anyone with an interest in Southwick or even lewis Caroll (his sister mary lived there)will be interested in this website for Southwick History and Preservation Society. http://www.rootsweb.com/~engshps/index.html Lewis Caroll visited his Wilcox cousins at whitburn. 'A Town Like Alice's' by Michael Bute is a very intersting book which tells of all the north east connections of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. regards Maureen Hurst

Maureen, Some aspects of the reported Lewis Carroll connection to Whitburn have me mildly puzzled. In "A literary Guide to North-East England (http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/humanities/cns/m-index.html), Alan Myers states : " Most of his famous poem 'Jabberwocky' which begins: 'Twas brillig and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.' was written on a visit to his Wilcox cousins in Whitburn, near Sunderland in 1855. Mrs Wilcox was the wife of the Collector of Customs in Sunderland; their house, High Croft, was later burned down. " The other day, when I perused the fiche images of the 1855 census of Whitburn parish, I could find no reference to any house called High Croft, nor to any Wilcox family, nor to anyone claiming to be a "Collector of Customs". Now, I would not be greatly surprised if, somehow, I just missed the Wilcox family, High Croft etc in my search. So if anyone has access to the 1855 census index for the region, I would be grateful if they could tell me if the "Wilcox cousins" are, in fact, listed as living in High Croft, Whitburn. As a secondary question - does anyone know just where in Whitburn this High Croft is thought to have been, and when it was burnt down? Tim S. (P.S. - Just imagine what my spellchecker does with Jabberwocky !) ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Hurst" <jmhurst@eastleake.net> To: <ENG-DUR-SUNDERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 11:54 PM Subject: [genealogy] [SUNDERLAND] Southwick and Lewis Caroll > anyone with an interest in Southwick or even lewis Caroll (his sister mary > lived there)will be interested in this website for Southwick History and > Preservation Society. > http://www.rootsweb.com/~engshps/index.html > > Lewis Caroll visited his Wilcox cousins at whitburn. > > 'A Town Like Alice's' by Michael Bute is a very intersting book which tells > of all the north east connections of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. > > regards > Maureen Hurst > > > > ==== ENG-DUR-SUNDERLAND Mailing List ==== > Sunderland L.D.S centre, > http://www.lds.org.uk/genealogy/fhc/sunderland.htm >