Lewis Carroll
1832–1898 · Mathematician, author, photographer
Christ Church mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland under the pen name Lewis Carroll.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson — better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll — spent his entire adult life at Christ Church, the college his father had attended before him. He held the Mathematical Lectureship at Christ Church from 1855 and remained at the college, in various capacities, until his death in 1898.
Dodgson became close to the family of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, and to Liddell's three young daughters in particular. The middle daughter, Alice Liddell, was the dedicatee and namesake of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), a story Dodgson first told the children on a boat trip up the Thames from Folly Bridge. He died in Guildford on 14 January 1898 and is buried in the Mount Cemetery there. Christ Church, the Meadow, and the river still trace the geography of the books: many of the visual cues — Alice's Shop on St Aldate's opposite the college, the Cathedral cloisters, the deer park — are points readers cross paths with on any visit.
Sources: Wikipedia: Lewis Carroll
Last verified: Sat May 02 2026 01:00:00 GMT+0100 (British Summer Time)