Lewis Carroll in Guildford

Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1832, Lewis Carroll came from a long line of clergymen and solders, growing up in a small village in Cheshire. Studying at Oxford University, he soon became a tutor of mathematics. He was also a frequent storyteller, apparently spinning a tale for the daughter of one of his close friends: a girl called Alice Liddell. She like the story so much, she asked him to write it down. It was then published in 1865 under the title, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

When his father died in 1868, Carroll was left the head of a household of six unmarried sisters, for whom he needed to find a home. We are not really sure why Carroll decided on Guildford, but his close, schoolboy friendship to the rector of Albury, a small village just a few miles from Guildford, seems the most logical explanation.

With his family now living in Guildford, he became a frequent visitor.