• Home
  • Audio/Podcasts
  • Austensites
  • AV/E-Texts
  • History
  • JA Novels & Bio
  • Links
  • Original Sources/19th C. Texts
  • Social Customs During the Regency
  • Teacher/Student
  • Writer/Literature Resources

Jane Austen's World

This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, edited by Susannah Carson: An Interview
Fashions During Cassandra Austen’s Lifetime (1773-1845) »

Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs by Trevor May, a Book Review

November 17, 2009 by Vic

Another book review so soon on this blog? Well, yes. This book from Shire Publications, Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs by Trevor May, is short, just 32 pages long, but it  is filled with many facts and rare images of interest to lovers of history. In Jane Austen’s day most people walked to work, town, church, and market square, or to their neighbors. Six miles was not considered an undue distance to travel by foot one way. The gentry were another breed. They either owned their own carriages or hired a public horse cab. These equipages were available as early as the 1620’s.

Hackneys, or public carriages for hire made their first significant appearance in the early 17th century. By 1694, these vehicles had increased to such a number that a body of Hackney Coach Commissioners was established in London. The commissioners dealt out licences, which was a bit of a joke, for a mere four inspectors were responsible for over 1,000 vehicles.

Hackney Coach 1680

Most of these licensed hackney coaches were purchased second hand. All that an enterprising person needed to establish his own hackney coach business was enough money for a used carriage and three horses, two that worked in rotation, and one that could be used as a replacement in case of injury or illness. The death of a horse could lead to a cab owner’s financial ruin. Another important ingredient was housing for the horses.

Hackney Coach 1800. Image @Wikimedia Commons

By, 1823, the lighter horse cabs began to replace cumbersome hackney coaches in great quantity, and by the mid 1830’s, the hansom cab set the new standard for modern horse cabs. Aloysius Hansom, an architect, designed the first carriage. When Hansom went bankrupt through poor investments, John Chapman took over, designing an even lighter, more efficient cab, one whose framework did not strike the horses on their backs or sides whenever a carriage ran over an obstacle in the road.

Hansom Cab

Commercial cab firms tended to be small, even as late as 1892. Only one or two proprietors provided a large number or variety of equipages, like Alfred Pargetter, whose concern advertised removal carriages, cabs, and funeral coaches for hire. While cabs were licensed, their drivers were not and the road could present a dangerous obstacle course. The video clip below shows how adroitly horses and carriages managed to avoid each other with seemingly few rules (mostly towards the end of the clip). Notice how some lucky individual horses pulled relatively light loads compared to other horses forced to pull heavy carts.

These two video clips, one from 1903 and the other from 1896 (unbelievable!) show the end of an era, for by 1914, motorized vehicles were rapidly replacing the horse-drawn cart.

I recommend this book to anyone with an insatiable appetite for a pictorial history on a particular topic. Trevor May is an expert on the Victorian era, and he has managed to squeeze more information about horse-drawn cabs in this short book (more a thick pamphlet) than I have read before. The images are simply splendid.

  • Order the book at this link
  • Omnibuses and Cabs, their origin and history, H.C. Moore
    Cabriolet: Probert Encyclopedia

Share with others:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in jane austen, Regency Customs, Regency Life, Regency London, Regency Transportation, Regency Travel, Regency walk, Victorian Era, Working class | Tagged hackney cab, hansom cab, horse drawn cabs, Regency Transportation, Regency Travel | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on November 17, 2009 at 10:12 Sonia

    Wow…I love history and am amazed there is such footage. Thank you enjoyed immensely.


  2. on November 17, 2009 at 14:11 Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

    Thank you for bringing this book to my attention, plus the footage. It’s going on my Amazon.co.uk wish list.


    • on November 17, 2009 at 21:06 Evangeline Holland

      Actually Elizabeth, you can buy the Shire Publication books directly from their website.

      But great review Vic! This book has been on my booklust list for a few months. *g*


  3. on November 17, 2009 at 21:32 bubbles

    gosh, the traffic is unbelievable!! O_O And I find the adverts on the carriages really amusing for some reason. Nestle’s Milk, Lipton Teas, Allsopps??? …. lol. It seems advertising is just as ‘rampant’ as it is now…. I sometimes find all the billboards and lights overwhelming.

    I wonder how different advertising is in the regency period?


    • on November 17, 2009 at 22:39 Vic

      Advertising in the Regency period was accomplished in many ways. The famous town cries of London heralded brooms, cherries, milk, knife sharpeners, etc. Men were paid to walk up and down city blocks as “walking” billboards (wearing placards on their chests and back), and billboards and posters announcing plays and entertainments were glued on public walls and buildings. Ads also appeared in newspapers, circulars, and magazines. Below is a link to Lesley Ann McLeod’s post on the topic. Signs outside shops also proudly displayed ads. Marketing has always been a part of commerce. :)

      http://lesleyannemcleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/advertising-regency-world.html


  4. on November 18, 2009 at 16:01 Cathy Allen

    This was fascinating, Vic. I was a little surprised at something in the 1896 film clip, though. My father, born in 1917, and still alive and kicking, DG, was taught by HIS father, (and Dad also taught my brothers) that a gentleman always walks on the street side of a lady. He does this to protect her from traffic problems, such as spattering mud, runaway vehicles, etc. To this day, whenever we walk anywhere together, he places himself on the street side of me; if we cross the street, he automatically repositions himself. My brothers do the same thing.

    I’ve always thought this a very lovely — Victorian — thing to do, but in the clip I noticed a fellow (obviously NOT a gentleman, to MY mind, or to my father’s mind) blithely walking on the inside, leaving his lady exposed to all manner of dreadful street problems; for shame!

    Thanks, Vic, I really enjoyed that!


  5. on December 28, 2009 at 15:52 Judy

    Victoria, what a wonderful find. So beautiful. I loved the Nestle and Lipton ads too :) I really need to figure out how you got the picture on your site. Outstanding. Hope you get by my blog on Writers Riding Right on wordpress. Stop by. And thank you for a wondeful trip back in time.


  6. on March 12, 2010 at 01:48 18th & 19th Century Carriage Databases & Resources « Jane Austen's World

    […] Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs […]



Comments are closed.

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 7,124 other subscribers
  • Items of Interest

  • Follow Jane Austen's World on WordPress.com
  • Blog Stats

    • 16,626,154 hits
  • RECOMMENDED BOOKS AND RESOURCES

  • Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is now available! By JAW contributor Brenda S. Cox. See Review. Available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.
  • Praying with Jane: 31 Days through the Prayers of Jane Austen, Rachel Dodge, and a bookmark with the quote "A whole family assembling regulary for the purpose of prayer is fine!" Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
    We also recommend JAW contributor Rachel Dodge's devotionals based on Jane Austen's prayers and classic literature. Reviews:
    Praying With Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen;
    The Secret Garden Devotional;
    The Anne of Green Gables Devotional;
    The Little Women Devotional.
  • Book cover of Bath: An Adumbration in Rhyme by John Matthews
    Bath -An Adumbration in Rhyme. Edited by Ben Wiebracht. Read the review of the book at this link. Click to order the book on Amazon US or Amazon UK
  • In Sri Lanka lies the grave of Rear Admiral Charles Austen CB, Jane Austen’s Brother

    The neglected tombstone found in an overgrown burial ground.

    Rear Admiral Charles Austen CB

    Died off Prome, the 7th October 1852, while in command of the Naval Expedition on the river Irrawady against the Burmese Forces, aged 73 years.”

    The grave after restoration

    Read the full article in The Sunday Times. June 27, 2021.

  • The Obituary of Charlotte Collins by Andrew Capes

    Click on image to read the story.

  • Comments

    “My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion

     

    Gentle readers: Please feel free to post your comments and continue the conversation! Due to SPAM, we will no longer accept comments on posts after 30 days of publication. In some instances, links will be removed from comments as well.

  • Administrators and Contributors

    Vic Sanborn, founder of this blog, is supported by a team of talented and knowledgeable writers about Jane Austen and the Regency era. They are:

    • Brenda Cox
    • Rachel Dodge and
    • Tony Grant, who now contributes his photos from London and England

    Click on their names to enter their own blogs.

    In addition, we thank the many experts and authors who frequently contribute their posts and opinions, and who continue to do so freely or at our request.

  • Pin It!

    Follow Me on Pinterest
  • Top Posts

    • Winter, Regency Style
      Winter, Regency Style
    • Highclere Castle Floor Plan: The Real Downton Abbey
      Highclere Castle Floor Plan: The Real Downton Abbey
    • Men's hair styles at the turn of the 19th century
      Men's hair styles at the turn of the 19th century
    • Regency Fashion: Men's Breeches, Pantaloons, and Trousers
      Regency Fashion: Men's Breeches, Pantaloons, and Trousers
    • Keeping Warm in the Regency Era, Part One
      Keeping Warm in the Regency Era, Part One
    • Social Customs During the Regency
      Social Customs During the Regency
    • Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice
      Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice
    • The Servant's Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
      The Servant's Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
    • Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue
      Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue
    • Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
      Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
  • Recent Posts

    • Winter, Regency Style
    • Book Review: Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
    • Tracing Jane Austen’s Royal Ancestors Via Her Parents, by Ronald Dunning
    • Happy Birthday, Cassandra Austen!
    • Segmented Sleep: A common Phenomenon Before the Industrial Revolution
  • Links to Jane Austen Blogs

    Click here to enter the page. Topics include Regency fashion, historic foods, Jane Austen societies, British sites, related topics. Click on image.

  • May we suggest?

  • Hello, my name is Vic and I live in Maryland, USA. I have adored Jane Austen almost all of my life. I am a proud lifetime member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me and my team. We do not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we do accept and keep books and CDs to review.

    If you would like to share a new site, or point out an error, please email us. (Yes, we are fallible. We'll own up to our mistakes and will make the corrections with a polite smile on our faces.) Write us at

    gmailbw

    Thank you for visiting this blog. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

  • Project Gutenberg: eBook of Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Volume 2 (of 2), by Charles G. Harper

    STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE: A PICTURESQUE HISTORY
    OF THE COACHING AGE, VOL. II, By CHARLES G. HARPER. 1903. Click on this link.

     

  • Top Posts & Pages

    • Winter, Regency Style
    • Highclere Castle Floor Plan: The Real Downton Abbey
    • Men's hair styles at the turn of the 19th century
    • Regency Fashion: Men's Breeches, Pantaloons, and Trousers
    • Keeping Warm in the Regency Era, Part One
    • Social Customs During the Regency
    • Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice
    • The Servant's Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
    • Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue
    • Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
  • Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape
  • Disclaimer: Our team makes no profit from this blog. We may receive books (physical or digitized) and DVDs for review purposes.

  • Copyright Statement: © Jane Austen's World blog, 2009-2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jane Austen's World with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Jane Austen's World
    • Join 7,124 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Jane Austen's World
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: