Alice's Father

Henry George Liddell the father of Alice, the eponymous heroine of Alice in Wonderland. devoted over fifty years of his long life to Christ Church, Oxford’s largest and grandest college. After nine years in London as Head Master of Westminster School, Liddell returned to Christ Church as Dean, head of both the cathedral and the college which at Christ Church are uniquely combined. During the next thirty-six years, Liddell initiated and encouraged extensive reforms, improvements and new buildings. His tenure as Dean is one of the most important and eventful periods in Christ Church’s history.. Among those whom Liddell appointed at Christ Church was the mathematical lecturer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known today as the author Lewis Carrroll. It was in the deanery garden that Dodgson first befriended and photographed the Liddell’s daughters, and it was at Christ Church that his celebrated Alice stories were written. Though the books were a source of pride to her parents, their relationship with Dodgson was often critical and strained. This biography explores the Liddell’s family life, and what it was like to live in the heart of the college favoured by princes and peers.

Hardback: 186 pages

24cm x 16cm