Liddell received his education at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford. He gained a double first degree in 1833, then became a college tutor, and was ordained in 1838.[5]
Liddell was Headmaster of Westminster School from 1846 to 1855. Meanwhile, his life work, the great lexicon (based on the German work of Franz Passow), which he and Robert Scott began as early as 1834, had made good progress, and the first edition of Liddell and Scott's Lexicon appeared in 1843. It immediately became the standard Greek–English dictionary, with the 8th edition published in 1897.[5]
As Headmaster of Westminster Liddell enjoyed a period of great success, followed by trouble due to the outbreak of fever and cholera in the school. In 1855 he accepted the deanery of Christ Church, Oxford. In the same year he brought out his History of Ancient Rome and took a very active part in the first Oxford University Commission. His tall figure, fine presence and aristocratic mien were for many years associated with all that was characteristic of Oxford life. Coming just at the transition period when the "old Christ Church," which Pusey strove so hard to preserve, was inevitably becoming broader and more liberal, it was chiefly due to Liddell that necessary changes were effected with the minimum of friction.
In 1859 Liddell welcomed the then Prince of Wales when he matriculated at Christ Church, being the first holder of that title who had matriculated since Henry V.[5] While Liddell was Dean of Christ Church, he arranged for the building of a new choir school and classrooms for the staff and pupils of Christ Church Cathedral School on its present site. Before then the school was housed within Christ Church itself.[citation needed]
In July 1846, Liddell married Lorina Reeve (1826–1910), with whom he had nine children including Alice Liddell (1852–1934) of Lewis Carroll fame.
In conjunction with Sir Henry Acland, Liddell did much to encourage the study of art at Oxford, and his taste and judgment gained him the admiration and friendship of Ruskin. In 1891, owing to advancing years, he resigned the deanery. The last years of his life were spent at Ascot, where he died on 18 January 1898.[5] Two roads in Ascot, Liddell Way and Carroll Crescent honour the relationship between Henry Liddell and Lewis Carroll.
Liddell was an Oxford "character" in later years. He figures in contemporary undergraduate doggerel:[6]
I am the Dean, this is Mrs Liddell.
She plays first, I, second fiddle.
She is the Broad,
I am the High –
We are the University.
The Victorian journalist, George W. E. Russell (1853–1919), conveys something of Liddell's image:[7]
The Vice-Chancellor who matriculated me [1872] was the majestic Liddell, who, with his six feet of stately height draped in scarlet, his 'argent aureole' of white hair, and his three silver maces borne before him, always helped me to understand what Sydney Smith meant when he said, of some nonsensical proposition, that no power on earth, save and except the Dean of Christ Church, should induce him to believe it.
A Greek-English Dictionary Based on the German Work of Francis Passow, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1843, and numerous editions of the same, including abridgments for student use, written with Robert Scott.
His mother was the former Charlotte Lyon (1785–1871), a daughter of Thomas Lyon (1741–1796) (who was the youngest son of the 8th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne) and the former Mary Wren (died 1811).
Three of Liddell's children (l to r) Lorina, Edith and Alice, photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron in 1872. The central figure is Charles Hay Cameron as King Lear.
On 2 July 1846, Henry married Lorina Reeve (3 March 1826 – 25 June 1910). They were parents of ten children:
Edward Henry Liddell – also known as Harry (6 September 1847 – 14 June 1911).
Lorina Charlotte 'Ina' Liddell (11 May 1849 – 29 October 1930); married William Baillie Skene in 1874.
James Arthur Charles Liddell (28 December 1850 – 27 November 1853).
Alice Pleasance Liddell (4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), who was the inspiration for the children's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She married Reginald Gervis Hargreaves, a former student from Christ Church and an English cricketer, had three sons with two being killed in World War I.
^The Foreign Office List and Diplomatic and Consular Year Book for 1908, edited by Godfrey E.P. Hertslet Liddell, Lionel C. .. Consul at Lyons Transferred to Copenhagen
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Liddell, Henry George". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 588.
Media related to Henry George Liddell at Wikimedia Commons
