Victoria (carriage)
The victoria is an elegant style of doorless four-wheeled open carriage, drawn by one or two horses, based on the phaeton with the addition of a coachman's seat at the front, and with a retractable roof over the passenger bench.
Named for Queen Victoria,[1][2] it was possibly based on a phaeton made for George IV.[3] The type was made some time before 1844, but acquired the name victoria around 1870,[4] after one was imported to England by Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, in 1869. Drawn by one or two horses, it became a fashionable style of carriage for ladies riding in the park.[3]
The victoria has a low body with a forward-facing seat for two passengers under a retractable calash top and a raised driver's seat on an iron frame.[3] In the panel-boot type of victoria, sometimes confusingly called a cabriolet,[2] a box under the driver's seat provides storage, a "boot", and forms a dashboard.[3] In a Grand Victoria, a collapsible backwards-facing seat behind the driver accommodates additional passengers; the Victoria-Hansom was a later form of hansom cab based on the victoria.[2]
The Ford Crown Victoria takes its name from the carriage. It has been used as a generic term for light horse carriages in Mumbai.[citation needed]
Gallery
Victorias
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Victoria in Raymond, Washington -
19th-century victoria design by Hooper & Co., coachbuilders to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales -
Swedish bride and groom in a victoria, 2012
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Panel-boot victorias
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1860 panel-boot victoria by John Kingbury, Albany, New York -
Argentine Presidential Victoria in the Museo del Bicentenario, Buenos Aires -
Panel-boot victoria with drop-down front bench, Ellwood House, DeKalb, Illinois
See also
References
- ^ Farrell, Jeremy (1985). Umbrellas & Parasols. Costume Accessories. London: BT Batsford. p. 38. ISBN 9780713448740.
Princess Victoria gave her name to a type of coachman-driven phaeton.
According to Farrell, it was introduced and named in the 1830s. - ^ a b c "Victoria: French carriage". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 7 July 2022. According to Britannica, it developed in France.
- ^ a b c d "Carriage Tour: Victoria". The Carriage Association of America. Archived from the original on 14 March 2015.
- ^ Victoria.
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External links
Media related to Victorias at Wikimedia Commons
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