He walked with a slight jerky gait. His light blue eyes was a contrast with his auburn hair. He often took a morning constitutional (walk), staring straight ahead. Only stopping to talk to friend or children. He always had a small toy or puzzle in his breast pocket of his waist coat. He looked no different than many of the other students and teachers who inhabited Oxford's Christ College. But this unassuming man would write a book for a child who begged him to write a story just for her.
Charles L. Dodgson, or as he was known by his pen name: the pseudonym was a play on his real name; Lewis was the anglicised form of Ludovicus, which was the Latin for Lutwidge, and Carroll an Irish surname similar to the Latin name Carolus, from which the name Charles comes (Lewis Carroll - A Biography Morton Cohen).
Early in his life, Charles Dodgson grew up the oldest boy in a family of eleven children. He was born on January 27, 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire England. The resourceful Charles would keep his younger siblings entertained by writing stories, some that even appeared in the family magazine Mischmach. Other times, Charles invented games and puzzles for his brothers and sisters to solve.
His family was from a long line of Anglican Clergyman. By the time Charles went to school and away from home, he was known as an exceptional student especially in math. He followed his father's educational path by becoming a student at Rugby and then Christ Church Oxford, with expectations that he would take Holy Orders into priesthood. However, for whatever reason he abandoned that path.
His health was not too great, he lost his hearing in one ear after getting a fever, and had a noticeable stammer, which in true Lewis Carroll fashion, he would be self-deprecating. However, this didn't stop him from being friends with or interacting with the known celebrities of the day, such as John Ruskin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George MacDonald or even Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It was George MacDonald the well know writer of fairy tales who's children wanted Dodgson to publish "Alice's Adventures Underground."
Two weeks before his 66th birthday, Dodgson got sick with Pneumonia at his sister's house in Guilford, Surrey England and passed away.
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