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The Lewis Carroll Society was formed in 1969 with the aim of encouraging research into the life and works of Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). This includes works such as 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Alice Through the Looking-Glass', 'The Hunting of the Snark', his poetry, his logic, his puzzle books, and his photography. The Society has members around the world, including many leading libraries and institutions, authors, researchers and many who simply enjoy Carroll's books and want to find out more about the man and his work.

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EDWARD WAKELING (1946-2023) (Scroll down for memorial details)
Edward Wakeling portrait
Photo: Sarah Stanfield

It is with great sadness that the President, Chair and Trustees share the news that Edward Wakeling, a much-loved and respected friend and colleague, has died at the age of 77 after a prolonged period of failing health.

Edward joined The Lewis Carroll Society in 1975 and, over the years, served on the Society's Committee variously as Secretary, Chair and Treasurer. He was also a frequent speaker at Society events and contributor to its journal, Jabberwocky, later The Carrollian.

One of the great Carrollians, Edward progressed from being a passionate admirer of Carroll's multi-faceted talents to an avid collector of his works and, through much dedicated study and research, to being acknowledged among the world's leading scholars of the life and work of those twin-identities, Lewis Carroll and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

In addition to numerous articles and papers – along with delightful collections of Carrollian games and puzzles – Edward undertook the gargantuan task for the Lewis Carroll Society of editing Lewis Carroll's Diaries in 10 volumes transcribed and annotated from the original manuscripts held at the British Library. For The Lewis Carroll Society of North America, he edited the first volume of The Complete Pamphlets of Lewis Carroll.

Numbered among his many books, are important volumes devoted to Carroll's involvement with photography, among them, Lewis Carroll, Photographer: The Princeton University Library Albums (2002) in collaboration with Roger Taylor, and his magnum opus, The Photographs of Lewis Carroll: A Catalogue Raisonné (2015).

In 2003, with fellow scholar, Morton N Cohen, Edward wrote Lewis Carroll & His Illustrators: Collaborations & Correspondence 1865-1898; and, as recently as 2020, he collaborated with Caroline Luke on The Life of Edwin Dodgson: Brother of Lewis Carroll and Missionary to the South Atlantic Islands.

With Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle (2014) he provided one of the most rounded portraits of our author, being at pains to point out that, far from being – as often portrayed – the shy, reclusive don, Dodgson was, in fact, 'a man about town', often frequenting the theatre and mixing freely with radical artists, poets and publishers.

Despite his professional undertakings, Edward was ever generous with his time and knowledge to others researching Carrollian topics; no matter how trifling the query, he would always answer promptly and concisely.

Like Dodgson, Edward was a teacher of mathematics, which he keenly promoted together with logic, which in 1978 had been the subject of his earliest publication, Logic of Lewis Carroll: A Study of Lewis Carroll's Contribution to Logic, His Logical Discoveries and His Endeavours to Teach the Subject to Children. But he also gleefully revelled in Carrollian nonsense, especially that found in The Hunting of the Snark, in honour of which he founded The Universal Snark Club for the recitation and celebration of Carroll's enigmatic 'Agony in Eight Fits' at an annual dinner!

A modest, gentle man, Edward will be missed by all who knew him – especially by Carrollians and, of course, his fellow Snark-hunters.

Edward's memorial was held on Monday 16 October at St Mary's Church, Priory Lane, Clifford, Herefordshire.