ‘The Three Voices’, first published in The Train in November 1856. There can be no doubt that Dodgson’s photograph of Tennyson’s niece, Agnes Grace Weld (1849–1915) – taken in August 1857 – became a means of gaining an introduction to the famous poet. The actual meeting took place the following September. Dodgson’s own poetical skill sometimes caused him to question the authenticity of lines written by this celebrated poet. For example, he noted in his diary on 8 March 1855:

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27. Alfred Tennyson, from a photograph by CLD, taken in 1857

Elizabeth wrote, forwarding me [. . . ] some lines on the Balaklava charge, supposed to be by Tennyson. My opinion is that they are not his, but fair imitation of his style. I do not believe Tennyson could ever have written such lines as For up came an order, which Some one had blundered, or have talked about sabres ‘sab’ring.’ If genuine, they are very unworthy of him.1

To Dodgson’s surprise, they were from Tennyson’s ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, published in 1854. Dodgson recorded on 14 August 1855:

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Tennyson’s Maud arrived, and I read the whole of it in the course of the day. I do not think the volume will either raise or lower his reputation: some short passages in it are very beautiful, e.g. the one ending Then life is not so bitter, But a smile may make it sweet. and the passage about [. . . ] two men somewhere, Drinking and talking of me is very original in idea. He has improved the ‘Ode to the Duke,’ and the ‘Balaclava Charge’ very much: the ‘some one had blundered’ has disappeared, but the sabres are still ‘sabring.’ The Idyll of the ‘Brook’ is pretty.2

Dodgson, who had been writing his own verses since childhood, understood the principles of good poetry and had developed a critical ear when reading the poems of others, even the most celebrated poets of his day. Two years later, soon after Dodgson had taken up photography as his hobby, he had the opportunity of photographing Tennyson’s niece, Agnes, the daughter of his sister-in-law, Anne Weld n´ee Sellwood (1814–94). The event was summarised in his diary for 18 August 1857: A party came down from the Castle to be photographed, consisting of Mrs. Otter, W. Chaytor, and a Mrs. Weld and her little girl Agnes Grace; the last being the principal object. Mrs. Weld is sister-in-law to Alfred Tennyson (I presume sister of Mrs. Tennyson), and I was much interested in talking about him with one who knew him so well. She told me the Christian names of his two little boys, whose picture Southey sent me the other day; Hallam and Lionel. Also that he wishes much to learn photographing, and that his new poem is coming out shortly. The children are noticed even by strangers for their remarkable beauty. She has a beautiful photograph (unpublished) of Tennyson, but tells me that the one published by Mayall is a bad one. Mr. Weld holds some office in the British Museum. The family seem to be acquainted with most of the literary celebrities of the day. They know also Mr. Palgrave, of Oxford, who has written a volume of poems, chiefly on children. He has addressed one sonnet to the little Agnes Grace. She hardly merits one by actual beauty, though her face is very striking and attractive, and will certainly make a beautiful photograph. I think of sending a print of her, through Mrs. Weld, for Tennyson’s acceptance.3

Mrs Weld was the second daughter of Henry and Sarah Sellwood. Her father was a Horncastle solicitor, originally from Berkshire. In 1842, she married Charles Richard Weld (1813–69), assistant secretary and librarian to the Royal Society.

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Mrs Weld’s older sister, Emily Sellwood, married Alfred Tennyson on 13 June 1850. Her younger sister, Louisa Sellwood (b. 1816), married Alfred Tennyson’s brother Charles on 24 May 1836, but by then, he had changed his name to Turner after succeeding to the property of Samuel Turner of Caistor, his great uncle. Charles Weld published the History of the Royal Society in 1848. This work, in two volumes, was illustrated by Mrs Weld. Agnes Grace appears to have been their only child. The Tennysons had two sons: Hallam (1852–1928) and Lionel (1854–86). Dodgson met the family about a month after the meeting with the Welds. On 31 August 1857, Dodgson wrote: I have sent Mrs. Weld copies of the pictures for herself and for Mr. A Tennyson; I have heard from her in return, but have had no intimation of his having received his. I bought Palgrave’s poems in order to copy his sonnet into the Album. I find that one of his names is Turner (the name of Tennyson’s brother), so that probably he is some relation to the family.4

Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–97) wrote Idylls and Songs (1854) and edited The Golden Treasury (1861). He became a friend of Alfred Tennyson and although the name ‘Turner’ was common to them through Tennyson’s brother Charles, they had no family connection. On 2 September 1857, Dodgson received some encouraging news from Mrs Weld and noted: ‘Heard [. . . ] that Mr. A Tennyson has received the pictures, and pronounces the portrait “indeed a gem”.’5 Later in the month, during his holiday in the Lake District, Dodgson discovered that the Tennysons were staying at Tent Lodge, Coniston, and he decided to make a call. His diary for 18 September described the outcome: When I had reached [Tent Lodge] I at last made up my mind to take the liberty of calling. Only Mrs. Tennyson was at home, and I sent in my card, adding underneath the name in pencil ‘Artist of Agnes Grace’ and ‘Little Red Riding-hood.’ On the strength of this introduction I was most kindly received, and spent nearly an hour there. I saw also the two children, Hallam and Lionel, 5 and 3 years old, the most beautiful boys of their age I ever saw. I got leave to take portraits of them, in case I take my camera over to Coniston; she even seemed to think it was not hopeless that Tennyson himself might sit, though I said I would not request it, as he must have refused so many that it is unfair to expect it. She also promised that I should have an autograph of the poet’s. Both the children proposed coming with me when I left, how far seemed immaterial to them. I got back to Ambleside about 6, having taken a round and missed the former road altogether. I mark this day with a white stone.6

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Four days later, Dodgson returned to Tent Lodge, and this time, not surprisingly, he came with his photographic equipment. His diary entry for 22 September is one of the longest recorded, indicating his delight at meeting Tennyson for the first time and having the opportunity to converse with a man he greatly admired: Left Ambleside by the 9.15 coach for Coniston, where I arrived a little before 12. Put up at the hotel and walked over to call at Tent Lodge, to ask leave to take the children’s pictures. I asked for Mrs. Tennyson, as I had seen her before, and was shown into the drawing-room. After I had waited some little time the door opened, and a strange shaggy-looking man entered, his hair, moustache, and beard looked wild and neglected; these very much hid the character of the face, and the general effect was something like that of Mr. Abbs of Whitburn. He was dressed in a loosely-fitting morning coat, common grey flannel waistcoat and trousers, and a carelessly tied black silk neckerchief. His hair is black. I think the eyes too; they are keen and restless, nose aquiline, forehead high and broad, both face and head are fine and manly. His manner was kind and friendly from the first. There is a dry lurking humour in his style of talking. I was disappointed to find that they are going away tomorrow morning; however they will be back by Friday night, so I think I may yet manage the photographs. They will not return to Tent Lodge, but to the Marshalls. Mr. Tennyson took me over there to ask leave to take the pictures on their premises, which was readily granted by Mrs. Marshall (Mr. Marshall being from home). We stayed luncheon there and met a son of Mrs. Marshall’s, about 16 years old, a daughter, Julia, about 11; and the son’s tutor. The little girl has a very striking animated face, not unlike Katie Murdoch. On our way there I took the opportunity of asking the meanings of two passages in Tennyson’s poems, which have always puzzled me: one in Maud, [. . . ] two men somewhere Drinking and talking of me; Well, if it prove a girl, my boy Will have plenty, so let it be.

He said it referred to Maud, and to the two fathers arranging a match between himself and her. The other was the poet Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, The love of love.

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He said that he was quite willing it should bear any meaning the words would fairly bear; to the best of his recollection, his meaning when he wrote it was ‘the hate of the quality hate etc.’ but that he thought the meaning of ‘the quintessence of hatred’ finer. He said there had never been a poem so misunderstood by the ‘ninnies of critics’ as Maud. After luncheon Mr. Tennyson returned to the lodge, and I took a walk through Coniston, having first brought my books of photographs to Mrs. Marshall to be looked at. At 6 I went by invitation to dine at Tent Lodge, and spent a most delightful evening. I saw the little boys for a short time; I had met them in a donkey cart near Coniston during my walk. Mrs. Marshall sent over the books in the course of the evening, and Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson admired some of them so much that I have strong hopes of ultimately getting a sitting from the poet, though I have not yet ventured to ask for it. Some of the photographs called out a good deal of fun on Mr. Tennyson’s part. The picture of Skeffington in a fishing costume he said had the expression (stroking down his beard as he spoke), ‘Well! I’ve come down here to catch trout, and if I don’t catch a trout this season, the great business of my life will be gone’ and his half length portrait ‘By Jupiter! all my labour gone for nothing, and not one single trout!’ The first portrait of Mr. Webster was interpreted, ‘Now sir, I am ready to argue the question with you on any point. What is the particular subject you would like to discuss, predestination or what?’ and the second, ‘Well, it may be so, or it may not; there are differences of opinion.’ He remarked on the similarity of the monkey’s skull to the human, that a young monkey’s skull is quite human in shape, and gradually alters, the analogy being borne out by the human skull being at first more like the statues of the gods, and gradually degenerating into human; and then turning to Mrs. Tennyson ‘there, that’s the second original remark I’ve made this evening!’ We talked a good deal of Ruskin, whom he seemed to have a profound contempt for as a critic, though he allowed him to be a most eloquent writer. He said that Ruskin had written to him, asking to make his acquaintance, that he had answered it in a friendly spirit, and that Ruskin had then sent him an impertinent letter, of which he had taken no notice, nor of any letter received from him since. He threw out several hints of his wish to learn photography, but seems to be deterred by a dread of the amount of patience required. I left at what I believed to be a little after 9, but which to my horror I found to be at least 11, having had a most interesting and delightful evening. The hotel was shut up for the night, and I had to wait and ring a long while at the door. Dies mirabilis.7

James Garth Marshall (1802–73) was the owner of Headingley House, Leeds, and Monk Coniston Park, Ambleside, the latter built as a modern Gothic mansion on a fine elevation with extensive views of the surrounding landscape.

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He also owned Tent Lodge, situated about a mile away, which he lent to the Tennysons for their late summer holiday. The Marshall family had acquired wealth in the early nineteenth century from flax spinning and thread manufacture in Leeds and bought land in the Lake District. Marshall married the Hon. Mary Alice Pery Spring Rice, daughter of Thomas Spring Rice, Lord Monteagle, in 1841. He was MP for Leeds from 1847 to 1852 and became High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1860. The Marshalls had four children. The son mentioned here was Victor Alexander Garth Marshall (1841–1928), then attending Rugby School. The daughter in question was Julia Mary Garth Marshall (1845–1907). The two other Marshall children were Constance Eleanor, who had died in 1853, and James Aubrey Garth (1844–73?). Dodgson continued his holiday at Keswick, visiting friends and family, including his great-uncle, Henry Thomas Lutwidge (1780–1861), and great-aunt, Mary Lutwidge n´ee Taylor (d. 1859), who lived at Ambleside. On 28 September 1857, Dodgson returned to Coniston in order to fulfil his ambition of photographing Tennyson and his family, who were now residing with the Marshalls. His diary listed the portraits he took, including Mr and Mrs Tennyson, Hallam and Lionel Tennyson, Mr Marshall, Julia Marshall and various group photographs. Dodgson gave copies of these photographs to the Tennysons and included prints in his own personal albums. On the facing page of his portrait of Alfred Tennyson, autographed beneath by the poet, Dodgson added this quotation from Tennyson’s ‘The Poet’ (written in 1829): The poet in a golden clime was born, With golden stars above; Dower’d with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, The love of love.

But clearly, Tennyson – or more likely his wife – did not like this image. It shows Tennyson in profile seated on a chair in dishevelled attire wearing his hat. On 3 December, Dodgson noted in his diary: ‘Yesterday I heard from Mrs. Tennyson, telling me that she has sent me a copy of Mayall’s photograph of the poet, and begging me to destroy her picture, and all of his except those for myself, the Croft Album, and Southey.’8 There are no surviving images of Emily Tennyson taken by Dodgson. The three ‘spared’ images of Alfred Tennyson still survive: one in Dodgson’s album labelled [A].I one in the Dodgson family album and one in Southey’s album (all now at Princeton). Dodgson tended to make

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several copies of his photographs, which he gave away to friends and relatives or included in his albums, which he made available to friends and colleagues to view. On this occasion, he complied with Mrs Tennyson’s wishes. The compensation image by John Edwin Mayall (1810–1901) appears to have survived in Dodgson’s album [A].X. He used this album to mount pictures by other photographers (now at Texas); these pictures are sometimes incorrectly attributed to Dodgson. Dodgson’s diaries from 18 April 1858 to 8 May 1862 are missing. Fortunately, we have some idea of Dodgson’s activities during these ‘missing years’. The Tennysons’ home was Farringford at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, where they settled in 1853. Emily Tennyson kept a diary and The Farringford Journal of Emily Tennyson 1853–1864 published extracts that record Dodgson’s visits. For example, during the Easter vacation in 1859, Dodgson paid a visit to the Isle of Wight, residing at Plumbley’s Hotel, Freshwater, and he made a house call on 8 April. Emily Tennyson recorded: Mr. Dodgson comes in the morning and to tea in the evening. [. . . ] Sir John Simeon and Mr. Dodgson dine with us and Mr. Dodgson shows his photographs.9

This is followed by a second visit a few days later on 13 April but this time recorded by Dodgson and quoted by Collingwood (1898). Collingwood had access to all thirteen volumes of Dodgson’s diaries before four volumes went missing and this is from one of the missing volumes: After dinner we retired for about an hour to the smoking-room, where I saw the proof-sheets of the ‘King’s Idylls,’ but he would not let me read them. He walked through the garden with me when I left, and made me remark an effect produced on the thin white clouds by the moon shining through, which I had not noticed – a ring of golden light at some distance off the moon, with an interval of white between – this, he says, he has alluded to in one of his early poems (‘Margaret,’ vol. i.), ‘the tender amber.’ I asked his opinion of Sydney Dobell – he agrees with me in liking ‘Grass from the Battlefield,’ and thinks him a writer of genius and imagination, but extravagant.10

A more detailed account of Dodgson’s visit is reported in a letter to his cousin, William Wilcox, dated 11 May 1859: My dear William,

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I have had it in my head for some time back to write you an account of my visit to the Isle of Wight, only I doubted if there was enough to tell to make it worth while – now however that you yourself ask for it, you must be thankful for what you get, interesting or not – truly bis dat qui cito dat. (I trust there is some latent appropriateness in the quotation.) Wilfred must have basely misrepresented me if he said that I followed the Laureate down to his retreat, as I went, not knowing that he was there, to stay with an old College friend at Freshwater. Being there, I had the inalienable right of a freeborn Briton to make a morning call, which I did, in spite of my friend Collyns having assured me that the Tennysons had not yet arrived. There was a man painting the garden railing when I walked up to the house, of whom I asked if Mr. Tennyson were at home, fully expecting the answer no, so that it was an agreeable surprise when he said ‘he’s there, sir’ and pointed him out, and behold! he was not many yards off, mowing his lawn in a wide-awake and spectacles. I had to introduce myself, as he is too short-sighted to recognise people, and when he had finished the bit of mowing he was at, he took me into the house to see Mrs. Tennyson, who, I was very sorry to find, had been very ill, and was then suffering from almost total sleeplessness. She was lying on the sofa, looking rather worn and haggard, so that I stayed a very few minutes. She asked me to come to dinner that evening to meet a Mr. Warburton (brother of the Crescent and the Cross), but her husband revoked the invitation before I left, as he said he wished her to be as little excited as possible that evening, and begged I would drop in for tea that evening and dine with them the next day. He took me over the house to see the pictures, etc. (among which my photographs of the family were hung ‘on the line,’ framed in those enamel – what do you call them – cartons?). The view from the garret windows he considers one of the finest in the island, and showed me a picture which his friend Richard Doyle had painted of it for him, also his little smoking-room at the top of the house, where of course he offered me a pipe, also the nursery, where we found the beautiful little Hallam (his son) who remembered me more readily than his father had done. I went in the evening, and found Mr. Warburton an agreeable man, with rather a shy, nervous manner: he is a clergyman, and inspector of schools in that neighbourhood. We got on the subject of clerical duty in the evening, and Tennyson said he thought clergymen as a body didn’t do half the good they might if they were less stuck-up, and showed a little more sympathy with their people. ‘What they want,’ he said, ‘is force and geniality – geniality without force will of course do no good, but force without geniality will do very little’ – all very sound theology to my thinking. This was up in the little smoking-room, to which we had adjourned after tea, and where we had about 2 hours’ very interesting talk. The proof-sheets of ‘The King’s Idyls’ were lying about, but he would not let me look at them. I looked with some curiosity to see what sort of books occupied the lowest of the swinging bookshelves, most handy to his writing-table: they were all

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without exception Greek or Latin – Homer, Aeschylus, Horace, Lucretius, Virgil, etc. It was a fine moonlight night, and he walked through the garden with me when I left, and pointed out an effect of the moon shining through thin white cloud which I had never noticed before – a sort of golden ring, not close round its edge like a halo, but at some distance off. I believe sailors consider it a sign of bad weather. He said he had often noticed it, and had alluded to it in one of his early poems: you will find it in ‘Margaret.’ The next day I went to dinner, and met Sir John Simeon, who has an estate some miles off there, an old Christ Church man, who has turned Roman Catholic since. He is one of the pleasantest men I ever met, and you may imagine that the evening was a delightful one: I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the concluding 2 hours in the smoking-room. I took over my books of photographs, but Mrs. Tennyson was too tired to look at them that evening, and I settled to leave them and come for them next morning, when I could see more of the children, who had only appeared for a few minutes during dinner. Tennyson told us that often on going to bed after being engaged on composition, he had dreamed long passages of poetry (‘you, I suppose;’ turning to me, ‘dream photographs’) which he liked very much at the time, but forgot entirely when he woke. One was an enormously long one on fairies, where the lines from being very long at first, gradually got shorter and shorter, till it ended with 50 or 60 lines of 2 syllables each! The only bit he ever remembered enough to write down was one he dreamed at 10 years old, which you may like to possess as a genuine unpublished fragment of the Laureate, though I think you will agree with me that it gives very little indication of his future poetic powers – May a cock-sparrow Write to a barrow? I hope you’ll excuse My infantine muse. Up in the smoking-room the conversation turned upon murders, and Tennyson told us several horrible stories from his own experience: he seems rather to revel in such descriptions – one would not guess it from his poetry. Sir John kindly offered me a lift in his carriage back to the hotel, and as we were standing at the door before getting in, he said, ‘you don’t object to a cigar in the carriage, do you?’ On which Tennyson growled out, ‘he didn’t object to two pipes in that little den upstairs, and a feebliori he’s no business to object to one cigar in a carriage.’ And so ended one of the most delightful evenings I have spent for many a long day. I lunched with them the next day, but saw very little of Tennyson himself, and afterwards showed the photographs to Mrs. T. and the children, not omitting

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to get Hallam’s autograph, in a large bold text-hand, under his portrait. The children insisted on reading out the poetry opposite to the pictures, and when they came to their father’s portrait (which has for a motto ‘The Poet in a golden clime was born,’ etc.), Lionel puzzled over it for a moment, and then began boldly ‘The Pope – ’! on which Mrs. Tennyson began laughing, and Tennyson growled out from the other side of the table ‘Hollo! what’s that about the Pope?’ but no one ventured to explain the allusion. I asked Mrs. Tennyson for an explanation of ‘The Lady of Shalott,’ which has been so variously interpreted. She said that the original legend is in Italian, and that Tennyson only gave it as he found it, so that it is hardly fair to expect him to furnish an interpretation as well. By-the-bye do you think that those lines in The Times, called ‘The War,’ and signed ‘T,’ are Tennyson’s? I have made a bet with a friend here that they are not, and am going to try and find out: many people seem to think they are. Well! you ought to be very much obliged to me for writing so long a letter (and I hate letter-writing as a general rule), and I am going to conclude it with rather an odd request. I have been thinking of writing an account of my Tennyson visit to Menella Smedley. Now it will probably be long before I get time for it, and the letter would be in substance much the same as this. Would you mind forwarding this for her perusal, as she is my only other appreciative correspondent. It is of course less compliment to her than writing direct, and possibly she may not feel at all grateful for it, but it is better than none. So no more at present from Your faithful Cousin, Charles L. Dodgson P.S. 5 minutes to 3 A.M.! This comes of beginning letter-writing at night.11

Dodgson followed up his visit to Farringford with a letter to Emily Tennyson dated 4 June 1859: Dear Mrs. Tennyson, I am thinking of sending a print of my photograph of Hallam (and possibly one of the group of him and Lionel) to be coloured by the artist whose handiwork you saw a specimen of in the ‘Beggar-child.’ As I cannot trust my memory sufficiently to name the exact colour of their hair and eyes, would you kindly give me that information when you happen to have time to write? either matching the hair on paper or sending a sample. In either case I suppose the artist ought to make it a shade lighter, to allow for the time elapsed since the pictures were taken. The name of the colour of the eyes would be enough. I hope you will not consider it impertinent curiosity if I ask whether those verses in The Times, ‘Riflemen, Form,’ were by Mr. Tennyson. Some say they were;

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others, not. I was at Mr. Rossetti’s studio the other day, and saw photographs from the original drawings of St. Cecily and The Lady of Shalott. The difference between them and the woodcuts is certainly very striking. With kindest remembrances to Mr. Tennyson, and of my very pleasant two evenings at Farringford, and love to the children, I remain Very truly yours, Charles L. Dodgson12

At this stage, the acquaintanceship was well established and Dodgson became great friends with the two boys. A few letters written to Hallam have survived, including this one dated 23 January 1862: My dear Hallam, Thank you for your nice little note. I am glad you liked the knife, and I think it a pity you should not be allowed to use it ‘till you are older.’ However, as you are older now, perhaps you have begun to use it by this time: if you were allowed to cut your finger with it, once a week, just a little, you know, till it began to bleed, and a good deep cut every birthday, I should think that would be enough, and it would last a long time so. Only I hope that if Lionel ever wants to have his fingers cut with it, you will be kind to your brother, and hurt him as much as he likes. If you will send me word, some day, when your two birthdays are, perhaps I may send him a birthday present, if I can only find something that will hurt him as much as your knife: perhaps a blister, or a leech, or something of that sort. Give him half my love, and take the rest yourself. Your affectionate friend, Charles L. Dodgson13

Dodgson’s sense of humour has often been misunderstood and some readers do not realise that this letter is characteristic of his teasing and bluffing. He was not a cruel man – quite the reverse. He was a very generous man and frequently sent gifts to his friends, the Tennyson boys being no exception. Lionel received a telescope he particularly wanted and Dodgson noted in his diary on 1 July 1862: ‘Got a letter from Lionel Tennyson, thanking me for the telescope I sent him the other day.’14 The request had probably been made during Dodgson’s visit to Farringford in April 1862. Emily Tennyson recorded in her journal on 14 April: ‘The Henry Taylors & their daughters & Mr. Dodgson here at this time & we see them often.’15 His visit is also recorded in a letter to Dodgson’s sister Mary, dated 19 April:

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My dear Mary, I begin a letter to you tonight, though it cannot go till tomorrow. I have seen hardly anything more of Mr. Tennyson – and daytime does not seem propitious to getting much conversation out of him. Did I mention in my Thursday letter my lunching there on Wednesday? I forget, and so will risk telling old news – after luncheon (the poet only turned up for a minute at the end) I taught the boys ‘elephant-hunters,’ and had some games with them – then told them part of the Irish story (Mr. O’Grady, etc.) but it had to be broken off that they might walk down to Freshwater to meet Mrs. Cameron on her arrival. They insisted on taking me into the house with them to wait, so we finished ‘Mr. O’Grady.’ I only just waited till the Camerons arrived, and having delivered up Hallam and Lionel to their custody, took my departure. (Mrs. Cameron is the lady who gave me that photograph of Tennyson, in return for which I sent her a copy of the Index.) On Thursday I had a long talk on the beach with Mrs. Taylor whom I found there with her youngest child. [. . . ] In the afternoon I was on the beach again, when there came a troop of 5 small soldiers, with banners, and got up in a sort of uniform – the 2 Tennysons, the 2 Camerons, and Harry Taylor – all between 12 and 7 years old. I was just showing Hallam how they ought to represent the battle of Waterloo, when who should lounge down on to the beach but my old brother-tutor Joyce (some of you saw him at Christ Church), who has lately been made vicar of Harrow, I spent the evening with him at his hotel. On Friday Joyce and I went to Freshwater Church, about which I have no remarks to make. The 2 young Tennysons were there, I believe: at least we passed them on our way. A younger brother of Joyce’s arrived, and we all 3 walked to the Needles afterwards. This morning I went down on to the beach, and had an hour with the whole party of Taylors (they seem a very nice family). Mrs. Cameron was there part of the time. [. . . ] After luncheon (not having been invited to that meal) I went to the Tennysons, and got Hallam and Lionel to sign their names in my album. Also I made a bargain with Lionel, that he was to give me some MS of his verses, and I was to send him some of mine. It was a very difficult bargain to make. I almost despaired of it at first, he put in so many conditions. 1st I was to play a game of chess with him – this with much difficulty was reduced to ‘12 moves on each side,’ but this made little difference, as I check-mated him at the 6th move. 2nd he was to be allowed to give me one blow on the head with a mallet (this he at last consented to give up). I forget if there were others, but it ended in my getting the verses, for which I have written out ‘The Lonely Moor’ for him. Here are some of his verses: The Battle of Waterloo I. When shot and shell came pouring in

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From (Qu: On?) the sturdy British Line And captains cantered with a din, And bayonets did shine 2. When shot and shell came pouring in Our brave and noble leader stood firm With the deafening din The French advanced as the slowest worm. 3. When the cannon’s . . . (illegible) roar did cease With the terrible fury and grandeur of the shock The French returned proposing peace And saw the . . . working in their white smock. Second Part. On morning after this There was heard weeping of widows (MS got wrong here) swords Crying ‘he goes to bliss’ There where 1 2 3 4 boards To lay our leader on, Arthur the Duke of Wellington. The victory he has won He the straight path won. Third part. Bury him in silence, silence, silence Bury the warrior in his tomb Bury him in great silence, silence I trust that he goes to bliss. Farewell to him, farewell. And here is one on the Death of the Prince Consort. For the Prince we weep, For he is great and gone: He is gone to sleep, He is great, brave, and one The last look of the Prince has come We are sad without him We are left in sadness and gloom The angel’s overshadowing wing Over the Prince’s tomb, And where it is all gloom.

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I don’t say the verses are anything remarkable in themselves, but I certainly never saw any other child of 8 who could write anything half as good. What do you think of them? The Taylors and Camerons came up to the Tennysons soon after I got there, and there was what they called a ‘review’ of the 5 soldiers, after which I walked down here with the Taylors (the Camerons remained) and with Mr. Jowett – since which time dinner is the only event to record. There are several other people in the coffee-room – one a boy, who has twice been to the window, and brought his father two valuable pieces of intelligence, first that ‘it is awfully fine’ – then that ‘the tide is awfully low.’ Observe the 2 curious facts about the Battle of Waterloo brought forward in Lionel’s verses: that the French proposed peace, and that the Duke was killed, neither of them generally known. I have put off leaving here till Tuesday next. Your very affectionate brother, Charles L. Dodgson16

Sometime in early 1862, Dodgson published An Index to ‘In Memoriam’ using Tennyson’s publisher, Edward Moxon of London, with Tennyson’s personal permission. Although Dodgson edited the booklet and saw the publication through the press, the compilers included some of his sisters. By 9 July, Dodgson was noting that more than 500 copies had been sold. In August 1862, Dodgson acquired an American reprint of some of Tennyson’s early works from John Camden Hotten (1832 – 73), an author and publisher who had premises in Piccadilly, London. Later, Hotten wrote to Dodgson asking him to send the book back as ‘the sale of it is objected to as infringement of copyright’. Dodgson wrote to Tennyson begging ‘permission to keep the book’.17 We do not have Tennyson’s reply, but it was probably a negative response. Dodgson paid another visit to the Isle of Wight in July 1864, staying as usual at Plumbley’s Hotel at Freshwater. On the 27 July, he recorded: Called at Farringford, but found only Mrs. Tennyson, who was very busy letterwriting: the boys were down at a school-feast at Freshwater, to which I betook myself – introduced myself to the rector, Mr. Isaacson, and remained about two hours, looking on, and helping a little in arranging races etc.18

John Frederick Isaacson (1801–86) was rector of Freshwater from 1839 until his death. After a week or two, Dodgson decided to have his camera sent to Farringford (clearly with Tennyson’s permission) so that he could take photographs of

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his more recent acquaintances. He also took some views of the house, the head gardener and some of the servants but no pictures of the Tennyson family. He left Freshwater for London on 19 August. Throughout his friendship with the Tennysons, he had simply been a university lecturer and amateur photographer; his renown as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was still in the future. When the book was published in July 1865, Dodgson sent Mr and Mrs Tennyson a presentation copy. As we have heard, this first edition was never on public sale because of poor printing of the text and illustrations. Dodgson sent the Tennysons a replacement in December 1865 – the second (first published) edition dated 1866 on the title page. The copy was inscribed: ‘A. Tennyson/Mrs. Tennyson with the Author’s kind regards. Dec. 1865’ (now in the Berg Collection). Dodgson wrote to his publisher, Alexander Macmillan, on 27 December 1865, saying: ‘I have sent Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson a 2nd copy of Alice, leaving the other copy to be considered as your present to the boys.’19 This 1865 Alice has not come to light. For the next five years, there was little contact between the Tennysons and Dodgson. The acquaintance was renewed by Dodgson on 3 March 1870, when he wrote to Tennyson with an unfortunate request: Dear Mr. Tennyson, It is so long since I have had any communication with your family that you will have almost forgotten my name by this time, I fear. I write on a matter very similar to what I have written about to you on two previous occasions. My deep admiration for your writings (extending itself to your earlier poems as well) must be my excuse for thus troubling you. There is a certain unpublished poem of yours called ‘The Window’ which it seems was printed for private circulation only. However it has been transcribed, and is probably in many hands in the form of MS. A friend, who had had a MS copy given to him, has in his turn presented me with one. I have not even read it yet, and shall do so with much greater pleasure when I know that you do not object to my possessing it. What I plead for is, first, that you will make me comfortable in possessing this copy by giving your consent to my preserving it – secondly, the further permission to show it to my friends. I can hardly go so far as ask for leave to give away copies of it to friends, though I should esteem such a permission as a great favour. Some while ago, as you may remember, I had a copy lent me of your ‘Lover’s Life,’ and a young lady, a cousin of mine, took a MS copy of it. I wrote to you about it, and in accordance with your wish prevailed on her (very reluctantly, I

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need hardly say) to destroy the MS. I am not aware of any other copies of that poem in circulation – but this seems to me a different case. MS copies of ‘The Window’ are already in circulation, and this fact is unaffected by my possessing, or not possessing, a copy for my own enjoyment. Hoping you will kindly say you do not object to my – first reading – and secondly preserving the MS that has been given me, and with kind remembrances to Mrs. Tennyson and your sons, I remain Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson20

Dodgson’s integrity got the better of him; it would have been better if he had simply kept the manuscript poem and said nothing about it. Instead, he aimed to clear his conscience by asking for Tennyson’s permission to own a pirate copy of an unpublished poem – as a special favour – knowing that Tennyson would be unhappy about the situation. The reply came swiftly from Emily Tennyson: Dear Sir, It is useless troubling Mr. Tennyson with a request which will only revive the annoyance he has already had on the subject and add to it. No doubt ‘The Window’ is circulated by means of the same unscrupulous person whose breach of confidence placed ‘The Lover’s Tale’ in your hands. It would be well that whatever may be done by such people a gentleman should understand that when an author does not give his works to the public he has his own reasons for it. Yours truly, Emily Tennyson21

This rebuff came as a shock to Dodgson and he felt he had been accused of not acting in a gentlemanly way. He wrote directly to Tennyson on 7 March: Dear Mr. Tennyson, Understanding the letter I received this morning as coming really from yourself, though written by Mrs. Tennyson, I must trouble you with one or two remarks on it. First, let me express my sincere sympathy with you in all the annoyance that has been caused you by the unauthorised circulation of your unpublished poems. Whoever it was that thus wantonly betrayed the confidence you had reposed in him, he has, in my opinion, done a most dishonourable thing.

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Next, as to your conclusion that Mr. Moxon is to blame for this new instance of such circulation – as my silence on this point might be interpreted as assent, let me, in justice to Mr. Moxon, assure you that, so far as I know, he has had nothing to do with it. Lastly, I must in justice to myself call your attention to your concluding sentence. ‘It would be well that, whatever may be done by such people, a gentleman should understand that, when an author does not give his works to the public, he has his own reasons for it.’ This sentence certainly implies, however unintentionally, a belief that I have done something ungentlemanly. Let me then remind you that in all these matters I have been a purely passive agent, and that in all cases I have consulted your wishes and scrupulously followed them. It is by no act of mine that this poem is now in circulation, and that a copy of it has come into my hands. Under these circumstances I may fairly ask you to point out what I have failed to do that the most chivalrous sense of honour could require. I hope I have not written harshly. I have not intended to do so. Feeling as I do, that I have done nothing which could deserve so grave a charge, I would fain hope, and am quite ready to believe, that you had no intention of implying it. With kind regards to Mrs. Tennyson, I remain Sincerely yours, C. L. Dodgson22

This just fanned the flames and made matters worse. Tennyson now thought he was being accused by Dodgson of being dishonourable and discourteous. The response revealed Tennyson’s annoyance and anger: ‘Sir, you are no gentleman.’ ‘Sir, you do me grievous wrong by such words. Prove them, or retract them!’ ‘I reiterate them. Your conduct has been dishonourable.’ ‘It is not so. I offer a full history of my conduct. I charge you with groundless libel: what say you to the charge?’ ‘I once believed even worse of you, but begin to think you may be a gentleman after all.’ ‘These new imputations are as unfounded as the former. Once more, what say you to the charge of groundless libel?’ ‘I absolve you. Say no more.’23

On the back of this note, dated 31 March 1870, Dodgson has replied in an attempt to take the steam out of this dispute: My dear Sir,

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Thus it is, as it seems to me, that you first do a man an injury, and then forgive him – that you first tread on his toes, and then beg him not to cry out! Nevertheless I accept what you say, as being in substance, what it certainly is not in form, a retraction (though without a shadow of apology or expression of regret) of all dishonourable charges against me, and an admission that you had made them on insufficient grounds. Sincerely yours, C. L. Dodgson

The relationship never fully recovered, even though Dodgson sent a presentation copy of Through the Looking-Glass to Tennyson the following year, inscribed ‘Alfred Tennyson with sincere regards from the Author. Christmas 1871’ (now at the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln). In addition, Dodgson noted in a letter to a friend on 22 December 1871: ‘My “peace-offering” to Mr. Tennyson was rewarded by a note of thanks from himself, and I am quite pleased with the result of my experiment.’24 Dodgson wrote again to Tennyson on 19 June 1872 – this time with some advice: Dear Mr. Tennyson, Though it is not much more than a week since I went to Dr Lewin and learnt his system for the cure of stammering, I am already quite convinced of its great value, and that almost any one, with resolution and perseverance, may be entirely cured by it. If Lionel is, as I understand, still suffering, as I have done for most of my life, from that most annoying malady, I do most strongly advise that he should go over to Sheffield and hear Dr Lewin. One lecture will in all probability be all that he will need, and he can then complete the cure for himself. Dr Lewin’s charges vary with the circumstances of the patient: but he never asks more than £20. The system is quite different from that of any other teacher that I have heard of, and is beautifully simple. I shall indeed rejoice if this suggestion should prove of real service to your son. With very kind remembrances to Mrs. Tennyson, I remain Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson25

Dr J. H. Lewin from Virginia was the author of Method of Curing Stammering and Stuttering (Baltimore, 1858 & 1871). Dodgson never found a complete cure and suffered from a speech hesitation all his life. Tennyson sent the following reply on 23 June:

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My dear Sir, I am obliged to you for telling me of Dr Lewin, but as Lionel, who is at present with us, does not seem to care to consult him, and as his stammering is much ameliorated and will possibly pass or nearly pass away with advancing life, I scarce think it worth while to send him to Sheffield. Yours very truly, A. Tennyson26

This appears to be the last communication between the two men; no other letters have surfaced. But Dodgson kept in touch with the two Tennyson boys from time to time. Hallam Tennyson was educated at Marlborough School and Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not take his degree. He left to become his father’s companion and secretary. He was devoted to both his parents. He married Audrey Boyle and they had three sons. Soon after his father’s death, he wrote a biography of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was published by Macmillan in 1897. There is no mention of Dodgson throughout the two volumes. Lionel Tennyson was a very different character. He married Eleanor Locker, a granddaughter of the earl of Elgin. The wedding was a major society event at Westminster Abbey, although the marriage did not turn out to be a happy one. They produced three sons. In October 1885, Lionel and Eleanor went to India at the invitation of Lord Dufferin, the governor general, in the belief that a better knowledge of the country would help Lionel in his post at the India Office in London. While he was in India, he became ill and decided to return to England. His condition deteriorated on the journey back and he died on 20 April 1886. He was buried at sea. On 14 March 1878, Hallam sent the following letter to Dodgson in reply to a letter now missing: Dear Mr. Dodgson, August 6th 1809 is the day and year of my father’s birth. Many thanks for your congratulations on my brother’s marriage. I have many more letters of thanks to write so excuse me. With our kind regards. Yours truly, Hallam Tennyson27

In 1882, Dodgson was considering a version of Shakespeare especially edited to be suitable for girls and he consulted widely about the merits of such a publication and sought assistance from various people to help him produce the plays. One person he sent the following circular letter to was Emily Tennyson:

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May I ask your kind co-operation in a project of mine for editing a selection of the Plays of Shakespeare for the use of girls? What I want done will not, I hope, cost you more than a very small expenditure of time and trouble. The first point to be settled is, what Plays are suitable for such a selection, and in this matter experience is the only trustworthy guide: and my wish is to collect opinions from ladies who, either by recollecting their own reading as girls, or by noticing which Plays prove most interesting to girls, are able to make out a list of the Play which they think should be included. A mere list, arranged in the order usually adopted, will be of service: but one arranged in order of merit, the favourite Play being placed first, will be doubly valuable. If several ladies in a family are willing to help, they can, if they prefer it, draw up one list only, by consultation. Such a list will be very useful: but, if each would draw up an independent list, and complete it before seeing what the others have written, much more evidence, of the kind I desire, would be thus obtained. My hope is to produce a book which any English mother may, without any scruple, put into the hands of her daughters. No edition, that I have yet seen, appears to me to meet this want: I have examined Bowdler’s Chambers’, and Mr. Brandram’s recently published Selected Plays.28

Whether Emily Tennyson responded to this request is not known; no correspondence about it has come to light and Dodgson’s project never got off the ground. But Dodgson maintained an interest in the Tennysons. In a letter dated 9 August 1890 to Robert H. Collins, who as we have seen was comptroller of the Duchess of Albany’s household, he added the following postscript: Any details of your visit to Tennyson, and of his present self and his wife, would deeply interest me. I used to know him and his family, with considerable intimacy. She (then Mrs. Tennyson) was quite delightful: and Lionel was, I think, the loveliest child, boy or girl, that I ever saw.29

Tennyson had been created a baron in 1884, giving Emily the title of Lady Tennyson. Dodgson inscribed a copy of Sylvie and Bruno Concluded to her with these words: ‘Lady Tennyson with the author’s sincere regards. Dec. 27, 1893’ (Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln). Tennyson died on 6 October 1892 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Thomas Gibson Bowles: Editor of Vanity Fair Dodgson first met Thomas Gibson Bowles (1841–1922), the future owner of The Lady magazine, in 1879. He had encountered his work many years before

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that. On 25 June 1864, just a year before Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published, Dodgson saw an amateur production of The Port Admiral: or, The Mysterious Mariner, The Child of Destiny, and The Rightful Heir, a burlesque by Bowles, performed at a bazaar held in the Horticultural Gardens, London, in aid of the female artists at the Kensington Museum. Dodgson had two children with him: Mary and Irene MacDonald, daughters of the writer George MacDonald. In his diary, he does not comment about the performance and may not have known much about the dramatist at that time. On 21 January 1879, Dodgson recorded in his diary: Called on Mr. Bowles, editor of Vanity Fair, and had a very pleasant two hours with him and Mrs. Bowles. The latter sung for me a lovely song by Dibdin (about a ‘ship-carpenter’), the music being most pathetic.30

Charles Dibdin (1745–1814) was an author, theatre manager and composer of sea songs and operas that made him one of the most popular English musicians of the late eighteenth century. Dodgson stayed for lunch before continuing his social engagements in London. Thomas Gibson Bowles was a dramatist, writer, editor and politician – a man of many talents and abilities. He was an authority on international and maritime law and for a time worked in the Inland Revenue Office. He began the society paper Vanity Fair in 1868, which became a very successful publication in the Victorian era. Later, he became conservative MP for King’s Lynn but joined the liberal party in 1906 and eventually became an independent due to Arthur Balfour’s continual indecision about tariff reform. Bowles was a convinced free trader. Bowles married Jessica Evans-Gordon (1852–87), daughter of General Charles Evans-Gordon, on 23 December 1875. They had four children: George (b. 1877), Geoffrey (b. 1879), Sydney (1880–1963) and Dorothy ‘Weenie’ Jessica (1884–1971). A month or so after their first meeting, Bowles travelled to Oxford to meet Dodgson at Christ Church, Oxford. On 3 March 1879, Dodgson entertained Bowles at Christ Church and dined him in Hall. He made arrangements for Bowles to reside overnight and even took his photograph the following morning, although the portrait has not come to light. There was clearly a motive for this meeting at Oxford. Bowles wanted Dodgson to contribute to his society paper Vanity Fair. Up to this time, Dodgson had refused offers to contribute to magazines and newspapers. Editors knew the name ‘Lewis Carroll’ guaranteed increased readership, such was his popularity

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28. Thomas Gibson Bowles from a portrait by T. H. Chartron

as a writer. By this time, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) were bestsellers and the publication of his epic nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876) was revealing another side of his literary talent. He was also a pioneer of what is now known as recreational mathematics – puzzles, games, conundrums, riddles and anything that made people exercise their logical and intellectual capacities in an entertaining manner. He was the inventor of a wide range of such cerebral challenges. Dodgson offered Bowles a regular column in Vanity Fair, using a game he had invented called ‘Doublets’. It was a word game devised some time in 1878, probably to entertain two young friends: Julia and Ethel Arnold. He wrote out the rules for ‘Word-Links’ (his initial title) as a cyclostyled edition in 1878, intended for two players. Gradually, the game developed into one that anyone could play – alone or in competition with others. The essence was to change one word into another by changing one letter at a time – all the intermediate words being found in dictionaries. For example, to make head into tail, the links are head-heal-teal-tell-tall-tail. Dodgson sent his idea to Bowles on 16 March 1879 and his first column – “‘Doublets” – A Verbal Puzzle’ – was published in Vanity Fair on 29 March 1879. Thus began a successful weekly

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column written by Lewis Carroll that lasted for more than two years – the final column dated 9 April 1881. A personal friendship grew between the two men and Dodgson became a regular visitor at the home of the Bowles family, dining with them from time to time. Dodgson had a great interest in the theatre – as long as it was wholesome and nothing profane or irreligious was presented on the stage. Sometime in 1879, he suggested to Bowles that Vanity Fair might produce a daily fly-sheet (which might be called ‘Where shall we go?’ or the ‘Vanity Fair Play-bill,’ or any such name) with a list of all amusements to which ladies might safely be taken, and a warning against objectionable plays. [I feel strongly about plays containing things] contrary to good taste (I don’t mean ‘puritanical taste’; I mean anything which a true lady would dislike to see). [I have] tried several times, and with most marked success, the writing to managers of theatres to complain [. . . and] on one occasion my remonstrance led to the cutting out of a whole scene in a Pantomime.31

The idea did not bear fruit, but it may have suggested to Bowles the notion of founding a magazine specifically for women. Such a publication began to take shape during 1884. In early 1885, The Lady was launched, but Bowles did not take the role of editor, remaining the ‘advising’ proprietor. Dodgson wrote to Bowles on 12 January 1885: Forgive my delay in writing about your newly projected journal which interested me much. A crowd of other matters had put it out of my head. I have such a quantity of irons in the fire that I see little or no chance of being any use to you as a writer; still, if some ‘happy thoughts’ should occur, on a subject germane to your scheme, I will try to set it down for you. Meanwhile I have little to offer you but my best wishes for the success of a project that seems to deserve it so well; and one piece of negative criticism on your advertisement. I would suggest the omission of the dogma, ‘To look beautiful is one of the first duties of a lady,’ which excited the scornful criticism of the first two ladies to whom I showed it. I don’t think ladies care to be told that – at least not publicly. To the newly-married wife you might usefully suggest in some article on ‘The Home,’ that she must make it one of her chief objects to make her husband’s home pleasant and beautiful; and that one chief element in the picture is herself, so that it becomes her duty ‘still to be neat, still to be dressed’ in whatever fashion best becomes the face and figure God has given her. But the maid does not need to be thus counselled; and to the elderly, whose charms are matters of history, such words are a mockery. So I would not put it as an axiom in the forefront of your scheme.

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With very kind remembrances to Mrs. Bowles, and of the sweet ballad she sang for me, I am Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson32

Dodgson was, in most respects, a man of his age – a true Victorian. But he also held advanced views on women, particularly in relation to their education and careers, and even supported the notion of degrees for women. From this letter, we can assume that Bowles invited Dodgson to contribute to the new magazine. Dodgson had many writing projects in hand, not least his last major fantasy fairy story published in two parts – Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893) – and he had no spare time to offer a column, as he had done with Vanity Fair. But he wanted to help promote the magazine if he could. His contribution had to wait for another six years. Another of Dodgson’s publication projects around this time was a facsimile reprint of the original manuscript of Alice written out for Alice Liddell after the tale he told her on the boat trip in 1862. Dodgson borrowed the manuscript from Alice – by now Mrs R. Hargreaves – in March 1885 and arranged for a photo-zincographer to copy every page. The man employed, a Mr Noad, turned out to be unreliable and he failed to deliver all the zincographs he had made. Every attempt to trace him failed. In desperation, Dodgson wrote to Bowles on 3 June 1886: I wonder if you can help me in this matter? A photographer has been doing some work for me, for a facsimile book I am bringing out. He has delivered most of the negatives, but has now disappeared, and has about a dozen of them yet to deliver. My idea is, as he is a very poor man, he is hiding from his creditors. I want to get hold of him, and get those negatives (there are difficulties in doing others instead) and learn about some other work he has done for me; and for this I want the help of a respectable amateur detective (not one of those scoundrels who will do anything for money, but one it will be pleasant to deal with) who would for his expenses and a moderate fee (I can’t spend much on this business) trace out the man and get answers to questions I would supply him with. Very truly yours, C. L. Dodgson33

It is not clear whether Bowles supplied the name of a private detective, but Dodgson eventually located James Noad with the help of a solicitor. But he

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was forced to take the man to court, and although Mr Noad did not attend the hearing, the missing zinc blocks were retrieved. Dodgson’s first meeting with the Bowles family came in June 1891. At this time, Dodgson generally turned down invitations – for reasons he explained in a letter to Bowles dated 7 May 1891: To return to the invitation, I feel it is a little curt to simply say ‘I ca’n’t come,’ without giving any reason. Yet it is rather hard to select one, out of several, that admits of easy explanation. This perhaps is the easiest: I have for some years practically retired from Society, and have found it a very great relief, in view of the quantity of brain-work I yet wish to do, and the (probably) few years of full brain-power left. I decline all invitations to dinner etc. Were I to accept one, I could hardly decline others: and, though I haven’t yet quite got to that point as to visits, yet there are many such invitations yet waiting, and have been so for years: and these would have a prior claim. I’ve made but a poor job of explaining it! But I keep postponing them all: visits use up a great deal of vital force. Are you still interested in The Lady, about which you wrote to me, March 1887, asking for help in the ‘Children’s Corner’?34

On this occasion, the invitation was accepted, but just before the visit took place, he discovered that Bowles had children and he wrote the following characteristic letter to the oldest daughter, Sydney, then aged 11: Ch. Ch. Oxford, May 22, 1891 My dear Sydney, I am so sorry, and so ashamed! Do you know, I didn’t even know of your existence. And it was such a surprise to hear that you had sent me your love! It felt just as if Nobody had suddenly run into the room, and had given me a kiss! (That’s a thing that happens to me, most days, just now.) If only I had known you were existing, I would have sent you heaps of love, long ago. And now I come to think about it, I ought to have sent you the love, without being so particular about whether you existed or not. In some ways, you know, people, that don’t exist, are much nicer than people that do. For instance, people that don’t exist are never cross: and they never contradict you: and they never tread on your toes! Oh, they’re ever so much nicer than people that do exist! However, never mind: you ca’n’t help existing, you know; and I daresay you’re just as nice as if you didn’t. Which of my books shall I give you, now that I know you’re a real child? Would you like Alice in Wonderland? Or Alice Under Ground? (That’s the book just as I first wrote it, with my own pictures).

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Please give my love, and a kiss, to Weenie and Vera, and yourself (don’t forget the kiss to yourself, please: on the forehead is the best place). Your affectionate friend, Lewis Carroll35

Sydney chose Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and Dodgson sent her a copy inscribed ‘Sydney Bowles, from the Author, May 25, 1891’ bound in white cloth. Dodgson met the Bowles family at Wilbury Park, Salisbury, a large and beautiful Palladian house – the home they shared with Sir Henry and Lady Malet. On 11 June 1891, Dodgson noted in his diary: At the station I was met by Mr. Bowles, riding, and the three children in a small car [probably a pony and trap], Sydney driving. We had more than three miles’ drive. Sydney is a very sweet-looking child: her pictures, in Mr. Bowles’ book [The Log of the Nereid published in 1889], do not do her justice. Vera [Malet] is pretty, but not so sweet-looking. Weenie looks bright and clever.36

The following day, Dodgson’s entry revealed that ‘my visit was partly a business one, to talk over my new Puzzle “Syzygies” with Mr. Bowles, who thinks of publishing it in The Lady.’37 ‘Syzygies’ was another word puzzle, in which one word is worked into another, with intermediate words using an overlap of letters from the previous and subsequent words. For example, with the overlaps in parenthesis, door-(oor)poorest-(res)-resound-(und)-undo-(ndo)-window. A method of scoring was also invented based on the chain of words produced. Dodgson’s first column appeared on 23 July 1891 and it continued weekly until 2 June 1892 – a total of 42 contributions. To begin with, things did not go exactly to plan, as this letter dated 31 July 1891 from Dodgson to Bowles explains: There is evidently a misunderstanding about sending me the page of ‘The Lady,’ containing ‘Syzygies.’ You began by sending me complete Nos, which were no use to me, and I requested you to send the page only. You appear to have issued the second order without withdrawing the first: in consequence of which I received, this morning, a complete copy of the No. for July 30, directed ‘Rev. C. L. Dodgson, Christ Church, Oxford,’ and also a copy of the page, directed ‘C. L. Dodgson, Esq., 7 Lushington Road, Eastbourne.’ Would you kindly inform your clerk that these 2 persons are one and the same, that the page only is required, and that the

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correct address, till the end of September, is ‘Rev. C. L. Dodgson, 7 Lushington Road, Eastbourne.’ Thank you for adopting my suggestion not to begin the Competition till Aug. 6. I still hope you will adopt my other suggestion, to set two a week, an easy one and a hard one. Considering that it only takes a few minutes to solve one, one a week is a very small allowance. You have not answered my question (asked July 23) as to whether I should send the fresh Syzygies I have done with solutions, or only with scores. I enclose a copy of the Scoring-Paper I have drawn up. The cost of setting-up, and the printing of the set needed for the 1st Competition, I take on myself. If you like the thing, I hope you will order future sets from the printer ‘Mr. G. Sheppard, 1. Walton Crescent, Oxford,’ who will keep it in type. You will see it is framed on the idea of setting 2 a week, but future copies can of course be reduced, if you hold to the plan of setting 1 only. Faithfully yours, C. L. Dodgson38

The correspondence between the two men was not entirely devoted to business matters. In his role as a Member of Parliament, Bowles received other requests and suggestions from Dodgson. In February 1892, Bowles must have been surprised to receive a letter of congratulations on his success at becoming an MP before the election had taken place. However, he was successful by a narrow margin and became MP for King’s Lynn in July 1892. Dodgson’s real intention for writing was to secure Bowles’s support and influence to stop the Salvation Army from making riotous and noisy marches through the streets of Eastbourne – his summer holiday location. Dodgson wrote: These musical processions are not only a great nuisance in themselves but are a means of bringing together a mob of all the worst and noisiest of the roughs and of producing [. . . ] an awful amount of profane fun. [. . . ] The Salvation Army had the impudence to pose as Christian martyrs, and to talk as if brass bands were an essential element of Christianity.39

Sadly, Bowles, not yet an MP, could do nothing to help Dodgson in his campaign. Dodgson remained in contact with Bowles for the rest of his life. Just a few months before Dodgson’s death, Bowles came up to Oxford and stayed at Christ Church for two nights. The purpose of the visit was recorded in Dodgson’s diary. On 26 October 1897, he wrote that Bowles ‘wants to send his son George

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to Ch. Ch. We called on Professor Burrows, and had tea with him – the two old sailors took much to each other’.40 Tea was taken with Montagu Burrows (1818–1905), professor of modern history at Oxford and formerly commander in the Royal Navy. On the following day, the dean of Christ Church (probably at Dodgson’s instigation) invited Bowles to lunch. However, Bowles’s eldest son did not matriculate at Christ Church but went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became president of the union and editor of The Granta before obtaining an honours degree in history. Dodgson’s role as a magazine columnist is rarely mentioned in biographies and most of his contributions have not been reprinted, even in ‘collected works’.

Richard Morris Hunt: American Architect Dodgson made one trip abroad in his lifetime – a journey through Europe as far east as Russia. He accompanied Henry Parry Liddon, who was on a church mission to forge links between the Church of England and the Russian Orthodox Church. Dodgson went simply as a tourist, and during his time travelling, he kept a detailed account, which is now known as the Russian Journal. This lists the places they visited, the people they met and their adventures on the way. They met many fellow travellers from the United Kingdom and occasionally someone who had travelled an even greater distance. Dodgson met one such person in Moscow. The journal entry for 19 August 1867 reads: While breakfasting in the coffee-room we had some talk with an American who was there with his wife and little boy, and found them very pleasant people. At parting he gave me his card – ‘R. M. Hunt, Membre du Jury International de l’Exposition Universelle de 1867 – Studio B8 51 W. 10th n. New York.’ If I ever visit New York, I may possibly get this mysterious address interpreted.41

A few days later, their paths crossed again. Dodgson recorded on 26 August: At 2 we entered the train for our weary journey to Warsaw, and found ourselves in the same carriage, though not the same compartment, with the Hunts, who were on their way to Berlin, so that our routes were the same to Wilna, which we reached 6 p.m. During the evening we visited each other, and my travelling chess-board proved of service. We had no sleeping accommodation, but as the carriage was nearly empty, we did very well.42

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‘R. M. Hunt’ was an important American architect. His name was Richard Morris Hunt (1827–95), born in Battleboro, Vermont, on 31 October 1827, originating from a wealthy English family. He began his training as an architect in Switzerland. He moved to Paris in 1843 and was the first American architect ´ to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1846. He contributed to the extensions of the Louvre and travelled widely, visiting Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt and various art centres on the continent. He returned to America in 1855 and worked on the extensions to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. In 1860, he married Catherine Howland from Newport, Rhode Island. He had two sons, Richard Howland (1862–1931) and Joseph Howland (1870–1924), both of whom became architects. Richard Morris Hunt founded the first American studio in New York for training young architects (at the address on his calling card). He was one of the organisers of the American Institute of Architects, becoming its president in 1888. His architecture can still be seen in a number of residences, such as those for the Vanderbilts in New York and others in Newport, Rhode Island. He designed and built the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, the US naval observatory in Washington, DC, and the Tribune building in New York, which was one of the first skyscrapers. From Dodgson’s diary, we know Hunt was selected as one of the jury for the Paris International Exhibition in 1867. He was made chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1884. Sadly, Dodgson did not travel to New York to look him up. Nor did he realise, one assumes, that he had met a key figure in the world of American architecture, whose buildings are still admired today.

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INDEX

Italicised page numbers refer to illustrations Abbott’s Hospital, Guildford, 149 Ackerman, Arthur, 111 Acland Henry Wentworth (1815–1900), 162, 176, 283, 284, 305, 318 Sarah n´ee Cotton (1815–78), 176 Acta Mathematica (Zeller, 1887), 124 Adams, Adelaide ‘Addie’ (b. 1871) known as Ada Blanche, 227 Addison Hall, London, 114 ‘Adelaida’ (Matthison & Beethoven), 233 Adelphi Theatre, London, 188, 220, 226 Adventures of Alice (Batey, 1991), 314 Aesop’s Fables (1848), 68 Afterglow in Egypt, The (Holman Hunt), 177 Alcina (Handel), 197 Alexander’s Feast (Handel), 197, 198 Alfreton, Derbyshire, 273 Alice in Wonderland: A Dream Play for Children (Savile Clarke), 213

‘Alice in Wonderland Psychoanalyzed’ (Goldschmidt), 265, 266 Alice in Wonderland Waltzes (Llewellyn), 200 Alice on the Stage, 61, 189–93, 210–14, 257 Alice’s Adventures in Oxford (Batey, 1980), 310 Allies, F., 201 All Souls College, Oxford, 272 All The Year Round, 181 Ambleside, Westmoreland, 336–39 American Institute of Architects, 362 American Notes (Dickens, 1878), 94 Amsterdam University, 143 Andersen, Hans Christian (1805–75), 259 Anderson Sophie n´ee Gengembre (1823–1903), 179, 180, 266 Walter (d. 1886), 179, 180 Anglican Chant Book, The (ed. Monk), 197 Anno Domini (Long), 185, 186 Appleton Company of New York, 78, 79

Arabian Nights (Dalziel), 70 Archbishop of Canterbury, 249 Arga, Madame, 196 Argles, Edith Margaret (1853–1935), 144 Aristotle, 135, 140, 143 Armstrong, Annie E. (1853–1918?), 193, 201 Arnold Ethel Margaret (1866–1930), 355 Julia ‘Judy’ Frances (1862–1908), 355 Matthew (1822–88), 133 Thomas (1823–1900), 211 Arnold’s Modern History, 13 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, 177 Art Journal, The, 108, 181 Artistic Joke (Furniss), 101, 104 Ashmolean Society, 48 Association for the Improvement of Geometry Teaching, 125 Athaliah (Handel), 197 Atkinson, Francis Hope (1840–1901), 233, 234 Audran, Edmond (1842–1901), 202 Aunt Judy’s Magazine (ed. Gatty), 200, 268

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Index Austin, Harry, 23 Away With Melancholy (Morton), 206 Awful Rise in Spirits, An (Taylor), 218 Axtell Malcolm, 297 Thomas (1826–1901), 297, 298, 299, 301 Babbage, Charles (1791–1871), 123 Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685–1750), 199 Badcock Edward Baynes (1824–97), 68 Mary Hilton (1860–1949), 68 William (1799–1884), 31 Baird, Dorothy ‘Dolly’ Forster (1875–1933), 210 Balfour, Sophia n´ee Cathcart (1830–1902), 266 Ball, Walter William Rouse (1850–1925), 124 Balliol College, Oxford, 120 Balmoral Castle, 230, 238, 327 Barber Charlotte Lucy n´ee Plume (b. 1849), 148, 256 Mary ‘May’ Lucy (1877–1962), 256 Bard, The (Gray), 197 Barnard, Miss, 95 Barratt and Clay, Messrs., 295 Barry John (1851–1920), 84 Letitia Anna n´ee Mercer (1824–1911), 83, 266 Bartley, William Warren, III, 134, 135 Bateman, Kate (1842–1917), 220 Batey, Mavis n´ee Lever (1921–2013), 310, 314 Baxter Anne (b. 1818), 65 Elizabeth (b. 1828), 63–5, 145

John H. (b. 1813), 63 M. W. H. (b. 1816), 63 Martha (b. 1824), 63 Mary (b. 1821), 65 William (d. 1889), 63 Bayne Mary Anne n´ee Allen (1805–88), 266, 312 Thomas Vere (1829–1908), 29, 233, 275, 312 B. B. (pseudonym), 42 Beale, Tony (d. 2011), 238 Beaumaris, Isle of Anglesey, 8 ‘Beautiful Star’ (Sayles), 199 Bedford, Francis (1816–94), 169 Bedford Street, London, 54 Beethoven, Ludwig von (1770–1827), 198, 233 Bel Demonio: A Love Story (Brougham), 220 Bell Charles Frederic Moberly (1847–1911), 186, 187 Cynthia (1887–1961), 186, 187 Ethel n´ee Chataway (1854–1933), 186, 187 Iris Mary (1883–1968), 186, 187 Bellini, Vincenzo (1806–35), 196, 206 Benet, John, Sir, 41 Berengaria, RMS, 249, 250 Berol Collection, New York University, 238 Beth, Evert (1908–64), 143, 148 Bevers Edmund (1812–80), 284 Edmund Augustine (b. 1850), 284 Bickersteth, Ella Chlora Faithfull n´ee Monier Williams (1859–1954), 165, 255 Bickersteth Montagu Cyril (1858–1936), 268

381 Robert (1816–84), 268 Robert ‘Robin’ (1847–1916), 268 Bigg, Charles (1840–1908), 311 Binsey, Oxfordshire, 237, 245, 293 Bishop, Matilda Ellen (1844–1913), 146 Blakemore, Edith Rose ‘Dolly’ (1872–1947), 266, 269, 280 Blanche see Adams Blondin, Charles (1824–97), 233 Bl¨ucher’s War Song, 197 Blunt, Arthur see Cecil Board of Health, 217, 221, 222 Bodleian Library, Oxford, 231 Book of Games (1852), 86 Boole, George (1815–64), 135, 136 Booth, Hiram Crompton, 16, 170 Booth, John Wilkes (1838–65), 223 Bosanquet, Samuel Courthope (1832–1925), 29, 30 Botanical Gardens, Oxford, 259 Boughton, Mrs., 233 Bovill, William (1814–73), 278 Bowles Dorothy ‘Weenie’ Jessica (1884–1971), 354, 359 Geoffrey (b. 1879), 354 George (b. 1877), 354, 360, 361 Jessica n´ee Evans-Gordon (1852–87), 354, 357 Sydney (1880–1963), 354, 358, 359 Thomas Gibson (1841–1922), 115, 353, 354, 355, 356–61 Bowman Emma ‘Empsie’ or ‘Emsie’ or ‘Emmie’ Holmes (1881–1964), 266

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382 Bowman (cont.) Helen ‘Nellie’ Holmes (1877–1953), 266 Isabella ‘Isa’ (1874–1958), 35, 202, 214, 257, 285, 321 Margaret ‘Maggie’ or ‘Mattie’ Florence Holmes (1879–1947), 266 Box and Cox (Burnand), 188 Boyd, William (1845–1928), 61, 200, 201, 211 Braddon, Mary Elizabeth (1837–1915), 223 Bradshaw’s Railway Guide, 264 Brasenose College, Oxford, 201 Bright, William (1824–1901), 275 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 161 British Institution, 179 British Library, 53, 77, 249 Brooks, Shirley (1816–74), 68 Brooks, Walter Tyrrell (1859–1942), 280, 282, 284 Brough, Lionel (1837–1909), 227 Brough, Robert Barnabas (1828–60), 168 Brougham, John (1810–80), 221 Broughton, Amy, 195 Brown, Katie, 226 Bruce, Robert, General (1813–62), 306–9 Buck, E. T. of Calcutta, 62 Buckingham Palace, 316 Buckland, George (1821–84), 211 Buckstone, John Baldwin (1802–79), 172 Budget of Paradoxes (De Morgan, 1872), 140 Bull Calf and Other Tales, The (Frost, 1892), 96 Burch, Constance Emily n´ee Jeffries (1855–1937), 266

Lewis Carroll Burn, James R. (b. 1839), 78, 93 Burnand, Francis Cowley (1836–1917), 189 Burne-Jones, Edward Coley (1833–98), 45, 90, 176 Burrows, Montagu (1819–1905), 239, 361 Bushey, Hertfordshire, 182 Bute see Crichton-Stuart Cakeless (Jenkins, 1874), 318 Cameron Charles Hay (1849–91), 345, 347 Henry Herschel Hay (1852–1911), 345, 347 Julia Margaret (1815–79), 164, 169, 345 Campbell, Margaret, 164 Cardinal College, 304 Carlo, Phoebe (b. 1874), 213 Carroll Diagrams, 139 Carter, Theophilus (1824–1904), 236 Cayley Arthur (1821–95), 121, 122 Charles Bagot (1823–83), 178 Cecil, Arthur (1843–96), known as Arthur Blunt, 188 Cecil Beatrix Maud (1858–1950), 82, 90 Gwendolen (1860–1945), 82, 90 James Edward Hubert (1861–1947), 82, 90 Robert Arthur Talbot, Lord (1830–1903), 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, 82, 90, 161, 252, 321 Rupert Ernest William (1863–1936), 82, 90 Cellier, Alfred (1844–91), 202 Chamberlain, Thomas (1810–92), 17 Chandler, Henry William (1828–89), 239

Chapel Royal, 197 ‘Charge of the Light Brigade, The’ (Tennyson, 1854), 334 Charlotte Street, Caledonian Road, London, 156 Chataway Annie Gertrude (1866–1951), 170, 172, 260, 261, 262–7 Elizabeth Ann n´ee Drinkwater (1833–93), 260, 262 James (1827–1907), 260 Cherwell, River, 311 ‘Chestnuts, The,’ Guildford, 18, 19 Chichester Infirmary, 288 Children’s Encyclopaedia, The (ed. Arthur Mee), 102 Children’s Play (Munro), 168, 176 Chinese costume, 165 Chosen Five, The (Long), 186 Christ Church, Oxford Allestree Library, 31 Anatomy School, 162 Archdeacon, 33 Bostock Scholarship, 30 Broad Walk, 155, 311 Canterbury Gate, 314 Cathedral, 31, 41, 200, 269, 276, 280, 281, 304, 306, 313 Chaplain’s Quadrangle, 32 Chapter, 29, 31, 32, 34, 117, 253, 294 Cloister Staircase, 28, 32, 33 Collections, 29, 306 College, 4, 8, 15, 28, 36, 38, 64, 95, 134, 154, 156, 167, 176, 179, 180, 184, 188, 196, 239, 262, 269, 275–7, 282, 292, 305, 354, 359, 360 Common Room (Senior), 31, 37, 38, 64, 266, 276, 285, 286, 293–301, 312

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Index Dean, 31, 117, 162, 235, 243, 253, 283, 294, 307, 361 Deanery, 157, 161, 197–9, 233, 235, 237, 239, 243, 244, 246–8, 303–9, 311–14, 318 Fell’s Buildings, 32 Finals, 29, 30, 42, 43 Garden Staircase, 32 Governing Body, 38, 126, 293, 294, 298, 301 Great Quadrangle see Tom Quad Hall, 236, 266, 276, 296, 300, 304, 306, 307, 312, 354 Junior Common Room, 32, 35 Law Library, 276 Library, 32, 183, 221, 306 Meadow Buildings, 32 Moderations, 29, 44 Old Library, 32 Peckwater Quad, 28, 32, 33 Reform, 34, 237 Servants’ Services, 281 Studentship, 29, 30, 253, 277 Sublibrarian, 30, 292 Tom Quad, 34, 35, 165, 246, 275, 276, 297, 300, 305, 318 Visitor, 304, 305 Wine Committee and Cellars, 286, 293–301 Wolsey’s Kitchen, 32 Christ Church Rooftop Photographic Studio, 165 Cimabue’s Madonna (Leighton), 305 Civil Service Rifle Volunteers, 241 Claremont, Surrey, 326, 328 Clarke Charles (pseud. Max Adeler), 94 William J., 94 Claudius (steamship), 289–92

Clay, Richard (1790–1878), 55, 64, 84, 145 Cleaton, John Davies (1825–1901), 282 Clerke, Charles Carr (1798–1877), 34 Clifton, Robert Bellamy (1836–1921), 48, 239 Clifton College, 125 Clipstone Street Art Society, London, 67 Coe, Thomas (1822–86), 210 Cohen, Morton N., 162 Cole, William Cole, 45 Coleman, William Stephen (1829–1904), 172 Collingwood Bertram James (1871–1934) – nephew, 287 Charles Edward Stuart (1831–98) – brotherin-law, 279 Mary Charlotte n´ee Dodgson (1835–1911) – sister, 1, 2, 17, 21, 42, 179, 180, 287, 344, 345 Stuart Dodgson (1870–1937) – nephew, 35, 84, 85, 182, 234, 263, 265, 279, 324, 340 Collins, Robert Hawthorn (1841–1908), 239, 317, 318, 327, 329, 353 Collyns, Henry Martyn (1833–62), 268, 341 Colnaghi, Messrs., 168 Coln St Dennis, Gloucestershire, 41 Columbia University, New York, 249, 250 Combe Martha Howell n´ee Bennett (1806–93), 51 Thomas (1797–1872), 47, 51, 54, 72, 74, 236 Commemoration, Oxford University, 197, 233, 240 Commission in Lunacy, 19, 277, 282

383 Comyns Carr, Arthur Strettell (1882–1965), 269 Confessions of a Caricaturist, The (Furniss), 101, 109 Conflict of Studies and Other Essays on Subjects Connected With Education (Todhunter, 1873), 132, 133 Congregation, Oxford University, 44 Connell James (b. 1825), 65 Susan n´ee Baxter (b. 1826), 65 Conyngham Blanche (b. 1856), 170 George Henry (1825–82), Earl of Mount Charles, 170 Cooke, Grattan (1808–89), 201 Coote Caroline (b. 1836), 266 Caroline ‘Carrie’ Eva (1870–1907), 226, 227, 266 Lizzie (1862–86), 226, 227, 266 Corfe, Charles William (1814–83), 198 Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 84 Corsica (steamship), 288, 289 Cotsen Collection, Princeton, 155 Cotton, George Edward Lynch (1789–1879), 27 Court of Common Pleas, 277 Covent Garden Opera House, 196 Cox and Box (Burnand & Sullivan), 189 Craig (children of Ellen Terry) Edith ‘Edie’ (1869–1947) also known as Edith Wardell, 208, 227 Edward Gordon (1872–1966), 208, 227

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384 Craik Dinah Maria n´ee Mulock (1826–87), 45 George Lillie (1837–1905), 93 Crichton-Stuart, John Patrick (1847–1900), 3rd Marquess of Bute, 34, 35 Crimean War, 117 Critchett, George (1817–82), 18, 19 Croesus (steamship), 290–2 Croft-on-Tees, Yorkshire, 8, 12, 14, 23, 25, 28, 155, 173, 205 Cuffnells, Lyndhurst, New Forest, 248 Cunnynghame, Margaret ‘Maggie’ Symers (1855–1931), 315, 316 Cyrus (steamship), 290–2 Daily News, 217 Dalton, James (1764–1843), 8 Daly, Augustin (1838–99), 220 Dalziel Edward (1817–1905), 70, 75, 77, 85, 87, 103 George (1817–1902), 70, 75, 77, 81, 83, 85, 87, 103 John (1822–69), 75 Margaret (1819–94), 75 Thomas (1832–1906), 75 Dante and Beatrice (Holiday), 93 Daresbury, Cheshire, 1, 4, 8, 11, 12, 23, 29, 41 Darvall, Henry (fl. 1848–89), 180 Darwin, Charles (1809–82), 161, 164 Darwin Archive, Cambridge, 164 Dasent George William Manuel (1849–72), 275, 276 John Roche (1847–1914), 276

Lewis Carroll Day, Captain, 288 Debenham, Arthur (b. 1846), 166, 170 De Bunsen, Ernest (1819–1903), 197, 198 De Hoghton Adam (fl. 1100), 316 Adam (1310–86), 316 Charles (1643–1710), 4th Baron, 4, 317 Gilbert (d. 1647), 2nd Baron, 316 Henry (d. 1479), 316 Lucy (1694–1780), 317 Mary n´ee Skeffington (1655–1732), 317 Richard (1279–1341), 316 Richard (d. 1422), 316 Richard (d. 1468), 316 Richard (1570–1639), 1st Baron, 316 Richard (d. 1677/8), 3rd Baron, 4, 317 Thomas (d. 1589), 316 William (d. 1501), 316 De La Rue, Messrs., 170 De Morgan Augustus (1806–71), 135, 140, 141, 150 William Frend (1839–1917), 35 Denman Charlotte Edith (1855–84) see Draper Charlotte n´ee Hope (1830–1905), 272 George (1819–96), 272, 273, 274 Grace (1858–1935), 272 Deux Aveugles, Les (Offenbach), 197 Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, 202, 213, 285 Diamond, Hugh Welch (1809–86), 155 Dibdin, Charles (1745–1814), 354 Dickens, Charles (1812–70), 94, 102, 172 Dieudonn´e, Juliette, 295

Differential and Integral Calculus (De Morgan, 1842), 140 Diplock’s Assembly Rooms, Eastbourne, 212 Disraeli, Benjamin (1804–81), 230, 240 Dobell, Sydney (1824–79), 340 Dobson, William Charles Thomas (1817–98), 172 Dodgson Amy Menella (1842– 1922)– cousin see Pollock Caroline Hume (1833–1904) – sister, 1, 2, 21, 211 Charles (1722–96) – great-grandfather, 1, 2, 4 Charles (1769–1803) – grandfather, 1, 2 Charles (1800–68) – father, 1, 2, 4–6, 8–13, 15, 16, 18, 23, 25–9, 34, 40, 54, 62 Charles Hassard Wilfrid (1876–1941) – nephew, 269 Christopher (1696–1750) – great-great-grandfather, 1, 2 Edwin Heron (1846–1918) – brother, 1, 2, 12, 14–16, 18, 21, 54, 55, 119, 176, 279, 311 Elizabeth Lucy (1830–1916) – sister, 1, 2, 11, 15, 21, 232, 233, 334 Frances Jane (1828–1903) – sister, 1, 2, 10, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 232, 279 Frances Jane n´ee Lutwidge (1803–51) – mother, 1, 2, 4, 6–15, 28 Frances Menella “Nella” Jane (1877–1963) – niece, 182 Francis Hume (1834–1917) – cousin, 33 Hassard Hume (1803–84) – uncle, 2, 4, 19, 176, 277

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Index Henrietta Harington (1843–1922) – sister, 1, 2, 21, 119, 211 James Hume (1845–1912) – cousin, 268 Louisa Fletcher (1840–1930) – sister, 1, 2, 21, 143, 149, 183 Lucy n´ee Hume (1775–1818) – grandmother, 1, 2, 4 Margaret Anne Ashley (1841–1915) – sister, 1, 2, 19, 21, 199 Mary Charlotte (1835–1911) – sister see Collingwood Mary Frances n´ee Smyth (1748–96) – great grandmother, 1, 2, 4 Skeffington Hume (1836–1919) – brother, 1, 2, 19–21, 33, 338 Violet Eleanor (1878–1966) – niece, 182 Wilfred Longley (1838–1914) – brother, 1, 2, 17, 18, 21, 33, 183, 341 Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge (1832–98); ‘Lewis Carroll’ aptitude in mathematics, 7, 8, 23, 26, 27, 29–31 assisting at church services, 17 birth, 1, 11, 12 death of mother, 15, 28 drawing, 72–4, 105, 107, 182, 183, 187, 188 early education, 6–8 holy orders, 30, 253 illnesses, 13, 14, 16, 278–82, 287 invention of new words, 252 investments, 288–292 lecturer in mathematics, 30–32, 36–38, 44, 117, 118, 155, 167, 253, 292, 305

letter writing and register, 253, 258, 259, 267 logic, 38, 63, 127, 134–51, 256 marionettes, 205 member of jury, 275 musical-boxes, 202 obituary, 49 photography, 34, 35, 45, 111, 153–173, 175, 177, 179, 180, 185, 186, 217–23, 234, 239, 240, 244, 255, 258, 260, 267, 269, 272, 273, 275, 306–11, 313, 318, 333, 335–40, 347, 348, 354 presentation copies of his works, 55, 76, 86, 92, 93, 96, 97, 113, 146, 148, 157, 170, 223, 236–8, 254, 260, 267, 272, 283, 314, 322–4, 329, 348, 351, 353 recreational mathematics, 47, 48, 126, 127, 129–32, 355 relationship with children, 265 religious instruction, 7 school reports, 25–7 sense of humour, 6, 259, 267, 344 short cut methods in mathematics, 124, 125 speech hesitation, 38, 253, 351 storyteller, 42, 252 use of homoeopathic medicine, 286, 287 white stone days, 233, 234, 273, 311, 336 Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge (works) ‘Alice on the Stage’ (1887), 214, 304 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), 34, 38, 42, 49, 51, 54, 57, 58, 61, 62, 64, 67, 70, 72–82, 85, 89, 92, 93,

385 97, 102, 103, 107, 109, 110, 113, 118, 119, 126, 127, 142, 145, 147, 156, 170, 175, 178, 182, 184, 188, 189, 191–4, 199–201, 203, 211–13, 221–3, 231–8, 242, 244–50, 260, 271, 272, 285, 288, 303, 311, 314, 315, 329, 331, 348, 354, 355, 358 Alice’s Adventures under Ground (1862–64, facsimile 1886), 33, 47, 71, 73, 75, 76, 183, 184, 221, 222, 234–7, 247, 249–52, 255, 283, 322, 323, 357, 358 Alice’s Puzzle–Book see Original Games and Puzzles ‘Bruno’s Revenge’ (1867), 268 ‘Children in Theatres’ (1887), 214 ‘Condensation of Determinants’ (1866), 47 Curiosa Mathematica, Part I, A New Theory of Parallels (1888), 124 Curiosa Mathematica, Part II, Pillow Problems (1893), 128 Curiosissima Curatoria (1892), 37 Disputed Point in Logic, A (1894), 127 Doublets (1879), 355 ‘Dreamland’ (1882), 201, 202 Dynamics of a Particle (1865), 126 Elementary Treatise on Determinants, An (1867), 37, 47, 118, 122, 151, 315 Endowment of the Greek Professorship (1861), 242 Euclid I, II (1882), 128, 129

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386 Dodgson, Charles (cont.) Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), 37, 59, 60, 125, 126, 132, 133, 214 Examination Statute (1864), 46 ‘Feeding the Mind’ (1884), 273 Formulae of Plane Trigonometry (1861), 118 French Alice (1869), 238, 260 Game of Logic, The (1886), 63, 64, 134, 142, 144–7, 150 Genealogical Method, 147, 148 German Alice (1869), 238, 260, 314 ‘Hiawatha’s Photographing’ (1857), 159, 160 Hunting of the Snark, The (1876), 36, 91–3, 97, 170, 238, 260, 262, 277, 320, 355 Index to ‘In Memoriam,’ An (1862), 345, 347 Italian Alice (1872), 260 ‘Lady of the Ladle, The’ (1854), 42 Ligniad, The (1853), 28 ‘Logical Paradox, A’ (1894), 140 Mischmasch (magazine, 1855–62), 169 Mischmasch (game, 1881), 256 ‘Miss Jones’ (1862), 199, 237 ‘Morning Clouds’ (1866), 223–5 Notes by an Oxford Chiel (1865–74), 46, 47, 238 Notes on the First Two Books of Euclid (1860), 118 Nursery ‘Alice,’ The (1889), 86–9, 113, 145, 238, 322–4 Observations on Mr. Sampson’s Proposal (1886), 64

Lewis Carroll Original Games and Puzzles, 86, 114, 125 Phantasmagoria and Other Poems (1869), 36, 56, 94–7, 238, 272 ‘Photographic Exhibition’ (1860), 169 Postscript to Supplement (1884), 64 Principles of Parliamentary Representation, The (1884–5), 37, 64, 126, 151 Proposed Procuratorial Cycle, The (1885), 64 Rectory Magazine, The (1848–50), 14 Remarks on Mr. Sampson’s Proposal (1886), 64 Remarks on Report to Finance Committee (1886), 64 Rhyme? and Reason? (1883), 36, 94–7, 262 Russian Journal (1867), 361 ‘Stage and the Spirit of Reverence, The’ (1888), 214 ‘Stage Children’ (1889), 214 Suggestions as to Election of Proctors (1886), 64 Supplement to Twelve Months in a Curatorship (1884), 64 Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry, A (1860), 118 Sylvie and Bruno (1889), 38, 91, 96, 99, 101–4, 106–8, 110, 256, 262, 268, 280, 283, 329, 357 Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893), 38, 99, 104, 255, 283, 329, 353, 357 Symbolic Logic, Part I (Elementary) (1896), 134, 136–40, 143, 145, 147–51, 315 Symbolic Logic, Part 2 (Advanced), 140, 143, 149, 151

Symbolic Logic, Part 3 (Transcendental), 140, 149, 151 Syzygies (1891), 359, 360 Tangled Tale, A (1885), 97, 98 Three Sunsets and Other Poems (1898), 36, 114, 150, 324 Three Years in a Curatorship by One Whom It Has Tried (1886), 37, 64 Through the Looking-Glass (1871), 8, 54, 55, 58, 67, 74, 77, 79–86, 93, 97, 102, 113, 126, 127, 141, 184, 188, 192–4, 200, 201, 203, 211, 212, 223, 238, 248, 252, 272, 288, 303, 310, 313, 314, 325, 329–31, 351, 355 Tragedy of King John (1855), 205 Twelve Months in a Curatorship by One Who Has Tried It (1884), 37, 63, 295 ‘Upon the Lonely Moor’ (1856), 8 Useful and Instructive Poetry (1845), 183 ‘Victor and Arnion’ (1897), 268 Vision of the Three T’s, The (1873), 200, 238, 318 What the Tortoise Said to Achilles (1894), 127 ‘Where Does the Day Begin?’ (1860), 48 ‘Wilhelm von Schmitz’ (1854), 42 Word–Links (1878), 355 Donizetti, Gaetano (1797–1848), 197 Donkin Alice Jane (1851–1929), 17, 18 William Fishburn (1814–69), 44 Don Pasquale (Donizetti), 197

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Index Doyle, Richard (1824–83), 68, 80, 341 D’Oyly Carte, Richard (1844–1901), 189 Doyne, Robert Walter (1857–1916), 279 Draper Charlotte Edith n´ee Denman (1855–84), 273, 275 Mark Denman (b. 1884), 275 William Henry (1855–1933), 273 Dreaming of Fairy–land (Heaphy), 181 Drinkwater, John Eliott (1762–1844), 131, 132 Drury Emily ‘Emmie’ Henrietta (1864–1930), 256, 316 Isabella ‘Ella’ Maude (1862–84), 256, 316 Mary ‘Minnie’ Frances see Fuller Sophia Louisa n´ee Bousfield (1830–86), 266 Drury Lane Theatre, London, 196, 206 Duckworth Catherine Nicholl Lewis n´ee Prout (1848–1914), 237 Dyce (1840–1928), 241 Elizabeth Forbes n´ee Nicol (d. 1868), 229 Robinson (1794–1875), 229 Robinson (1834–1911), 199, 229, 230, 231–42, 244, 246, 317 William Edward Nicol (1846–1914), 237 Duff Gordon Alexander Cornewall (1811–72), 218 Urania ‘Ranie’ (d. 1877), 218 Du Maurier, George (1834–96), 75, 95, 188 Dyce, William (1806–64), 184

Eakins, Thomas (1844–1916), 96 Eastbourne, 104, 144, 148, 153, 166, 172, 188, 202, 213, 256, 268, 280, 284, 285, 359, 360 Edgeworth’s Early Lessons, 7 Edison, Thomas (1847–1931), 110, 153 Elementary Geometry (Wilson), 125 Elementary Lessons in Logic (Jevons, 1876), 135 Elements, The (Euclid), 37, 123, 126, 135, 214 Elements of Arithmetic (De Morgan, 1830), 140 Elements of Euclid (Todhunter, 1862), 128, 129 Elliston Family, 212 ‘Elms, The’ see ‘Knapdale’ Elsdon, Northumberland, 1 Emery, Winifred (1863–1924), 115 Empirical Logic (Venn, 1889), 136 Eschwege, Kathleen (1867–1934), 267 Essay on Probabilities (De Morgan, 1838), 140 Euclid, 37, 44, 119, 122, 123, 125, 126, 132–6 Euler, Leonhard (1707–83), 136, 138, 139 Europe, 170 Evans, Edward (1826–1905), 87–9 Ewing, Juliana Horatia n´ee Gatty (1841–85), 45 Exeter College, Oxford, 176, 232 Expressions of Emotions, The (Darwin), 164 Ezio (Handel), 197 Fairy-Tales (Gilbert), 81 Faraday, Michael (1791–1867), 161, 173 Farringford, Isle of Wight, 233, 340, 344, 347

387 Farringford Journal of Emily Tennyson 1853–1864, The (Tennyson), 340 Faussett, Robert Godfrey (1827–1908), 29, 117, 275, 297 Feldon, Ellen (b. 1865), 172 Fell, Messrs., 289 Fenton, Roger (1819–69), 169 Figlia di Reggimento, La (Donizetti), 197 First 50 Years of Punch, The (Spielmann), 86 Fitzwilliam, Mr., 298, 299 Flight Into Egypt, The (Long), 186 Flower, Marmaduke (1849–1910), 49 Folk–Lore (Denham, 1858), 97 Ford’s Theatre, Washington, 223 Formal Logic (De Morgan, 1847), 140 For My Grandchildren (Princess Alice, 1966), 324 Formes, Karl Johann (1816–89), 196 Fowler, Thomas (1832–1904), 29, 42 Frege, Gottlob (1848–1925), 135, 141, 143 Fremantle, Stephen James (1845–74), 275, 276 Freshwater, Isle of Wight, 340, 341, 345, 347, 348 Frewin Hall, Oxford, 306–8 Frost Arthur Burdett (1851–1928), 94–9 Emily Louise n´ee Phillips, 96, 97 Fuller Audrey (b. 1885), 256 Herbert Henry (b. 1857), 256 Mary ‘Minnie’ Frances n´ee Drury (1859–1935), 256, 316

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388 Furniss Dorothy (b. 1880), 101 Frank (b. 1879), 101 Harry (1854–1925), 38, 99, 100, 101–10, 114 Marion n´ee Rogers (b. 1853), 101 Gabb, James Percy Alwyne (1853–1934), 284 Gainsborough, Thomas (1727–88), 168 Gainsborough Gallery, Bond Street, London, 102, 104 Gaisford, Thomas (1779–1855), 28, 31, 117, 243, 304, 305 Galitzine, Princess Olga (b. 1861), 170 Gallery of British Artists, London, 175 Gamble Gold (Parry, 1907), 102 Gardner, E. B., Pickard Hall, E., Stacy, J. H., Printers, 64 Garsington, Oxfordshire, 124 Gatty Alfred Scott (1847–1918), 200, 201 Margaret n´ee Scott (1809–73), 200 Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1777–1855), 124 General Fairfax and His Daughter (Heaphy), 180 Gernsheim, Helmut (1913–95), 162, 168 Ghost Road, The (Barker, 1995), 288 Gilbert, William Schwenk (1836–1911), 80, 81, 189, 191, 194, 195, 206, 212 Gilchrist, Constance ‘Connie’ MacDonald (1865–1946), 172 Girl With Lilac (Anderson), 180 Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98), 101, 173

Lewis Carroll Glasgow, 111 Glaucus (steamship), 290 Globe Theatre, London, 214 Godstow, Oxfordshire, 234, 235, 244 Godwin, Edward William (1833–86), 208 Goldschmidt, Anthony M. E., 265, 266 Gondoliers, The (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 136, 287 Goodacre, Selwyn H., 281 Goodeve, Louis Arthur (b. 1841), 311 Gordian Knot, The (Brooks, 1860), 68 Gordon, Osborne (1813–83), 28 Grange School, Sunderland, 216 Grant, Cyril Fletcher (1845–1916), 149 Graphic, The, 217 Gray, Thomas (1716–71), 197 Great Exhibition 1851, London, 154 Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, 89 Greek costume, 165 Greek–English Lexicon (Liddell and Scott), 46, 243 Greek Grammar (Wordsworth), 46 Green, Roger Lancelyn (1918–87), 32 Greger, Max, 295 Grisi, Guilia (1811–69), 196 Grossmith, George (1848–1912), 189, 195 Guardians of the Poor, 240 Guildford, Surrey, 18–21, 36, 134, 144, 149, 260, 264, 279, 282, 284 Hallam, Arthur (1811–33), 333

Hallam’s Constitutional History of England, 13 Hallam’s Introduction to the Literature of Europe, 16 Hallam’s View of the State of Europe, 16 Hall´e, Charles (1819–95), 230 Hall’s Book of British Ballads (1842), 68 Hamilton Alexander (b. 1829), 272 Emma n´ee Pollock, 272 Frederick Alexander Pollock (1852–78), 272 Hammond Typewriter, 256 Handbook of the Literature of C. L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (Williams & Madan, 1931), 330 Handel, George Frederick (1685–1759), 197 Harcourt Aubrey (1852–1904), 239, 318–20 Augustus Vernon (1834–1919), 48, 239 William George G.V. V. (1827–1904), 101 Hardinge, Arthur (1859–99), 60 Hardman, Frances (b. 1866), 36 Hargreaves Alan Knyveton (1881–1915), 248, 252 Alice Pleasance n´ee Liddell (1852–1934), 75, 76, 81, 156, 157, 162, 167, 183, 184, 198, 199, 232–7, 239, 240, 243, 244, 245, 246–52, 304, 308–14, 317–21, 357 Caryl Liddell (1887–1955), 248, 249, 251 Leopold ‘Rex’ Reginald (1883–1916), 240, 248, 252, 321 Reginald Gervis (1852–1926), 240, 248, 252, 321

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Index Harington Alice Margaret (1854–1901), 309 Beatrice Cecilia (1852–1936), 309 Mary n´ee Paul (1815?–86), 266 Harland, Ethel (b. 1880?), 148, 149 Harley Street, London, 156 Harper and Brothers, New York, 94, 96, 99 Harris, Joel Chandler (1845–1908), 96 Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, 172, 223 Hartland Mahon, Frances Mary Margaret n´ee Poole (1918–2011), 365 Harvard University, 78, 238 Hassall, Arthur (1853–1930), 286 Hastings, Sussex, 19, 21, 102, 110, 127 Hastings and St Leonards Chronicle, 19 Hatch Beatrice Sheward (1866–1947), 258 Bessie Cartwright n´ee Thomas (1839–91), 258 Edwin Hatch (1835–89), 258 Ethel Charlotte (1869–1975), 182, 258 Evelyn Maud (1871–1951), 147, 258 Wilfred Stanley (1865–1956), 165 Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, 252, 321 Hawarden see Maude Hawkins, Henry (1817–1907), 278 Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786–1846), 217 Haydon’s Life (Taylor), 217 Hayman, Charles Norton (1852–1908), 284

Haymarket Theatre, London, 220 Headingley House, Leeds, 338 Heaphy Eliza n´ee Bradstreet (1818?–95), 266 Theodosia (1858–1920), 113, 181, 182, 186 Thomas Frank (1813–73), 180, 181 Heatherley, Thomas (1825–1914), 113, 181, 182 Heath’s Book of Beauty, 67 Hebdomadal Council, Oxford University, 44, 46 Hellmers, Augustus, 294 Helmore, Frederick John Ottley (b. 1852), 201 Henry V (Shakespeare), 205 Henry VIII (Shakespeare), 206 Henry Dunbar (Taylor), 223 Herkomer, Hubert von (1849–1914), 182 Hibernian Academy, 99 Higher Algebra (Salmon), 123 Historic and Legendary Ballads and Songs (Thornbury, 1876), 86 History of Determinants (Muir), 122 History of ‘Punch’, The (Spielmann), 68 History of Science Museum, Oxford, 158 History of the Calculus of Variation (Todhunter, 1861), 128 History of the Mathematical Theory of Probability (Todhunter, 1865), 128, 129 History of the Royal Society (Weld, 1848), 336 Hitchings, George Charles Henry (b. 1822), 284 H.M.S. Pinafore (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 ‘Hobgoblin and the Blacksmith, The,’ 252

389 Holbein, Hans, the younger (c.1497–1543), 304 Holiday Catherine ‘Kate’ n´ee Raven (1840–1925), 90 Henry George Alexander (1839–1927), 89–93, 165 Winifred (1865–1949), 90 Holland, Henry Scott (1847–1918), 275, 276 Holman Hunt, William (1827–1910), 90, 161, 168, 177–179, 231 Holmrook Hall, Cumberland, 4 Holy Land, The (Duckworth, 1903), 241 Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, 63 Holywell Green, Oxford, 233 Home From Work (Hughes), 177 Horticultural Gardens, London, 169, 354 Hospitals and Homes for Sick Children, 250, 251 Hotten, John Camden (1832–73), 347 Household Words, 180 Houses of Parliament, 68, 126 Howden, Yorkshire, 17 Howes, Eleanor Winifred ‘Winnie’ (b. 1874), 172 Hughes Agnes (1859–1945), 185 Amy (1857–1915), 185 Arthur (1830–1915), 80, 176, 177, 185, 231 Arthur Foord ‘Totty’ (1856–1934), 185 Tryphena n´ee Foord (b. 1831), 185 Hull, 4, 7, 9, 10, 15 Hull Agnes Georgina (1867–1936), 172, 287 Alice Frances (1863–1952), 172, 201 Eveline ‘Evie’ Isabella (1868–1944), 172 Jessie Madeline (1871–1953), 172

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390 Hume John (1704–82) – great-great-great-uncle, 127 Menella (1805–96) – cousin, 11, 12, 15 Hunt, Gertrude (1859–1928), 166 Hunt Catherine n´ee Howland (1830–1909), 362 Joseph Howland (1870–1924), 362 Richard Howland (1862–1931), 362 Richard Morris (1827–95), 361, 362 Hussey, Elizabeth n´ee Ley (1810–96), 266 Hutchinson, Charles Edward (1855–1926), 201 Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95), 161 Idylls and Songs (Palgrave, 1854), 336 Idylls of the King (Tennyson, 1859), 340, 341 Iffley, Oxfordshire, 233 Il Barbiere de Seviglia (Rossini), 196 Illnesses of Lewis Carroll, The (Goodacre), 281 Illustrated London News, 101, 169 Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 101 ‘Illustrating of Books, The’ (Furniss), 105, 106 Il Trovatore (Verdi), 197 India (State Visit), 238, 239 Indian Institute, Oxford, 255 Ingoldsby Legends, The (Barham), 70 In Memoriam (Tennyson, 1850), 333 Inner Temple, London, 277 International Date Line, 48 Iolanthe (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195

Lewis Carroll Irvine, John William (1836–1906), 197, 198 Irving, Henry (1838–1905), 209, 210 Isaacson, John Frederick (1801–86), 347 Isis (Thames), River, 232, 233, 244, 246, 247 It’s Only Singing (Heaphy), 181 Jackanapes (Ewing, 1883), 45 James I of Scotland, 4 Japanese costume, 165, 166 Jelf, George Edward (1834–1908), 199, 232 Jenkins, John Howe (1854–85?), 318 Jephthah (Handel), 197 Jerrold, Douglas William (1803–57), 68 Jeune, Francis (1806–68), 229 Jevons, William Stanley (1835–82), 135 Jewitt, Thomas Orlando Sheldon (1799–1869), 72 Joel, Elsie, 195 John Halifax, Gentleman (Mulock, 1856), 45 Johnson, Eldridge Reeves (1867–1945), 249 Johnson, William J, (b. 1833), 291, 292 Joshua (Handel), 197 Jowett, Benjamin (1817–93), 241, 347 Joyce Francis Hayward (1829–1906), 345 Herbert (1830–97), 345 Judas Maccabeus (Handel), 197 Judy, 94 Juliet (Munro), 168 Juvenile Sunday Library, The, 7 Keene, Charles (1823–91), 67 Kemble, Frances ‘Fanny’ Anne (1809–93), 205 Kenealy, Edward Vaughan (1819–80), 278 Kennington, Middlesex, 9

Kensington Museum, 113, 169, 354 Kent, William (b. 1820), 166, 172 Keswick, Cumberland, 339 Keynes, John Neville (1852–1949), 147 King Arthur (Dryden & Purcell), 199 Kingsley Charles (1819–75), 62, 188, 230, 240 Henry (1830–76), 235 King’s Lynn, Norfolk, 354, 360 Kish Edward (b. 1868), 291 James (b. 1864), 291 Thomas (b. 1836), 289–291 Kitchin Alexandra ‘Xie’ Rhoda (1864–1925), 90, 165, 166, 310 Alice Maud n´ee Taylor (1844?–1930), 310 Brook Taylor (1869–1940), 165 George Herbert (b. 1865), 165 George William (1827–1912), 46, 90, 165, 310 Hugh Bridges (1867–1945), 165 ‘Knapdale,’ London (formerly ‘The Elms’), 56, 62 Lablache, Luigi (1794–1858), 196 Lady, The, 353, 356, 358, 359 Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, 185 Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 144 Lady With the Lilacs, The (Hughes), 177 Lambeth Palace, London, 163, 180, 185, 272 Lancashire Independent College, 111

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Index Landseer, Edwin Henry (1802–73), 230 Latham, Henry (1829–71), 47, 74 Laws of Thought (Boole, 1854), 136 Leah the Forsaken (Daly), 220 Lear, Edward (1812–88), 75 Leech, John (1817–64), 86 Legros, Alphonse (1837–1911), 178 Leighton, Frederick (1830–96), 162, 305 Lemon, Mark (1809–83), 68 Lesson for Life, A (Taylor), 218 Lewin, J. H., 351, 352 Lewis Arthur James (1844–1924), 207 Elizabeth Murray Kate n´ee Terry (1844–1924), 170, 173, 207, 217, 220–5, 266 Janet Marion (1869–1945), 207 Kate ‘Katie’ (1868–1958), 207 Lucy Maud (1871–1962), 207 Mabel Gwynedd (1872–1957), 207 ‘Lewis Carroll as I Remember Him’ (Standen), 260 Lewis Carroll Handbook, The (ed. Crutch, 1979), 63, 64 Lewis Carroll In His Own Account (Woolf, 2005), 292 Lewis Carroll Picture Book, The (Collingwood, 1899), 35, 234 ‘Lewis Carroll’s Lost Book on Logic’ (Bartley, 1972), 134 Lewis Carroll’s Photographs of Nude Children (Cohen, 1978), 162 Lewis Carroll’s Songs (Syndicat du Wonderland), 199 Lewis Carroll’s Symbolic Logic (Bartley, 1977), 134

Ley, Jacob (1803–81), 28 Liddell Albert Edward Arthur (b. & d. 1863), 243 Alice Pleasance see Hargreaves Edith Mary (1854–76), 156, 157, 184, 199, 232–7, 239, 240, 243–248, 250, 304, 306, 308–14, 318, 320 Edward Henry ‘Harry’ (1847–1911), 243, 244, 267, 268 Frederick Francis (1865–1950), 243 Henry George (1811–98), 31, 34, 46, 72, 117, 162, 176, 230, 243, 246, 275, 283, 284, 293, 305, 318, 319 James Arthur Charles (1850–53), 243 Lionel Charles (1868–1942), 243 Lorina Charlotte see Skene Lorina Hannah n´ee Reeve (1826–1910), 235, 243, 313, 318, 319 Rhoda Caroline Anne (1859–1949), 243, 249, 251, 312, 320 Violet Constance (1864–1927), 243 Liddon, Henry Parry (1829–90), 82, 170, 231, 361 Life and Letters of Alexander Macmillan (Graves, 1910), 53 Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, The (Collingwood, 1898), 35, 182, 263, 265, 324, 340 Light of the World (Holman Hunt), 161 Lika Joko (Furniss), 102 Likeness of Christ, The (Heaphy, 1880), 181

391 Lincoln, Abraham (1809–1865), 223 Lincoln’s Inn, London, 277 Listener, The, 255, 256 Little Holland House, London, 222 Little Minister, The (Barrie), 115 Little Thumb (Andersen), 327 Litton Edith Alice (1849–1919), 259 Edward Arthur (1813–97), 259 Llewellyn, E. C., 200 Lloyd, Catharine (1824–98), 266 Logic of Chance, The (Venn, 1866), 136, 137 London Polytechnic see Royal Polytechnic, London London Society, 101 London University, 217 Long, Edwin Longsden (1829–91), 185, 186 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807–82), 159 Longley, Charles Thomas (1794–1868), 8, 25, 163 Looking–Glass Biscuit Tin, 238, 283, 325, 326 Looking Glass Quadrille, The (Marriott), 200 ‘Lounger’ (pseudonym), 169 L¨owenheim, Leopold (1878–1957), 143 Lowthorpe, Elizabeth Lucy n´ee Raikes (1832–88), 21 Lubbock, John William (1803–65), 131, 132 Lucknow, India, 239 Lurette (Offenbach), 197 Lushington, Franklin (1823–1901), 278 Lushington Road, Eastbourne, 257, 326, 359, 360 Lutwidge Anne Louisa n´ee Raikes (1796–1843) – aunt, 3, 10

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392 Lutwidge (cont.) Charles (1722–84) – great–great–uncle, 3, 4 Charles (1768–1848) – grandfather, 3, 4, 7, 9 Charles Henry (1800–43) – uncle, 3, 10 Charles Robert Fletcher (1835–1907) – cousin, 3, 19 Charlotte Menella (1807–57) – aunt, 3, 9 Elizabeth Anne n´ee Dodgson (1770–1836) – grandmother, 2, 3, 4, 9 Henrietta Mary (1811–72) – aunt, 3, 9, 19 Henry (1724–98) – great grandfather, 3, 4 Henry Thomas (1780–1861) – great uncle, 339 Lucy (1805–80) – aunt, 3, 9, 10, 11–21, 167, 232, 241 Lucy n´ee de Hoghton (1694–1780) – great– great–grandmother, 3, 4 Margaret Anne (1809–69) – aunt, 3, 9 Mary n´ee Taylor (d. 1859) – great aunt, 339 Robert Wilfred Skeffington (1802–73) – uncle, 3, 10, 18, 19, 81, 153–155, 277, 282, 283 Skeffington (1737–1814) – great–great–uncle, 3, 4 Skeffington (d. 1799 or 1801 in infancy) – uncle, 3, 9 Thomas (1670–1745) – great–great–grandfather, 3, 4, 317 Lyceum Theatre, London, 221 Lyndhurst, New Forest, Hampshire, 248, 252 Lytton, Edward Bulwer (1803–73), 17 Macbeth (Shakespeare), 197

Lewis Carroll MacDonald George (1824–1905), 80, 161, 164, 173, 180, 217, 231, 236, 253, 254, 272, 354 Greville Matheson (1856–1944), 254 Irene (1857–1939), 180, 354 Louisa n´ee Powell (1822–1902), 71, 80, 217, 254, 272 Mary Josephine (1853–78), 218, 253, 354 Mace, Frances, 172 Mackenzie, Alexander Campbell (1847–1935), 193, 194, 212 Mackenzie, A. W., 89 Macmillan Alexander (1818–96), 46, 51, 52, 53–64, 72, 74–77, 79–82, 88, 91, 93, 125, 133, 193, 211, 212, 348 Arthur Daniel (1857–77), 52 Caroline n´ee Brimley (d. 1871), 52 Catherine ‘Katie’ C. (b. 1855), 52 Daniel (1813–57), 51, 63 Frances n´ee Orridge (d. 1867), 52 Frederick Orridge (1851–1936), 52, 58, 59, 60, 61 George Augustin (1855–1936), 52, 60–62 Jeanne Barker Emma n´ee Pignatel (1843–96), 53 John Victor (1877–1956), 53 Malcolm Kingsley (1853–89), 52, 56, 60 Margaret ‘Maggie’ (1857–1935), 52 Mary (b. 1875), 53, 57 Maurice Crawford (1853–1936), 52, 62

Olive (1858–1926), 52, 56, 57 William Alexander (1864–67), 52 Macmillan and Company, 47, 51, 52, 58, 60, 62–64, 76, 78, 83, 89, 93, 124, 135, 329 Macmillan Magazine, 54 Madame Favart (Offenbach), 197 Madeira (Island of), 162 Magdalen College, Oxford, 232 Malet Clement Drake Elton (1845–1930), 268 Henry Charles Eden (1835–1904), 3rd Baronet, 359 Laura Jane Campbell n´ee Hamilton (d. 1922), 359 Vera Jean Hamilton (1881–1951), 359 Mallyan’s Spout, near Whitby, Yorkshire, 43 Manchester Exhibition (1857), 168 Manchester School of Art, 111 Maning, A. F., 201 Manning, William Henry (1846–59), 268 Maori costume, 165 Marlborough School, 229, 352 Marriott, C. H. R., 200 Marshall Constance Eleanor (d. 1853), 339 James Aubrey Garth (1844–73), 339 James Garth (1802–73), 337–9 Julia Mary Garth (1845–1907), 337, 339 Mary Alice Pery Spring Rice (1812–75), 337–9 Victor Alexander Ernest Garth (1841–1928), 339 Martin–Harvey, Angelita Helena ‘Nellie’ De Silva

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393

Index n´ee Ferro (1865–1949), 36 Mathematical Recreations and Essays (Rouse Ball, 1892), 124 Maud (Tennyson), 333, 335, 337, 338 Maude Clementina n´ee Elphinstone, Lady Hawarden (1822–65), 164, 169 Cornwallis (1817–1905), 4th Viscount Hawarden, 169 Maurice, Frederick Denison (1805–72), 62 Maxwell, Beatrice Ethel Heron (1855–1939), 322, 323 Maxwell, Herbert Eustace (1845–1937), 119 Mayall, John Jabez Edwin (1810–1901), 335, 339, 340 Mayhew, Horace ‘Ponny’ (1816–72), 85 Mayhew, Margaret (1883–1971), 148 Mayor, Robert Bickersteth (1820–98), 27 Medea: or, The Best of Mothers With a Brute of a Husband (Brough), 168 Mediterranean, 60 Melbourne, Australia, 278 Memoir on the Theory of Matrices (Cayley, 1858), 122 Memories (Redesdale, 1915), 118 Menai Bridge, North Wales, 8 Mendelssohn, Felix (1809–47), 199 Merritt, Paul (d. 1895), 226 Merry Elves: or, Little Adventures in Fairyland (1874), 324 Merton College, Oxford, 176 Messiah (Handel), 197 Method of Curing Stammering and Stuttering (Lewin, 1858 & 1871), 351

Mikado, The (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 Millais, John Everett (1829–96), 75, 161, 179, 184, 221, 305 Miller Edith Mary (1870–1929), 172 Louisa Maria n´ee Smith (1844–1919), 266 Marion ‘May’ Louisa (1868–1946), 172 Mind: A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy, 140 Minnie Morton (Anderson), 179 Mirage of Life, The (1867), 70 Mitford, Algernon Bertram (1837–1916), Baron Redesdale, 118, 119, 197, 198 Mitre, The, Oxford, 33, 282 Monier Williams Ella Chlora Faithfull (1859–1954) see Bickersteth Monier (1819–99), 165, 255 Monk, Edwin George (1819–1900), 197 Monk Coniston Park, Ambleside, 338 ‘Monkey and Weight Problem’, 48 Monthly Packet, The (ed. Yonge), 97 Moore’s Lalla Rookh (1861), 70 Moray Lodge, Campden Hill, London, 207 Morgan Library, New York, 238 Morning Chronicle, 217 Morris, William (1834–96), 45, 176 Morse, Frederick (b. 1851), 240 Morshead, Ernest Garstin Anderson (1851–1912), 279 Morton, John Maddison (1811–91), 206 Moscow, 361

Motet and Madrigal Society, Oxford, 197 Motherwell, William (1797–1835), 56 Motte–Fouqu´e ’s Undine (1845), 68 Mount, Julian, 201 Mount Cemetery, Guildford, 21 Mount Charles see Conyngham Mount Olympus, Greece, 60 Moxon, Edward (1801–58) & Company, 347, 350 Mudd, James (1821–1906), 169 Mulready, William (1786–1863), 168 Munro, Alexander (1825–71), 164, 168, 176, 177, 217, 218 Murdoch Alexander Drimmie (b. 1840), 269 George Cuthbert (b. 1872), 269 Murray, John (1808–92), 46, 68 Musicians Company of London, 241 Music Party, A (Hughes), 185 My First Sermon (Millais), 179 Neate, Sophia (1832–1908), 227 Nelson, Horatio (1758–1805), 4 New College, Oxford, 193 Newgate Prison, 278 New York, 58, 361, 362 Nightingale, The (Goethe & Mendelssohn), 199 Noad, James (b. 1834), 357, 358 Norma (Bellini), 196, 206 Northleach Grammar School, Gloucestershire, 41 Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire, 233, 236 Oberon (Weber), 198

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394 Occasional Sermons (Duckworth, 1913), 241 Offenbach, Jaques (1819–80), 197 Olliffe, F., 201 Olympic Theatre, London, 168, 215, 217, 218, 226, 227 Once a Week, 68 On Probability (Lubbock and Drinkwater, 1830), 131–132 Onslow Square, London, 81 Op´era Comique, London, 189 Order of St John of Jerusalem, 241 Orlando (Handel), 197 Orpheus’ Club, 312 Osborne House, Isle of Wight, 230, 238, 305 Ottewill, Thomas & Company, 156 Ottley Elizabeth n´ee Bickersteth (1817–1902), 25, 266 Lawrence (1808–61), 25 Our American Cousin (Taylor), 223 Our Lady Cinema (Furniss, 1914), 110 Out of the Hurly-Burly (Adeler), 94 Oxford Assizes, 271, 272 Oxford Choral Society, 198, 199, 232 Oxford District Eye Dispensary, 279 Oxford High School for Girls, 146, 148, 149 Oxford Town Hall, 205 Oxford Union, 176 Oxford University Amateur Concert, 233 Oxford University Herald, 275 Oxford University Museum of Natural History, 162, 232, 234 Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 46, 47, 51, 64, 72, 74, 78

Lewis Carroll Paget Francis (1851–1911), 283 James (1814–99), 282, 283 Lydia n´ee North (1815–95), 283 Palgrave, Francis Turner (1824–97), 335 Palmerston, Lord, 305 Parents’ Cabinet, 7 Paris International Exhibition (1867), 202, 362 Parker, James and Company, 64 Parkins & Gotto, London, 16, 17 Parnell Caroline Margaret n´ee Dawson (1822–1912), 163 Charles Stewart (1846–91), 101 Henry William (1809–1896), 3rd Baron Congleton, 163 Victor Alexander Lionel Dawson (1852–1936), 163 Passion (Bach), 200 Patience (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 Patmore Coventry Kersey Dighton (1823–96), 269 Francis Epiphanius ‘Piffie’ (b. 1882?), 269 Paton, Joseph No¨el (1821–1901), 80, 90, 187 Pearson, John Henry (b. 1858), 119 Pearson, Phillippa (Mrs. A. Cyril), 201 Peel, Robert (1788–1850), 8 Pember Edward Henry (1833–1911), 197, 198 Frederick (b. 1838), 198 Pembroke College, Oxford, 30, 39, 41, 49, 306 Penmorfa, Llandudno, North Wales, 46

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 96 Peterborough, Bishop of see Jeune Peterhouse College, Cambridge, 123 Peters Florence Mary, 234 Mary Jane n´ee Levy (b. 1817), 234 Pfungst, Messrs., 295 Phillips, John (1800–74), 239 Photographic Society of London, 155, 168 Picture Testament, The, 7 Pilgrim’s Progress, The, 7 Pirates of Penzance, The (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 Pitt Rivers Collection, Oxford, 165 Plato, 135 Plumbley’s Hotel, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, 340, 347 Poetical Works of William Motherwell, The (1847), 56 Pollen, John Hungerford (1820–1902), 176 Pollock Amy Menella n´ee Dodgson (1842–1922) – cousin, 272, 277 Charles Edward (1823–97), 272, 277 Poole Alice Henrietta (b. 1844), 365 Margaret Frances ‘Meta’ (1842–1907), 365 Port Admiral, The (Bowles), 354 Port Meadow, Oxford, 247 Powell Glass Works, Whitefriars, London, 90 Pre–Raphaelite Movement, 45, 51, 72, 90, 161, 175, 176, 178, 184, 185, 236 Price Amy Eliza n´ee Cole (1835–1909), 45, 165

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Index Bartholomew ‘Bat’ (1818–98), 30, 39, 40–9, 72, 118, 122, 258 Prickett, Mary (1833–1916), 199, 237, 244, 304, 313 Prince of Wales Theatre, London, 213 Princess Alice Memorial Hospital, Eastbourne, 280 Princess’s Theatre, London, 161, 206, 207 Princeton University (Morris L. Parrish Collection), New Jersey, 123, 289, 339 Principia Mathematica (Russell and Whitehead, 1910), 135 Prinsep, Valentine Cameron (1838–1904), 176 Proceedings of the Royal Society (1866), 47 Proctor, Adelaide Anne (1825–65), 188 Professorships Astronomy (Savilian), 44 Mathematics (Sadleirian), 121 Mathematics (Savilian), 120 Medicine (Regius), 283 Natural Philosophy (Sedleian), 30, 43 Pastoral Theology (Regius), 283 Sanskrit (Boden), 165, 255 Prout John William (1817–81), 237 Thomas Jones (1823–1909), 237 Public Teaching of the Regius Professor of Greek, The (Duckworth, 1861), 241 Punch, 38, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 75, 77, 80, 85, 86, 89, 101, 102, 104, 217, 218, 220, 226, 232, 236, 329 Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1800–82), 29

Queen’s College, Oxford, 176 Queen’s University, Cork, Ireland, 136 Queen, The, 260 Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, 280 Radley College, 197 Raikes Alice Theodora (1862–1945) – distant cousin, 81 Elizabeth Frances n´ee Raikes (1798–1883) – aunt, 3, 9, 19–21 Thomas (1790–1866) – uncle, 9, 10 Randall, Thomas (1805–87), 236 Randolph Hotel, Oxford, 18 Ranken, William Henry (1832–1920), 29, 42, 233 Ranke’s History of the Popes, 13 Rankin Flora (b. 1855?), 164 Mary, 164 Reading, Berkshire, 260, 264 Real Alice, The (Clark, 1981), 317 Redesdale see Mitford Regeneration Trilogy, The (Barker, 1991–5), 288 Rejlander, Oscar Gustav (1813–75), 164, 170, 171, 173 Reminiscences of My Life (Holiday, 1914), 90 Rescue, The (Millais), 184, 305 Responsions (Little Go), 118, 119 Retribution (Taylor), 215 Richards Marianne n´ee Robbins (b. 1843), 267 Marion Gertrude (1870–1956), 172 Walter Guyon (1869–1946), 267 Richmond School, Yorkshire, 8, 13, 16, 23–6, 135

395 Ripon, Yorkshire, 6, 16, 25, 68, 155, 163, 170, 217, 268 Rivers Henry Frederick (1830–1911), 287 William ‘Willie’ Halse (1864–1922), 287 Riviere, William (1806–76), 176 Rix, Edith Mary (1866–1918), 143, 172 Robinson, Henry Peach (1830–1901), 164, 168, 169, 172 Robson, Thomas Frederick (1822–64), 168 Roselle, Percy (b. 1856), 224, 225, 268 Rosenbach, Abraham Simon Wolf (1876–1952), 249 Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, 53, 97, 162, 238 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828–82), 75, 161, 164, 169, 176, 177, 178, 344 Rosy Morn (Anderson), 179 Rotherwick, Hampshire, 260, 262, 264 Rousselet, Charles, 296 Routledge Publishers, 47 Rowell, Ethel (1877–1951), 146 Royal Academy, London, 67, 101, 172, 175, 177, 179, 184, 185, 188, 305 Royal Academy Schools, 67, 90 Royal Institution School, Liverpool, 229 Royal Maundy Money, 241 Royal Medical Army Corps, 288 Royal Miniature Society, 115 Royal Opera Company, 196 Royal Polytechnic, London, 61, 211 Royal Society, 41, 47, 122, 128 Royal Society of British Artists, 180, 181

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396 Royalty Albert (1819–61), Prince Consort, 31, 305–7 Albert Edward (1841–1910), Prince of Wales, 238, 239, 241, 248, 282, 305–13, 320, 330 Alexandra Caroline Maria Charlotte Louisa Julia (1844–1925), Princess of Wales, 248, 310–13, 320, 321 Alfred (1844–1900), Prince and Duke of Edinburgh, 306, 307 Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline (1883–1981), Countess of Athlone, 240, 321–9 Alice Maud Mary (1843–78), Princess, 238, 306, 307 Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore (1857–1944), Princess, 314, 330 Christian Frederick William Charles (1843–1912), Crown Prince of Denmark, 310 Elizabeth II, 304, 317 Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes–Lyon (1900–2002), Queen Mother, 115, 317 Helen Frederica Augusta (1861–1922), Duchess of Albany, 240, 242, 266, 317–29 Henry VIII, 304 Leopold Charles Edward George Albert (1884–1954), 2nd Duke of Albany, 321, 322, 324–9 Leopold George Duncan Albert (1853–84), Prince and Duke of Albany, 158, 161, 230, 231, 238–40, 248, 318, 319, 320, 321, 330

Lewis Carroll Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), Princess, 238 Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar (1867–1931), Princess, 320, 321 Victoria (1819–1901), Queen, 31, 49, 230, 238, 240–242, 282, 303–7, 309–12, 314–7, 329, 330 William I, 316 William IV, 304 Royalty Theatre, London, 189 Royal Victorian Order, 241 Rugby School, Warwickshire, 8, 13, 14, 26, 27, 125, 135, 278, 311, 339 Ruskin, John (1819–1900), 91, 107, 175, 176, 181, 183, 236, 239, 244, 338 Russell, Bertrand (1872–1970), 127 Russia, 82, 170, 361 St Aldates, Oxford, 64, 244 St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, 241, 282, 288 St Cecilia (Heaphy), 181 St Clement’s, Oxford, 259 ‘St George and the Dragon’, 165 St Giles, Oxford, 45 St Hugh’s Hall, Oxford, 147 St James’s Gazette, 214, 251 St James’s Hall, London, 188 St James’s Theatre, London, 218 St John’s College, Cambridge, 127, 128, 277 St John’s Hospital, Cowley, 279, 280 St John’s Wood, London, 90, 240 St Margaret, Westminster, 242 St Margaret’s Well, Binsey, 245 St Mark’s, Marylebone, 229, 240, 242 St Mary Hall, Oxford, 258 St Marylebone, London, 240 St Mary Magdalen, Oxford, 17

St Mary’s, Guildford, 20 St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, 287 St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 49, 197 Saint Cecilia (Tenniel), 68 Sainton-Dolby, Charlotte Helen (1821–85), 188 Salisbury, Lord see Cecil Salisbury, Wiltshire, 282, 283 Salisbury Cathedral, 229 ‘Sally Come Up! Sally Go Down!’ (Ramsey & Mackney), 234 Salmon, George (1819–1904), 123 Salter’s Yard, Oxford, 246 Salvation Army, 360 Sambourne, Edward Linley (1845–1910), 94, 95 Sampson, Edward Francis (1848–1918), 48 Sandford Lasher, 275, 276 Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, 233 Sandhurst Rectory, Hawkhurst, Kent, 242 Sandown, Isle of Wight, 166, 172, 260–3 Sant, James (1820–1916), 179, 225 Saul (Handel), 197 Savile Clarke, Henry (1841–93), 212–4 Savoy Theatre, London, 195 Schoolboy’s Punch (Furniss), 99 School Class Books (pub. Macmillan), 136 Schuster family, 148 Scientific American, 134 Scoltock, William (1823–86), 31 Scott, Robert (1811–87), 243 Scribner Publishers, 98, 99 Search for Beauty, The (Long), 186 Selected Plays (Brandram), 353 Selection From the Letters of Lewis Carroll, A (Hatch, 1933), 258, 263

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Index Senior, Jane Elizabeth n´ee Hughes (1828–77), 218 Septet (Beethoven), 198 Serf, The (Taylor), 223 Settling Day (Taylor), 207, 223 Shalford, near Guildford, 149 Shawyer, Enid Gertrude n´ee Stevens (1882–1960), 148, 255, 256 Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing, A (Taylor), 217, 223 Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, 197 Sheppard, G., 360 Sherwood, Arthur Paul (1852–1923), 280 Shuldham, Edward Barton (b. 1838), 286 Shute, Edith Letitia n´ee Hutchinson (1858–1952), 266 Silver and Gold (Hughes), 177 Simeon, John (1815–70), 3rd Baronet, 340, 342 Simpson Elizabeth Frances Ann (b. 1858), 268 John Percy G. (b. 1861), 268 Sinclair Jessie Josephine (1865–1952), 226 Joseph Henry (1829–79), 226 Maria n´ee Moger (d. 1879), 226 Sarah ‘Sallie’ Caroline (1868–1956), 95, 226 ‘Sir Galahad’ (Tennyson), 165 Skene Lorina Charlotte n´ee Liddell (1849–1930), 156, 184, 198, 199, 232–7, 239, 240, 243–248, 250, 251, 301, 304, 308–14, 318, 319 William Baillie (1838–1911), 239, 301, 319 Slade School of Art, London, 113, 182 Slatter, John (1818–99), 16

Slaughter, Walter (1860–1908), 201, 213 Smedley Mary n´ee Hume (1786–1868) – great aunt, 15 Menella Bute (1819–77) – cousin, 16, 343 Smith, Frances E. n´ee Boddington (b. 1835), 266 Smith, Henry John Stephen (1826–83), 120 Snow, Walter Francis (b. 1861), 300 Soci´et´e Math´ematique de France, 47 Some Victorian Men (Furniss, 1924), 106, 107 Songs From ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (Boyd), 200 Songs From ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (Armstrong), 193, 201 Songs From ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ (Boyd), 200 Songs From Wonderland (Pearson), 201 Sorcerer, The (Gilbert & Sullivan), 189, 191 Sotheby’s, London, 249 Southey, Reginald (1835–99), 154, 155–7, 162, 170, 244, 282, 335, 339 South Kensington Museum see Kensington Museum South Sea Islander costume, 165 Southwell, Messrs., 170 Spielmann, Marion Harry (1858–1948), 68, 70, 86 Spirit of Justice, The (Tenniel), 68 Spottiswoode, William Hugh (1825–83), 47, 121, 122, 123 Stained Glass as an Art (Holiday, 1896), 93 Standen, Isabel Julia (1859–1941), 260

397 Stanhope, John Roddam Spencer (1829–1908), 176 Stanley Arthur Penrhyn (1815–81), 230 Augusta Frederica Elizabeth n´ee Bruce (1822–76), 309, 314 Stanwix, Cumberland, 1 Stationers’ Hall, London, 211 Statue of Liberty, 362 Stedman, James Remington (1817–91), 279 Steven, Enid see Shawyer Stockton and Darlington Railway, 173 Stokesley, Yorkshire, 289 Stopford George (b. 1869?), 269 Mabel (b. 1868), 269 Stories From the Scriptures, 7 Story of Lewis Carroll, The (Bowman, 1899), 35, 202 Strand Magazine, The, 258 Streatley, Berkshire, 16 Strong, Thomas Banks (1861–1944), 315 Studies and Exercises in Formal Logic (Keynes, 1884), 147 Stuff and Nonsense (Frost, 1884), 96, 98 Such Is the Law (Taylor & Merritt), 226 Suffolk Street Galleries, London, 67 Sullivan, Arthur Seymour (1842–1900), 188, 189, 190, 191–5, 206, 212 Summerfield School, Oxford, 219 Sunday Times, 214, 215 Sunderland, Northumberland, 288, 289 Supreme Court of Judicature, 277 Surrey County Asylum, 155 Swain, Joseph (1820–1909), 70 Swimming Hole, The (Eakins, 1883–5), 96

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398 Swire Edward, 23 William, 23 Symbolic Logic (Venn, 1881), 136, 139, 142 Symm and Company, Oxford, 297, 300 Tait, Archibald Campbell (1811–82), 13, 27 Tanqueray, Messrs., 294, 295 Tar Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus, The (Harris, 1904), 96 Tartessus (steamship), 288–90 Tate Ann Elizabeth n´ee Simpson (1802–64), 23 Charles Grey (1836–1900), 23 Ellen Wallis (1833–42), 23 James (1801–63), 23, 24, 25, 135 James (1835–97), 23 John Samuel (1839–87), 23 Lucy Hutchinson (1842–73), 23 Thomas Hutchinson (b. 1837), 23 Tate’s First Classical Maps, 24 Taylor Henry (1800–86), 173, 344, 347 Henry ‘Harry’Ashworth (1854–1907), 345, 347 Theodosia Alicia Ellen Frances Charlotte n´ee Spring Rice (1817–91), 344, 345, 347 Una Mary Ashworth (1857–1922), 345 Taylor, Henry Sharp (1817–96), 279 Taylor, James (1833–1900), 193 Taylor John Wycliffe (1859–1925), 217–21 Laura Lucy Arnold (b. 1863), 217, 220, 221

Lewis Carroll Laura Wilson n´ee Barker (1819–1905), 217–19, 225 Thomas (1769–1843), 216 Tom (1817–80), 72, 74, 101, 207, 215, 216, 217–27, 236 Maria Josephina n´ee Arnold (1784–1858), 216 Taylor Gallery, Oxford, 272 Telling, James (b. 1823), 299 Temple Church, London, 197 Tennyson Alfred, Lord (1809–92), 62, 161, 165, 173, 230, 233, 244, 333, 334, 335–3 Audrey n´ee Boyle (1854–1916), 352 Eleanor Mary Bertha n´ee Locker (d. 1915), 352 Emily n´ee Sellwood (1813–96), 333, 335–44, 347–53 George Clayton (1778–1831), 333 Hallam (1852–1928), 267, 335–9, 341–5, 347–9, 352 Lionel (1854–86), 267, 335–9, 342, 345–9, 351–3 Tenniel Eliza Maria (1797–1864), 74 John (1820–1914), 47, 54, 58, 67–8, 69, 70–89, 91, 94, 101, 103, 107, 109, 110, 183, 184, 188, 219–23, 231, 232, 235, 236, 329 John Baptist (1792–1879), 67 Julia n´ee Gianni (1824–56), 68 Lydia Victoire (1824–1911), 74 Tent Lodge, Coniston, Lake District, 336–9

Terry Benjamin (1818–96), 207, 222, 223 Benjamin Henry (b. 1839), 207 Elizabeth Murray Kate see Lewis Ellen Alice (Mrs. Watts) (1847–1928), 161, 170, 173, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 214, 217, 220, 222, 227, 266 Florence ‘Flo’ Maude (1863–96), 218, 224 Marion Bessie ‘Polly’ (1854–1930), 91, 207, 218, 224 Sarah n´ee Ballard (1819–92), 207, 223 Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811–63), 102 Theatre Royal, Brighton, 2013 Theatre, The (ed. Scott), 213, 214, 304, 330 Thierry’s Norman Conquest, 13 Thomas, David (1837–1911), 124 Thomas, Lewis William (b. 1826), 197 Thompson, Henry Lewis (1840–1905), 275 Thomson Alexander (1815–95), 111 Ann Baldwin, 111 Emma J. n´ee East (1819–88), 111 Emma Morell Mackenzie, 111 Emily Gertrude (1850–1929), 86, 104, 105, 111, 112, 113–15, 187 Helen, 111 William (d. young), 111 Thousand and One Gems of English Poetry, A (1872), 86 ‘Three Little Foxes, The’, 252

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399

Index Tichborne Alfred Joseph (1866–1910), 278 Henriette Felicit´e n´ee Seymour (1807–68), 278 James Doughty (1784–1862), 277 Roger (b. 1829), 277 Tichborne Case, 277, 278 Ticket-of-Leave Man (Taylor), 217, 218 Tidy, Kathleen Harriet (1851–1926), 163 Times, The, 49, 102, 117, 119, 147, 186, 217, 230, 240, 242, 252, 343 Titian Preparing to Make His First Essay in Colouring (Dyce), 184 Todhunter George (d. 1826), 127 Isaac (1820–84), 123, 127–134 Louise Anna Maria n´ee Davies, 128 Mary n´ee Hume, 127 To Err is Human (C.G.S., 1891), 61 Told by Uncle Remus: New Stories of an Old Plantation (Harris, 1905), 96 Townsend, Richard, 41 Tractarianism, 62 Train, The (ed. Yates), 333 Treatise of the Analytic Geometry of the Three Dimensions, A (Salmon, 1862), 123, 124 Treatise on Conic Sections, A (Salmon, 1848), 123, 124 Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences (Boole), 136 Treatise on the Differential Calculus (Price, 1848), 41, 43 Treatise on the Differential Calculus and the Integral Calculus (Price, 1852–62), 41

Treatise on the Higher Plane Curves, A (Salmon, 1852), 124 Tremlett, Edmund John (b. 1837), 23 Trial by Jury (Gilbert & Sullivan), 189 Trial of Sir Jasper, The (1873), 86 Trinity College, Cambridge, 121, 124, 216, 333, 352, 361 Trinity College, Oxford, 199, 229, 232, 237, 242 Turkish costume, 165 Turnbull, Elizabeth (b. 1851), 180 Turner (formerly Tennyson) Charles (1808–79), 336 Louisa n´ee Sellwood (b. 1816), 336 Turner, Joseph Mallord William (1775–1851), 168 Turton, Clare ‘Bibby’ (b. 1871), 172 Twiss, Quintin William Francis (1835–1900), 188, 197, 198 Twyford School, Hampshire, 163, 268 Tyrwhitt, Richard St John (1827–95), 17, 90 Uncle Remus and His Friends (Harris, 1892), 96 Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (Harris, 1895), 96 University College, London, 128, 140 University College, Oxford, 199, 229, 232 University of Glasgow, 216 University of G¨ottingen, Germany, 141 University of Jena, Germany, 141 University of Texas at Austin, 168, 172 Upper Tooting, London, 56, 57

Utopia (Limited) (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 Valparaiso, South America, 277 Vanity Fair, 353–7 Venn, John (1834–1923), 135, 136, 137, 138–40, 142 Verdi, Guiseppe (1813–1901), 197 Vie, La (Offenbach), 197 Vincent, Joseph and Company, 64 Waddy Emma Louisa ‘Louie’ (b. 1865), 188 Emma n´ee Garbutt (1830–98), 188 Samuel Danks (1830–1902), 188 Wadham College, Oxford, 232 Wagga Wagga, Australia, 278 Wainewright, Robert A. (b. 1808), 21 Wallich, George Charles (1815–99), 170 Wallypug of Why, The (Farrow, 1895), 102 Walters, Lucy (b. 1856), 182 Walton Street, Oxford, 35 Wandsworth, London, 177, 218, 222, 227 Wanted – A King (Brown, 1890), 102 Warburton Bartholomew Elliott George (1810–52), 341 William Parsons (1826–1919), 341 Wardell, Charles Clavering (1839–85), also known as Charles Kelly, 208 Warren, Samuel (1807–77), 173 Warrington, 12, 29 Warsaw, 361 Water Babies (Kingsley), 74, 80, 188 Watkins, Herbert (b. 1828), 168, 169, 172

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400 Watson, Isy (b. 1884), 115 Watts, Eliza (b. 1843), 20 Watts, George Frederic (1817–1904), 207, 222 Weaver, Warren (1894–1978), 172 Weber, Carl Maria von (1786–1826), 198 Webster, Alexander Rhind (1816–90?), 338 Weddel, Miss, 12 Weiss, Georgina Ansell n´ee Barrett (1826–80), 198 Weld Agnes Grace (1849–1915), 333, 335, 336 Anne n´ee Sellwood (1814–94), 335, 336 Charles Richard (1813–69), 335, 336 Wesleyan College, Dublin, 99 Westerham, Kent, 251 West Hill House School, Eastbourne, 148, 256 Westminster Abbey, 240–242, 352, 353 Westminster School, London, 4, 31, 33, 117, 241, 243, 275, 305 Whatford, Jack Henry (b. 1855), 285 ‘What I Tell You Forty-Two Times Is True!’ (Wakeling, 1977), 127 Whitburn, Durham, 273 Whitby, Yorkshire, 18, 30, 42, 43, 48 Whitby Gazette, The, 42 Whitehall Chapel, 241 Wilberforce, Samuel (1805–73), 161, 173

Lewis Carroll Wilbury Park, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 359 Wilcox Arthur Marwood (1840–1901) – cousin, 181 Charles Hassard (1852–74) – cousin, 36 Elizabeth n´ee Pittar (b. 1848) – cousin, 20 Frederick Hume (1837–80) – cousin, 289 Henry ‘Harry’ George (1839–1907) – cousin, 20 Herbert Francis (1844–1918) – cousin, 288, 289 Isabella Lucy (1850–1936) – cousin, 273 Margaret (1836–87) – cousin, 213 Mary Dorothea ‘Dora’ (1859–1935) – cousin, 209 William Edward (1835–76) – cousin, 181, 273, 340 Wilkes, James (1811–94), 19, 282 Williams, Watkin Herbert (1845–1944), 119 ‘Will You Come?’ (Proctor & Sullivan), 188 Wilson, James Maurice (1836–1931), 125 Wilson, John Cook (1849–1915), 135, 143, 144, 150 Winchfield, Hampshire, 264 ‘Window, The’ (Tennyson), 348, 349

Windsor Castle, 230, 238, 305, 312, 314, 321 Winter’s Tale, The (Shakespeare), 161, 207 Wolsey, Cardinal, 304 Wonderland Quadrille, The (Marriott), 200 Woodhouse Charles Goddard (b. 1839), 33 George Girdlestone (1831–97), 28, 29 Ruth Martin (1870–97), 144 Woodsman’s Return, The (Hughes), 177 Woodward, Benjamin (1816–61), 176 Wooldridge, Martha (b. 1863), 211 Woolner, Thomas (1825–92), 72, 236 Worcester Cathedral, 197 Worcester College, Oxford, 200 Wordsworth, Elizabeth (1840–1932), 144 World War I, 249, 252, 288 World War II, 249, 287 Writing to Papa (Heaphy), 180 Wykeham House, Oxford, 239, 318 Yeld & Charlton, Messrs., 289 Yeoman of the Guard, The (Gilbert & Sullivan), 195 Yonge, Charlotte Mary (1823–1901), 45, 97, 161, 231 York Minster, 197 Zeno the Stoic, 135 Zoximus, 100

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FULL CIRCLE

This completes our survey of some key people who were part of Dodgson’s social circle. It has been, quite naturally, very selective; he was acquainted with many others, this being a small selection of those whose lives overlapped with Charles L. Dodgson, known by some of them as ‘Lewis Carroll’. A few of these people he met on only one occasion; others were lifetime friends. The purpose of this selection is to show the wide circle that Dodgson associated with: professional acquaintances, longstanding loyal friends, devoted family members, Victorian celebrities and royalty, colleagues at the University of Oxford and other people he rubbed shoulders with. From these encounters, we see the humanity of the man – a kind and generous person, especially to his extended family, a devoutly religious man, someone with high intelligence, a very creative and imaginative mind that led to works of international fame, an obsessive and ordered personality occasionally with an excessively pedantic streak, a man with strong beliefs and standards upholding the Victorian values of service and duty, and a fascinating and complex personality that has intrigued and confused people for many decades. This book is an attempt to confound some of the more outrageous biographies that have been published in the last half-century, where the writers have not availed themselves of the primary sources that survive and have indulged in all manner of speculation and myth making. This book is heavily rooted in quotations and extracts from Dodgson’s letters and diaries, so the man speaks for himself. The interpretation is left to the reader – with one word of caution: at all times, it is important to fully appreciate the values and attitudes of Victorian society, which are considerably changed in our modern society. Judge the

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man by what was accepted and expected in his own society, not by our new and ever-changing standards. He was a man of his time. Copyright Material: All extracts from Dodgson’s diaries, and many of the letters, remain the copyright of the executors of the C. L. Dodgson Estate and they may not be quoted without express permission.

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Chapter 1: The Dodgson Family 1. Much of the Dodgson and Lutwidge family history was researched and recorded by Alice Henrietta Poole (b. 1844) and Margaret Frances ‘Meta’ Poole (1842–1907), two unmarried distant cousins who compiled an album that was in the possession of the late Frances Mary Margaret Hartland Mahon n´ee Poole (1918–2011), Dodgson’s great-niece. 2. MS: Dodgson Family 3. MS: Dodgson Family 4. Collingwood (1898), 12–3 5. MS: Dodgson Family 6. First published in the monthly magazine The Train (October 1856), 255–6 7. MS: Dodgson Family 8. MS: Dodgson Family 9. MS: Dodgson Family 10. MS: Dodgson Family 11. MS: Dodgson Family 12. Wakeling Collection 13. Sold at auction in 2007 14. Private Collection

15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family The Rectory Magazine, ‘Wanted Immediately’ by R.Z. (Lucy Lutwidge); MS: Texas MS: Dodgson Family Both books are in a private collection. Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 60 ibid., 80 MS: Dodgson Family MS: Private Collection Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 180 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 169 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 256 ibid., 293–4 ibid., 294 ibid., 294, n. 532

Chapter 2: Teachers and University of Oxford Associates 1. MS: Harvard 2. At Harvard 3. MS: Dodgson Family

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366 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

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Collingwood (1898), 30 ibid., 29 MS: Dodgson Family MS: Christ Church Archives Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 98 Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 64 ibid., 69 ibid., 106 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 130 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 38 ibid., 59 Collingwood (1898), 134 Collingwood (1899), 234 Bowman (1899), 7 MS: Lindseth MS: Berol Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 432 MS: Berol St. James’s Gazette, 11 March 1898 MS: Berol MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 57 ibid., 91 Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 28 ibid., 115 Sutcliffe (1978), 29 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 133 Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 113 MS: Wakeling Collingwood (1898), 353

Chapter 3: Publishers and Printers 1. Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 258 2. Graves (1910), 387 3. MS: British Library: All the correspondence from Macmillan to Dodgson is held in the daybooks of Macmillan & Co. 4. MS: British Library

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: Rosenbach MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library MS: British Library Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 503 Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 307

Chapter 4: Illustrators 1. Spielmann (1895), 463 2. Stated in a private letter to M. H. Spielmann dated 27 August 1900 in the Punch Library 3. Spielmann (1895), 463–4 4. See Morris (2005) for more details 5. De Freitas (1988), 18 6. ibid., 35 7. Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 197 8. ibid., 220–1 9. ibid., 222 10. ibid., 271–2 11. ibid., 284 12. ibid., 297 13. MS: Bodleian. This letter was given to Prince Leopold by Dodgson and is a rare survivor. See Chapter 9, ‘Robinson Duckworth’.

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14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52.

Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 304 ibid., 310 ibid., 311–2 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 9 ibid., 15–6 Dalziel (1901) Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 22 MS: Rosenbach MS: Christ Church Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 93 ibid., 97 Hancher (1985), 105 Many are given in Schiller (1990) See Garvey and Bond (1978) Chew (1950), 33 MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 192 ibid., 379 MS: Private Collection MS: Yale MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 37 Dalziel (1901), 128 Letter from Alice Wilson Fox n´ee Raikes to The Times dated 15 January 1932 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 112 MS: Christ Church Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 113 ibid., 120–1 MS: Harvard Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 140 ibid., 140 MS: Berol Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 145–6 ibid., 148 ibid., 178–9 ibid., 188 Text: Christie’s catalogue, 24 June 1987, lot 93

53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77.

78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88.

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367 Collingwood (1898), 130 Spielmann (1895), 329 MS: Private Collection Sarzano (1948), 38 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 381–2 MS: Rosenbach Morgan Library MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 181 MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach MS: Texas Holiday (1914), 165 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 125 MS: Eiko and Takamasa Okuni Collection, Tokyo Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 314–5 ibid., 321. The illustration is reproduced in Collingwood (1898), 264 ibid., 368 ibid., 427 Holiday (1914), 244–6 Academy, January 1898 For more details of Holiday’s preliminary sketches and designs for the book, see Tanis and Dooley (1981), especially the final section showing the plates. MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 106–7 MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 108 See Cohen and Wakeling (2003) Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 329 ibid., 380 Harris (1986), 13 facsimile MS: Rosenbach

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368 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98.

99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121.

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MS: Rosenbach MS: Dodgson Family MS: Rosenbach facsimile MS: Rosenbach Furniss (1901), 4 ibid., 270 MS: Berol – not in Cohen and Wakeling (2003) incomplete MS: Morgan Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 359 ‘Lewis Carroll: A Sketch by an Artist-Friend’ by E. Gertrude Thomson in The Gentlewoman dated 29 January and 5 February 1898, 166 ibid., 166 MS: Morgan MS: Morgan The Magazine of Art (Cassell, 1891), 99 ibid., 99 ibid., 103 Furniss (1924), 78 ibid., 79 MS: Morgan MS: Morgan Sylvie and Bruno (1889), 14 Furniss (1901), 101 ibid., 112 ibid., 112 ibid., 102–3 ibid., 112 MS: Harvard MS: Morgan The Gentlewoman (29 January 1898), 147 Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 448 ibid., 448 The Gentlewoman (5 February 1898), 166–7 ibid., 167

Chapter 5: Mathematicians and Logicians 1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

29.

Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 100 ibid., 101 ibid., 136 Mitford, Algernon Bertram, Lord Redesdale, Memories (Hutchinson, 1915), 99 The Times (19 December 1931) The Times (22 December 1931) The Times (12 January 1932) Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 119 MS: Berol Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 307 Muir, Vol. 3. (1920), 24–7, 86–90 MS: Princeton Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 192–3 MS: Princeton MS: British Library MS: Lindseth Seitoku University, Tokyo, Japan MS: Rosenbach MS: British Library MS: Rosenbach ‘Puzzles from Wonderland’, Aunt Judy’s Magazine – December 1870, 101–2 Wakeling, Jabberwocky, Volume 6, Number 4, 1977, 101–6 MS: Lindseth MS: St. John’s College, Cambridge MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family Dodgson, Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), Appendix 1, Todhunter, 212–3 Letter to his sister Louisa dated 28 September 1896 (MS: Huntington)

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Notes

30. MS: Dodgson Family 31. Carroll, Symbolic Logic (Macmillan, London, 1896), Appendix Addressed to Teachers, 171 32. ibid., 171 33. ibid., 173 34. Venn, 107–8 35. MS: Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 36. De Morgan, 26 37. ibid., 28 38. Carroll, Through the Looking Glass (Macmillan, London, 1871), 82 39. Venn, 142 40. Carroll, The Game of Logic (Macmillan, London, 1886), 36 41. Carroll, Symbolic Logic (Macmillan, London, 1896), Appendix Addressed to Teachers, 170 42. Collingwood (1898), 242 43. Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 277 44. ibid., 280 45. ibid., 285 46. Carroll, The Game of Logic (Macmillan, London, 1887), Preface 47. ibid., 2 48. ibid., 4 49. Harper’s Magazine (February 1943), 319 50. The Times (7 January 1932) 51. Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 155 52. ibid., 239 53. MS: Mayhew Descendents 54. MS: Huntington 55. Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 295 56. Carroll, Symbolic Logic (Macmillan, London, 1897, Fourth Edition), 194. The solution given by Dodgson in a letter to John Cook Wilson (MS: Bodleian) dated 17 May 1897 is: ‘A

servant of an inferior of a man who has a friend is not victim of anybody (and so is not persecuted at all).’ 57. ibid., Preface

Chapter 6: Photographers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 524 Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 66 Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 20 ibid., 24 ibid., 53 ibid., 53–4 Cornhill Magazine (July 1932), ‘Alice’s Recollections of Carrollian Days’ by Caryl Hargreaves, 5–6 First published in The Train, Vol. IV (December 1857), 332–5 Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 228–9 MS: Dodgson Family MS: Lindseth Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 26 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 219 The Illustrated Times (28 January 1860) Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 316–7 ibid., 315 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 62 ibid., 85 ibid., 121 Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 183 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 429 See Lewis Carroll Among His Books by Charlie Lovett (McFarland, 2005), 5–8

Chapter 7: Artists and Musicians 1. Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 103 2. ibid., 104

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370 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.

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Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 26–7 ibid., 157 ibid., 173–4 Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 223–4 ibid., 230 ibid., 254 ibid., 243–4 ibid., 288–9 ibid., 285 ibid., 290 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 89 ibid., 219 ibid., 229–30 MS: Berol Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 14–5 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 388 MS: Lindseth Collingwood (1898), 102 MS: Berg Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 102 Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 78 Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 281–2 ibid., 301 MS: Bodleian Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 115 Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 58 MS: Huntington Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 99 MS: Huntington The Gentlewoman (5 February 1898), 166 The drawing is in the Lindseth Collection. Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 225 ibid., 240 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 96–7 MS: Harvard MS: Morgan MS: Morgan MS: Morgan MS: Morgan

42. MS: Morgan 43. MS: Morgan 44. Herbert Sullivan (nephew), quoted by Sir Walter Newman Flower in the Radio Times (26 August 1932) 45. MS: British Library 46. Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 20 47. MS: National Library of Scotland 48. Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 23 49. ibid., 105 50. Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 316 51. ibid., 394 52. ibid., 461 53. ibid., 503 54. Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 161 55. ibid., 164 56. ibid., 210 57. ibid., 453 58. ibid., 522 59. Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 118 60. Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 102–3 61. ibid., 104 62. Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 47 63. ibid., 48–9 64. Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 32 65. Grove (1899–1900), Vol. IV, 433 66. Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 60–1 67. Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 110 68. ibid., 195–6 69. Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 265–6 70. Dodgson, The Vision of the Three T’s (Parker, Oxford, 1873), 36 71. MS: Rosenbach 72. Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 467 73. Collingwood (1898), 221–3 74. Bowman (1899), 87 75. ibid., 21 76. Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 36 77. Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 366 78. Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 127–8

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Chapter 8: Actors and Dramatists 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 81–2 ibid., 103 ibid., 104 ibid., 105–6 Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 83 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 35 ibid., 35–6 MS: Wilcox Family MS: Morgan MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 457 MS: Berol The Theatre (1 January 1887) Sunday Times (4 August 1889) Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 82 Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 51 ibid., 52, 56 ibid., 112 Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 223 ibid., 225 MS: Dodgson Family Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 246 ibid., 248–9 ibid., 250 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 65 MS: Wakeling MS: University of California MS: Dodgson Family Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 271 ibid., 272 MS: Berg Up to * MS: Berg; thereafter MS: British Library Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 312 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 34 ibid., 123 MS: Berg; it is not confirmed that this letter was sent to Tom Taylor Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 128

38. 39. 40. 41. 42.

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371 MS: Berg Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 129–30 ibid., 136 MS: Morgan MS: sold at Sotheby’s, 1 August 1928, lot 488C, and has appeared in various dealers’ catalogues. Present location unknown.

Chapter 9: Friends and Children 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

Zeepvat (1998), 56–7 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 371 MS: Bodleian Library The full text of this letter is given in Chapter 4 Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 60–1 MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 81–2 ibid., 88 ibid., 93–4 ibid., 94–5 ibid., 95 Collingwood (1899), 358–60 MS: Rosenbach The presentation copy of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground is in the Rosenbach Collection. For more details, see Alice in Waterland by Mark J. Davies (Signal Books, Oxford, second edition 2012), 107–16 Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 195–6 ibid., 298 Zeepvat (1998), 63 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 393 ibid., 394 ibid., 396 The Times (28 October 1872) Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 466 Private collection in Paris

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25. MS: Morgan 26. The Times (21 September 1911) 27. MS: formerly in the St Clair Collection; sold at Sotheby’s in June 2001 28. MS: British Library 29. The David Schaefer Lewis Carroll Film Collection, Maryland 30. MS: formerly in the St Clair Collection 31. MS: Berol 32. MS: Yale 33. The Times (22 March 1928) 34. The Listener (6 February 1958), 239, 243, writing as Mrs. E. G. Shawyer 35. ibid., 238–9, writing as Mrs. E. H. B. Skimming 36. ibid., 239, writing as Mrs. H. T. Stretton 37. Bowman, 9 38. Strand Magazine, Vol. XV (April 1898), 416–21 39. ‘Childish Memories of Lewis Carroll’, The Quiver (March 1899), 407– 9 40. The Queen (20 July 1932), 14 41. ‘Memories of Lewis Carroll’ reprinted from the Hampshire Chronicle (13 March 1948) 42. Collingwood (1898), 416 43. Diaries, Vol. 2. (1994), 48 44. Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 108 45. MS: Boston 46. Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 137 47. ibid., 150 48. Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 84 49. Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 421 50. Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 126 51. ibid., 285 52. Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 452 53. ibid., 536 54. Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 178–81

55. Letter to George Bell dated 19 February 1882; MS: Private Collection 56. Letter dated 31 March 1890; MS: Berol

Chapter 10: Professionals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 53 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 20–1 MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family MS: Berol MS: Harvard Reproduced on Collingwood (1898), 137 Letters is dated 12 April 1876; MS: Wakeling Henry Scott Holland by Stephen Paget (John Murray, 1921), 57–8 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 458 Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 255 ibid., 389 ibid., 482–3 ibid., 549–50 MS: Berg Goodacre, 15–21 Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 596, 598 ibid., 600–1 Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 78 Diaries, Vol. 6. (2001), 279 Letter to Sir James Paget dated 3 February 1890 in which Dodgson states: ‘I have been giving my new book to mothers, rather than daughters; and somehow passed over the name of Lady Paget, who had really a special claim, as you have so kindly helped in the composition of the story (a portion not yet published).’ MS: Berg

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22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54.

MS: Private Collection MS: Princeton Bowman, 71 MS: Berol MS: Christ Church Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 105 ibid., 205–6 ibid., 237 MS: Harvard Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 171–2 ibid., 172–3 ibid., 174 Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 398 MS: Princeton MS: Texas MS: Harvard MS: Toronto MS: Wakeling MS: Private Collection Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 540–2 Dodgson, Twelve Months in a Curatorship (1884), 28 MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church Dodgson, Twelve Months in a Curatorship (1884), 12–3 ibid., 19–20 MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church MS: Christ Church

Chapter 11: Royalty 1. ‘Alice on the Stage,’ The Theatre (April 1887), 182 2. Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 98–9

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

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373 Thompson (1899), 177–8 Collingwood (1898), 85–6 MS: Berol Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 261–2 ibid., 171 ibid., 172–3 ibid., 205–6 ibid., 206–9 ibid., 211 MS: Dodgson Family The Times (27 January 1932) MS: Berol MS: Private Collection Clark (1981), 24 Dodgson, The Vision of the Three T’s (1873), 9–10 MS: Berol MS: Berol Clark (1981), 193 MS: Rosenbach Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 467–8 ibid., 468 MS draft: Dodgson Family, with numerous corrections in Dodgson’s hand MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family Collingwood (1898), 297–8 Princess Alice (1966), 66 ibid., 65–6 MS: Dodgson Family MS: Princeton MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family MS: Berol MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family MS: Dodgson Family MS: Berol ‘Alice on the Stage,’ The Theatre (April 1887), 182

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Lewis Carroll

Chapter 12: Famous Acquaintances 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

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Diaries, Vol. 1. (1993), 71–2 ibid., 119 Diaries, Vol. 3. (1995), 87–8 ibid., 89 ibid., 93 ibid., 108–9 ibid., 110–5 ibid., 134 Hutchings and Hinton (1986), 81–2 Collingwood (1898), 78–9 MS: Berol MS: Princeton MS: Lincoln Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 90 Hutchings and Hinton (1986), 107 MS: Berol Diaries, Vol. 4. (1997), 114 ibid., 344 MS: Rosenbach MS: Yale MS draft: Yale MS: Yale

23. MS: Yale 24. Letter to Mrs. Marion Bradley; MS: Private Collection 25. MS: Lincoln 26. MS: Harvard 27. MS: Dodgson Family 28. MS: Lincoln 29. MS: Berol 30. Diaries, Vol. 7. (2003), 159–60 31. Naylor (1965), 56 32. MS: formerly the Bowles Family, sold at Sotheby’s, December 2011; Naylor (1965), 113 33. MS: formerly the Bowles Family, sold at Sotheby’s, December 2011; Naylor (1965), 115–6 34. MS: formerly the Bowles Family, sold at Sotheby’s, December 2011 35. MS: Bowles Family 36. Diaries, Vol. 8. (2004), 563 37. ibid., 563–4 38. MS: Texas 39. Naylor (1965), 130 40. Diaries, Vol. 9. (2005), 346 41. Diaries, Vol. 5. (1999), 336 42. ibid., 349–50

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barker, Pat. The Ghost Road (Penguin Books, London, 1995). Bartley III, William Warren. Lewis Carroll’s Symbolic Logic (Clarkson N. Potter, New York, 1977). Batey, Mavis. Alice’s Adventures in Oxford (Pitkin, London, 1980). . The Adventures of Alice (Macmillan, London, 1991). Bowman, Isa. The Story of Lewis Carroll (J. M. Dent, London, 1899). Chew, Samuel C. Fruit Among the Leaves: An Anniversary Anthology (Appleton-CenturyCrofts, New York, 1950). Clark, Anne. The Real Alice (Michael Joseph, London, 1981). Cohen, Morton. Lewis Carroll’s Photographs of Nude Children (Rosenbach Foundation, Philadelphia, 1978). Cohen, Morton and Gandolfo, Anita (eds). Lewis Carroll and the House of Macmillan (Cambridge University Press, 1987). Cohen, Morton, with the assistance of Roger Lancelyn Green. The Letters of Lewis Carroll (Macmillan, London, 1979), referenced as Letters. Cohen, Morton and Wakeling, Edward. Lewis Carroll and His Illustrators (Macmillan, London, 2003). Collingwood, Stuart Dodgson. The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1898). . The Lewis Carroll Picture Book (T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1899). Crutch, Denis, et al. (ed.). The Lewis Carroll Handbook (Dawson Archon Books, Folkestone, 1979 revised edition). Dalziel, George and Edward. The Brothers Dalziel: A Record of Work 1840–1890 (Methuen, London, 1901). De Freitas, Leo John. Tenniel’s Wood-Engraved Illustrations to Alice (Macmillan, London, 1988). De Morgan, Augustus. Formal Logic: or, The Calculus of Inference Necessary and Probable (Taylor and Walton, London, 1847).

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Furniss, Harry. The Confessions of a Caricaturist (T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1901). . Some Victorian Men (The Bodley Head, London, 1924). Garvey, Eleanor M. and Bond, W. H. Tenniel’s Alice (Harvard University Library, 1978). Goodacre, Selwyn H. ‘The Illnesses of Lewis Carroll’, published in Jabberwocky, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society, Volume 1, Number 8 (LCS, Autumn 1971). Graves, Charles L. Life and Letters of Alexander Macmillan (Macmillan, London, 1910). Grove, George. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillan, London, 4 vols, 1899– 1900). Hancher, Michael. The Tenniel Illustrations to the Alice Books (Ohio State University Press, 1985). Harris, Gene E. Arthur Burdett Frost, Artist and Humorist (Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 1986). Holiday, Henry. Reminiscences of My Life (William Heinemann, 1914). Hutchings, Richard J. and Hinton, Brian (eds). The Farringford Journal of Emily Tennyson 1853–1864 (The Isle of Wight County Press, 1986). Jaques, Amy Irene Hume n´ee Dodgson. ‘My Uncle, Lewis Carroll, as I Remembered Him’ published in Jabberwocky, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society (LCS, March 1970). Lansley, David. Wilfred Dodgson of Shropshire (White Stone Press, London, 2011). Lawrence, Arthur. Sir Arthur Sullivan, Life-Story, Letters, and Reminiscences (James Bowden, London, 1899). Lovett, Charles C. Alice on Stage (Meckler, Westport & London, 1990). . Lewis Carroll Among His Books (McFarland, Jefferson, 2005). Milner, Florence (ed.). The Rectory Umbrella and Mischmasch (Cassell, London, 1932). Morris, Frankie. Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons, and Illustrations of Tenniel (University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 2005). Muir, Thomas. The Theory of Determinants in the Historical Order of Development (Macmillan, London, 4 vols, 1906–23). Naylor, Leonard E. The Irrepressible Victorian (MacDonald, London, 1965). Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of English Drama 1600–1900, Vol. V ‘Late Nineteenth Century Drama’ (Cambridge University Press, 1959). . A History of English Drama 1600–1900, Vol. VI ‘Alphabetical Catalogue of Plays’ (Cambridge University Press, 1959). Paget, Stephen. Henry Scott Holland (John Murray, London, 1921). Princess Alice, Her Royal Highness, Countess of Athlone. For My Grandchildren (Evans Brothers, London, 1966). Sarzano, Frances. Sir John Tenniel (Art and Technics, London, 1948). Schiller, Justin G. and Goodacre, Selwyn H. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: An 1865 Printing Re-Described With a Revised Census of the Suppressed 1865 ‘Alice’ (Battledore, New York, 1990). Spielmann, M. H. The History of ‘Punch’ (Cassell, London, 1895).

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Stanfield, Sarah. ‘The Dodgson Sisters’ published in The Carrollian, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society, No. 2 (LCS, Autumn 1998). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1885–1900). Stern, Jeffrey. Lewis Carroll, Bibliophile (White Stone Press, Luton, 1997). Sutcliffe, Peter. The Oxford University Press: An Informal History (Oxford University Press, 1978). Tanis, James and Dooley, John (eds). Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark (William Kaufmann, Los Altos, California, 1981). Taylor, Roger and Wakeling, Edward. Lewis Carroll, Photographer (Princeton University Press, 2002). Thompson, Henry L. Henry George Liddell DD, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford: A Memoir (John Murray, London, 1899). Venn, John. Symbolic Logic (Macmillan, London, 1881). Wakeling, Edward. ‘What I Tell You Forty-Two Times Is True’ published in Jabberwocky, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society, Volume 6, Number 4 (LCS, 1977). . The Logic of Lewis Carroll (privately printed, 1978). . ‘Lewis Carroll and the Bat’ published in the Antiquarian Book Monthly Review, Vol. IX, No. 7, Issue 99 (July 1982). . ‘Lewis Carroll’s Rooms at Christ Church’ published in Jabberwocky, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society, Volume 12, Number 3 (LCS, 1983). (ed.). Lewis Carroll’s Games and Puzzles (Dover Publications, New York, 1992). . The Oxford Pamphlets, Leaflets, and Circulars of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1993). . ‘Mrs. Hargreaves Comes to the U.S.A.’ published in the Proceedings of the Second International Lewis Carroll Conference (Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 1994). . ‘Lewis Carroll’s Investments in Steamships’ published in the Princeton University Library Chronicle, Vol. LX, Number 3 (Spring 1999). . ‘C. L. Dodgson: Member of the Jury’ published in Mischmasch, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society of Japan, No. 5 (LCSJ, 2001). . ‘Mr. Dodgson and the Royal Family’ published in Knight Letter, The Magazine of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, (part 1). Volume II, Issue 2, Number 72 (LCSNA, Winter 2003). and (part 2). Volume II, Issue 3, Number 73 (LCSNA, Spring 2004). . ‘Wine and Lewis Carroll’ published in Mischmasch, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society of Japan, No. 8 (LCSJ, 2006). . ‘C. L. Dodgson Meets a Famous American Architect’ published in Knight Letter, The Magazine of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, Volume II, Issue 7, Number 77 (LCSNA, Fall 2006).

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. ‘Who Was Baxter, the Oxford Printer?’ published in The Carrollian, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society, No. 20 (LCS, Autumn 2007). (ed.). Lewis Carroll’s Diaries (Lewis Carroll Society, Luton and Clifford, 10 vols, 1993–2007), referenced as Diaries . ‘The Lady and Lewis Carroll’ published in Mischmasch, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society of Japan, No. 12 (LCSJ, 2010). . ‘C. L. Dodgson’s Aunt Lucy’ published in Knight Letter, The Magazine of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, Volume II, Issue 14, Number 84, (LCSNA, Spring 2010). . ‘Charles L. Dodgson and the Macmillan Family’ published in Mischmasch, The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society of Japan, No. 13 (LCSJ, 2011). . ‘Lewis Carroll and the Victorian Art World’ published in Alice in Wonderland Through the Visual Arts, exhibition catalogue for Tate-Liverpool (Tate Publications, November 2011). Wilson, Robin and Lloyd, Frederic. Gilbert and Sullivan: The Official D’Oyly Carte Picture History (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1984). Woolf, Jenny. Lewis Carroll In His Own Account (Jabberwock Press, London, 2005). Zeepvat, Charlotte. Prince Leopold, The Untold Story of Queen Victoria’s Youngest Son (Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1998).

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SHORT TITLES

Beale Berg Berol Bodleian Boston Christ Church Dodgson Family Harvard Hatfield Huntington Lincoln Lindseth Morgan Princeton Rosenbach Texas Toronto Yale

The collection of the late Tony Beale Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, New York Public Library Alfred C. Berol Collection, New York University The Bodleian Library, Oxford Boston Public Library, Massachusetts Christ Church Library & Archive, Oxford The Surrey History Centre, Woking Houghton Library, Harvard University The Collection of Lord Salisbury, Hatfield House Henry E. Huntington Library, California Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln The private collection of Jon A. Lindseth The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York Morris L. Parrish Collection, Princeton University Library Philip H. & A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation, Philadelphia The Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin The collection of the late Joseph A. Brabant, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Beinecke Library, Yale University