What Anglican office was Lewis Carroll ordained to?

Lewis Carroll was ordained to the Anglican office of deacon. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson received Anglican ordination at Christ Church Cathedral on 22 December 1861, while he was a mathematics lecturer and resident scholar at Oxford.

In the Church of England, the diaconate is the first stage of ordained ministry. A deacon may assist in worship and perform certain pastoral and liturgical duties, but does not have the full sacramental functions of a priest. Dodgson never advanced to priest’s orders, making “deacon” the precise answer rather than the broader description “clergyman.”

His ordination was connected with the requirements of his academic position and fellowship at Christ Church. Although he occasionally preached, Dodgson was not known as a parish priest and did not hold a benefice. The common mistake is to answer “priest,” since Carroll is often described generally as a churchman; historically, however, his formal Anglican office remained that of deacon.