Who rowed with Lewis Carroll and the Liddell sisters on the 1862 Alice boat trip?

Robinson Duckworth rowed with Lewis Carroll and the Liddell sisters on the 4 July 1862 boat trip that inspired Alice’s adventures.

Duckworth was a fellow Oxford clergyman and a friend of Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. The party travelled along the River Isis from Folly Bridge toward Godstow, with Henry Liddell’s daughters Lorina, Alice, and Edith aboard. Carroll told the children a fantastical story during the journey.

The trip became associated with the “golden afternoon” described in the opening poem of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Duckworth’s surname also likely inspired the Duck character, one of the animals Alice meets during the Caucus Race.

A common mix-up is to identify Carroll himself as the person who rowed the boat. Carroll was present and told the story, but Duckworth is specifically recorded as the rowing companion. The journey’s date, 4 July 1862, is also distinct from the publication date of the novel, which appeared in 1865.