The Real Alice In Wonderland

Alice Pleasance Liddell (4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934) was the fourth child of Henry and Lorina Liddell, early in her childhood, she was an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories Lewis told Alice during a boating trip which became the children's classic 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She also shared her name with "Alice", the heroine of the story, but scholars disagree about the extent to which the character was based upon her.

Liddell, aged 7, photographed by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1860

Alice poses in a feigned sleep, 1860 (IMAGE: CHARLES DODGSON/NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM/GETTY IMAGES)

On July 4, 1862, in a rowing boat travelling on The Isis from Folly Bridge, Oxford, to Godstow for a picnic outing, 10 year old Alice asked Charles Dodgson (who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll) to entertain her and her sisters, Edith (aged 8) and Lorina (13), with a fantastical story with a young protagonist named Alice. As the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed the boat, Dodgson entertained the girls with fantastical stories of a girl, named Alice, and her adventures after she fell into a rabbit-hole. The story was not unlike which Dodgson had spun for the sisters before, but this time Alice asked Mr. Dodgson to write it down for her. He promised to do so but did not get around to the task for some months. He eventually presented her with the manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground in November 1864.

Lorina, Edith and Alice Liddell, 1859 (IMAGE: CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON/LEBRECHT AUTHORS/CORBIS)

In the meantime, Dodgson had decided to rewrite the story as a possible commercial venture. Probably with a view to canvassing his opinion, Dodgson sent the manuscript of Under Ground to a friend, the author George MacDonald, in the spring of 1863. The MacDonald children read the story and loved it, and this response probably persuaded Dodgson to seek a publisher. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with illustrations by John Tenniel, was published in 1865, under the name Lewis Carroll. A second book about the character Alice, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, followed in 1871. In 1886, a facsimile of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, the original manuscript that Dodgson had given Alice, was published.

Edith, Ina and Alice Liddell, 1860 (IMAGE: CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON/NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM/SSPL/GETTY IMAGES)

Alice grew up to marry wealthy cricketer Reginald Hargreaves at the age of 28, and was active in high society for much of her life. She had three sons, two of whom were killed in action in World War I. In 1932, she passed away at the age of 80.

Alice, Ina, Harry and Edith Liddell, 1860 (IMAGE: CHARLES DODGSON/NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM/GETTY IMAGES)

It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.

ALICE, "ALICE IN WONDERLAND"

A 20-year-old Alice poses for photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. (IMAGE: JULIA MARGARET CAMERON/GETTY IMAGES)

1872 (IMAGE: JULIA MARGARET CAMERON/ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY/GETTY IMAGES)

Alice Hargreaves in 1932, at the age of 80 (Source:Rosenbach Museum & Library)