Alice Pleasance Liddell is the wonderful muse of Lewis Carroll, who inspired him to write a fairy tale. She lived a long life, until the last days, even against her will, remaining "the same Alice from Wonderland."
Biography: childhood and friendship with Lewis Carroll
Alice Liddell - "the girl in the book" - was born in the UK. Place of birth: Westminster, London. Already the fourth child in the Liddell family, she was born on May 4, 1852. It was she who was the inimitable muse for Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson): not only was the image of the world famous fairytale heroine written off from the little girl, but real situations from the life of Alice formed the basis of separate plots of the children's book.
Alice grew up in a large family, however, unfortunately, many of her brothers and sisters died at an early age due to serious illnesses that could not be cured at that time. Initially, her father was listed in the director's post at one of the Westminster schools. He later took over as Dean of Oxford College. All this allowed the family to live in prosperity, and the children to receive a good upbringing and education.
Alice was distinguished by a very cheerful disposition, openness to the world and sociability. She was curious and spontaneous by nature, gravitated towards art and did not want to grow up at all. Probably, it was these features that once attracted Carroll's attention to the girl.
Showing a special talent for the visual arts, young Alice received drawing lessons from John Ruskin. She did not become an outstanding artist, but such activities allowed the growing girl to form a certain sense of taste.
In 1856, Lewis Carroll met the children of the Liddell family. He saw them in one of the parks: a noisy, cheerful company immediately attracted the attention of 24-year-old Carroll. He could not resist the temptation and asked the parents for permission to photograph the children. Amateur photography is another area of Lewis Carroll's work. It was a funny coincidence: Carroll was a math teacher at a college where Alice's father served as dean. After a successful photo shoot in the park, a friendship struck up between the Liddell children and the young Lewis Carroll.
For a long time, Carroll talked with his beloved family, went to them for tea, rode a boat with the children. Many of the surviving photographs of Alice Liddell were taken by Carroll. The first handwritten version of the now famous Alice in Wonderland was written at the request of little Alice. She really wanted to have on paper all the stories that Lewis came up with for her. Originally, the tale was called "Alice Under the Ground" and was presented to the girl on Christmas Day in 1864.
However, after a while, the friendship between the writer and the Liddell family was broken. After the adult Alice met Carroll only a few times. The last time they saw each other was in 1881.
About adult Alice Liddell
At the age of 28, Alice was married to Reginald Hargreaves. By a miraculous coincidence, her husband once studied mathematics with Lewis Carroll. From this marriage, Alice Liddell had three sons. However, only one child did not die early. Two older children died at the front of the First World War.
In dire financial straits after her husband's death in 1926, Alice Liddell auctioned a handwritten copy of the tale. The leather-bound notebook went into the hands of Eldridge Jones, he paid 15,400 pounds for it.
When Alice Liddell turned 80, she met Peter Llewelyn Davis. Why was this meeting so remarkable? The fact is that Peter Davis was the boy who once inspired James Barry to write the Peter Pan stories. At the same age, Alice Liddell received a diploma from Columbia University for her personal contribution to the creation of a fabulous story about Alice.
The "girl from the book" died on November 16, 1934. At that time she was 82 years old.
