July 4 in Victorian History
What the Victorians were up to on this date, year by remarkable year.
1862
The golden afternoon that made Alice
On a drowsy summer's day, Oxford don Charles Dodgson rows up the Thames with the three Liddell sisters. To pass the time he spins a tale of a girl named Alice who follows a white rabbit underground. Alice Liddell begs him to write it down -- and Wonderland is born.
1884
France gives America the Statue of Liberty
In Paris, on American Independence Day, France formally presents the Statue of Liberty to the United States. Bartholdi's colossal copper lady -- Liberty Enlightening the World -- will be shipped across the Atlantic in 350 pieces. She is dedicated in New York harbour two years later.