Thanks to its fast-paced exchange of jokes and nonsense-and thanks to the long-lasting popularity of both the book and the numerous adaptations of it-the Mad Hatter’s tea party is one of the most famous scenes in all of children’s literature. The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this but all he said was “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” “You should learn not to make personal remarks,” Alice said with some severity: “It’s very rude.” He had been looking at Alice for quite some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.

“Your hair wants cutting,” said the Hatter. “There’s plenty of room!” said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. “No room! No room!” they cried out when they saw Alice coming. The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it. It fetched the huge sum of £15,400 at auction – almost four times the reserve price.In chapter 7 of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice sits down for tea at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, flanked by the March Hare and the snoozing dormouse: Reginald never recovered from the shock of their loss and died in 1926.Īlice struggled with the cost of maintaining Cuffnells on her own and was forced to sell some of her Alice memorabilia, including the manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground given to her by Dodgson so many years ago.

A monument to them can be found in the baptistry at the Church of St Michael and All Angels in Lyndhurst. Tragedy struck during World War I when the couple lost two of their sons, Alan and Leopold. She is said to have found being the original storybook Alice something of a burden. Alice became a society heiress and was the first president of Emery Down Women’s Institute. His fantastic stories were made up to entertain young Alice and her sisters on a boat outing and formed the basis for Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, the first draft of the Alice stories, which went on to become the most popular children’s books in England.Īlice’s connection with the New Forest began in 1880 after she married wealthy Reginald Hargreaves, who had inherited the Cuffnells country estate near Lyndhurst. Under her married name of Alice Hargreaves, she came to live in Lyndhurst and was a society hostess.Īlice was four years old when the author, whose real name was Charles Dodgson, became a close family friend. Alice Pleasance Liddell (1852 – 1934) was the little girl who inspired Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Alice in wonderland lewis carroll