Coach Driving - The Coaching Revival

W. C. Blew

Description

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Sujets

• Pets
• Horses
• Sport équestre
• Sports équestres
• Sports équestres
• Sports équestres

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 19 octobre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781447490807
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

COACH DRIVING
THE COACHING REVIVAL
BY
W. C. BLEW
Contents
The Coaching Revival
C OMPILED BY W. C. A. B LEW .
T HE old stage-coaches, except in very far-away districts, had long been off the road, and Clark s Brighton coach, The Age, was the last link left between the old days, when coaching was in its zenith, and those to come, which were but little dreamed of then, when we were once more to witness its revival, and pretty nearly a dozen coaches rattling down Piccadilly every day. The Age, of which Mr. Eden, who afterwards put on the High Wycombe coach, was one of the supporters, after having stopped for a year or two, was started again and ran through 1862, on alternate days, driven by the Duke of Beaufort, Sir George Wombwell, or Clark, from the Globe, Baker Street, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, at 10.30 A.M ., calling at the Gloucester, in Oxford Street; Griffin s Green Man and Still, also in Oxford Street; the Universal Office at Regent s Circus, and Hatchett s White Horse Cellar,-the time at the latter place was 11 o clock-both in Piccadilly; then on to Slark s office, Knightsbridge, after which stoppage they fairly began to go, and travelled quickly along through Richmond, Kingston, Leatherhead, Dorking, Horsham, Cow-fold, and Henfield, arriving at Brighton at 6 P.M ., returning from Castle Square on the alternate days. The distance was sixty-two miles, which makes the time look slow; but it must be remembered that there were five stoppages before the London stones were left behind, and a good deal of time was lost in picking up parcels and passengers; while in older days heavily laden coaches, like the Royal Sovereign to Leamington, and many others, used to be allowed an hour from the City to the Marble Arch.
In the year 1854, Mr. Charles Lawrie, who at that time horsed the coach from Kingston to Dorking with bays and browns, had a picture of the Age painted, and it was engraved for Clark s benefit through the kindness of the same gentleman. The off-side leader had originally run in Kershaw s Baldock and Hitchin coach, but was bought when the concern was sold off, after the road had been for a century occupied by the Kershaw family. One of the wheelers had been employed in the duty of drawing an old lady s carriage, but having one day run away, and, it was said, caused the death of its owner, it came to coach-work. The team, as represented in the picture, was the property of Dick Carpenter, who used to drive the original Age with Sir St. Vincent Cotton, and who it is believed died in Hanwell Asylum. What next became of the picture is not known; but, soon after the Brighton road was revived, a picture of the new coach made its appearance, in which the grouping, c., was identical with that of Mr. Lawrie s picture, only the colours were changed. In the November of the year 1888, however, the original painting turned up at Albert Gate, its price being, it is believed, 35 l .
After the Duke, Sir George, and Clark had hung up their whips in 1862, coaching seemed to be, in the expressive language of the Ring, dead settled. For four long years the sound of the bars and the echo of the horn were not heard in Piccadilly, and the ancient steps of Hatchett s were deserted by all save those who were lodging in the hotel. In 1866, however, a slight sign of the coming revival appeared on the coaching horizon. Captain Haworth led the way, and was joined by the Duke of Beaufort, Colonel Armitage, Mr. Lawrie, Mr. B. J. Angell, Lord H. Thynne, Mr. Chandos Pole, Mr. C. Lyley, with another or two. This little band instituted a subscription coach, which they called the Old Times, and ran it to Brighton, on alternate days, with William Pratt as their professional coachman. In the course of its brief season the coach carried a good many passengers; but the venture turned out a failure; coach, horses, harness, and all belongings being sold at Tattersall s in the autumn, when the confederacy was broken up.
The pecuniary failure of the opening year of the coaching revival, however, so far from tending to damp the enthusiasm for the road, appears to have stimulated it; as in 1867 we find Mr. Chandos Pole, Mr. Angell, and the Duke of Beaufort engaged in a much more ambitious venture than that of 1866. This took the form of running a coach up and down, between London and Brighton, every day. William Pratt, who had formerly driven a coach between Malvern and Cheltenham, retained his old berth, and, with George Dackombe as guard, drove on one side of the road, while Alfred Tedder (who remained on the Brighton road till the time of his death, in December 1872), was on the other coach, with Phillips as his guard. The London terminus was the White Horse Cellar; the Albion Hotel was the corresponding point at London-super-Mare; and the coaches were two new ones, built by Holland Holland. Mr. Chandos Pole worked out of Brighton; Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, a sleeping partner in the concern, for his name did not appear in the list of proprietors, horsed the coach from Cuckfield to Friars Oak; the Duke of Beaufort had the middle ground, and Mr. Angell found the horses for the two stages in and out of London, the two coaches meeting for lunch at Horley.
The Brighton road did not, however, have the revival all to itself in 1867, as another coaching disciple arose in the person of Mr. C. A. R. Hoare, lately Master of the Vale of White Horse hounds, who in the autumn started a coach called the Exquisite, between Beckenham and Sevenoaks, the horses for which were provided by E. Fownes. When the Brighton double-coach was taken off for the season, the horses belonging to Mr. Angell were sold; but Mr. Chandos Pole determined to run to Brighton on his own account all the winter. Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell agreed to let his horses remain; some additional ones, several of which had been working during the summer in the Ilfracombe coach, were purchased, and the coach ran single all the winter, with Tedder and Dackombe as coachman and guard.
Some years previously Mr. Chandos Pole bought, at Gloucester, what was probably the last of the old Patent Mails. It had been newly done up, and was lettered for Gloucester and Carmarthen, the continuation of the old London and Gloucester mail, which in pre-railroad days Alfred Tedder had driven between London and Oxford. This coach was used by Mr. Chandos Pole on the Brighton road during the winter season of 1867-68, because it was lighter than either of those by Messrs. Holland Holland, and quite roomy enough for the passengers likely to patronise the undertaking; and so it came about that Tedder, at the outset of the revival, found himself on the box of the identical coach he had driven years before. It must have been terribly dreary work, however, and fortune made but a poor requital for the proprietor s pluck and perseverance. The professionals often had the coach to themselves, when, of course, no tips accrued to relieve the monotony of their drive; and the coach barely earned its tolls.
The summer of 1868 saw coaching once more to the fore. Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell (brother to the late Mr. Chandos Pole). who assumed the name of Gell in 1863, now joined his brother; and the partners carried on the Brighton road upon the same lines as during the preceding season; that is to say, two coaches were put on. Tedder and Phillips still kept each other company; while, Pratt having left the service, E. Cracknell became the professional on the other side of the road (when Mr. Chandos Pole had to give up driving through illness), Dackombe remaining as guard. At the beginning of the season Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell horsed the coach from London to Streatham, Mr. Chandos Pole being responsible for the horses thence to Stoat s Nest At the latter place Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell s horses were used to Merstham and thence to Lowfield Heath, from which point Mr. Chandos Pole ran to Brighton. In the course of the season, however, Mr. G. Meek was desirous of joining the confederacy, and horsed the coaches between Lowfield Heath and Staplefield Common, where he lived.