Literary Figure. She was the inspiration for the subject of Lewis Carrol's 1865 fairytale book "Alice in Wonderland" and the first sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" in 1871. Born Alice Pleasance Liddell, the fourth of ten children of Dean Henry Liddell of Christ Church College at Oxford and Lorina Hanna, she met Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who elected to use the penname of "Lewis Carroll," while he was a mathematics instructor at Christ Church College. Precocious and curious, she was nearly five years old with dark hair and eyes when they met. On July 4, 1862, she and two of her sisters were the guests of Dodgson and a chaperone on a boat ride up the Thames River from Oxford to Godstow for a day-long picnic. While on this daytrip, Dodgson told the children an improvised fairytale about a curious girl named Alice. Eventually, his fairytale evolved into this character of Alice, who ventured into a land of wonder and make-believe, meeting the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire-Cat, Queen of Hearts, the Dodo bird and a host of other nonsense characters. On November 26, 1864, Dodgson presented Alice with a handwritten in sepia-colored ink manuscript with 37 illustrations as "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer's Day". Dodgson, who was a photographer, had pasted one of Alice's many photographs on a page in the book. This original manuscript was called "Alice's Adventures Under Ground." She and Dodgson grew a part after she turned age eleven. During her adolescent years, she and her sisters associated with the youngest son of Queen Victoria, Prince Leopold, who was a student at Christ Church College. In December of 1871, at age 19, she embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe with her sisters Edith and Lorina. On September 5, 1880 at Westminister Abbey, she married Reginald Gervis Hargreaves, a former student from Christ Church and an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Hampshire. The couple had three sons with the two oldest being killed during World War I. She treasured the manuscript until 1928, but was then forced to place the book on auction at Sotheby's to pay for her husband's funeral and other debts. The manuscript was purchased by an American and again some years later, sold to another American. In 1946 the manuscript was again sold at auction and was purchased by a wealthy group of American benefactors, who donated the manuscript to the British Library in 1948. Every time the manuscript was sold, her name would appear in newspapers covering the story. She traveled to the United States in 1932 for the Lewis Carroll centenary celebrations at Columbia University and was awarded with an Honorary Degree from Columbia for her services to literature. She died two years later without learning the manuscript would eventually come back to England. There have been several biographies written about her and addressing her relationship to Dodgson and if she was or was not actually "Alice in Wonderland."

Literary Figure. She was the inspiration for the subject of Lewis Carrol's 1865 fairytale book "Alice in Wonderland" and the first sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" in 1871. Born Alice Pleasance Liddell, the fourth of ten children of Dean Henry Liddell of Christ Church College at Oxford and Lorina Hanna, she met Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who elected to use the penname of "Lewis Carroll," while he was a mathematics instructor at Christ Church College. Precocious and curious, she was nearly five years old with dark hair and eyes when they met. On July 4, 1862, she and two of her sisters were the guests of Dodgson and a chaperone on a boat ride up the Thames River from Oxford to Godstow for a day-long picnic. While on this daytrip, Dodgson told the children an improvised fairytale about a curious girl named Alice. Eventually, his fairytale evolved into this character of Alice, who ventured into a land of wonder and make-believe, meeting the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire-Cat, Queen of Hearts, the Dodo bird and a host of other nonsense characters. On November 26, 1864, Dodgson presented Alice with a handwritten in sepia-colored ink manuscript with 37 illustrations as "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer's Day". Dodgson, who was a photographer, had pasted one of Alice's many photographs on a page in the book. This original manuscript was called "Alice's Adventures Under Ground." She and Dodgson grew a part after she turned age eleven. During her adolescent years, she and her sisters associated with the youngest son of Queen Victoria, Prince Leopold, who was a student at Christ Church College. In December of 1871, at age 19, she embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe with her sisters Edith and Lorina. On September 5, 1880 at Westminister Abbey, she married Reginald Gervis Hargreaves, a former student from Christ Church and an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Hampshire. The couple had three sons with the two oldest being killed during World War I. She treasured the manuscript until 1928, but was then forced to place the book on auction at Sotheby's to pay for her husband's funeral and other debts. The manuscript was purchased by an American and again some years later, sold to another American. In 1946 the manuscript was again sold at auction and was purchased by a wealthy group of American benefactors, who donated the manuscript to the British Library in 1948. Every time the manuscript was sold, her name would appear in newspapers covering the story. She traveled to the United States in 1932 for the Lewis Carroll centenary celebrations at Columbia University and was awarded with an Honorary Degree from Columbia for her services to literature. She died two years later without learning the manuscript would eventually come back to England. There have been several biographies written about her and addressing her relationship to Dodgson and if she was or was not actually "Alice in Wonderland."

Bio by: Linda Davis