Which illness caused Lewis Carroll's death in 1898?

Lewis Carroll died from pneumonia in 1898.

Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the English author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. He died on 14 January 1898, at the age of 65, at his sisters’ home, The Chestnuts, in Guildford, Surrey. Contemporary summaries describe the immediate illness as pneumonia following influenza.

That wording explains a frequent source of confusion. Influenza preceded the fatal pneumonia, but pneumonia is the illness normally given as the cause of death and is the canonical answer to this quiz question. Bronchitis and tuberculosis are not the standard accounts of Carroll’s death.

Carroll’s final illness came after years of scholarly and creative work. He had remained associated with Christ Church, Oxford, where he taught mathematics and lived for much of his adult life. His funeral took place at nearby St Mary’s Church in Guildford, and he was later buried at Mount Cemetery.