Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was an English author, mathematician, and photographer of the Victorian era. He is best known for his children’s books, including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and was also an eminent photographer, especially of young girls. Carroll taught at Christ College until his death in 1898 and his books remain beloved worldwide.
Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1898) is the pseudonym of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an English author, mathematician and photographer of the Victorian era. He is best known for his children’s books, including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Carroll was also an eminent photographer during his lifetime – one of the first to pursue the new art form – and considered one of the best of his era to this day.
Carroll was born on 27 January 1832 in Cheshire to an Anglican parish priest, one of a long line of clergymen and army officers. He was the eldest son in a family of 11, with two older sisters. In 1843, the family moved to a large rectory in Yorkshire. Carroll started school the following year and attended RugSchool starting in 1845.
In 1851, Carroll began his university career at Christ Church, Oxford, his father’s school. Tragically, his mother died just two days into his Oxford career. Carroll won the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship in 1855 as a result of his mathematical prowess; he held the position for 26 years. According to his father’s expectations and university regulations regarding his residency, Carroll was to become a priest, but although he became a deacon in 1861, he never achieved full orders. However, the Dean of Christ Church, Henry Liddell, allowed Carroll to stay.
Carroll’s best-known and best-loved book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, began as a story he concocted to entertain Dean Liddell’s children Ina, Edith and Alice on a rowing expedition on July 4, 1862. Carroll had been a close friend of the Liddell family early on with the arrival of the headmaster at Oxford in 1856, and all the children, including a son, Harry, were frequent subjects for Carroll’s photography. Alice is said to have begged Carroll to write down the story he related on the boat trip, and the first incarnation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, handwritten and illustrated by Carroll in 1864. The final version, with illustrations by John Tenniel, was released a year later and became a huge hit. Along with his financial success, Carroll has gained a significant fan base, however his lifestyle hasn’t changed much.
Carroll’s interest in photography began in 1856 when his uncle, Skeffington Lutwidge, introduced him to the field. His photography encompasses a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, animals and still lifes, but the bulk of his surviving work is portraiture, mostly of young girls. Carroll also photographed many eminent people of his time, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Alfred Tennyson and Ellen Terry. His photography of children, like his literature, often has a dreamlike quality and sometimes incorporates mythological or fairy-tale themes. Carroll’s photographic career ended in the 1880s for unknown reasons.
Until his death in 1898 of pneumonia, Carroll remained at Christ College, where he taught until 1881. He continued to write children’s books, none of which achieved the success of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll’s children’s books remain beloved around the world and have been the subject of many films. Photographs of him have seen a recent resurgence in popularity and have been featured in museum exhibitions.
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