Charles Dodgson - a problematic Pre-Rapaehlite photographer

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Introduction

Charles Dodgson, circa 1863.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), best known as Lewis Carrol, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the looking glass, and what Alice found there (Carroll 1866 & 1872), was also a pioneer photographer and member of the Pre-Raphaelite group of artists during the mid 1800s (Ovenden 1972, British Council 1982, Bartram 1983). There are a number of books dealing with this aspect of his life and the historical and artistic significance of his work, alongside articles and online videos (Gernsheim 1949 & 1969, Guilliano 1976, Ford 1987, Cohen 1999, Nickel 2002, Taylor & Wakeling 2002, Waggoner 2010, Wakeling 2015, Jeffrey 2017, Waggoner 2020, Lewis Carroll Society of America 2023). However, despite these many publications and recent proliferation of online media, Dodgson's, or Carroll's photography is little known to the public at large, or referred to, apart from where his work with Alice Liddell (1852-1934) and her two sisters - the older Lorina (born 1849) and the younger Edith (born 1854) - impinges upon the story of the writing of the aforementioned classic children's fairy tales. And it is with the Liddells that we find the most controversial aspect of the life of an otherwise quiet, retiring, mathematician, academic, inventor and author. Why controversial?

The controversy lies in the fact that whilst more than a third of the over 3,000 surviving photographs by Dodgson are of adults, almost two thirds are images of young children - mostly girls - a small number of which are naked or semi-naked. In regards to his photography, it has been argued that the majority was simply portraiture, of a variety common for those in his social circle, young and old, though with an artistic bent in some instances. The latter can be seen in his posing of children dressed as fantasy characters or in otherwise posed, non-realistic situations, such as the six-year-old Alice Liddell as a beggar girl (1858), or the four-year-old John Wycliffe Taylor dressed as a knight (1863). Most of the children photographs were taken with parents in attendance, and many out in the Liddell garden next door to his Oxford University residence. This was important, in order to make use of available light due to the constraints of photography at the time, which required relatively long exposures. To get a young child to sit or stand motionless for even a couple of seconds was no easy task, then or now. It is also argued that in regard to the nude photographs, and as was the case with other Pre-Raphaelite photographers including Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79), these were of a purely artistic nature, wherein nudity was a common element, and not considered offensive according to nineteenth century mores. The beauty of the naked female body, young or old, has long featured in art and photography, both sexualised and non-sexualised. A recent example is the cover of the Led Zeppelin LP Houses of the Holy from 1973, which features the naked bodies of a brother and sister on the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

Aubrey Powell, Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy, album cover, 1973.

The taking of nude portraits from the very earliest days of photography when, in the 1850s, it became accessible to both amateur and professional, was seen in a similar context to the long tradition of artist studios wherein the nude was studied and drawn from life. Of course, there was often also a sexual element attached to the images, either by the photographer or subsequent viewer. This is discussed further below.

Despite the indication that some such nude photographs had an 'artistic' origin, and this continued through almost to the present day, it is undeniable that 150 years later such images of children are now viewed as problematic, with a sexualised context imposed almost subconsciously by viewers. Of course, recent revelations of their associations with paedophilia and child abuse have given rise to this. The proliferation on the internet during the present millennium as part of the explosion in pornography has exposed the existence of such images to the authorities and public at large, with reports of worldwide networks being discovered and participants jailed due not only to possession of material but also physical and mental abuse of young children. With such a lens in place, looking back at Dodgson's images cannot help but cast them in a bad light, especially when surviving contextual evidence raises concerns that the author's behaviour was it seems, at the time, not viewed as acceptable, though even that statement may not be correct. Dodgson's own comments raise such concerns (Collingwood 1898, Gardner 1960 & 2015). For example, he once noted that his preference for nude shots was towards young girls, rather than young boys, who looked better when dressed in costumes. Apparently many of his photographs of naked children were destroyed by a niece upon his death. Only a few survive. The niece may also have been responsible for removing a page from his diary of 1863 which possibly incriminated him in this regard, though we may never know the truth. It will be noted from the commentary below that there is much that can be inferred from Dodgson's behaviour when a modern lens is used, though actual evidence is lacking in many instances. Yes, he did take photographs of children. But he was also a semi-professional photographer in that regard, and had his own development lab for many decades to support this. Was it primarily a commercial venture, or an innocent hobby, or a dark area of his personality that facilitated his access to young children? It is such questions that are often posed but never really answered in any definitive manner.

Paedophile?

In the context of twenty first century morals and ethics there is a suggestion of paedophilia on the part of Charles Dodgson the photographer. Paedophilia is a sexual attraction to, or romantic or other interest in, prepubescent children, male or female. It is now viewed as a psychiatric disorder usually, though not always, suffered by males older than their young victims, who are in turn primarily female. Whether Dodgson's interest was of a sexual nature is unclear, though there seems to have been an emotional attraction to the Liddell girls in particular, including Alice. Even this statement is thrown into doubt when we realise that as they lived next door to him, it was easy to use them in his experiments with photography, and this may be the only reason they feature in his surviving catalogue of works. Extant evidence is piecemeal, but suggestive that some sort of behaviour he engaged with one or other of the three girls, or their maid, or even their mother, led to his being temporarily banned from the household during 1863, after years of photographing the family. Beyond this, a contemporary obituary notice actually referred to his preference for hugging and kissing young girls. Commentators on his life and times have almost invariably made reference to this aspect of his behaviour, with a number of recent commentators accusing him of being a paedophile, whilst others stringently deny it, or seek some sort of middle ground (Muñoz-Alonso 2015, Hartley 2021). What is the truth?

We will probably never know, and it will most likely be the case that, into the future, both arguments will rage and both will have ample evidence to convince either way, or at least cast doubt on both arguments. A good summary of Dodgson's life and the paedophilia accusations and "new evidence" can be found in a British television BBC Two documentary from 2015. It initially focuses on the writing of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland before moving on to Dodgson's relationship with the Liddell girls in particular.

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, BBC Two, 2015, YouTube, duration: 55.57 minutes.

Within the documentary a photograph supposedly of a naked Lorina Liddell was studied and attributed to Dodgson. It was presented therein as verging on pornographic, being a full frontal nude taken as the young subject approaches, or enters, puberty, around the age of fourteen. However, and this is significant, the photograph has elsewhere been deemed one of a number of known fakes (see below). In the modern digital age, and with the onset of AI (artificial intelligence) and the Deep Fake technologies, we can no longer be assured that what we are seeing is the truth, or an actual historical document with provenance back to the supposed creator, whether that be Charles Dodgson or not.

In the view of the present writer, who is a professional archivist and therefore used to dealing with original, primary source materials, it would seem that Dodgson had a long-standing attraction to young girls, whilst also throughout his lifetime engaged with older women around his own age. He is not known to have suffered any public scandal around his association with children, or been charged with any related matter, and parents sought his professional expertise in photographing their children through to the 1870s. He expressed elements of his interest in young girls within some of his writing, both published and in illustrated letters and flowery diary entries, but most obviously through his photography. Whether he physically abused any of the children appears unlikely, and there is no evidence for this, though his behaviour could, according to present day morality, be nevertheless seen as abusive. There exists one controversial image of Alice Liddell by Dodgson that hints of a possible sexual nature and can be thrown in the present-day 'abusive' bin alongside other comments and images. 

Charles Dodgson, Alice Liddell as a beggar girl, 1858.

This photograph of the six year old Alice Liddell as a beggar girl, with ragged clothes hanging off her and the left nipple expose is the primary documentary evidence produced with seeking to depict him as an abusive paedophile. He may, in fact, be what is now referred to as a non-offending paedophile, in that he was emotionally attracted to young women, but did not step over the line and physically become intimate with them. The reference to kissing and hugging is of concern, nevertheless, and suggests a move towards the offending status. Though once again, this is suggestive, rather than proven. 

Dodgson is generally seen as a quiet, retiring, introverted person. He never married, and was in no way seen as a womanizer. His personal diaries mention battles with evil thoughts and desires, though he does not describe these in any detail. At the end of 1861 he became a deacon in the Church of England, though, as recent revelations would show us, the priesthood has, over the years, been littered with paedophiles and child abusers. There is no doubt, in hindsight, that as a young man in his late twenties or early thirties he should have stayed away from young children and kept his photographic work solely for family group and adult portraiture, in the Pre-Raphaelite style at which he excelled and was a pioneering exponent. His relationships with the Liddell girls, such as we know from the scant information, was complex and both supports and works against his labelling as a paedophile. The following Weird History video from 2022 highlights some elements of his character and writings, the latter of which it can be said bring to mind the behaviour of Michael Jackson in regard to openly expressing a love for children. In Dodgson's case, it was mostly for young, underage girls, though not only.

The real Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll had a relationship with, Weird History, 26 February 2022, YouTube, duration: 10.46 minutes.

The Liddells

Charles Dodgson took many photographs of the Liddell family from the late 1850s through to the early 1870s, around the time of the composition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland books. They lived next door to him on the Oxford University campus, with the children's playground viewable from his window. As such, he was able to take a number of photographs of, for example, the three girls as a group.

Charles Dodgson, Edith, Lorina and Alice Liddell, circa 1859.

Alice was especially photogenic, due to her piercing eyes and strong, wilful personality. She was not only photographed by Dodgson, but also by Cameron during 1872, when aged twenty. This photograph featured in a psychedelic music poster printed in San Francisco during 1968 for a performance by The Youngbloods at the Avalon Ballroom. By 1872 Dodgson ceased photographing Alice, and the Liddell girls, with a sudden break. During the first half of 1863 one or both of the following scenarios appear to have taken place which led to a temporary fracture in his relationship with the family:

(1) Mr and Mrs Liddell banned Dodgson from access to the household and, supposedly, any contact with the girls, specifically Lorina and Alice:

(2) Dodgson proactively exempted himself from contact with the girls when Mr and Mrs Liddell made unspecified allegations to him about his behaviour.

We do not know the specific reason for the break, which lasted through to the end of the year 1863, when he was invited over for tea and back into the household. However, there are rumours and manuscript references to the following as possible causes for Mr and Mrs Liddell's action:

(1) Dodgson was having an affair with the Liddell's maid; she was in her twenties, and he was around thirty at the time;

(2) Dodgson was showing affection (e.g. possibly in a physical manner, such as in kissing and hugging) towards the maturing Lorina, aged 14 at the time; and

(3) Dodgson was showing some sort of affection towards the young Alice, then aged 11, though this seems less likely. In fact, Lorina noted that such an accusation was made in order to deflect away from her relationship with Dodgson, whatever that was.

It is possible that all of the above was true, or that there are elements of truth in all three assertions. Once again, the various rumours and assertions have led to the 'discovery' of so-called incriminating evidence. However, as noted above, in recent times a number of fake photographs have appeared which present Dodgson and Alice in intimate poses, such as one where they are kissing, and another in which the young Alice is sitting on his lap (Peliano 2016). In both instances the fakes have been revealed as manipulations of known, historic photographs either by, or featuring, Dodgson. Two of these fakes are shown below, alongside the original photographs that were manipulated to produce them.

 

That an individual would produce such images to sully the name of Dodgson reveals the state of the controversy surrounding him and the need to critically assess all the available evidence. In these days of so-called cancel culture, it only takes a single defamatory statement or exaggeration, which then is virally dispersed over the internet, to forever sully the reputation of an individual. Whilst Alice Liddell never spoke directly of any problems with her association with Charles Dodgson, it can be noted that in 1932 she visited America on a tour to promote an Alice in Wonderland exhibition, the 80th anniversary of Dodgson's birth, and to receive an honorary degree from Columbia University.

Alice Liddell in the United States, May 1932.

In various comments at the time she stated:

I shall remember [the honorary degree] and prize it for the rest of my days, which may not be very long. I love to think, however unworthy I am, that Mr. Dodgson – Lewis Carroll – knows and rejoices with me. ..... If Lewis Carroll had told me the story which I am living today it would have seemed as strange as the whimsical stories which he used to tell me, using me as his 'Alice'. (Columbia University Archives)

These comments would suggest that her relationship with Dodgson / Carroll was a superficial one, and that she had fond memories of her association with the writer and his most famous works, which she played a part in bringing to the public. One can assume that if there were any deep trauma involved in the relationship, Alice would not have participated in the celebrations. But once again, we are assuming, based on no specific evidence.

Wonder ....

One of Dodgson's distant relatives suggested in the aforementioned 2015 BBC documentary that he had a true love for Alice Liddell, though there is nothing specific in his diaries or letters which point to this. Even his photographs are of a type that Dodgson took with a number of other children. So while Alice features in Dodgson's books and some photographs, the fact that the Liddells lived next door may explain this, rather than a specific attraction to Alice, extending to love. Charles Dodgson also displays through some of his poetry a classic and literary romantic attitude towards children and the then popular concept of childhood innocence. One could suggest from this that he viewed them not through the lens of paedophilic sexual attraction, but rather through another, more innocent motivation, perhaps one of awe and wonder. This is possible, especially when the wonder of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland comes to mind. It seems that we will never know the true motivations behind the more controversial photographic work of Charles Dodgson. Some could argue that it was a 'normal' element of the art of Pre-Raphaelite photographers, just as it remained so to many other professional photographers through to recent times. But, we should also remember, that in a number of those instances the photographs were of a sexual nature and physical abuse was associated with their taking. An example of the latter is the British photographer David Hamilton (1933-2016), who subsequently committed suicide when revelations of his activities in this area, including rape, were revealed. As regarding the activities of Charles Dodgson, this cloud will forever hang over his name, alongside his legacy as creator of one of the greatest works of modern literature in the form of the two Alice in Wonderland books. The present author would therefore deal with the allegations against Dodgson in the traditional legal manner of innocent until proven guilty. Case therefore adjourned, pending the discovery of new evidence.

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Chronology

1832 - Charles Dodgson born.

1849 - Lorina Liddell born.

1851 - January: takes up residence at Christ Church College, University of Oxford.

1852 - Alice Liddell born.

1856

- begins publishing poetry and prose.

- takes up photography.

- 25 April: meets the Liddell family.

1857 - befriends John Ruskin and enters the Pre-Raphaelite circle.

1858 - Alice Liddell as a beggar girl (photograph).

1861 - ordained a Deacon in the Church of England.

1862 - 4 July: Dodgson takes the famous boat ride with the Liddell girls.

1863 - briefly banned from the Liddell household.

c.1859 - Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell (photograph).

1865 - Alice in Wonderland published.

1870 - Dodgson's final photograph of a melancholic Alice (photograph).

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References

Bartram, Michael, Pre-Raphaelite Camera: Aspects of Victorian Photography, Weidenfield & Nicholson, 1983.

Carroll, Lewis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan & Co., London, 1866.

-----, Through the looking glass, and what Alice found there, Macmillan & Co., London, 1872.

Cohen, Morton N., Reflections in a Looking Glass: A Centennial Celebration of Lewis Carroll, Photographer, Aperture, 1999, 143p.

Collingwood, Stuart, Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1898, 448p.

Columbia University Archives, Alice Hargreaves, Columbia University, n.d.

Ford, Colin, Lewis Carroll, Photographer, Bradford Museum of Photography, 1987.

Gardner, Martin, The Annotated Alice, Clarkson N. Potter, 1960.

----- and Mark Burnstein, The Annotated Alice: 150th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, 2015.

Gernsheim, Helmut, Lewis Carroll - Photographer, Max Parrish & Co., London, 1949.

-----, ibid., Dover Publications, 1969, 130p.

Guilliano, Edward, Lewis Carroll Observed: A Collection of Unpublished Photographs, Drawings, Poetry and New Essays, Potter, 1976.

Hartley, Dale, Why scholars debate Lewis Carroll's photography, Psychology Today, 5 June 2021.

Jeffrey, Ian, Lewis Carroll - Pre-Raphaelite Photographer, in The Photography Book, Phaidon, 2017, 576p.

Muñoz-Alonso, Lorena, Was Lewis Carroll a paedophile? His photographs suggest so, Artnet News [website], 30 January 2015.

Nickel, Douglas R., Dreaming in Pictures: The Photography of Lewis Carroll, Yale University Press, 2002, 168p.

Ovenden, Graham, Pre-Raphaelite Photography, Academic Editions, 1972, 112p.

Peliano, Adriana, Fake photographs of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, alicenations [blog],  Lewis Carroll Society of Brazil, 21 August 2016.

Photography, The Lewis Carroll Society of America [website], accessed 8 July 2023.

Pre-Raphaelite Photography, The British Council, 1982, 48p.

Taylor, Roger and Edward Wakeling, Lewis Carroll, Photographer - The Princeton University Library Albums, Princeton University Press, 2002, 304p.

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, BBC Two Television, 31 January 2015.

Waggoner, Diane (editor), The Pre-Raphaelite Lens - British Photography and Painting, 1848-1875, National Gallery of Art and Lund Humphries, Washington and Farnham, 2010, 230p.

-----, Lewis Carroll's Photography and Modern Childhood, Princeton University Press, 2020, 280p.

Wakeling, Edward, The Photographs of Lewis Carroll - A Catalogue Raisonne, University of Texas Press, 2015, 334p.

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Alice in OZ | Australian books | Australian books (presentation) | Christian Yandell's Alice | Alice on Film | Poster 1968 | Photography | Poster 1977 | Whitcombe's Alice |

Last updated: 17 September 2023

Michael Organ, Australia