During the late 1860s and early 1870s, from within his father's firm in Charing CrossClassified advertisement in The Era, 20 November 1870, p. 7 and, by late 1874, from a nearby address in Craig's Court,Classified advertisement in The Era, 27 December 1874, p. 1 Carte began to build an operatic, concert and lecture management agency. His two hundred clients eventually included Charles Gounod, Jacques Offenbach, Adelina Patti, Mario, Clara Schumann, Antoinette Sterling, Edward Lloyd, Mr. and Mrs. German Reed, George Grossmith, Matthew Arnold, James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde.Ainger, p. 130 Hesketh Pearson said of Carte: "His acute business sense was aided by a frank and agreeable manner: he could not only see where money was to be made but how to make it. He took what other people thought were risks, but he felt were certainties. ... He knew everyone worth knowing ... and his practical judgement was as sure as his sense of artistry."Pearson, p. 87
