Ethel and Evelyn Hatch, whose diaries are catalogued here, were daughters of the theologian Edwin Hatch (1835-1889). Edwin Hatch and his wife Bessie Cartwright Thomas (1839-1891) had five children: Arthur Herbert (1864-1910), who lived 'a very undistinguished life', emigrated to Canada in 1904,and held 'an easy secretarial job' until he died; Wilfred Stanley (1865-1956), a clergyman who was incumbent of St Luke's Kingston-on-Thames from 1924; Beatrice Sheward (1866-1947) who lived in Oxford most of her life and was a social worker who founded the Police Court and Prison Mission in 1905 and the Mission House at 11 Clark's Row in 1907, and Ethel and Evelyn, the writers of these diaries.
Ethel Charlotte Chase Hatch was born on 17 May 1869 and died on 3 April 1975. She was educated at the Oxford High School for Girls and the Slade School of Art, London, and made a career as a flower painter. Evelyn Maud Hatch (1874-1951), Benjamin Jowett's godchild, was educated at the Oxford High School for Girls and St Hugh's College, Oxford. She was a teacher in London and worked for the War Office in the First World War. The Hatch children were child friends of Lewis Carroll and all three sisters wrote reminiscences of him, some of which were published in ed. Morton N. Cohen 'Lewis Carroll: Interviews and Recollections' (1989). A number of letters from Lewis Carroll to members of the Hatch family are included in ed. Morton N. Cohen 'The Letters of Lewis Carroll' (2 vols, 1979), which also contains photographs of them as children. Evelyn collected and edited 'A Selection from the Letters of Lewis Carroll to His Child-Friends' (1933). In the 1950s and 1960s Ethel published several reminscences of her childhood, including one in the magazine of the Oxford High School for Girls in 1957 and 6 articles in The Oxford Magazine between 1955/56 and 1957/58.
These records were deposited in 1991 as accession 3613. They were previously held by the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies, where they were given the catalogue references MISC/HAT 1-3.
Material relating to Edwin Hatch is held at Oriel College, Pembroke College (who also hold Ethel Hatch's diary for 1888) and Lambeth Palace Library; some records of the Mission House are included among among the Skene Welfare Association archives held at this office (catalogue reference O5).
Catalogued by Elizabeth A. Finn, August 1995