JOHN WITHERIDGE, a former Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Senior Chaplain at Eton, and Headmaster of Charterhouse, offers us a short biography of Henry Liddell, similar in length to his life of Archbishop Tait (Feature, 7 January 2022) and half the length of his excellent life of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (Book, 26 July 2013). Economy of scale has benefits when the author is this skilled. And those who want more can always look for Henry L. Thompson’s memoir of 1899, in which Ruskin and others are given more space.
Whereas Thompson does not even mention Alice Liddell, she and Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) are discussed by Witheridge, but briefly: his real interest is in ecclesiastical and academic history. Liddell was born into the minor aristocracy in 1811. He suffered the indignities of life at the Charterhouse alongside William Thackeray, him of the broken nose. At Christ Church (“the House”), Liddell’s academic excellence was recognised, and he chose serious-minded friends. Elected a stipendiary Student while still an undergraduate, he went on to win a double first and stayed on for further study.
He was appointed to a tutorship in 1836, the year in which he was ordained deacon, and ten years later became a university Proctor. His preaching in Oxford was well received at a time of great excitement in the university. While not unsympathetic to the views of the Tractarians, he disapproved of their partisanship and eschewed theological controversy.
His ability as an amateur artist, combined with an interest in the building of museums and galleries, will have enhanced his standing with the Prince Consort, who responded to his preaching in Whitehall by appointing him one of his domestic chaplains in 1846. Meanwhile, Liddell had joined Robert Scott in the famous project that was to dominate his scholarly career: the compilation of their Greek-English Lexicon.
Alamy“Christ Church” (Liddell) in a Vanity Fair cartoon by Ape from 1875
Modelling themselves on the work of Professor Franz Passow in Germany, Liddell and Scott offered a kind of biographical history of every Greek word, a laborious endeavour that inspired Murray and The Oxford English Dictionary. Most of the work was done by Liddell, who would turn to the Lexicon in every spare moment, producing seven further revised editions, all of which sold well. The dry and mechanical methods inculcated by Russell of the Charterhouse stood him in good stead.
In an interlude of ten years (1845-55), Liddell happily became married and appointed head master of Westminster, the drains of which endangered the lives of his wife and growing family. He taught Greek to the sixth form, building an awesome reputation, not least by his Olympian height and deep voice, exercised only when necessary. But his and Lorina’s illnesses, the death of their son, and tensions with the Dean and Chapter made the prospect of change attractive. Having served on the Oxford Commission, where he proved to be an effective voice for reform, he succeeded Thomas Gaisford as Dean of Christ Church in 1855.
Witheridge entitles his richest chapter “Every Inch a Dean”. In it, he argues that Liddell fulfilled Canon Jelf’s checklist as “a ripe scholar and apt to teach, but a thorough gentlemen . . . of sound judgment, unflinching firmness, good temper, courteous manners, business habits, incorruptible integrity”. The story of Liddell’s building projects, university reforms (he also became Vice-Chancellor), involvement with the Clarendon Press, and extensive dealings with royalty is told with aplomb. Here is a good read.
Dr Michael Wheeler is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton and the author of The Year That Shaped the Victorian Age: Lives, loves and letters of 1845 (Books, 31 March 2023).
Alice’s Father: The Life of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford
John Witheridge
Gracewing £20
(978-0-85244-865-6)
Church Times Bookshop £18
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