14 October 2007
A little link with Blackhills
I wrote a few entries back about W. Aytoun of Bon Gaultier fame (or at least, 19th century Bon Gaultier fame). I recently heard from one of the descendants of Lewis Carroll's brother Wilfred, who said Aytoun had died in the very house he now lives in, Blackhills, in Scotland. From its website Blackhills looks like a fab mansion and it had apparently been rented out from the Duke of Fife and belonged to the royal family until early in the 20th century
As Aytoun's verse so obviously influenced Carroll, Carroll would probably have been interested to hear he had died. How much more interested would he be to know that the house he died in would one day be inhabited by a member of his own family? That's a question - I don't know the answer to but I dare say that, being a teeny bit of a snob, he'd have liked the idea of the family owning a house which had once belonged to royalty!
As Aytoun's verse so obviously influenced Carroll, Carroll would probably have been interested to hear he had died. How much more interested would he be to know that the house he died in would one day be inhabited by a member of his own family? That's a question - I don't know the answer to but I dare say that, being a teeny bit of a snob, he'd have liked the idea of the family owning a house which had once belonged to royalty!
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