Robinson Duckworth

The Reverend Robinson Duckworth DD, CVO, VD, (4 December 1834 – 20 September 1911) was present on the original boating expedition of 4 July 1862 during which Alice's Adventures were first told by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). He is represented by the Duck in the book, a play on his last name.

He officiated at the funeral of Charles Darwin in 1882.

Duckworth was the second son of Robinson Duckworth Sr of Liverpool and his wife Elizabeth. He was educated at the Royal Institution School in Liverpool, and later at University College, Oxford, where he took his BA in 1857. He was a member of the Oxford Choral Society and a renowned singer. He took his MA in 1859, and his BD and DD in 1879. He was an Assistant Master at Marlborough College from 1857 to 1860. From 1860 to 1876 he was a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, where, from 1866 to 1870, he was Instructor and Governor to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Queen Victoria's youngest son. In 1864 he was appointed Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Peterborough.

While he was at Oxford Duckworth helped to row Alice Liddell and her sisters (daughters of Dr Liddell, Dean of Christ Church) on the river, returning from a picnic. In the boat was his friend Lewis Carroll who related for the first time his story which became "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Robinson was immortalized as the Duck in the Jury Box and the Duck in the Pool of Tears in the book.

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