The black-and-white images here come from The Strand Magazine (see bibliography), and have been added by Jacqueline Banerjee, along with material from the article in which they appear, and details from the account of Duckworth on the Westminster Abbey website. The image of the Rev. Duckworth's book is reproduced here by kind permission of Andrew Cox Rare Books. You may use the other images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
The Rev. Duckworth aged 25,
from a photograph.
Canon Robinson Duckworth (1834-1911) was a prominent churchman with connections to the royal family — prominent enough in 1895 to be featured in the Strand Magazine series "Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of Their Lives." Here, he was introduced as "the second son of the late Robinson Duckworth, Esq., of Liverpool," and described as having been "born in 1834, elected to an open scholarship at University College, Oxford, in 1853," and then as having "graduated B.A. in first class classical honours in 1857." With this sterling academic background, he was "elected a Fellow of Trinity, and was Assistant Master at Marlborough College from 1858 to 1860." Afer his stint at Marlborough, Duckworth took up an appointment as Tutor at Trinity College, a post he held until 1866. /p>
No mention is made in this brief account of his early career of the young Oxford tutor's close friendship with the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. Yet it is in that connection that he is best remembered now. The two Oxford men shared a number of the crucial river boat-trips between Oxford-Nunehan-Godalming during the summer of 1862, when the three young daughters of their superior Dean Liddell were first enchanted by hearing Dodgson's stories — the very ones that later gave rise to the children's classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Duckworth himself first came to public attention in 1866, when he was appointed as tutor to Prince Leopold, then aged thirteen. At that time he encouraged a curious and very Victorian hobby: one of his techniques for broadening the new pupil's interests was with the collecting of autographs of famous people. This was already a popular hobby in the circle around Carroll, who had himself aided young Alice Liddell and her sisters with their "crest books," containing letterheads snipped from the correspondence of prominent people (Diaries 4: 171-7). Carroll was very useful here. Thanks to his connections with the cultural élite, his contributions to Duckworth for the young Prince included names such as George MacDonald, Charlotte Yonge, and artists Arthur Hughes and William Holman Hunt.
The Rev. Duckworth aged 36,
"with the late Duke of Albany."
One significant letter which thus passed between Carroll and Duckworth, and from a now largely missing correspondence, was from Carroll's own dealings with his illustrator John Tenniel. This concerned the pictures for a new venture, the "Mad Tea Party," an episode originated by Carroll only after the river trips and oral phase of his
The Reverend Duckworth's career continued to flourish. In 1867 he was appointed Governor to His Royal Highness Prince Leopold, a post he held for three years. The Strand account then brings readers up to date with his subsequent career:
On his retirement in 1870 he was appointed Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen, and presented to the Crown living of St. Mark's, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. He was appointed a Canon of Westminster in succession to the late Rev. Charles Kingsley in March, 1875. In the same year he was appointed Honorary Chaplain to the Prince of Wales, and in that capacity accompanied His Royal Highness to India.
The mention of Kingsley here reminds us that this really was the golden age of children's literature, when not only Carroll's Alice books and Kingsley's The Water Babies were published, but Duckworth's own children's book, Through the Holy Land (1900) appeared. The latter was published later by Raphael Tuck.
Left: "Present day" (1905), the Rev. Duckworth from a photograph by Hermann Ernst, St John's Wood. Right: Cover image of his book, by kind permission of Andrew Cox Rare Books.
Fame is a strange thing. For all the honours heaped on him, including the CVO (Commander of the Royal Victorian Order) endowed on him on 11 August 1902, and his burial and memorial window in Westminster Abbey, Duckworth is best remembered now not for having been "For thirty six years Canon of Westminster, Sub Dean 16th Jan 1895 for sixteen years" (as it says on the memorial window), but as the Duck in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:
—I proceed [says the Mouse]. "Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable—"
"Found what?" said the Duck.
"Found it," the Mouse replied rather crossly: "of course you know what 'it' means."
"I know what 'it' means well enough, when I find a thing," said the Duck: "it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?" [The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, Ch. III]
Incidentally, this is not a teasing reference: Duckworth's own crest, shown on the memorial window in the Abbey itself, and based on the design of his own bookplate, proudly features a black duck on a wheatsheaf, and the motto "Perseverentia."
Links to Related Material
- A Lewis Carroll Chronology 1832-1898
- Bertie's Progress: The Prince of Wales in India, 1875-76 (in two parts)
- St Mark's Hamilton Terrace, where Duckworth was the incumbent from 1870-1906
Bibliography
Carroll, Lewis. Lewis Carroll's Diaries. The Private Journals of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Ed. Edward Wakeling, vols. 4 and 5. Lewis Carroll Society, 1997, 1999.
"Robinson Duckworth: Priest/Minister." Westminster Abbey. Web. 9 February 2023.
Strand Magazine Vol IX (Jan. - June 1895): 185. Internet Archive, contributed by magazine_rack. Web. 9 February 2023.
Created 8 February 2023