17 Facts About Randolph Caldecott

Randolph Caldecott was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester.

Randolph Caldecott illustrated novels and accounts of foreign travel, made humorous drawings depicting hunting and fashionable life, drew cartoons and he made sketches of the Houses of Parliament inside and out, and exhibited sculptures and paintings in oil and watercolour in the Royal Academy and galleries.

Randolph Caldecott was born at 150 Bridge Street, Chester, where his father, John Randolph Caldecott, was an accountant, twice married with thirteen children.

Randolph Caldecott was his father's third child by his first wife, Mary Dinah Brookes.

From his early childhood, Randolph Caldecott drew and modelled, mostly animals.

Randolph Caldecott lodged variously in Aberdeen Street, Rusholme Grove and at Bowdon.

Randolph Caldecott took the opportunity to study at night school at the Manchester School of Art and practised continually, with success in local papers and some London publications.

Randolph Caldecott's work included individual sketches, illustrations of other articles and a series of illustrations of a holiday which he and Henry Blackburn took in the Harz Mountains in Germany.

Randolph Caldecott remained in London for seven years, spending most of them in lodgings at 46 Great Russell Street just opposite the British Museum, in the heart of Bloomsbury.

In 1869, Randolph Caldecott exhibited a picture in the Royal Manchester Institute.

Randolph Caldecott had a picture exhibited in the Royal Academy for the first time in 1876.

Randolph Caldecott was a watercolourist and was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1882.

The stories and rhymes were all of Randolph Caldecott's choosing and in some cases were written or added to by himself.

Randolph Caldecott continued to travel, partly for the sake of his health, and to make drawings of the people and surroundings of the places he visited; these drawings were accompanied by humorous and witty captions and narrative.

In 1879, Randolph Caldecott moved to Wybornes, a house near Kemsing in Kent.

Randolph Caldecott's health was generally poor and he suffered much from gastritis and a heart condition going back to an illness in his childhood.

Randolph Caldecott devised an ingenious juxtaposition of picture and word, a counterpoint that never happened before.