Edwin H. Dodgson
Encyclopedia
Edwin Heron Dodgson a clergyman in the Church of England
, was the youngest brother of Charles L. Dodgson
(Lewis Carroll), author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
. He is primarily remembered for his work as a missionary in the island of Tristan da Cunha
in the South Atlantic Ocean
, the most remote human settlement in the world.
, the eleventh and youngest child of the Rev. Charles Dodgson, Vicar of Croft and Archdeacon
of Richmond
, and his wife Frances Jane Dodgson, née Lutwidge. His second Christian name is a tribute to Canon George Heron, a Cheshire friend of Archdeacon Dodgson.
Edwin's mother died when he was four years old and he was raised by his maiden aunt Lucy Lutwidge. He was educated at Twyford
and in 1860 he went to Rugby
, where the Headmaster was Frederick Temple
, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury
. He worked briefly for the Board of Trade
before entering Chichester
Theological College in September 1871. The college was Anglo-Catholic
, a tradition which Edwin held dear, to the chagrin of his elder brother Charles.
He was ordained deacon
in 1873, and priest
in 1874, and served his first curacy at Odd Rode
in the Diocese of Chester
. Following this he served as curate at Helmsley
(1875-1877), and at All Saints, Shrewsbury
(1877-1879). His subsequent ministry was one of self sacrifice and dedication, marred by ill health and depression.
in 1879, where he served under Bishop Edward Steere
. However, as his brother Charles noted, "the ague
was too much for him there". In 1880 he was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) as missionary and school teacher to Tristan da Cunha
a post which the Bishop of St Helena had been attempting to fill since 1866. Dodgson volunteered to fill the post and the SPG undertook to provide a stipend of £100 a year.
Tristan da Cunha is the most isolated human community in the world, 2173 km (1,350.2 mi) from the nearest inhabited place, Saint Helena
island. At the time, the population of Tristan da Cunha was about 100 and there was no regular transport to the island. The schooner Edward Vittery was chartered at a cost of £35 to take Dodgson from St Helena to Tristan. He landed safely on 25 February 1881. Unfortunately a gale sprang up and the boat was driven ashore and wrecked at a spot later named in honour of the occasion as Down-Where-The-Minister-Land-His-Things, as it still appears on maps of the island. All of Dodgson's books (except 100 copies of the Mission Hymn Book), the harmonium
, and most of his stores were lost, but the communion vessels were saved, as was a stone font.
Shortly after his arrival Dodgson noted that "There are now 107 persons on the island in sixteen families. They all speak English, slightly Yankeefied. I like them very much [...] They live just like one large family [...] Mostly the women can read a little, and some can write, but there is only one who can do both with any likelihood of being intelligible". He continued: "There are about forty children in the school, divided into four classes". With great effort he set about his major tasks as priest and school teacher. He remarked "They are decidedly a religious people in their simple way." His brother Charles noted that "At Tristan he was monarch of all he surveyed and could carry on matters ecclesiastical exactly as he liked, which was delightful for such an extreme ritualist as he is".
In 1882 Dodgson was optimistic about his progress, and his reports to England reflect his enthusiasm and energy. During that year the Admiralty diverted HMS Diamond to Tristan to deliver books, school materials and a harmonium. With the aid of the harmonium Dodgson introduced daily choral services, even though at the time there was no church. He noted that the daily worship had a good attendance, "with an average congregation of 20 adults plus children" and the same year he noted "I have been able to supply everyone on the island who can read with a Bible, Prayer book and hymn book".
However, Dodgson was to lose his optimism. In 1884 he notes "Only three of the children show the smallest improvement in intelligence. I attribute this to the unnatural state of isolation in which they are living. It is simply impossible for you to realize the mindlessness of the children and young people and also of the grown-up people". He despaired of the situation, and remarked, "There is not the slightest reason for this island to be inhabited at all. It has been my daily prayer that God would open up some way for us all to leave the island". Thus he advocated the evacuation of Tristan da Cunha, and on this he seriously disagreed with Peter Green, the principal spokesman for the island.
Dodgson served as SPG priest in Tristan from 1880 to 1884, when Bishop Thomas Welby of St Helena granted him permission to return to England, having heard from a whaling captain of his "very depressed state of mind". He arrived back in England in February 1885, having paid for his own passage. On arrival in England he was suffering from a concussion as a result of falling down a hatchway on board the ship. The injuries resulting from the fall were to plague him for many years.
In England he continued to work for the well-being of the people of Tristan and he was ably assisted in this by his brother Charles. Their efforts to arrange for the migration of the inhabitants of Tristan, which included an interview with the Prime Minister
, Lord Salisbury
, on December 1885, failed. At the beginning of 1886, Salisbury wrote that he considered the migration of islanders and cattle to be "entirely impracticable".
Fifteen working men, a large portion of the adult male population of Tristan, perished in a boat accident in 1885. When Dodgson learned of this he actively sought to aid the surviving inhabitants and the Colonial Office paid for his return to Tristan da Cunha on board HMS Thalia. He arrived on the island on 4 August 1886. "I think it is my plain duty to throw in my lot with them and minister to their souls", he wrote. He remained at Tristan, for a time without any stipend, until December 1889, when again he had to return to England because of poor health. At that time he remarked, "I have not the slightest intention of going back to Tristan da Cunha. The intellect of the Tristanites is now so dwarfed by reason of their utter isolation that I do not think that I or anyone else could be of use to them. The only thing is to get them all away so that no more children may be brought up there". Tristan remained without a priest until 1906.
, where he was the first person to hold the unusual post of SPG chaplain at São Vicente
(1890-1895). He, and his successor, the Rev. T. P. W. Thorman, found the work there discouraging. There was no church and the priest was obliged to use a room let for the purposes of worship. The principal work involved ministry to the English residents, mainly single young men in the service of the Brazilian Submarine Telegraph Company.
By 1895 Charles Dodgson was actively seeking an English parish for Edwin and Edwin himself resolved to return to England about this time, with a view to being a prison chaplain. However, he changed his mind and in 1896 he succeeded the Rev. Stephen Ellis as Vicar of St James Church
in Jamestown
, St Helena. St James is the oldest Anglican place of worship south of the equator, having been consecrated in 1772.
As at Tristan, so also at St James the Rev. Dodgson encouraged choral services and worked hard in the parish. Indeed this was the only time in his ministry when Dodgson had his own parish church. It appears that his relationship with the elderly Bishop of St Helena was difficult. Another member of the clergy on the island wrote, "I am afraid that poor Mr. Dodgson is not the comfort to the Bishop that was anticipated".
Though not geographically large, the Jamestown parish was very hilly and by 1898 Dodgson noted that he "did not feel equal to much locomotion" as his legs and back had been affected by ague in Zanzibar. He left St Helena in June 1899. He then returned to England, living initially with his sisters at The Chestnuts, Guildford. In 1901 his doctor informed him that his difficulty with mobility was due to damage in the spinal cord and that he hoped to "try a galvanic battery" to assist a cure.
Dodgson worked as curate for the villages of Willingale
, Shellow Bowells, and Berners Roding
, in Essex
, from 1902 to 1905. After leaving Essex he returned to the family home in Guildford
until 1909 when he moved to the Homes of St Barnabas, East Grinstead
, an institution founded in 1895 by Canon William Cooper to provide a home for poor retired clergy of the Anglo-Catholic tradition. He lived there until 1914 when, once more, he returned to Guildford.
Edwin Heron Dodgson died at The Chestnuts, Guildford. His grave is in Mount Cemetery, Guildford. He never married.
Tristan da Cunha has issued postage stamps commemorating Edwin Dodgson's arrival and ministry on the island.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, was the youngest brother of Charles L. Dodgson
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
(Lewis Carroll), author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. He is primarily remembered for his work as a missionary in the island of Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America...
in the South Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, the most remote human settlement in the world.
Early life and ordination
Edwin Dodgson was born in Croft-on-Tees, North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, the eleventh and youngest child of the Rev. Charles Dodgson, Vicar of Croft and Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
of Richmond
Richmond, North Yorkshire
Richmond is a market town and civil parish on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, England and is the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. It is situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and serves as the Park's main tourist centre...
, and his wife Frances Jane Dodgson, née Lutwidge. His second Christian name is a tribute to Canon George Heron, a Cheshire friend of Archdeacon Dodgson.
Edwin's mother died when he was four years old and he was raised by his maiden aunt Lucy Lutwidge. He was educated at Twyford
Twyford School
Twyford School is a co-educational, independent, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire.-History:Twyford claims to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom....
and in 1860 he went to Rugby
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
, where the Headmaster was Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple was an English academic, teacher, churchman and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1896 until his death.-Early life:...
, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. He worked briefly for the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
before entering Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
Theological College in September 1871. The college was Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism
The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
, a tradition which Edwin held dear, to the chagrin of his elder brother Charles.
He was ordained deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
in 1873, and priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in 1874, and served his first curacy at Odd Rode
Odd Rode
Odd Rode is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located near to Stoke-on-Trent, and includes the settlements of:*Scholar Green*Mow Cop*Mount Pleasant*Rode Heath*The Bank*Thurlwood...
in the Diocese of Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. Following this he served as curate at Helmsley
Helmsley
Helmsley is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. The town is located at the point where the valleys of Bilsdale and Ryedale leave the higher moorland and join the flat Vale of Pickering. It is situated on the River Rye and lies on the A170 road, east...
(1875-1877), and at All Saints, Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
(1877-1879). His subsequent ministry was one of self sacrifice and dedication, marred by ill health and depression.
Zanzibar and Tristan da Cunha
Dodgson was appointed as Principal of the (UMCA) Kiungani School in ZanzibarZanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
in 1879, where he served under Bishop Edward Steere
Edward Steere
The Rt Rev Edward Steere was a Colonial Bishop in the second half of the 19th century. He was born in 1828, educated at London University and ordained in 1850. After curacies in Devon and Lincolnshire he joined Bishop Tozer 7 years later. He was created Bishop of Nyasaland in 1874 and died on 26...
. However, as his brother Charles noted, "the ague
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
was too much for him there". In 1880 he was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) as missionary and school teacher to Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America...
a post which the Bishop of St Helena had been attempting to fill since 1866. Dodgson volunteered to fill the post and the SPG undertook to provide a stipend of £100 a year.
Tristan da Cunha is the most isolated human community in the world, 2173 km (1,350.2 mi) from the nearest inhabited place, Saint Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
island. At the time, the population of Tristan da Cunha was about 100 and there was no regular transport to the island. The schooner Edward Vittery was chartered at a cost of £35 to take Dodgson from St Helena to Tristan. He landed safely on 25 February 1881. Unfortunately a gale sprang up and the boat was driven ashore and wrecked at a spot later named in honour of the occasion as Down-Where-The-Minister-Land-His-Things, as it still appears on maps of the island. All of Dodgson's books (except 100 copies of the Mission Hymn Book), the harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, and most of his stores were lost, but the communion vessels were saved, as was a stone font.
Shortly after his arrival Dodgson noted that "There are now 107 persons on the island in sixteen families. They all speak English, slightly Yankeefied. I like them very much [...] They live just like one large family [...] Mostly the women can read a little, and some can write, but there is only one who can do both with any likelihood of being intelligible". He continued: "There are about forty children in the school, divided into four classes". With great effort he set about his major tasks as priest and school teacher. He remarked "They are decidedly a religious people in their simple way." His brother Charles noted that "At Tristan he was monarch of all he surveyed and could carry on matters ecclesiastical exactly as he liked, which was delightful for such an extreme ritualist as he is".
In 1882 Dodgson was optimistic about his progress, and his reports to England reflect his enthusiasm and energy. During that year the Admiralty diverted HMS Diamond to Tristan to deliver books, school materials and a harmonium. With the aid of the harmonium Dodgson introduced daily choral services, even though at the time there was no church. He noted that the daily worship had a good attendance, "with an average congregation of 20 adults plus children" and the same year he noted "I have been able to supply everyone on the island who can read with a Bible, Prayer book and hymn book".
However, Dodgson was to lose his optimism. In 1884 he notes "Only three of the children show the smallest improvement in intelligence. I attribute this to the unnatural state of isolation in which they are living. It is simply impossible for you to realize the mindlessness of the children and young people and also of the grown-up people". He despaired of the situation, and remarked, "There is not the slightest reason for this island to be inhabited at all. It has been my daily prayer that God would open up some way for us all to leave the island". Thus he advocated the evacuation of Tristan da Cunha, and on this he seriously disagreed with Peter Green, the principal spokesman for the island.
Dodgson served as SPG priest in Tristan from 1880 to 1884, when Bishop Thomas Welby of St Helena granted him permission to return to England, having heard from a whaling captain of his "very depressed state of mind". He arrived back in England in February 1885, having paid for his own passage. On arrival in England he was suffering from a concussion as a result of falling down a hatchway on board the ship. The injuries resulting from the fall were to plague him for many years.
In England he continued to work for the well-being of the people of Tristan and he was ably assisted in this by his brother Charles. Their efforts to arrange for the migration of the inhabitants of Tristan, which included an interview with the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Lord Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
, on December 1885, failed. At the beginning of 1886, Salisbury wrote that he considered the migration of islanders and cattle to be "entirely impracticable".
Fifteen working men, a large portion of the adult male population of Tristan, perished in a boat accident in 1885. When Dodgson learned of this he actively sought to aid the surviving inhabitants and the Colonial Office paid for his return to Tristan da Cunha on board HMS Thalia. He arrived on the island on 4 August 1886. "I think it is my plain duty to throw in my lot with them and minister to their souls", he wrote. He remained at Tristan, for a time without any stipend, until December 1889, when again he had to return to England because of poor health. At that time he remarked, "I have not the slightest intention of going back to Tristan da Cunha. The intellect of the Tristanites is now so dwarfed by reason of their utter isolation that I do not think that I or anyone else could be of use to them. The only thing is to get them all away so that no more children may be brought up there". Tristan remained without a priest until 1906.
Cape Verde and St Helena
From Tristan Dodgson moved to Cape VerdeCape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
, where he was the first person to hold the unusual post of SPG chaplain at São Vicente
São Vicente, Cape Verde
São Vicente , also Son Visent or Son Sent in Cape Verdean Creole, is one of the Barlavento islands of Cape Verde. It is located between the islands of Santo Antão and Santa Luzia, with the Canal de São Vicente separating it from Santo Antão.- Geography :The island is roughly rectangular in shape...
(1890-1895). He, and his successor, the Rev. T. P. W. Thorman, found the work there discouraging. There was no church and the priest was obliged to use a room let for the purposes of worship. The principal work involved ministry to the English residents, mainly single young men in the service of the Brazilian Submarine Telegraph Company.
By 1895 Charles Dodgson was actively seeking an English parish for Edwin and Edwin himself resolved to return to England about this time, with a view to being a prison chaplain. However, he changed his mind and in 1896 he succeeded the Rev. Stephen Ellis as Vicar of St James Church
St James, Jamestown
Saint James' Church is a church on the island of Saint Helena and is part of the Anglican Diocese of Saint Helena. It is situated in the capital Jamestown and is the oldest Anglican Church in the southern hemisphere; the present building was put up in 1774....
in Jamestown
Jamestown, Saint Helena
Jamestown is the capital and historic chief settlement of the island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. Located on the island's north-western coast, it is the island's port, with facilities for unloading goods delivered to the island, and the centre of the island's road and...
, St Helena. St James is the oldest Anglican place of worship south of the equator, having been consecrated in 1772.
As at Tristan, so also at St James the Rev. Dodgson encouraged choral services and worked hard in the parish. Indeed this was the only time in his ministry when Dodgson had his own parish church. It appears that his relationship with the elderly Bishop of St Helena was difficult. Another member of the clergy on the island wrote, "I am afraid that poor Mr. Dodgson is not the comfort to the Bishop that was anticipated".
Though not geographically large, the Jamestown parish was very hilly and by 1898 Dodgson noted that he "did not feel equal to much locomotion" as his legs and back had been affected by ague in Zanzibar. He left St Helena in June 1899. He then returned to England, living initially with his sisters at The Chestnuts, Guildford. In 1901 his doctor informed him that his difficulty with mobility was due to damage in the spinal cord and that he hoped to "try a galvanic battery" to assist a cure.
Final Years
Willingale, Essex
Willingale is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district, in the county of Essex, England. Other nearby settlements include Miller's Green, Shallow Bowells and Birds Green. Willingale has two churches, one called St Christopher, Willingale. and one called St Andrew's Church.- External...
, Shellow Bowells, and Berners Roding
Berners Roding
Berners Roding is a village in Essex, England....
, in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, from 1902 to 1905. After leaving Essex he returned to the family home in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
until 1909 when he moved to the Homes of St Barnabas, East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
, an institution founded in 1895 by Canon William Cooper to provide a home for poor retired clergy of the Anglo-Catholic tradition. He lived there until 1914 when, once more, he returned to Guildford.
Edwin Heron Dodgson died at The Chestnuts, Guildford. His grave is in Mount Cemetery, Guildford. He never married.
Tristan da Cunha has issued postage stamps commemorating Edwin Dodgson's arrival and ministry on the island.
Sources
- Edward Cannan, Churches of the South Atlantic Islands, 1502-1991, (Oswestry, Shropshire: Anthony Nelson, 1992). ISBN 0904614476
- The Letters of Lewis Carroll, eds. Morton N. CohenMorton N. CohenMorton Norton Cohen is an American author and scholar, and Professor Emeritus of the City University of New York, best known for his extensive studies of children's author Lewis Carroll, including his 1995 biography Lewis Carroll: A Biography.Cohen was born in Calgary, Canada, and grew on the...
and Roger Lancelyn Green, vols. I and II, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979). ISBN 019520090X