Robinson Duckworth

Who was Robinson Duckworth?

The Reverend Robinson Duckworth DD, CVO, VD, was present in the original boating expedition of 4 July 1862 during which Alice's Adventures were first told by Lewis Carroll.

He is represented by the Duck in the book, a play on his last name.

Duckworth was the second son of Robinson Duckworth Sr of Liverpool and his wife Elizabeth. He was educated at the Royal Institution School in Liverpool, and later at University College, Oxford, where he took his BA in 1857. He was a member of the Oxford Choral Society and a renowned singer. He took his MA in 1859, and his BD and DD in 1879. He was an Assistant Master at Marlborough College from 1857 to 1860. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford from 1860 to 1876, where, from 1866 to 1870, he was Instructor and the Governor to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Queen Victoria’s youngest son. In 1864 he was appointed Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Peterborough.

While he was at Oxford Duckworth helped to row Alice Liddell and her sister on the river, returning from a picnic. In the boat was his friend Lewis Carroll who related for the first time his story which became "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".