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Lewis Carroll Facts

Lewis Carroll Facts
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the author best known for Alice in Wonderland and other classic children's books. He was born on January 27th, 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, to Charles Dodgson, a clergyman, and Frances Jane Lutwidge. Lewis was the oldest boy of 11 children born to his parents, and because of his father's church activities he was raised in a spacious rectory in North Yorkshire. Lewis was homeschooled until he was 12 years old, at which time he was sent to Richmond Grammar School. Lewis went on to be educated at Oxford and received high honors in mathematics. His literary career supposedly began as the result of a picnic, where he told a young girl named Alice, a story. The story would later become Alice in Wonderland.
Interesting Lewis Carroll Facts:
Lewis Carroll was deaf in one ear. He had a fever as a young child that was believed to be the cause of the deafness.
Lewis Carrol had a stammer, for which he was often teased for growing up.
There are a few theories of how Alice in Wonderland came to be. One theory is that Lewis Carroll told the story to Alice Lidell, the daughter of Henry Lidell, who then encouraged Lewis to publish his story. Another theory is that Lewis Carroll told the story to George MacDonald's children, and he encouraged Lewis to publish it. George MacDonald was a children's author as well, and Lewis Carroll's mentor.
Lewis Carroll's story Alice in Wonderland reached Henry Kingsley, a novelist, who also encouraged him to publish it.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865. It became very popular.
Lewis Carroll wrote the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, titled Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. It was published in 1871.
Other literary works by Lewis Carroll include La Guida di Bragia, a Ballad Opera for the Marionette Theatre (1850), A Tangled Tale, Facts, Rhyme? And Reason?, Pillow Problems, Sylvie and Bruno, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, The Hunting of the Snark (1876), Three Sunsets and Other Poems (1898), and What the Tortoise Said to Achilles.
Lewis Carroll was also a photographer, and took many photographs that still exist today. He photographed people in higher social circles including Lord Salisbury and Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Lewis Carroll believed in writing letters and encouraged others to do so. He wrote a book titled Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing and invented a stamp holder.
Although Lewis Carroll was a wealthy and famous writer he taught at Christ Church his entire adult life.
By the time Lewis Carroll died at the age of 65, in 1898, Alice was England's most popular children's book.
By 1932 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was one of the most popular children's books in the world. It has been made into several movies.
There is a library called the Lewis Carroll Children's Library in Islington on Copenhagen Street.
There is a memorial stone for Lewis Carroll in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey. It was unveiled by Lewis Carroll's great-nephew in 1982.


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