JAMES CARLING
By Mike Kelly

Most people living in the Vauxhall and Scotland Road area of Liverpool today or indeed those who have moved away over the years to settle in other parts of Merseyside, would not have heard of James Carling. James was born in 1857 in Addison Street, an area that was known as the Irish quarter, a town within a town, which made up one-third of the population of Liverpool. He was the son of Henry Carling a blacking maker and Rose Carling. James was the youngest of their six children. Catherine was the eldest born in London, and the next two sons William and John were both born in Hull, Yorkshire. The youngest of the children, Henry, Terence and James were born in Liverpool. In the 1861 census there was a married couple Terence and Ann Jane Lynch living with the Carling family at 38 Addison Street. It is possible Terence was the brother of Rose Carling.
Living at 38 Addison Street in 1861
Henry Carling 33 years, born Hull
Rose Carling 33 years, born Ireland
Catherine Carling 15 years, born London
William Carling 11 years, born Hull
John Carling 9 years, born Hull
Henry Carling 7 years, born Liverpool
Terence Carling 5 years, born Liverpool
James Carling 3 years, born Liverpool
Terence Lynch 40 years, born Ireland
Ann Jane Lynch 40 years, born Ireland

James Carling was known as the "little drawer," and began his career on the pavements of Liverpool. Sadly James and the other siblings lost their mother Rose at the age of thirty-six, when James the youngest child was only seven years of age. She is buried in a public plot with twenty-four others at Ford RC cemetery; section DZ, plot 199, address: 38 Addison Street, Liverpool, L3, interred: 7/11/1864. His father married a widow whom James remembered with some bitterness, for when he was grown up he wrote. "Starved by a stepmother of a very unusual disposition, I sallied out into the world like Jack of the fairy tales to seek my fortune, and a living as well, at the ripe old age of five." James and his brothers earned pennies as errand boys and as a result of singing at English parish festivals, he could quote Shakespeare and other poets. James learned the classics at an early age, and he and his brothers were in regular attendance at Liverpool's theatres, gaining admission to the "gods" for pennies. He remembered playing at Liverpool's Pier-Head on a Sunday morning and listening to the chimes of St. Nicholas Church. The brothers of James, Willy, Johnny and Henry had gone onto the streets at an early age as pavement artists. In their boyish ways they became political lampooners of the municipal government and were the delight of newsboys and street performers (buskers). But the pavement artists were the kings of the street Arabs, ( neglected or homeless boys or girls). They were no friends of the police who drove them off the streets in a continuing warfare, but there were to many homeless and hungry children for the police to keep full control. The Carling boys were big for their years in a town where many poor children had stunted growth through lack of proper nourishment. One of James memories was of a brutal struggle between Johnny and a peeler (policeman) who clubbed the boy mercilessly and Johnny took the worst of the fistfight.

Five year old James Carling, who had observed his older brothers practising their street art, was given his chance to follow in their footsteps by Johnny when he gave him some paints and crayons. Early the following morning James made his way to Ranelagh Street in the town centre to claim the most suitable smooth flagstone to practice his art. His subjects that morning, were the prize-fighters, English champion Tom Sayers and Irish American champion John C. Heenan. Passers by were so amused by the talent of one so young they started throwing coins into his little upturned hat and this was the encouragement that drove James on. The streets of Liverpool were now the studio of little James Carling and the flagstones the canvas on which to display his works of art. James accepted guidance from his older brothers who were also street artists and he soon became known, as 'Little Chalky'. Unlike most of the street artists in the town he did not draw the same picture twice, each of his drawings being different. Working his drawings onto the pavement had its pitfalls, as on rainy days his enterprise could be washed away by the rain. At other times he would be beaten by a policeman if he tried to practice his art on the streets used by the gentry. Eventually James found a place to practice his art on rainy days, it was under an arcade at the bottom of James Street, just a few hundred metres from the spot were Liverpool's Liver Building would be built many years later. This was not a good spot to catch the eye of the wealthy toffs to throw a few coppers into the hat but most of his admirers were working men who had little or no money. They felt a lot of admiration for the young James who could produce such fine artwork on a paving stone. In return they would supply him with cockles, shrimps and periwinkles, or any other food they might have on them. Seamen were amongst his most generous benefactors, and somedays he would collect up to two shillings a day. Lime Street was another of his favourite thoroughfares as it was a never-ending flow of people of every shape and size. From the well heeled, with their expensive attire, to the tramp with his battered boots it was a shifting open theatre, a carousel that changed with the blink of an eye, of minstrels and acrobats, of bootblacks and pavement artist.

James Carling never forgot his boyhood on the streets of Liverpool. He would often recall his time spent in Ranelagh Street witch was not free of policemen, who would often beat him although he was only six years of age. I knew I was too small to be incarcerated, for I was often arrested for drawing sidewalk pictures and taking their brutal beatings as a matter of course. I drew my pictures, preferring a bloody face and a bruised limb to inanition (exhaustion from want of food) and death by starvation". James carried through life the contempt he felt for the well-heeled people of the town "Bold Street! My heart sickens at your name. And well it might, for I not only could not draw in that street I could not walk on it. The sight of a ragged coat was enough to bring the harsh, 'move on' or what was worse, the most brutal application of the staff. On Bold Street, promenade of the local aristocracy, the Gocking (pavement artist) did not draw."

On Christmas Eve, 1865, James had just reached his eight birthday and James made his way to Elliot Street to make some money for Christmas. It was a cold day and the biting wind was eating into his frail young body. As the day moved on, he made his way to Lime Street, and no sooner had the young pavement artist started working then, he felt the hands of a policeman as he was jerked to his feet. The young James Carling was dragged off to Cheapside Jail in the heart of the town. He spent Christmas Eve in a police cell, then on Christmas day he was transferred to the community workhouse for a week. It was then decided, that James William Carling, be ordered to spend six years in St. George's Industrial School. The Headmaster at St. George's was Father Nugent a man who cared about the welfare of his young charges. The six years in the care of Father Nugent and his staff gave James Carling the opportunity to learn to read and write and the ability to express himself. James in later life never forgot what the school and Father Nugent did for him and when he returned to his school for a visit he was shown around by his old headmaster. A statue to Father Nugent, with his hand on the head of a young boy, stands in St. John's Gardens, William Brown Street Liverpool.

James was released from Father Nugent's Industrial School at the age of fourteen. His older brother Henry then took him to Philadelphia, in the United States of America, where they renewed their careers as sidewalk artists. A newspaperman took an interest in James and he became the subject of a feature story. The manager of a vaudeville troupe saw the article and contacted him to appear as the troupe's Lightning Caricaturist. James later performed in a New York musical spectacular called, 'The Black Crook' where he appeared as a popular chalk talk performer. The show took the young James all over America and during this time the boy from Liverpool was perfecting his art. After six years on the road with the musical spectacular, he joined his brother Henry in Chicago, where the latter had established a studio. It was in Chicago, at the age of twenty-three, that James entered a competition in 'Harper's Magazine' for illustrations for a special gift edition of 'The Raven' a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. He entered thirty-three of the forty-three illustrations he had done in his brother's studio in Chicago. However in 1883 Harper's magazine announced to the world the winner of their competition. To illustrate "The most magnificent book of the year and in many cardinal particulars the most superb volume that has ever issued from the press of this or any other country the stately and luxurious folio, 'The Raven' was by Gustave Dore". He was a specialist in the bizarre and fantastic, whose editions of 'Paradise Lost', 'Divine Comedy', 'the Bible', the works of Balzac and other classic and contemporary works had made him the most popular and internationally famous illustrator of his century.

Fate however delivered a hammer blow to James Carling when it snatched away his chance to walk in the sun and leave behind the cold pavements of Liverpool. George F. Sheer in his research on James Carling wrote: "He returned to Europe, probably at this time to collect his grandfather's songs and ballads. He returned to Liverpool in the spring of 1887 with the intention of studying at the National School of Art". It is doubtful, however, that he even entered the school, for by the summer, James Carling became ill and according to the Brownlow Hill Workhouse Admission Records he was. admitted 17 June 1887 James Carling 29 Place of settlement Liverpool Religion: R. C. Trade or calling, Artist Condition: Single Name of relations, no friends Where slept last night, 94 Fontenoy Street Date of death 9 July 1887 James Carling like so many great artists died young, at just twenty-nine, he was so poor and unknown that he was buried in a pauper's grave near the demure little chapel at Walton Park in what then was then called the Liverpool Parish Cemetery. The grave was registered Section F, Grave 16, but no one raised a marker of any kind until 1984.

James Carling's eldest brother Henry Carling made a successful career for himself and settled in Minnesota in the United States. He won membership of the Beaux-Arts of Paris and the Royal Academy of Liverpool. It was Henry Carling who kept the memory of his brother alive by looking after his drawings. In 1930 when Henry was seventy-four years of age he gave an exhibition of his own work and hung several of the 'The Raven' drawings with his own. The works of James Carling were once again stored away, but six years later, following the death of Henry, his daughter Stella took on the job of promoting the work of her uncle James. Stella was determined to find a fitting place for these illustrations of Poe's poem. They were lent to the Poe Shrine in Richmond, Virginia, for the Edgar Allen Poe memorial week in 1936, where they can still be seen.

In September 1984, Walton Park cemetery was the scene of an unveiling ceremony when the grave of the forgotten Liverpool artist was marked. James Carling was buried with fifteen others in a pauper's grave in 1887. Members of the Rice Lane Community Association Liverpool worked long and hard to uncover Carling's history and produced the simple grave monument. The ceremony was carried out by Dr. Roscoe Brown Fisher of North Carolina, author of the book "The James Carling Illustrations of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven".

Shows James Carling in New York in the 1880 census, staying with his brother Henry Carling.

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Last Updated January 2005
Copyright © 2005 Patrick Neill
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