A Victorian and Edwardian Character
Charles Henry Ross was born in London around 1835 he was known for being popular comic strip author who invented a famous fictional character called Alexander Ally Sloper known as Ally Sloper. The character seemed to attract a rather large interest amongst Victorian and Edwardian humour. It appealed to British working class and middle class when it first appeared in a July magazine addition in 1867. The name Ally Sloper was based on a term in Victorian society used for someone who would slope down an alley to avoid paying the rent. The con man comic character was a scruffy, vulgar, alcoholic loafer that wore a scruffy suit and matching top hat. He had a rather large bulbous nose due his rather large alcohol intake, skinny long legs and was always cunning up a plan. These popular short stories were about his schemes and ideas to make easy money that somehow never went to plan. Although Ross wrote the comic it was in fact his wife Emilie de Tessier who went under the name Marie Duva who was the cartoonist who eventually took the comic over for a period of time.
Then in 1884 Ross sold the rights of Ally Sloper to a Gilbert Dalziel who because of recent success and wide audience he gave the Ally sloper his own publication titled “Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday.” The artwork was then taken over by W.G Baxter. Baxter died in 1888 of TB and the artwork was then taken over by W. Fletcher Thomas who altered the Ally Sloper from the original artwork and it’s popularity then grew worldly. Thomas wanted it not to just appeal to working class and middle-class people so he made the cunning character enter the realms of the upper class in his comic stories. The Ally Sloper started drinking with the upper class and introducing Queen Victoria became a success. The Ally Sloper became so popular it became a brand in itself. It was used for merchandise across greeting cards, cigarette cards, bottles, posters, silverware and more. The Ally sloper inspired the likes of Charlie Chaplin who had once said he had been inspired by a comic character tramp as a young child and WC Fields also used his appearance on the inspiration taken from the Ally Sloper. Sadly in 1914 brought the beginning of WW1 which altered everything and paper rationing was one thing that had a huge impact on the magazine and its sales. In 1916 the magazine and Ally Sloper came to an end.
What became of Ross he continued to write many books in his lifetime from the Penny dreadfuls to romance novels but he will be remembered for Ally Sloper for a lot of people he died in 1897.
