CHAPTER IV.
CARRIAGES FROM 1790 TO 1876.
Mr Felton’s Opinions--Proper Strength of Carriages--Method of Construction--Usual Width of Coaches--The Perch--Great Height of Wheels in 1790--The Lord Chancellor’s Coach--The Landau--Phaetons of 1790--Two Wheeled Vehicles--Taxation on Carriages--Advance of the Trade--Invention of Elliptical Springs--Carriages of Napoleon Buonaparte--Number of Vehicles Paying Taxes--The Curricle.--Introduction of Undersprings--Mr S. Hobson’s Improvements--The Briska and the Stanhope--The Tilbury and Dog-Cart--Commercial Travellers’ Gigs--Travelling Carriages--The Pony Phaeton and the Droitska--The Cab Phaeton and the Victoria--Dress Carriages--Coronation Procession in 1838--Improvement of the Landau--Introduction of the Brougham--Waggonnettes--Exhibitions of Carriages--Numbers of Carriages in 1874.
“In the year 1790,” according to a very competent judge, a coachbuilder then alive, Mr Felton, “the art of Coachbuilding had been in a gradual state of improvement for half a century past, and had now arrived to a very high degree of perfection, with respect both to the beauty, strength, and elegance of our English carriages.” “The superior excellence, too, of English workmanship has not only been the occasion of a very great increase in their number in this country, but the exportation of them to foreign nations is become a profitable and considerable branch of British commerce.”
These statements might have been made again and again for many years after this date. Our carriages, as I will endeavour to show, have continued to improve; but no longer, I regret to have to say, are they exported in large numbers. The cost has so much increased, from the date of 1790, that foreign nations prefer to deal with manufacturers who can give them a vehicle which, to the eye, appears as good as our own, and in colours and finish is more to their taste, whilst the price is from 10 to 30 per cent. less than the British carriage.
Although I shall have occasion to treat this part of our subject in the last lecture more fully, I will here guard against misconception, by pointing out the example set us by our energetic brothers in the United States, who have secured a very large market for their carriages, even in English colonies, by building good and light vehicles at a moderate price. In confirmation of the statement of Mr Felton in 1790, we find that English carriages had been exported to the North American and West Indian Colonies as early as 1740.
To return to Mr Felton’s work. He states that the Coach trade was prosperous, and was not confined to Coachbuilders proper, but that harnessmakers and others opened repositories for the sale of carriages. This practice was not confined to England,--it was also a French custom, and so much so, that in the French Encyclopædia, Coachmaking is described under the heading of “Sellier” or “Saddler,” and even now in some towns on the Continent, one may see “Sellier” painted on the front of a coach-factory, without any other description of the trade.
The principal improvements in carriages in London from 1770 to 1790 were the invention of Mr John Hatchett, of Long-acre, whose taste in building appears to have been prominent, and other Coachbuilders generally copied him.
Mr Felton adds that many gentlemen took great pleasure and pride in getting a handsome coach built, and that his treatise was intended to aid them in forming a judgment thereon.
The following remarks are principally taken from Mr Felton’s work, as far as regards this period of 1790:--
“Carriages should always be built adapted to the places for which they are destined, whether for town, country, or the Continent; as a greater stress is laid upon the carriage in drawing over stones than on a smooth road. This makes it absolutely necessary to build stronger for the town than if intended for the country only, owing to the general goodness of our English roads; it is also necessary to build stronger for the Continent than even for the town, as the badness of their roads obliges them to use six horses where we should use two.
“The construction of every carriage should be as light as the nature of the place for which it is destined will allow. It is folly to give unnecessary weight to the horses, as the pleasure of conveyance arises from expedition and ease, which cannot be effected in a cumbersome, heavy carriage.
“A false opinion pervades the minds of many persons, which is, to build strongly, regarding the durability of the carriage in preference to the preservation of the horses. Superior strength is only effected by additions in weight of the materials used.
“In the usual meaning of the word carriage among Coachmakers, it is the lower framework on which the body containing the passengers is fixed or suspended and to which the wheels are attached. Although, speaking generally, all vehicles are called carriages, yet, in speaking technically, the distinction must be observed.
“It is the body, however, which contains the passengers, which varies most in shape and size, and which is most conspicuous to the eye, and from which, therefore, we derive the particular name of each sort of vehicle.”
In Coachbuilding, accordingly, the first process is to draw out a side view of the body, and carefully to assimilate the lines and curves to the prevailing fashion of the day. Secondly, to draw out the plan, or view from above, of the bottom and roof dimensions, with the sweep or cant lines downwards, and backwards, and forwards. The body-maker afterwards makes patterns in thin wood of all the different pieces of timber he requires; these are laid upon planks of ash timber, and marked with chalk, and sawn as nearly to the size as possible. The body-maker then proceeds to smooth one side of the pieces of wood and frame them together. It is unnecessary here to give further details of framing the body, it is sufficient to say that the chief timbers are called the bottom sides; upon them all the superstructure is raised, and upon their stability all depends; they are, therefore, of stout timber, and generally strengthened with iron plates several inches wide, and from a quarter to three-quarters of an inch thick. It is necessary to mention the bottom sides also, because we can hardly describe the shape of a body without mentioning them. The panels are of soft-grained mahogany, which was used in 1790, as well as at the present day in England; although our neighbours in France preferred then, and generally still use walnut and poplar wood for panels. The roof, bottom, and lining boards are of deal. The roof of a coach is covered with a hide of leather stretched on in a wet state.
The widths usual for the inside of bodies in those days was 3 feet 5 inches for two persons, and 4 feet to 4 feet 2 inches, for three persons on each seat. The height of the seat from the floor was 14 inches, and from the roof 3 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 9 inches. These dimensions will serve to show how little we have varied from them to the present day.
The body being planned out and in progress, the carriage underworks were prepared, and Mr Felton’s description answers to the description in most particulars of the method of building from that time to this. The axles were common axles, with a single large nut and linch-pin, such as we now use to agricultural carts and street cabs only. There were improved axle-trees, with double nuts at each end of the axle-trees and patent axles, which were not then furnished with the loose collet now used, and mail axles; all these are carefully described, and evidently very closely resembled the axles in use in 1876. The axles were strengthened by wooden additions called beds, in which the axles were recessed and clipped. The front and hind axle-beds were joined by a long timber called a perch, with wooden side-stays or wings behind. In front the under fore-carriage was joined to the perch by a large iron perch (or king) bolt. To secure a steady bearing for the upper and under carriages in locking round, a circle of iron and wood was added, termed wheel-plate in England, and the fifth wheel in America. Beneath the wheel-plate were the futchels (or fourchils) to support the splinter-bar and pole, or shafts. All these timbers were heavier in 1790 than those used in the following years; the ironwork was lighter and broke very frequently. The iron used by Coachbuilders in those days was decidedly inferior to the iron of 1830. This remark applies chiefly to the smaller pieces of iron. When a large piece of work, such as an axle-tree or a crane was required, it was forged of a number of bars, welded together, and hammered into a tough, secure mass.
The wheels were the distinguishing feature of the carriages of that day, from their great height and light appearance, and demand some consideration from us.
The extreme height of wheels extended to 5 feet 8 inches, which were made with but fourteen spokes; wheels 5 feet 4 inches high had twelve spokes; wheels 4 feet 6 inches had ten spokes; and the lowest wheels, 3 feet 2 inches high, eight spokes. The naves were of elm, the spokes of oak, and the rims or felloes of ash or beech. The rims of the higher wheels were often of bent timber, in two or more pieces, and were bolted to the tyres by one bolt
between each pair of spokes. The tyre was generally put on in pieces, the end joining in the middle of the felloe. But the better sort of wheels had the tyre put on in one piece, and called, as in the present day, “a hoop-tyre.”
“Many persons,” Mr Felton says, “prefer the common sort of wheel, on account of their being more easily repaired than the hoop-tyre wheel; but though the repairing the latter is more difficult, they are much less subject to need it.” In consequence of the great height of the wheels it was necessary to make the carriages very long, and the distance from the front to the hind axle-tree was 9 feet 2 inches in a chariot, and 9 feet 8 inches in a coach, or about 8 inches in each longer than we should think necessary now. In hackney coaches a shorter perch was customary. Crane-neck perches were still used. The springs were chiefly what is termed the whip spring, namely, an upright spring, slightly curved at the top towards the body. The same spring, if united at the point to another, became a nutcracker or elbow spring. The same united at the thick end with another became the grasshopper, or horizontal spring, and was used for gigs. The =C= spring was also occasionally used. There was also a small conical spring placed between the double of the braces, after the manner recommended by Mr Thomas to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, in 1703. [_See_ Plate 28.]
Having thus described the making of the body and carriage, we naturally proceed to the product. What was the actual appearance of the coach of 1790? We are again assisted here by the existence of a coach of that period. In the museum of South Kensington may be seen the Lord Chancellor of Ireland’s coach, a large body with deep panels, flat-sided, longer on the roof than at the elbow, with windows in the upper quarters; the carriage with two crane perches, (Berlin fashion), whip springs, and very high wheels. There is no hind footboard, whilst a hammer-cloth for the coachman is raised upon scroll ironwork, very well made. The shape and appearance correspond with the designs in Mr Felton’s book, and with drawings now in the possession of the well-known firm of Barker and Co., of coaches built by their house for the Duke of Bedford and others during 1780 to 1800.
The chariot was something like the chariot of later days [Plate 38], but was made with smaller windows, deeper panels, a very shallow rocker, and with a sword-case; this was an ugly excrescence at the back of the body, to which there was an opening from behind that squab against which the shoulders rest. The sword-case was at first intended to contain weapons, too frequently required by the many highway robbers that were encountered by travellers, and for fifty years it was considered essential to almost every carriage that was built; but it was a relief to every critical eye when Coachmakers were allowed to omit it.
Landaus were originally invented about the year 1757, at the fortified town of Landau, in Western Germany.
The Landaus in 1790 [Plate 27], were like coaches in shape but made so as to open in the centre of the roof, the framework of which fell back at an angle of 45 degrees only, to allow the admission of air and the sight of the country more freely than in a coach; but for nearly fifty years there was no improvement in the method of opening and closing the top, technically termed the “hood” of the Landau.
Landaulets were chariots made to open. The hoods of both Landaus and Landaulets, and other carriages, were then made of greasy harness leather, disagreeable to touch or smell, and continually needing oil and blacking rubbed into them to keep them supple and black. This was certainly much against their popularity; but, considering that they were two carriages in one, and would serve for day and night work, and summer and winter, it is not surprising that they found a large amount of patronage.
Besides these vehicles there were phaetons, barouches, sociables, curricles, gigs, and whiskies. Of these phaetons there were several sorts, but all for self-driving by the owners. Young England, in those days especially, delighted in very lofty phaetons and fast driving. The romantic tales of this age, as well as the biographies, are full of anecdotes of adventures by upsets out of these dangerous machines, and yet of the fearful pleasure there was in driving them.
One was called the “Perch-high Phaeton.” [Plate 29]. It was shaped like a curricle, and had a leathern hood. The centre of the body was hung exactly over the front axle-tree, the bottom of the body was 5 ft. from the ground, the front wheels were 4 ft. high, and the hind wheels 5 ft. 8 in. The hind wheels were far behind, as we see them in a horse-dealer’s skeleton brake. There was a large platform board over the hind axle-tree, for servants or luggage. On such a carriage George IV., when Prince of Wales, used to drive to the race-course, or round Hyde Park. It was on such a carriage that the Hon. Col. Onslow, generally called “Tommy Onslow,” performed his feats of driving:
“What can Tommy Onslow do? He can drive a chaise and two; What can Tommy Onslow more? Oh, he drives a chaise and four.”
Another sort of phaeton, with the wheels 6 in. on 8 in. lower, and the body slung between the wheels, was used both for driving and posting. A third sort was used for small horses, with the front wheels 3 ft. 2 in, and the hind wheels 4 ft. 9 in.
Then there was a one-horse phaeton [Plate 30], the body of which was over the hind axle, and it was hung on grasshopper springs, bolted to the axle, and connected with the body by scroll-irons; the body was joined to the fore carriage, which was without springs, by wooden stays, and the wheels locked round in front of the body. This distance of the horse from the driver, though it gives but an indifferent command of his head, yet secures the passengers from the danger of his heels.
The sociable in those days was [Plate 28], in the shape of a double-cab body, made with or without doors, and with or without a driving seat. Sometimes
an open body like this sociable, and a chariot had but one under carriage between them, which was used according to the year, either with the open or the closed body.
The large two-wheeled vehicles were hung upon framed carriages with whip springs behind and elbow springs in front, like the gentlemen’s cabriolets of the present day. When drawn by two horses they were called curricles, or if by one horse, chaises [Plate 31]. There was a little variation in the shape of the body, namely, the full curricle patterns, and the half curricle with or without a boot--similar to a Tilbury or a gig body. The wheels were from 4 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. in height. Lancewood was then used for shafts.
Another two-wheeled carriage was the Whisky [Plate 32] (or gig) the body fixed upon the shafts--which again were connected with the long horizontal springs by scroll-irons. The gig was also made with a moveable hood.
The Rib Chair was a similar vehicle, but without springs; the body had a solid board for a seat, rounded into a semi-circular form, with an upper rail of the same shape, supported by a number of small sticks hardly differing at all from the Stanhope shape of later days. This vehicle was made in the country towns for twelve pounds. The tax in 1790 upon two-wheel vehicles in general was £3, 17s. each, but if the cost was only £12, and the words “taxed cart” were painted upon the gig or cart, the yearly tax was reduced to twelve shillings, hence a very large number of these “rib chairs” came into use among the gentry; whilst farmers used a similarly cheap cart without springs, and, to obtain some slight ease, had the seat slung upon straps fastened to the side of the cart. The tax upon four-wheeled carriages was £8 16s. for the first, and £9 18s. for the second carriage, but if three or more carriages were kept, the owner had to pay a tax of £11 on each carriage.
It is difficult for a government who must raise money to so adjust the taxes as not to impede at the same time the industry of the country. Looking back now at the alterations which took place from time to time in the taxes upon carriages used and carriages hired, we can have no hesitation in saying that sufficient attention has never been given to the remonstrances of Coachbuilders and hackney carriage owners at the offices of the Inland Revenue, and that consequently the owners and users of carriages have suffered an amount of annoyance that might and should have been avoided; whilst the amount raised in taxes might have been higher if it had been more judiciously apportioned.
I have now given a description of the principal vehicles at this period of the history of English coachbuilding. I wish to add that most, if not all, were used for travelling purposes as well as for driving in the cities. By an ingenious arrangement the hammer-cloths could be removed, and the cushions on which the footmen stood behind the coach or chariot gave place to a trunk or rumble. Boxes fitted to the shape, and called imperials, were put upon the roofs. Drag-shoes and chains, tool-budgets and dragstaffs were added,
and the vehicles could then be used as a comfortable travelling carriage [Plate 38]. The curricles and phaetons were all used to carry trunks, and these are described by Mr Felton very minutely, so as to make it clear we have not much improved upon the fittings of a travelling carriage since 1790.
Looking once more at the history I have given of the state of the coach-trade in 1790, it is impossible not to be surprised at the considerable advance from the clumsy vehicles of Queen Anne and George I.’s time. But during the reigns of George II. and George III., all our manufactures had received an immense impulse from the energy of the men of the time. Discoveries were continually being made in arts and manufactures. Books were written, experiments tried, and debates held in every workshop as to the best mode of construction and arrangements of all the parts, and improvements by the artisans employed became a matter of course. It is true that, with the increased wealth of England there was an increased demand for carriages,--demand will always produce supply,--but all must admit that the supply in those days was very good, and all the varied demands were met with considerable pains and ingenuity.
In the year 1769, the Society of Arts had given sixty guineas to Mr T. Hunt for improvements in tyring wheels, and twenty guineas to Mr Joseph Jacob, of St. Mary-axe, for improved coach springs. This same Mr Jacob wrote a clever treatise on carriages in 1773; and in 1777 he repaired the city state coach. In 1772, the Society of Arts gave twenty guineas to Mr W. Bailey, for improvements in the locking of waggons; and in 1773, the Society of Arts had experiments made in the draught of carriages, and rewarded a Mr Cuthbert Clarke with fifteen guineas, for an essay on the height of wheels. Later, Dr Edgeworth, in 1816, conducted a series of interesting experiments at Dublin, with a view to ascertain the difference that high and low wheels, long and short carriages, and springs placed between the axles and the vehicles, would have upon the draught of the vehicles.
In the year 1804, Mr Obadiah Elliot, a coachmaker of Lambeth, patented his plan for hanging vehicles upon elliptical springs, thus dispensing with the heavy combined wood and iron perch and cross beds that had been invariably used in four-wheeled carriages up to that time, with the exception of a few one-horse phaetons. Elliot was rewarded by the grant of a gold medal from the Society of Arts, and extensive orders for his carriages from the public, who appreciated his important enterprise and invention.
I have a print, published by Ackermann in 1816, which shows a landaulet upon elliptical springs. There is a square boot, framed to the body, with the driving-seat on ironwork high above the boot; what are usually called the pump-handles behind are straight, and support a foot-board. The whole is upon four elliptical springs, 3 ft. 6 in. long, and with a span of 10 in. The wheels are 3 ft. 8 in. and 4 ft. 8 in. high. The body is very small, and the bottom is 3 ft 6 in. above the ground. But the centres of the axle-trees are only 6 ft. 6 in. apart.
In the same book of drawings there is a full-bodied barouche, only 5 ft. long, hung likewise high, with high wheels, and a very short carriage, with whip springs; a coach and a landau, all painted yellow, are likewise with very small bodies, and are hung high, with short carriages, and the perches nearly straight; also a mail phaeton, with a curricle-shaped body, and a rumble boot framed to it, hung upon a carriage with 3 ft. 4 in. centres, the wheels 3 ft. and 4 ft. 4 in. high, with full-shaped =C= springs behind, and elbow-springs and braces from a high scroll iron on the transom bed.
It is interesting to observe how the demand for light vehicles had begun to work, in decreasing the size and length in every way, and also in lowering the height of the wheels from Felton’s time. Exactly the same revolution was taking place in mail coaches. The improvements carried out in England were repeated on the continent.
In 1810 three beautiful carriages were built at Milan on the occasion of the wedding of the Emperor of Napoleon Buonaparte with the Princess Maria Louisa of Austria. These carriages are still preserved at Vienna, and consist of a state coach, a chariot, and a barouche, all upon =C= springs. The perches are double, Berlin fashion, with elegant cranes at each end; each perch is octagon, very well shaped, and forged out of solid iron from end to end. All three carriages are small, light, and well finished. The coach has a large crown on the roof and windows in the sides, the hammer-cloth is supported on scroll ironwork, all the decorations are in a good state and well-proportioned. At the Court of Spain are preserved two handsome coaches built for Charles IV. before 1800, with side windows, an elegant metal fretwork standing above the edge of the roof, hammer-cloths on scroll ironwork and =C= springs. They have iron crane Berlin perches, and are suspended upon long thick leather braces passing from the hind =C= springs to the front under the body without any iron loops. Photographs of these vehicles are preserved at the hall of the Coachbuilders’ Company.
I have mentioned the designs in the Carriage Fashion Book of 1816. In further illustration I can say that, in 1812, a large coachbuilder’s stock-book, which I have seen, contained over two hundred carriages, mostly let for terms of years. Of these one-half were chariots, fifty were landaus, and the remaining fifty coaches and landaulets.
In 1814, there were 23,400 four-wheel vehicles paying duty to Government; 27,300 two-wheel, and 18,500 tax-carts; a total of 69,200 carriages in Great Britain. We shall see by later returns how much these numbers have increased, by the reduction of government duties, and the introduction of elliptical springs.
A carriage was much in fashion at this period called the Curricle; it had been in use for many years in Italy; it was derived, I believe, from the British _essedum_, which had been adopted by the Romans. The Italians of the middle ages brought the body forward in front of the wheels, and at length suspended the body from braces; the French added springs, and the English altered the shape giving the back panel an ogee curve, and improved the hood, and now added a spring bar across the horses’ backs, rendering it a graceful and easy vehicle, which could be driven at great speed. The want of perfect safety checked its early popularity, and it was gradually superseded by the gentleman’s cabriolet with one horse, and the mail-phaeton with two horses. It was in use from 1700 to 1830. The celebrated Romeo Coates drove a curricle in the shape of a shell. Charles Dickens drove one as soon as his writings procured him the means, and Count D’Orsay and Lord Chesterfield had new curricles from Messrs Barker’s as lately as 1836.
The Coachbuilders of London of the greatest celebrity in 1815 were the large firm of Collinridge, Rowley, Mansell, and Cook, of Liquorpond Street; Windus, in Bishopgate Street, in the city of London; Barker, of Chandos Street; Hatchett, of Long Acre, Houlditch and Hankins; and Luke Hopkinson of Holborn. In 1818 Mr Windus introduced Undersprings to perch carriages. It was found that in bad roads the elliptical springs did not give sufficient ease, but the addition of horizontal springs below the =C= springs had the advantage of rendering the carriages not only easier but more durable, by relieving the perch and beds from the direct concussions caused by ruts and holes. About the same time concealed hinges were invented. Collinge’s patent axles, which had first been made in 1792, became more generally used; their high price had been much against them, but the advantage of carrying a supply of oil for two or three months, avoiding also the noise and rattle of the common axles (which require fresh greasing daily), gradually secured their use, and when the patent expired they were universally adopted. Now this patent axle and the mail axle are in general use throughout the civilised world.
In 1820 the greatest improvements in the shape and style in the manufacture and finish of English carriages were commenced by the celebrated Samuel Hobson, who may be truly said to have improved and remodelled every sort of carriage which came under his notice, especially as regards the artistic form and construction, both of body and carriage. He lowered the wheels of coaches and chariots to 3 ft. 3 in. in front and 4 ft. 5 in. behind, and lengthened the carriage part once more to such a true proportion to the whole vehicle as has approved itself as correct to each succeeding generation of Coachbuilders and users of carriages. He lowered the body so that it could be entered by a moderate double step instead of the three-fold ladder previously in use. He perfected the curves of the bodies and the springs, besides making the numberless small details of the body and underworks of the requisite strength, and the most agreeable shape and proportion. Mr Samuel Hobson learnt the art in the firm of Barker and Co., of Chandos Street, and rose to be a partner in the firm, but after a few years in that position he left about the year 1815 and set up for himself in Long Acre, and ultimately moved about 1824 to the large premises previously Messrs Hatchett’s. In his improvements he was assisted by his experience gathered at Messrs Barkers, and aided by the enlightened minds and good sense of most of the trade, who copied him as they had copied his predecessor, Mr Hatchett, in 1780.
The Briska, or britchka, had been, about 1818, introduced into England by Mr T. G. Adams, from Austria. [Plate 33.] It was built both upon elliptical springs and =C= springs, and was made in various sizes, large for family use, smaller for posting, with a rumble behind, and still smaller to be drawn by one horse. This briska was nearly straight along the bottom, according to the fashion of the wicker waggons still so much used in Germany. The hind panel was ogee-shaped, the front terminated in a square boot, and the door was lower than the hind quarter, and was fitted with a solid folding apron or knee-flap. The carriage was short, and the front wheel rather lower than usual. The Briska came, in 1824, to be very much used, and lasted in favour until about 1840.
Two-wheeled carriages had much increased. The Dennett, invented by Mr Bennett, of Finsbury, was a great improvement on the whisky, or gig, of 1790. It was like those, hung upon two long horizontal springs.
The Stanhope was built under the superintendence of the Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope, brother of Lord Petersham, by Tilbury, the builder also of the easy vehicle of that name. The Stanhope was shaped like the old rib gig, but hung upon four springs, two of which were bolted between the shafts and axle, and the other two crossways, parallel to the axle at either end of the body, and shackled to the side springs. These Stanhopes are very easy, and do not rock so much as other gigs behind a rough-trotting horse, but they are heavier than the dennett, as it is necessary to add iron plates all round the shafts.
The Tilbury was made without any boot, but otherwise the body was shaped like a stanhope; the shafts were equally strong and plated with iron. It was hung in front by two elbow-springs and leather braces to the shafts or front cross bar, and behind by two elbow-springs passing from beneath the seat to a cross-spring raised to the level of the back rail of the body by three straight irons from the hind part of the cross bar. Later two more springs were added between the axletree and the shafts by scroll irons. The Tilbury was an elegant carriage, and when well made, a particularly good vehicle, but the weight of so many springs and so much ironwork gradually took away the public favour; they lasted until nearly 1850. They were perhaps more in favour for export to Italy, Portugal, and other foreign countries, than our other two-wheel carriages, because they would hold together over the roughest roads, and lasted a long time without repair.
The Dog-cart and Tandem-cart belong also to the beginning of the present century in their origin. Dr Edgeworth speaks with horror of the reckless height to which they attained in 1817. “Carriages,” he says, “have arisen to a preposterous elevation. That private phaetons and barouches should be mounted out of the town dust, and above the country hedges, is a dangerous luxury, but it does not materially affect the public. The invention of that daring vehicle, ‘the Suicide,’ will not probably be much imitated among Christian people; and fortunately the laws have limited the elevation to which, by the absurdity of coachmen, mail coaches might have been raised.” The “Suicide” was the name of a very high tandem gig, wherein the groom was mounted upon a seat three feet above the driver. It received its name in Ireland.
The first Dog-carts had a large and deep boot with Venetian slats in the sides, to contain greyhounds or pointers, and the four passengers sat back to back. Tandem-carts were made in a similar manner with a large boot, the driver’s seat raised, something like the Salisbury boot fashion, whilst the groom’s seat was, like the hind seat of a drag, raised from the boot on ironwork. The gradual development of the Dog-cart in all its varied shapes of high cart and low cart, Newport, Pagnell, Malvern cart, Whitechapel, sliding body cart, Norwich cart, &c., are too well known to need enlarging upon. They have afforded facilities of agreeable locomotion to millions at a very moderate cost, and, if carefully driven, are as reasonably safe as any vehicle. Who drives faster than a butcher boy, and over roads of all sorts--dry, rough, slippery, or newly made--the horse’s head held with a snaffle-bit only--and yet it is very seldom that the horse falls.
With the growth of our trade and manufactures the system arose of sending commercial travellers throughout England, to call the attention of shopkeepers to novelties in manufactured goods. It was found advantageous to send these travellers in light vehicles which could convey samples of the manufactures, and this custom led to the multiplication of gigs in far greater quantities than would have been otherwise required. About 1830 one coach factory in London supplied several hundreds of these vehicles to commercial travellers at annual rentals. Now, this sort of travelling to show samples and solicit orders is performed by railway, and the greatest number of two-wheeled vehicles belong to farmers.
In 1810 a duty was levied by Government upon carriages for sale. It was repealed in 1825, but the returns give the number of vehicles built for private use in 1814 as 3636, and in 1824 as 5143, whilst the number of carriages in use in 1824 had grown to nearly 29,000 four-wheeled, and 36,000 two-wheeled, besides 15,000 tax-carts, a total increase, since 1814, of 20,000 vehicles.
Travelling carriages had now become very much in demand, and were taken on the Continent. Some noblemen and gentlemen began to travel abroad every year. The fittings had become more elaborate. It was usual to cord the =C= springs from the top to the bottom to strengthen them, and provide against the jolts of very bad roads; so that, if one or two of the steel plates broke, the cording would still hold all together. Also long ropes were provided, extending beneath the body from the front to the hind springs, to support it should the body-loops give way under the quantity of luggage stowed in boxes, and imperials, and cap-cases. A dragstaff was provided to prevent the coach sliding back when the horses rested in going up hill, and two drag-chains and shoes against going down hill. Notwithstanding these precautions it became usual, at the top of the Alpine passes, from the courier who attended the traveller to procure from the post-houses two sabots or logs of wood hollowed out to fit a wheel, and these were substituted for the iron shoes during the long and steep descent of the Alpine mountains.
In 1824 a carriage was introduced which has become of almost universal use--the Pony phaeton. In that year King George IV. desired a low phaeton, and one was built for him of a shape and size in which there has been little alteration during the fifty years that have since passed away. It was a cab shape, half caned, with a skeleton bottom side, hung upon four elliptical springs, with crane ironwork back and front, two elbow-wings, bow-steps, and large dasher, and it was drawn by two ponies; the wheels were only 21 and 33 in. high.
Another carriage had been introduced from Germany, called a Droitska, an open carriage with a hood, on a perch, and with =C= springs. The peculiarity was that the body hung very near the perch; the place for the legs was on either side of the perch, so that the seat was only 12 in. above the hind axle-tree; the chief merit of the Droitska consisted in its lightness compared with Briskas and Barouches, and the shortness of the whole vehicle. In appearance it resembled a _pilentum_, and it is probable that Mr David Davies took his idea of a _pilentum_ from the shape of the Droitska. Mr David Davies, a Coachmaker of Albany Street, and afterwards of Wigmore Street, had considerable inventive faculties. He originated a number of vehicles, the Pilentum phaeton, about 1834, which was an open carriage with the doorway very near the ground, the driving seat was also low, the whole hung upon elliptical springs, and built of different sizes, to carry four or six persons, and adapted for one or two horses.
The invention of the Cab Phaeton is also attributed to him; this was a cab-shaped body suspended on four elliptic springs, with a low driving seat and dasher, and shafts for one horse. It was soon generally adopted, and became the pleasure carriage of thousands. The cab phaeton was dispersed throughout England, and also on the Continent, where it became known under the name of “Milord.” About 1850 it had become the hack carriage of several of the Continental cities, and so went out of fashion with the gentry. During the last few years, however, it has been revived under the name of Victoria. In 1869, I think it was, that the Prince of Wales bought one at Paris of the curved shape, and Baron Rothschild brought another from Vienna of the square shape, and the Victoria became again the popular carriage. Light, low, easy, fit for one horse, and looking very well behind a pair of cobs, it is not surprising that the Victoria meets with so much patronage, and it is pleasant to observe how little difference there is made by different Coachmakers in the size and shape of this useful and elegant vehicle. I have had occasion to notice the influence that certain Coachbuilders have had upon the progress of this art, and it will not be right to omit to mention the great influence that Messrs Peters have exercised upon the whole trade by the sound and good workmanship which has for so many years characterised their establishment. As early as 1836 their Mail phaetons were noted for the steadiness with which they followed the horses, and the firmness with which they encountered rough roads.
The year 1838 claims special notice in the annals of Coachbuilding; it was probably the climax of the efforts of modern Coachbuilders in what is called “Dress” or “State carriages.”[5] These vehicles had long passed the period in which beautiful carving and elegant painting had been used to disguise, as far as possible, the clumsy State carriages of the 18th century. Ever since the building of the Irish Lord Chancellor’s State coach by Hatchett or Baxter in 1790, Coachbuilders had endeavoured to produce a graceful outline of body, of a fair size no larger than was necessary, the =C= springs had been made of a perfect curve, the perch followed the sweeps of the body, the carving was reduced to a moderate amount, the ornamental painting was confined to the stripes upon the wheels, and the heraldic bearings of the owners of the carriages were beautifully emblazoned on the panels. For further ornament they relied upon plated work in brass or silver round the body and on the loops and wheel hoops. In every capital of Europe such carriages had superseded the old style, and London and Paris had supplied other countries with most of these State carriages. In this year, 1838, was the coronation of our gracious Queen, and the different ambassadors of foreign countries and our own nobility had prepared for the occasion a larger number of court Dress carriages than had ever been hitherto seen in London. Of these vehicles it was generally considered that Marshal Soult, the French Ambassador’s coach bore away the palm. Engravings of some of the best were soon published. Marshal Soult’s coach was built by Mr Dalringen, at Paris. The body had four upper quarter glasses, with a very elegant deep and pierced cornice of silver round the roof, there were four lamps with large coronets on the tops, and the coach bore a coronet on the roof also. The colour of the painting was a lovely blue, such as was then called Adelaide blue; this had been varnished with white spirit varnish, and seemed almost transparent in lustre. The whole coach was ornamented with silver and was finished in great taste.
About this period a noted Coachmaker named Luke Hopkinson, of Holborn, introduced the briska landau. The peculiar shape is now of little consequence, but with this carriage commenced those improvements upon landaus which have since rendered them so popular.
Up to this time the Landau head had opened just as it did in 1790, and no more; the pillars which now lie nearly flat fell usually only at an angle of forty-five degrees. Mr Hopkinson cut away the corners of the back rails, which hindered the hoopsticks from lying on the elbows, took away the heavy squabbing that bulged into the body when the head was lowered, and lined the upper quarters with plain cloth only, as in a briska head. He also made the seats and bottom to rise six inches when the landau was open, to give the persons inside more air and freedom.
To Mr Laurie we must give the high credit of improving upon Mr Hopkinson’s improvements, and persisting in seeing that his workpeople kept on improving, instead of, as workpeople used to do in 1838, hinder their employers by vexatious objections to all alterations.
This period was noted also by the patronage by the Duke of Wellington of a vehicle called the equirotal, invented by Mr W. Bridges Adams. This was a gig without a head, and a curricle with a head, made so that each could be used with one or a pair of horses, or combined into a mail phaeton by adding two couplings between the two bodies; the four-wheels being of equal height, give it the name of equirotal. The invention has some very good points, and may be revived some day, with a more perfect connecting joint than Mr Adams attained in 1838.
But the greatest improvement of this period was the introduction of the brougham. Lord Brougham and others had for some time used a one-horse chariot. The Pilentum chariot for one horse had already been built at Paris, and several other small close carriages called Clarences had been constructed; but none of these, although some were really light enough for one horse, took thoroughly the taste of the public. Mr David Davies introduced some shapes, and Messrs Laurie and Marner perfected them. I think it was in 1839 that the first vehicle which was nearly the shape of the present Brougham, was built by Mr Robinson, of Mount Street, for Lord Brougham. Messrs Thrupp built one in the following year, 1840, of the same shape. In a few years they were built by nearly all Coachmakers, and proved so convenient that they superseded even the cabriolet for gentlemen’s use. The size of the first Brougham was much as is now in vogue, about 4 feet long in the body, and the same breadth outside measure, the wheels 2 feet 11 inches and 3 feet 7 inches, the driving-boot was made without any arch, in a single sweep from the body to the foot-board; it was hung on elliptic springs in front, and five springs behind, without any body steps. This was preceded by the pill-box Brougham, as it was called, with straight front pillars, and the body very much contracted in front, to look light. A street cab was the forerunner of both.
In a year or two, Mr Edward Lytton Bulwer (afterwards Lord Lytton) had a small Clarence of the shape called Imperial Clarence which was painted brown with white wheels, and had a small hammer-cloth of brown and white; the whole was tastily fitted up and finished, but the attempt to introduce a miniature chariot did not succeed, although it was built with considerable care by Messrs Laurie and Marner.
In 1845, Waggonettes were built of some size; the first, it is said, was made under the superintendence of the late Prince Consort, and was successful as being the forerunner of a very large number of light, roomy, and useful vehicles. Break waggonettes are also an improvement upon the uncomfortable conveyances called Breaks in early days. The principle of riding sideways was not new. The Irish car, the four-wheeled Inside-car of the Westmoreland Lake district, the old Break, and the Omnibus all contributed to the design of the modern vehicle.
In the modern Waggonette we have not only a good looking, comfortable carriage, but one which possesses the advantage of carrying a greater number of persons than any other four-wheeled vehicle of the same weight and size.
In 1846 was introduced and perfected by Messrs Hooper the system of suspending carriages on a single wrought iron perch, supported by horizontal undersprings. The perch being light, and to a certain extent elastic, enabled all the beds and iron stays to be proportionately reduced in weight; the wheels and axles, having less to carry, were also made lighter. This system at first was only applied to broughams and sociables, but it has gradually been applied to the largest carriages, especially barouches and landaus, not only in England, but in all countries where carriages are made, so that it is quite the exception for a new carriage to be built with a perch that is not of solid wrought iron. These connecting perches are not now made quite so light as at first; it is found that unless the hind wheels follow steadily, not only is the carriage heavier behind the horse, but the perch itself is frequently bent against very small obstructions; a stronger and stiffer perch is therefore now used, and it is found both easier to the horse and to the occupants of the vehicle.
We have now reviewed the principal varieties of carriages introduced into England during the present century; to enumerate the whole would be tedious. At our great Exhibitions in London, Paris, Vienna, and other cities, new shapes have continually appeared, and some have found favour, and some have appeared no more. They are evidence that the ingenuity of Coachbuilders is not less than the ingenuity of the workmen in other trades. The history of the last twenty-five years is, however, sufficiently fresh upon the memory not to require repetition. We have already in the reports of the juries of those several Exhibitions, drawn up by Mr George Hooper, a record of the most noteworthy objects. It would be for the benefit of all persons engaged in Carriage-building if those reports could be reissued with the addition of a report of the interesting Philadelphia Exhibition now in progress. M. Guiet, of Paris, will probably write a report for use in that city.
In Saint Petersburg the Russian Emperor had an Imperial carriage factory, originally established in 1821. At these works, which now belong to Messrs Brautigam, two hundred and fifty men are employed. Fifty new carriages a year are built for the Royal family, besides the repairing and altering of others. There is a steam-engine on the premises. There is also at St Petersburg a museum, in which repose travelling carriages on the ground floor, and State carriages on the first floor. There are post-chaises of 1746 and 1762, and seven carriages which were in use by the Empress Catherine, many decorated by well-known painters, such as Watteau, Boucher, Gravelot, &c., and superbly fitted up in the interior with velvet and silk. There are twelve sledges of the elaborate build of former days.
I will here mention that, by the kind permission of Mr W. H. Smith, of the Treasury, I am able to give some further returns of carriages paying duty. Four-wheeled carriages amounted in 1834 to 49,000; in 1844, 62,000; in 1854, 68,000; in 1864, 102,000; and in 1874 there were actually 150,000 four-wheeled carriages paying duty, but these last numbers now include vehicles which were formerly taxed under the Postmaster’s and Stage duties, and these vehicles in 1864 had amounted to 25,000, still without them the increase in ten years is 23,000, quite as many as were kept in the year 1814. In 1814, that is 23,000 four-wheeled carriages paid duty, and in 1874 they had increased to 125,000.
The return states there were of two-wheeled carriages in--
1834 50,000 including the tax carts. 1844 33,000 “ 1854 137,000 “ 1864 170,000 “
And in--
1874 285,000 two-wheeled carriages, including basket and other four-wheeled traps under 4 cwt.
Carriages of both sorts then have increased from about 60,000 in 1814 to 432,600 in 1874, a benefit to the general population it is clear, as well as to the workmen.
It is a satisfaction that our trade contributes to the comfort, happiness, and respectability of the community in general, and is also a very healthy trade for the workmen.