Alice Liddell
The real-life little girl whose friendship with a shy Oxford don inspired one of the most fantastical and enduring stories in the English language.
1852–1934 (age 82)·Basis of the character in "Alice in Wonderland"·Birthday: May 4
Biography
Alice Liddell was the fourth child of Henry Liddell, the dean of Christ Church, Oxford, growing up in the rarefied academic world of the university. There, she and her sisters became friends with Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll. During a golden afternoon boating trip on the Thames in 1862, Dodgson spun a tale to entertain the girls, with ten-year-old Alice as the central character. She loved it so much she begged him to write it down. The resulting manuscript, 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground,' was a gift for her, and it later evolved into the published classic 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.' As an adult, Alice Hargreaves lived a largely private life, but she became a tangible link to the book's origin myth. In financial need later in life, she sold the original manuscript at auction, and it was later returned to Britain as a national treasure. Her childhood imagination, captured by a storyteller, forever shaped literary nonsense.
#1 When Alice Was Born
The biggest hits of 1852
Alice's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1852Born
1857Started school
1865Became a teenager
President: Andrew Johnson
1868Could drive
President: Andrew Johnson
1870Could vote
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1873Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1882Turned 30
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
1892Turned 40
President: Benjamin Harrison
1902Turned 50
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1912Turned 60
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1922Turned 70
King Tut's tomb discovered in Egypt
President: Warren G. Harding"April Showers" — Al Jolson
1932Turned 80
Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Night and Day" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Grand Hotel
1934Died at 82
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stars Fell on Alabama" — Jack TeagardenBest Picture: It Happened One Night
Key Achievements
- Her request prompted Lewis Carroll to write down the story that became 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.'
- She preserved the original handwritten manuscript given to her by Carroll, titled 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground.'
- The sale of her personal copy of the manuscript in 1928 set a record for the most expensive book sold at auction at the time.
Did You Know?
She was named Alice Pleasance Liddell; 'Pleasance' means pleasure or delight.
The fictional Alice's birthday, May 4th, is noted in 'Through the Looking-Glass' and is the same as the real Alice Liddell's.
She met Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in her later years.
During the 1932 centenary of Lewis Carroll's birth, she traveled to the United States and received an honorary doctorate from Columbia University.
“null”
