![Edwin Dodgson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Edwin_Dodgson.jpg)
Edwin Heron Dodgson (30 June 1846 – 3 January 1918) was a clergyman in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and the youngest brother of
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
, author of ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He is primarily remembered for his work as a missionary in the island of
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...
in the South Atlantic Ocean, the most remote human settlement in the world.
Early life and ordination
Edwin Heron Dodgson was born on 30 June 1846 in
Croft-on-Tees
Croft-on-Tees is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It has also been known as Croft Spa, and from which the former Croft Spa railway station took its name. It lies north-north west of the coun ...
,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, the eleventh and youngest child of the Rev.
Charles Dodgson, Rector of Croft and
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
of
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, and his wife Frances Jane Dodgson née Lutwidge. His second Christian name is a tribute to Canon George Heron, a Cheshire friend of Archdeacon Dodgson.
Edwin's mother died when he was four years old and he was raised by his maiden aunt Lucy Lutwidge. He was educated at
Twyford School, and in 1860 went to
Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...
, where the Headmaster was
Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple (30 November 1821 – 23 December 1902) was an English academic, teacher and churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902).
Early life
T ...
, who later became the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
. He worked briefly for the
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
before entering
Chichester Theological College in September 1871. The college was
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
, a tradition which Edwin held dear, to the chagrin of his elder brother Charles.
He was ordained
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
in 1873, and priest in 1874, and served his first curacy at
Odd Rode
Odd Rode is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It borders the Staffordshire parish of Kidsgrove, and includes the settlements of:
* Scholar Green
* ...
in the Diocese of
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
. Following this, he served as curate at
Helmsley
Helmsley is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town is located at the point where Ryedale leaves the moorland and joins the flat Vale of Pi ...
(1875–1877), and at All Saints,
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
(1877–1879). His subsequent ministry was one of self-sacrifice and dedication, marred by ill health and depression.
Zanzibar and Tristan da Cunha
Dodgson was appointed as Principal of the (
UMCA
The Universities' Mission to Central Africa (c.1857 - 1965) was a missionary society established by members of the Anglican Church within the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and Dublin. It was firmly in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of t ...
) Kiungani School in
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
in 1879, where he served under Bishop
Edward Steere
Edward Steere (1828 – 26 August 1882) was an English Anglican colonial bishop in the 19th century.
Life
Steere was educated at London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a ...
. However, as his brother Charles noted, "the
ague
Ague may refer to:
* Fever
* Malaria
* Agué, Benin
* Duck ague, a hunting term
See also
* Kan Ague, a residential area of Patikul, Sulu
Patikul, officially the Municipality of Patikul ( Tausūg: ''Kawman sin Patikul''; tl, Bayan ng Patikul ...
was too much for him there". In 1880 he was appointed by the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518).
It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...
(SPG) as missionary and school teacher to
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...
, a post which the Bishop of St Helena had been attempting to fill since 1866. Dodgson volunteered to fill the post and the SPG undertook to provide a stipend of £100 a year.
Tristan da Cunha is the most isolated human community in the world, from the nearest inhabited place,
Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
island. At the time, the population of Tristan da Cunha was about 100 and there was no regular transport to the island. The schooner ''Edward Vittery'' was chartered at a cost of £35 to take Dodgson from Saint Helena to Tristan. He landed safely on 25 February 1881. Unfortunately, a gale sprang up and the boat was driven ashore and wrecked at a spot later named in honour of the occasion as Down-Where-The-Minister-Land-His-Things, as it still appears on maps of the island. All of Dodgson's books (except 100 copies of the ''Mission Hymn Book''), the
harmonium, and most of his stores were lost, but the communion vessels were saved, as was a stone font.
Shortly after his arrival Dodgson noted that "There are now 107 persons on the island in sixteen families. They all speak English, slightly Yankeefied. I like them very much
..They live just like one large family
..Mostly the women can read a little, and some can write, but there is only one who can do both with any likelihood of being intelligible". He continued: "There are about forty children in the school, divided into four classes". With great effort he set about his major tasks as priest and school teacher. He remarked, "They are decidedly a religious people in their simple way." His brother Charles noted that "At Tristan he was monarch of all he surveyed and could carry on matters ecclesiastical exactly as he liked, which was delightful for such an extreme ritualist as he is".
In 1882 Dodgson was optimistic about his progress, and his reports to England reflect his enthusiasm and energy. During that year the Admiralty diverted ''HMS Diamond'' to Tristan to deliver books, school materials and a harmonium. With the aid of the harmonium Dodgson introduced daily choral services, even though at the time there was no church. He noted that the daily worship had a good attendance, "with an average congregation of 20 adults plus children" and the same year he noted "I have been able to supply everyone on the island who can read with a Bible, Prayer book and hymn book".
However, Dodgson was to lose his optimism. In 1884 he notes "Only three of the children show the smallest improvement in intelligence. I attribute this to the unnatural state of isolation in which they are living. It is simply impossible for you to realize the mindlessness of the children and young people and also of the grown-up people". He despaired of the situation, and remarked, "There is not the slightest reason for this island to be inhabited at all. It has been my daily prayer that God would open up some way for us all to leave the island". Thus he advocated the evacuation of Tristan da Cunha, and on this, he seriously disagreed with Peter Green, the principal spokesman for the island.
Dodgson served as SPG priest in Tristan from 1880 to 1884, when Bishop
Thomas Welby of Saint Helena granted him permission to return to England, having heard from a whaling captain of his "very depressed state of mind". He arrived back in England in February 1885, having paid for his own passage. On arrival in England, he was suffering from a concussion as a result of falling down a hatchway on board the ship. The injuries resulting from the fall were to plague him for many years.
In England, he continued to work for the well-being of the people of Tristan and he was ably assisted in this by his brother Charles. Their efforts to arrange for the migration of the inhabitants of Tristan, which included an interview with the Prime Minister,
Lord Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
, on December 1885, failed. At the beginning of 1886, Salisbury wrote that he considered the migration of islanders and cattle to be "entirely impracticable".
Fifteen working men, a large portion of the adult male population of Tristan, perished in a boat accident in 1885. When Dodgson learned of this he actively sought to aid the surviving inhabitants and the Colonial Office paid for his return to Tristan da Cunha on board ''HMS Thalia''. He arrived on the island on 4 August 1886. "I think it is my plain duty to throw in my lot with them and minister to their souls", he wrote. He remained at Tristan, for a time without any stipend, until December 1889, when again he had to return to England because of poor health. At that time he remarked, "I have not the slightest intention of going back to Tristan da Cunha. The intellect of the Tristanites is now so dwarfed by reason of their utter isolation that I do not think that I or anyone else could be of use to them. The only thing is to get them all away so that no more children may be brought up there". Tristan remained without a priest until 1906.
Cape Verde and St Helena
From Tristan, Dodgson moved to
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
, where he was the first person to hold the unusual post of SPG chaplain at
São Vicente (1890–1895). He, and his successor, the Rev. T. P. W. Thorman, found the work there discouraging. There was no church and the priest was obliged to use a room let for the purposes of worship. The principal work involved ministry to the English residents, mainly single young men in service of the Brazilian Submarine Telegraph Company.
By 1895, Charles Dodgson was actively seeking an English parish for Edwin and Edwin himself resolved to return to England about this time, with a view to being a prison chaplain. However, he changed his mind and in 1896 he succeeded the Rev. Stephen Ellis as Vicar of
St James Church in
Jamestown,
St Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
. St James is the oldest Anglican place of worship south of the equator, having been consecrated in 1772.
As at Tristan, so also at St James, Dodgson encouraged choral services and worked hard in the parish. Indeed, this was the only time in his ministry when Dodgson had his own parish church. It appears that his relationship with the elderly Bishop of St Helena was difficult. Another member of the clergy on the island wrote, "I am afraid that poor Mr. Dodgson is not the comfort to the Bishop that was anticipated".
Though not geographically large, the Jamestown parish was very hilly, and by 1898 Dodgson noted that he "did not feel equal to much locomotion", as his legs and back had been affected by ague in Zanzibar. He left St Helena in June 1899. He then returned to England, living initially with his sisters at a house called The Chestnuts in Guildford. In 1901, his doctor informed him that his difficulty with mobility was due to damage to the spinal cord and that he hoped to "try a galvanic battery" to assist a cure.
Final years
![Edwin Dodgson Grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Edwin_Dodgson_Grave.2015.jpg)
Dodgson worked as curate for the villages of
Willingale,
Shellow Bowells
Shellow Bowells (or occasionally misspelt as Shellow Bowels) is a village and former civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is situated to the west of Chelmsford, between the villages of Willingale on its westerly bord ...
, and
Berners Roding, in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, from 1902 to 1905. After leaving Essex he returned to the family home in
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
until 1909 when he moved to the Homes of St Barnabas,
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...
, an institution founded in 1895 by Canon
William Cooper to provide a home for poor retired clergy of the
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
tradition. He lived there until 1914 when, once more, he returned to Guildford.
Edwin Heron Dodgson died at The Chestnuts, Guildford. His grave is in the
Mount Cemetery
Mount Cemetery, also known as Guildford Cemetery, is a cemetery in Guildford, Surrey, England. It is the location of Booker's Tower.
Guildford Cemetery is surrounded by low-density houses with gardens and a covered reservoir beyond the east ...
in Guildford. He never married.
Tristan da Cunha has issued postage stamps commemorating Edwin Dodgson's arrival and ministry on the island.
Sources
* Edward Cannan, ''Churches of the South Atlantic Islands, 1502–1991'', (Oswestry, Shropshire: Anthony Nelson, 1992).
* ''The Letters of Lewis Carroll'', eds.
Morton N. Cohen
Morton Norton Cohen (27 February 192112 June 2017) was a Canadian-born American author and scholar who was a professor at City University of New York. He is best known for his studies of children's author Lewis Carroll including the 1995 biography ...
and
Roger Lancelyn Green, vols. I and II, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979).
External links
The Dodgson family*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodgson, Edwin H.
1846 births
1918 deaths
Alumni of Chichester Theological College
19th-century English Anglican priests
People educated at Rugby School
People from Richmondshire (district)
People educated at Twyford School
British expatriates in Cape Verde
Burials in Surrey
English Anglo-Catholics
Anglo-Catholic clergy
Anglo-Catholic missionaries
Dodgson family