The Grinning Cheshire Cat

The Cheshire Cat appears in Alice in Wonderland (or, more properly, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland") which was first published in 1866. The cat was apparently a late addition to the story. It belongs to the Duchess and is, of course, known for its grin. It combines this with an infuriatingly twisted sense of logic - Carroll was very interested in symbolic logic and would have enjoyed using apparent logic to produce nonsense.

It is, of course, for its disappearance that the Cheshire Cat is best known. At one point it simply fades away and all that is left is its grin:

"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice; "but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!"

Alice in Wonderland was inspired by a boating trip Carroll took along with a friend and three young local girls. During the trip Carroll made up stories to tell the girls and one of the characters in these stories was named Alice - since one of the girls was Alice Pleasance Liddell.

Much of the content of the Alice books has hidden meaning - either symbolic, allegorical or simple direct reference. For a detailed examination of the Alice books I thoroughly recommend The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner.

It's thought by some that the Cheshire Cat was actually inspired by a carving of a cat in a church in the village of Croft. This is the village where Carroll's father had been rector, so the young Charles Dodgson would have been familiar with the carving. From the viewpoint of a young child it is suggested that at certain angles all that could be seen of the carving would be its huge grin.

Cat statues are common in a number of churches and the phrase "grin like a Cheshire Cat" appears to predate Carroll. A less familiar variation is "grin like a Cheshire Cheese". It has been suggested that it was traditional in Cheshire to mould cheeses in the shape of a grinning cat. This all suggests links back to an earlier, perhaps Celtic, tradition.

The Cheshire Grin also has less pleasant connotations. It was a slang term used to refer to the practice of execution by hanging or cutting the throat. This again appears to trace back to the Celts and an early example is the Lindow Man believed to have been sacrificed in around 61AD.