James Ward Doughty was born in Bristol in 1818.  He was a nephew of Theodore Hook (1788-1841) who was famous as a practical joker and the receiver of the first postcard.  Hook was responsible for the infamous ‘Berners Street Hoax’ of 1810 (Google it!).

Maybe James picked up on his uncle’s penchant for entertainment as, at the age of 13, he made a clown’s outfit from one of his father’s nightshirts, a hat out of a piece of carpet and ran away to join the circus. 

By the age of 17 he was performed on stage at a proper theatre at Plymouth and shortly afterwards  he married his first wife Ellen.

Between 1849 and 1851, James appeared on stage in London at the Drury Lane Theatre. He was being paid £4 per week. At that time an American Circus came to London, bringing with them a ‘celebrated American clown’.  James asked if he could perform as a clown at the theatre and his act became so popular that his salary nearly doubled. 

He performed across the country. At one stage, he supported Sims Reeves, who in the 1850s was one of the highest paid entertainers in the world. 

One afternoon, James took his dog Joe to rehearsals and soon Joe became part of the act.  Just before James finished performing Joe would lay down ‘dead’.  However much James and the audience shouted, Joe would remain perfectly still.   After a while, James would shout “Watch out Joe here comes a policeman!” and Joe would jump up look around, and run off stage to the cheers of the crowd. 

James appears on the 1851 census  living at 35, St James Street, Brighton. His occupation is shown as ‘entertainer and clown’  In 1859, he was appearing at Hammersmith with a troupe of performing dogs. and claimed to have performed for the ‘Crowned heads of Europe’ 

A review of 1871,  after an appearance in Dublin  gives an idea of his act; “Mr James Doughty introduced a great number of performing dogs of various breeds. One danced with another who was dressed a girl who was led onto the stage by a small terrier wearing a ribbon. Another small dog, jumped onto the head of a Newfoundland and balanced himself in a most extraordinary manner, Other dogs, dressed as schoolboys and girls ran around the stage like so many children and the vaulting act caused great merriment.  Mr Doughty must be highly commended for the perfect manner in which he has trained his dogs.”

James does not appear in the 1871 census (maybe he was still in Ireland) but in the 1881 census he is back in Brighton with a new wife , Margaret.

In about 1883 James started performing for Ginnet’s Circus in Brighton. Ginnets were once of the most prominent circuses in Europe. They moved to Brighton in 1876 and established a permanent circus on The Level. The family also owned two local  theatres. When ringmaster John Ginnett died in 1892, he was buried at Woodvale Cemetery in a grave decorated by an elaborate monument topped by a full-sized circus horse.  I am sure James would have gone to the funeral. 

The 1881 census, shows James and his wife were living at 19, Middle Street Brighton and again his occupation shows him to be ‘a clown’, he was to stay at this address for the rest of his life. 

 In September 1882, James was performing at the Islington Theatre in London when there was a terrible fire. Although he escaped injury his performing dogs perished.  

Whilst he trained up new dogs he made an income selling books about dog training and advertising worming powder.  By 1884, he was back on the road, performing in Dundee where a reviewer wrote “As a jester Mr Doughty is very successful. His manner is attractive and his sayings are crisp and pointed and never fail to excite laughter. His troupe of dogs are the most accomplished canine entertainers and the exhibition of leaping by several large animals is very fine, while the appearance and antic of a number of small ones dressed in costumes cause great amusement.  All the dogs seem to understand what is being said to them and they readily perform any trick their master desires”

In 1890, James was on the Isle of Wight where he performed at Osbourne House for Queen Victoria. He later received a letter of thanks and was now billed as a ‘Royal Clown’

By 1901, James was 83 and his occupation on the census shown is  ‘Pantomime Artiste.’ (oh yes it was!)   Only he wasn’t retired – he kept performing and got a permit to perform on the West Pier with his trained dogs.  Budding reporter, Dorothey Milner (aged 8) wrote to the Brighton Gazette in January 1901. She said “The pier has some amusing shows and you can see Mr Doughty’s dogs perform. The dogs are dressed as ladies and gentlemen and are most wonderful. They come around for money and biscuits. One wonderful dog jumps through a hoop and over Mr Doughty’s arm and does other wonderful things”

When James was interviewed by the Daily Mail in 1908 he complained about the demise of the clown in the theatre saying; “Once the Harliquinade was the chief attraction of the pantomime and the clown was its chief performer, but there are no clowns now, some pantomimes don’t even have a clown!” He said that his most prized possessions were the letter of thanks from Queen Victoria and a certificate from the R.S.P.C.A. to show that he trained his dogs in a humane way 

James was thrilled when, in 1910 he received a letter and a gift of £3 from King Edward VII. 

His wife died in February 1911.  Two months later he completed the census but it is one of the worse written entries I have seen!

A few weeks later he was at a dinner party complaining about his loneliness since the death of Ellen. “I would like to get married again but who will marry me now?” he complained. “I will!”  said a young girl nearby. She was Alice Zilpah Underwood and on 8^th July 1911 the couple were the talk of the town when they got married at Brighton Registry Office. James was 93, Alice was 25!

He wanted to get married in his clown costume but Alice would not allow it. One of their wedding gifts was a £5 note from the millionaire London banker Alfred Rothchild.  After the wedding, James seemed happy and told everyone that he had had an offer to perform in America. 

James died aged 94 in March 1913. The only mourners at the Brighton and Preston Cemetery were his widow and an old friend. Of course James was not the last Sussex clown, but maybe he was the last Sussex pantomime clown. How sad that a man who entertained hundreds of thousands of people only attracted an audience of two to his funeral. 

Source: National Newspaper Archives