Theophilus Carter (1824 – 21 December 1904) was an eccentric British furniture dealer who may have been an inspiration for the illustration by Sir

John Tenniel John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's characters the

Mad Hatter The Hatter (called Hatta in ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is often referred to as The Mad Hatter ...

in his 1865 novel ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' and Hatta in the 1871 sequel ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...

''.

Inventor and craftsman

Carter was born in Oxford, the son of Thomas Carter and Harriet ''née'' Eldridge. Some writers claim that Carter was a

servitor In certain university, universities (including some Colleges of the University of Oxford, colleges of University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh), a servitor was an undergraduate student who received free accommodation (and some free mea ...

at Christ Church, one of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

's colleges during the 1850s and 1860s, at the same time that

was there. However, there is no evidence for this claim (see below). It is claimed by some sources that Carter invented The Alarm Clock Bed, exhibited at the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

of 1851, and which tipped out the sleeper at waking-up time into a tub of cold water.''

The Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...

'' 24 May 2009 pg 5 However, while an alarm clock bed was indeed displayed at the Exhibition – in fact two were – Carter's name is lacking in both the Exhibition's catalogue and any other known documentation. He was a cabinet-maker and owned a furniture and upholstery shop at 48–49

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

; from 1875 to 1883 at No. 48, and from 1861 to 1894 at No.49, where he employed five men. Census records for 1881 show that Carter lived above this shop with his wife, Mary Anne Carter, daughter, grand-daughter and two servants.

Family

In 1846 Carter married Mary Ann Clarkson (1822–1887), two years his senior, and had the following children: # Thomas (b. 1847 in Oxford) # John (b. 1849 in Oxford) # Harriet E (b. 1851 in Oxford) # William (b. 1855 in Oxford) # Frederick (b. 1860 in Oxford; he later married Laura Emma Deacon) According to the 1901 census in that year Carter was still living in Oxford and was married to an Anne Carter (born 1839).

The Hatter

It is often claimed that Carter is

's inspiration for the character of the

Hatter Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. ...

, due to his habit of standing in the door of his shop in

wearing a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

on the back of his head. In 1935 H. W. Greene wrote a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' asserting that Carroll had Tenniel model his drawing of the Mad Hatter on Carter. According to Greene, Carter "was the doubtless unconscious model for the Mad Hatter in '

' icas depicted by Tenniel, who was brought down to Oxford by the author, as I have heard, on purpose to see him. The likeness was unmistakable." A few days later, the Reverend W. Gordon Baillie disputed the notion that Carter did not know he had been the model for the Mad Hatter:Hancher, Michael, ''The Tenniel Illustrations to the "Alice" Books'', published by Ohio University Press (1985) pg 101

"Your correspondent, Mr. H.W. Greene, thinks that Theophilus Carter was unaware that he figured in "Through the Looking Glass" icBut all Oxford called him "The Mad Hatter," and surely his friends, or enemies, must have chaffed him about it. He would stand at the door of his furniture shop in the High, sometimes in an apron, always with a top-hat at the back of his head, which, with a well-developed nose and a somewhat receding chin, made him an easy target for the caricaturist. The story went that Mr. Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll"), thinking T. C. had imposed upon him, took this revenge. In justice to the man's memory, I may say that I possess a carved oak armchair which I bought from him, second-hand, 50 years ago. It is as good as ever, and the price was very moderate."

Further to this correspondence, W. J. Ryland, who had originally mentioned Carter in connection with the clockwork bed, testified that he had not known "that Carter was the original of the 'Mad Hatter,' but on looking again at the Tenniel drawing I see it is he to the life. To me," he went on, "he was the living image of the late W. E. Gladstone, and, being well aware of the fact, was always careful to wear the high collar and black stock so often depicted in '' Punch'' in cartoons of the 'Grand Old Man." All three witnesses agreed that Carter looked like Tenniel's

. Further, according to Baillie the resemblance was widely noticed, but the explanation of this resemblance is clearly based on hearsay. Over the years, the Carter legend has often been retold, but no evidence has come to light, either in Carroll's diaries, letters, or elsewhere, that Carroll ever brought Tenniel to Oxford for any purpose. According to Dodgson's nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, who wrote a biography of his uncle in 1898, during Carroll's undergraduate days at Christ Church he had a place at a dining table along with an unidentified person who was the model for the

. The author Derek Hudson, in his biography of Carroll, believed that Collingwood's reference to a model for the Mad Hatter must be referring to Carter. In the first edition of his biography of Carroll he claimed that Carter was "once of Christ Church" and "later a furniture dealer in the High."

Roger Lancelyn Green Roger Gilbert Lancelyn Green (2 November 1918 – 8 October 1987) was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic. He had a positive influence on his friend, C.S. Lewis, by encouraging him to publish ''The Lion, the ...

failed to find Carter listed in '' Alumni Oxonienses'' and concluded that he "may simply have waited" on Carroll's table, and identified Carter as "at one time a servitor at Christ Church and later a furniture dealer with a shop in the High at Oxford." For the second edition of his biography, Hudson revised his description to come into line with Green's, now stating that Carter was "once a servitor of Christ Church" before he became a furniture dealer. However, there is no evidence that either Collingwood or Greene was right about the Mad Hatter, let alone that they both were. Theophilus Carter grave Holywell 2024

In his reference Collingwood seems to be claiming that the model for the

was an undergraduate colleague of Carroll's, and not a waiter. "In those days," he wrote, "the undergraduates dining in hall were divided into 'messes.' Each mess consisted of about half a dozen men, who had a table to themselves. In Mr. Dodgson's mess were Philip Pusey (son of

Edward Pusey Edward Bouverie Pusey (; 22 August 180016 September 1882) was an English Anglican cleric, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement, with interest ...

, the theologian), the late Rev. G. C. Woodhouse, and, among others, one who still lives in 'Alice in Wonderland' as the 'Hatter.' " Theophilus Carter died in 1904 and was buried in Oxford's

Holywell Cemetery Holywell Cemetery lies behind St Cross Church, Oxford, St Cross Church in St Cross Road, Oxford, England, south of Holywell Manor on Manor Road, Oxford, Manor Road and north of Longwall Street, in the parish of Holywell, Oxford, Holywell. Histo ...

(Plot G77). He was buried with his granddaughter, Bertha Mary, aged 1 year (1882–1883).

References

External links

Lewis Carroll's Oxford Contemporaries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Theophilus British inventors People from Oxford 1824 births 1904 deaths Lewis Carroll Burials at Holywell Cemetery