Sydney Wentworth Carroll

Sydney Carroll, born in Victoria, Australia on 16th February 1877, was the son of Alice Cornwell and John Whiteman. He was christened George Frederick Frances Carl Whiteman but changed his names informally several times for personal and professional reasons. He had children with several lovers – records for a marriage, a divorce and a second marriage have been identified but other families are known.
==Australian childhood & adolescence==
His father John Whiteman was a blacksmith in Warwickshire, England who emigrated to Australia in 1842, aged 21 and became an estate agent and auctioneer. He married in 1854 but became a widower in 1874, marrying Alice Cornwell in 1875; a son was born two years later. The parents separated with acrimony concerning custody of George and at the age of 5 the boy was required to choose which parent he would live with; he chose his father.
George obtained a scholarship to the public grammar school at Creswick, Ballarat, learning basic Latin and Greek. He learnt Shakespeare from passages that his intoxicated father would declaim in the evenings and subsequently gained an Elocution prize at school.
George was 13 when his indebted father died. Their elderly housekeeper vacated their home and she continued to look after him in an uncongenial property in Melbourne, but George found it more convivial to frequent bars that encouraged drinking and recitations. Aged 16, his maternal grandfather George Cornwell offered him work as a pay clerk at his gold-mining claim but he then accepted free accommodation with work at a neighbouring claim.
==Emigration to England and early theatrical activity==
When his grandfather returned to London to raise funds George accompanied him. A reunion of mother and son in Essex was probably responsible for Whiteman joining William Greet’s theatrical touring company, using the name Fred Carl. His first stage performance was as Philodemus in The Sign of the Cross at the Standard Theatre, Bishopsgate, London on 3rd August 1896. The play was also the opening performance of the Brixton Theatre. Carl was active in theatrical productions for six years and started play-writing in 1899.
==Publishing c. 1901 -1933==
At about the time of his first marriage, Whiteman dropped his theatrical interests in favour of working with his mother as Editor in Chief of the publication Our Cats, again using the name Frederick Carl. Using his knowledge of his mother’s network of wealthy women acquaintances he promoted the magazine to that society sector and increased the readership. He extended this input to create a business with multiple periodical titles, starting with Cage Birds (promoted to the same market niche) and subsequently adding Poultry World in 1907 (probably his most successful publishing venture) and The Bazaar Exchange and Mart – as well as magazines catering for those interested in dogs, boxing, racing, saddlery and harness. He produced Health and Strength which spawned the Health and Strength League in 1906 developing branches across England. The titles were published initially from 5 Great James Street, then Red Lion Court (by April 1905), 154 Fleet Street (1907) and finally from Link House, 54-55 Fetter Lane. Financial difficulties later resulted in the sale of the various Link House publications and Carl relinquishing control by September 1933.
==Further theatrical activity 1910 - 1914==
Alongside his ownership/editorship of multiple periodicals, George returned to his fascination with theatre. Using the name Sydney Wentworth Carroll, probably for the first time in 1910, he wrote The Big Game. This play initially appeared in Bournemouth for a year before moving to The New Theatre in London in August 1913.
==Wartime: publications; National Egg Collection 1914 - 1918==
Carroll was deemed medically unfit for active service in 1914 after previous unidentified surgery. He encouraged his staff to continue their work and, in the context of an existing Saturday Hospital Fund, devised a Saturday hospital egg collection promoted through Poultry World. This developed into the National Egg Collection for the Wounded in December 1914, collecting and distributing fresh eggs to hospitals treating wounded servicemen. A subsequent appeal described the operation and its initial results. It had grown from 1,500 eggs the first week to amassing 12,000 eggs weekly, and then over 150,000 in December 1916 when he renewed the national appeal, offering to pay transport costs for donated eggs. An OBE was awarded to him (in the name Frederick Carl Esq., Secretary, National Egg Collection Comittee) in the 1918 New Year Honours list .
==Drama critic of The Sunday Times, June 1918 - June 1923==
Under his assumed name, Sydney Carroll was appointed as drama critic of The Sunday Times in 1918 after the dismissal of the previous incumbent as a consequence of a libel action. Through his mother Alice Cornwell (a past owner of the paper) and his other publishing contacts, Carroll had become well-acquainted with the Berry brothers (later Viscount Camrose and Viscount Kemsley) who had become owners of the newspaper. His first published review was on 9/6/1918 and he rapidly established a forthright style. Unlike his predecessor, Carroll was not sacked after a reputationally damaging libel trial, but he chose to leave in 1923 shortly after one. Immediately after his departure he published a series of essays relating to dramatic criticism.
==Film critic of The Sunday Times, 1925 - 1939==
Carroll returned to The Sunday Times as its film critic in 1925. The delivery of his idiosyncratic and outspoken criticism was popular with the readership but was less well received in film circles than his theatrical comments. His role as film critic ended in 1939. 
==Regents Park Open Air Theatre 1932==
The Botanic Garden at Regents Park had been a place visited by his first family for recreation in the first decade of the twentieth century. The Royal Botanic Society’s lease of about eighteen acres ended in 1931 and disposal of the grounds was under discussion. This coincided with Carroll planning to establish his own theatrical company and successfully aranging a loan. Dramatic assistance for his company was provided by Robert Atkins. After initially using the New Theatre, London, Carroll leased and adapted the Regent’s Park site for use as a stage with 4000 seats. Regents Park Open Air Theatre opened for its his production of Twelfth Night on the afternoon of 13/7/1932. A lease for a further three years was agreed in 1933.
==Promotion of Vivien Leigh c. 1935 - 1936==
Carroll claimed to have recognised exceptional talent in the actress Vivien Leigh (originally Vivian) - and was generally accepted as having introduced her to theatrical audiences. He encountered her at the Q Theatre some time before his 1935 production of The Mask of Virtue and decided to cast her, persuading Basil Dean to release her from a contract. Carroll signed her for two plays but her instant fame resulted in that contract also being ended early. In 1936 she played Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII at the Open Air Theatre.
==Film writing and production 1935 - c. 1948==
Carroll made tentative but subsequently abandoned moves into producing films after instigating the Open Air Theatre. In October 1936 parts of his theatrical production of The Two Bouquets at the Alexandra Palace Theatre was televised by the BBC as one of its first regular transmissions.
==Typescript Autobiography 1939==
Typescripts of an untitled intended autobiography of Sydney Wentworth Carroll exist which end, apparently completed, in 1939. This may be the memoir referred to as Shifts and Stages which in 1939 Michael Joseph publishers had announced as forthcoming. An advance had been agreed and part paid, the book written and submitted, but it was not published. The advance was repaid in November 1940. It has been intimated that abandoning publication of his autobiography may have been linked to his appointment as Editor of the Daily Sketch. In 1976, one of Carroll’s daughters Nina Carroll completed her research into a biography of her father entitled Out in the Open, drawing extensively on the typescript autobiography but including her communications with individuals who had worked with or otherwise known Sydney Carroll. Her biography was not published but survives in typescript form. Copies of both have been lodged at the Victoria and Albert Museum's Enthoven Collection. .
==Editor, Daily Sketch and Sunday Graphic 1939 - 1950==
Carroll relinquished his position of film critic at The Sunday Times and became editor of The Daily Sketch/Sunday Graphic in March 1939. He was responsible for the Sketch moving to a tabloid format to assist readers enjoying their newspaper while commuting by train.
==Editing consultant for Viscount Kemsley 1942 -1958==
In 1942, Lionel Berry (Later 2nd Viscount Kemsley) took over as editor of the Daily Sketch and Carroll became an editing consultant for Kemsley Newspapers Ltd. Carroll suffered a stroke in 1952 which left him severely incapacitated. He continued submitting his comments and was financially supported by the Kemsley Newspapers until his death on 24/8/1958.
==Awards and positions held==
OBE
President of Critics’ Circle 1932-33
Order of Commendatore of The Crown of Italy 1933 after producing Napoleon - The Hundred Days by Mussolini. 
Member of the National Theatre Appeal Committee Executive.
==Publications==
Sydney W. Carroll 1933 Some Dramatic Opinions F. V. White & Co., 1923.
Carroll, Sydney, W. 1934 The Country Wife by William Wycherley. Ambassadors Theatre programme, London. March 1934.
Carroll, Sydney, W. 1936 The Two Bouquets. Ambassadors Theatre programme.
Carroll, Sydney W. 2011 Acting for the Stage: Art, Craft, and Practice - Theatre and Stage Series. Foley Press. ISBN 9781447439875
Carroll, Sydney W. 1947 The Imperial Votaress. Constable.
Carroll, Sydney W. Family Affairs by Gertrude Jennings. Phoenix Theatre Programme 
Category:1877 births
Category:Australian people
Category:Author