Thomas Vere Bayne (1829–1908) was an academic at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He was a friend of Charles Dodgson, better known as

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 ...

, the author of the ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' books.

Life

Bayne was the son of Thomas Vere Bayne, who had studied at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

and who was a master at Warrington School from 1828 to 1842. s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Bayne, Rev. Thomas Vere Bayne was born in 1829. From his childhood, he was a friend of Charles Dodgson: Thomas Vere Bayne was a friend of Dodgson's father

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and used to visit him at

Daresbury Daresbury is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Borough of Halton, Halton and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. At the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 census it had a population of 216, in ...

; the two sons went on to study and work at the same Oxford college. Bayne

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

as a member of Christ Church on 14 June 1848, and became a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(called a "Student" at Christ Church) in 1849. He obtained his BA degree in 1852 and his MA in 1855, and was an ordained

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest. From 1861 to 1882 he was Curator of Common Room in Christ Church, a post in which he was succeeded by Dodgson. He was university

Proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

in 1867, and became

Keeper of the Archives The position of Keeper of the Archives at the University of Oxford in England dates from 1634, when it was established by new statutes for the university brought in by William Laud ( Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the University) ...

in 1885. He died in 1908, sometime before the

Encaenia Encaenia (; ) is an academic or sometimes ecclesiastical ceremony, usually performed at colleges or universities. It generally occurs some time near the annual ceremony for the general conferral of degrees to students. The word is from Latin, mean ...

ceremony on 25 June, at which he was remembered. His estate amounted to £138,000. In 1996, the writer Richard Wallace proposed a theory in his book ''

Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend ''Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend'' is a 1996 book by Richard Wallace (author), Richard Wallace in which Wallace proposed a theory that British author Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles L. Dodgson (1832–1898), and his colleague Th ...

'' that Dodgson and Bayne were responsible for the

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

murders. The theory was based on anagrams from two of Carroll's works. However, the theory has been criticised as seriously flawed (not least because they have alibis for some of the murders, and both had problems with their health), and Dodgson and Bayne are not generally regarded as likely suspects.Stan Russo, ''The Jack the Ripper suspects: persons cited by investigators and theorists'', McFarland & Co., 2004, , p. 38

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayne, Thomas Vere 1829 births 1908 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford 19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests Keepers of the Archives of the University of Oxford Jack the Ripper suspects