George MacDonald (the pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson); it was MacDonald's advice, and the enthusiastic reception of "Alice" by MacDonald's many sons and daughters, that convinced Carroll to submit "Alice" for publication. Carroll, one of the finest Victorian photographers, also created photographic portraits of several of the MacDonald children. MacDonald was also friends with John Ruskin, and served as a go-between in Ruskin's long courtship with Rose La Touche. While in America he was befriended by Longfellow and Walt Whitman. As hinted above, MacDonald's use of fantasy as a literary medium for exploring the human condition greatly influenced a generation of notable
Charles Dodgson (priest) College, Oxford, and who was a friend of Dodgson, used to walk over to visit Daresbury on Sundays, sometimes helping with the church services. Bayne would bring his son Vere, who became a lifelong friend of the young Charles Lutwidge. Other friends and visitors included Richard Durnford, Rector of Middleton, Lancashire; Francis Egerton, Member of Parliament for South Lancashire and John Wilson Patten, MP for North Lancashire. Dodgson was concerned about the canal workers on the Bridgewater Canal running past his parish. Together with Egerton, who was a wealthy local landowner, he converted a barge into a floating chapel, moored