Stagecoach: Difference between revisions
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{{About|the covered wagon|the public transport company|Stagecoach Group|other uses}} |
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[[Image:postkutsche brig.jpg|thumb|Stagecoach in [[Switzerland]]]] |
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A '''stagecoach''' is a type of [[covered wagon]] used to carry passengers and goods inside. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses, usually [[four-in-hand (carriage)|four-in-hand]]. Widely used before the introduction of [[railway]] [[transport]], it made regular trips between ''stages'' or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers. The business of running stagecoaches or the act of journeying in them was known as '''staging'''.<ref name=StagecoachEast>{{cite book | first=Oliver W. | last=Holmes | year=1983 | title=Stagecoach East | isbn=0-87474-522-5}}</ref> |
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Originating in England, familiar images of the stagecoach are that of a [[Royal Mail]] coach passing through a [[Turnpike trust|turnpike]] gate, a [[Dickensian]] passenger coach covered in snow pulling up at a [[coaching inn]], and a [[highwayman]] demanding a coach to "stand and deliver". The [[yard of ale]] drinking glass is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/652036/yard-of-ale-glass |title=Yard-of-ale glass (drinking glass) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia |publisher=britannica.com |accessdate=2010-03-10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theyardofale.com/index.php/history/ |title=The Yard of Ale : Our History |publisher=www.theyardofale.com |accessdate=2010-03-10 }}</ref> |
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==Description== |
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The stagecoach was a four-wheeled [[vehicle]] pulled by [[horse]]s or [[mule]]s. The primary requirement was that it was used as a public conveyance, running on an established route and schedule. Vehicles that were used, included buckboards and dead axle wagons, surplus Army [[ambulance]]s and celerity (or mud) coaches. Selection of the vehicle was made by the owner of the stage line, and he would choose the most efficient vehicle based upon the load to be carried, the road conditions, and the weather; and used a two, four or six-horse team based upon those factors and the type of car. |
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The stagecoach was supported on the ''thoroughbraces'', which were leather straps supporting the body of the carriage and serving as shock absorbing springs (the stagecoach itself was sometimes called a "thoroughbrace").<ref name=StagecoachEast /> The front or after compartment of a Continental stagecoach was called a ''coupé'' or ''coupe''. An inside passenger or seat was an ''inside'', while an outside passenger or seat was an ''outside''. On the outside were two back seats facing one another, which the British called ''baskets''. In addition to the ''stage driver'' who guided the vehicle, a ''[[shotgun messenger]]'', armed with a ''[[coach gun]]'', often rode as a guard. |
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The stagecoach traveled at an average speed of about five miles per hour, with the total daily mileage covered being around 60 or 70 miles.<ref>[http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3A0A Waymarking.com]</ref> |
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The term "stage" originally referred to the distance between stations on a route, the coach traveling the entire route in "stages," but through metonymy it came to apply to the coach. A fresh set of horses would be staged at the next station, so the coach could continue after a quick stop to rehitch the new horse team. Under this staging system, the resting, watering and feeding of the spent horses would not delay the coach. |
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The stagecoach was also called a '''stage''' or '''stage carriage'''. Sub-types included: |
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* '''[[mail coach]]''' or '''post coach''': used for carrying mail. |
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* '''mud coach''': lighter and smaller, with flat sides and simpler joinery. |
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* '''road coach''': revived in the [[United Kingdom]] during the last half of the 19th century. |
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==History== |
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===Origins=== |
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[[File:Anoniem 002.JPG|thumb|225px|''Behind time'', anonymous engraving of a stagecoach in England]] |
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The first crude depiction of a coach, not necessarily a stagecoach, was in an [[England|English]] manuscript from the 13th century.<ref>Olmert, Michael (1996). ''Milton's Teeth and Ovid's Umbrella: Curiouser & Curiouser Adventures in History'', p.142. Simon & Fille, New York. ISBN 0-684-80164-7.</ref> |
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Crude coaches were built from the 16th century. Without suspension, these coaches achieved very low speeds on the poor quality rutted roads of the time. By the mid 17th century, a basic stagecoach infrastructure had been put in place.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kwq#1973|title=History of transport and travel}}</ref> The first stagecoach route started in 1610 and ran from [[Edinburgh]] to [[Leith]]. This was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the country.<ref name="Lay">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=flvS-nJga8QC|title=Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them|author=M. G. Lay|year=1992|publisher=Rutgers University Press|page=125}}</ref> A string of [[coaching inn]]s operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between [[London]] and [[Liverpool]] by the mid 17th century. The coach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. They also became widely adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century and generally travelled at a few miles per hour. [[Shakespeare]]'s first plays were performed at coaching inns such as [[The George Inn, Southwark]]. |
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By the end of the 17th century, stage-coach routes ran up and down the three main roads in England.<ref name="awoodley">{{cite web|url=http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/carriage/history.html|title=Coaching History}}</ref> The London-York route was advertised in 1698: |
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:Whoever is desirous of going between London and York or York and London, Let them Repair to the Black Swan in Holboorn, or the Black Swan in Coney Street, York, where they will be conveyed in a Stage Coach (If God permits), which starts every Thursday at Five in the morning." |
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[[File:Hyde park turnpike toll gate.jpg|left|thumb|300px|The [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park Gate]] in [[London]], erected by the [[Kensington]] Turnpike Trust. These trusts helped to stimulate a sustained period of road improvement in the 18th century.]] |
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The novelty of this method of transport excited much controversy at the time. One pamphleteer denounced the stagecoach as a "great evil [...] mischievous to trade and destructive to the public health."<ref name="awoodley" /> Another writer, however, argued that: |
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:"Besides the excellent arrangement of conveying men and letters on horseback, there is of late such an admirable commodiousness, both for men and women, to travel from London to the principal towns in the country, that the like hath not been known in the world, and that is by stage-coaches, wherein any one may be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather and foul ways; free from endamaging of one's health and one's body by the hard jogging or over-violent motion; and this not only at a low price (about a shilling for every five miles), but with such velocity and speed in one hour, as that the posts in some foreign countries make in a day." |
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The speed of travel remained constant until the mid-18th century. Reforms of the [[turnpike trust]]s new methods of [[History of road transport|road building]] and the improved construction of coaches led to a sustained rise in the comfort and speed of the average journey - from an average journey length of 2 days for the [[Cambridge]]-London route in 1750 to a length of under 7 hours in 1820. [[Robert Hooke]] helped in the construction of some of the first spring-suspended coaches in the 1660s and spoked wheels with iron rim brakes were introduced, improving the characteristics of the coach.<ref name="Lay" /> |
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In 1754, a [[Manchester]]-based company began a new service called the "Flying Coach". It was [[advertisement|advertised]] with the following announcement - "However incredible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring accidents) arrive in London in four days and a half after leaving Manchester." A similar service was begun from Liverpool three years later, using coaches with steel spring suspension. This coach took an unprecedented three days to reach London with an average speed of eight miles per hour.<ref name="awoodley" /> |
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===Mail coach reform=== |
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[[File:Houghton 44W-1384 - Pyne, Costume of Great Britian.jpg|right|thumb|Mail coach decorated in the black and scarlet Post Office livery, 1804]] |
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Even more dramatic improvements were made by [[John Palmer (postal innovator)|John Palmer]] at the [[Post Office (United Kingdom)|British Post Office]]. The postal delivery service in Britain had existed in the same form for about 150 years—from its introduction in 1635, mounted carriers had ridden between "posts" where the postmaster would remove the letters for the local area before handing the remaining letters and any additions to the next rider. The riders were frequent targets for robbers, and the system was inefficient.<ref name="PO">{{cite web | url=http://postalheritage.org.uk/history/downloads/BPMA_Info_Sheet_MailCoaches_web.pdf | title=The Mail Coach Service | publisher=[[The British Postal Museum & Archive]] | year=2005 | accessdate=21 July 2008}}</ref> |
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Palmer made much use of the "flying" stagecoach services between cities in the course of his business, and noted that it seemed far more efficient than the system of mail delivery then in operation. His travel from Bath to London took a single day to the mail's three days. It occurred to him that this coach service could be developed into a national mail delivery service, so in 1782 he suggested to the [[Royal Mail|Post Office]] in London that they take up the idea. He met resistance from officials who believed that the existing system could not be improved, but eventually the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[William Pitt the younger|William Pitt]], allowed him to carry out an experimental run between Bristol and London. Under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours. The coach, funded by Palmer, left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later.<ref>The Postman and the Postal Service, Vera Southgate, Wills & Hepworth Ltd, 1965, England</ref> |
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Impressed by the trial run, Pitt authorised the creation of new routes. Within the month the service had been extended from London to [[Norwich]], [[Nottingham]], Liverpool and [[Manchester]], and by the end of 1785 services to the following major towns and cities of England and Wales had also been linked: [[Leeds]], [[Dover]], [[Portsmouth]], [[Poole]], [[Exeter]], [[Gloucester]], [[Worcester]], [[Holyhead]] and [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]]. A service to [[Edinburgh]] was added the next year, and Palmer was rewarded by being made Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office.<ref name="PO" /> By 1797 there were forty-two routes.<ref name="BS">{{cite web | url=http://www.stortfordhistory.co.uk/guide9/mailcoaches.html | title=Mail Coaches | publisher=Bishops Stortford Tourist Information | year=2004 | author=Paul Ailey | accessdate=21 July 2008}}</ref> |
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===Golden age=== |
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The golden age of the stagecoach was during the [[Regency period]], from 1800 to 1830. The era saw great improvements in the design of the coaches, notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and [[brake|braking system]], and a novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion. Besant, with his partner John Vidler, enjoyed a monopoly on the supply of coaches, and a virtual monopoly on their upkeep and servicing for the following few decades.<ref name="PO"/> Obadiah Elliott registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle. Each wheel had two durable steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs attached to the [[axle]]s. Within a decade, most British horse carriages were equipped with springs; wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel springs in larger vehicles. These were often made of [[carbon steel|low-carbon steel]] and usually took the form of multiple layer [[leaf springs]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Adams|first=William Bridges|authorlink=|title=English Pleasure Carriages|publisher=Charles Knight & Co.|year=1837|location=London|pages=|url= http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=apw7AAAAMAAJ| doi=|id=|isbn=}}</ref> |
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[[Image:Makadam.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Construction of a [[macadam]]ized road in the United States (1823). These roads allowed stagecoaches to travel at much greater speeds.]] |
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Steady improvements in road construction were also made at this time, most importantly the widespread implementation of [[Macadam]] roads up and down the country. The speed of coaches in this period rose from around 6 miles per hour (including stops for provisioning) to 8 miles per hour<ref>Gerhold: Stage Coaching and Turnpike Roads, Economic History Review, August 2014,, figure 1, p. 825</ref> and greatly increased the level of mobility in the country, both for people and for [[mail]]. Each route had an average of four coaches operating on it at one time - two for both directions and a further two spares in case of a breakdown en route. Joseph Ballard described the stagecoach industry in 1815: |
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:"The stage fare from Manchester to Liverpool, distance forty miles, is only six shillings. This is caused by the strong opposition, as there are eight or ten coaches continually running between those places. Besides the fare in the coach you have to pay the coachman one shilling per stage of about thirty miles, and the same to the guard whose business it is to take care of the luggage, &c. &c. Should the passenger refuse to pay the accustomed tribute he would inevitably be insulted. You must pay also, at the inns, the chambermaid sixpence a night, the "boots" (the person who cleans them) two pence a day, and the head waiter one shilling a day. The porter who takes your portmanteau up stairs moves his hat with "pray remember the porter, Sir." |
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:The beds at the inns are surprisingly neat and clean. In many of the inns in a large town, the chambermaids furnish the chambers and depend upon their fees for remuneration. The stagecoaches are very convenient and easy. No baggage is permitted to be taken inside, it being stowed away in the boot places before and behind the carriage for that purpose. Here it rides perfectly safe, not being liable to be rubbed, as they ride upon the same springs that the passengers do. A person can always calculate upon being at the place he takes the coach for (barring accidents) at a certain time, as the coachman is allowed a given time to go his stage. The guard always has a chronometer with him (locked up so that he cannot move the hands) as a guide with regard to time."<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rGkwMwEACAAJ|title=England in 1815 as Seen by a Young Boston Merchant|author=Joseph Ballard|year=1913|publisher=Boston & New York}}</ref> |
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===Decline and evolution=== |
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[[File:Brewster park drag 1887.jpg|thumbnail|Park drag dating from 1887]] |
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The [[History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830 - 1922|development of railways in the 1830s]] spelt the end for the stagecoaches and [[mail coach]]es. The first rail delivery between Liverpool and Manchester took place on 11 November 1830. By the early 1840s most London-based coaches had been withdrawn from service.<ref name="PO"/> Some vehicles, however, were bought up for private use, for either commercial or recreational purposes. The term Road Coach came to be used for these, and similar vehicles built in later years, several of which were used by their enterprising (or nostalgic) owners to provide scheduled passenger services, reminiscent of the old stagecoaches, on certain routes at certain times of the year. |
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The 1860s saw the start of a coaching revival, spurred on by the popularity of [[Four-in-hand (carriage)|Four-in-hand]] driving as a sporting pursuit (the [[Four-In-Hand Driving Club]] was founded in 1856 and the Coaching Club in 1871). Private coaches (often known as [[Park Drag]]s) began to be built to order. These had first appeared in the [[Regency period]], but they now became highly fashionable. Very similar in design to the old stagecoach, only lighter, sportier and owner-driven, they were used for a variety of recreational pursuits. |
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===Spread elsewhere=== |
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====Continental Europe==== |
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[[File:Diligència Igualada-Barcelona.JPG|thumb|''Diligencia'' that was used between [[Igualada]] and [[Barcelona]], [[Spain]]. A dedicated luggage deck is on the roof]] |
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The ''diligence'', a solidly built coach with four or more horses, was the French analogue for public conveyance, especially in France, with minor varieties in Germany such as the ''Stellwagen'' and ''Eilwagen''. The ''diligence'' from Le Havre to Paris was described by a fastidious English visitor of 1803 with a thoroughness that distinguished it from its English contemporary, the ''stage coach''. |
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<blockquote>''A more uncouth clumsy machine can scarcely be imagined. In the front is a cabriolet fixed to the body of the coach, for the accommodation of three passengers, who are protected from the rain above, by the projecting roof of the coach, and in front by two heavy curtains of leather, well oiled, and smelling somewhat offensively, fastened to the roof. The inside, which is capacious, and lofty, and will hold six people in great comfort is lined with leather padded, and surrounded with little pockets, in which travellers deposit their bread, snuff, night caps, and pocket handkerchiefs, which generally enjoy each others<!--others in original--> company, in the same delicate depository. From the roof depends a large net work which is generally crouded<!--crouded in original--> with hats, swords, and band boxes, the whole is convenient, and when all parties are seated and arranged, the accommodations are by no means unpleasant.<br><br> |
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''Upon the roof, on the outside, is the imperial, which is generally filled with six or seven persons more, and a heap of luggage, which latter also occupies the basket, and generally presents a pile, half as high again as the coach, which is secured by ropes and chains, tightened by a large iron windlass, which also constitutes another appendage of this moving mass. The body of the carriage rests upon large thongs of leather, fastened to heavy blocks of wood, instead of springs, and the whole is drawn by seven horses.''<ref>One of the horses was ridden by the postilion. John Carr, ''The Stranger in France, or, A tour from Devonshire to Paris'' London 1803:32.</ref> </blockquote> |
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The English visitor noted the small, sturdy Norman horses "running away with our cumbrous machine, at the rate of six or seven miles an hour." At this speed stagecoaches could compete with [[Narrowboat|canal boats]], but they were rendered obsolete in [[Europe]] wherever the [[railroad|rail]] network expanded in the 19th century. Where the rail network did not reach, the ''diligence'' was not fully superseded until the arrival of the [[autobus]]. |
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====United States==== |
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[[Image:Concord stagecoach 1869.png|200px|thumb|left|[[Buffalo Soldier|Buffalo soldiers]] guard a Concord stagecoach. 1869]] |
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Beginning in the 18th century crude wagons began to be used to carry passengers between cities and towns, first within [[New England]] in 1744, then between [[New York City|New York]] and [[Philadelphia]] in 1756. Travel time was reduced on this later run from three days to two in 1766 with an improved coach called the ''Flying Machine''. The first mail coaches appeared in the later 18th century carrying passengers and the mails, replacing the earlier post riders on the main roads. Coachmen carried letters, packages and money, often transacting business or delivering messages for their customers. By 1829 [[Boston]] was the hub of 77 stagecoach lines; by 1832 there were 106. |
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[[File:Concord Stagecoach number 251.JPG|thumbnail|Preserved Concord stagecoach in [[Wells Fargo]] livery.]] |
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The first Concord stagecoach was built in 1827. Abbot Downing Company employed leather strap braces under their stagecoaches which gave a swinging motion instead of the jolting up and down of a spring suspension. The company manufactured over forty different types of carriages and wagons at the wagon factory in [[Concord, New Hampshire|Concord]], [[New Hampshire]]. Concord stagecoaches were built so solidly it became known they didn't break down but just wore out. |
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The Concord stagecoach sold throughout South America, Australia, and Africa. Over 700 Concord stagecoaches were built by the original Abbot Downing Company before it disbanded in 1847.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} The company was still building coaches, wagons, and carriages according to their business card of 1898. {{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}<ref>[http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_Concord_Mail_Coach.html US Postal Museum Concord Mail Coach Posting]</ref> In his 1861 book ''[[Roughing It]]'', [[Mark Twain]] described the Concord stage's ride as like "a cradle on wheels". |
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==See also== |
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{{div col|colwidth=20em}} |
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* [[Carriage]] |
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** [[Carriage#Types of horse-drawn carriages|Types of carriages]] |
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* [[Charley Parkhurst]] |
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* [[Coach (carriage)]] |
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* [[Coaching inn]] |
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* [[Cobb and Co]] |
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* [[Cobb & Co. (New Zealand)]] |
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* [[Highwayman]] |
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* [[Jesse James]] |
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* [[Mail coach]] |
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* [[Riding shotgun]] |
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* [[Stage Coaches Act 1788]] |
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* [[Stage Coaches Act 1790]] |
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* [[Turnpike road]] |
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* [[Wagonette]] |
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* [[Wickenburg Massacre]] |
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* [[Jarbidge Stage Robbery]] |
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{{div col end}} |
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==References== |
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{{reflist|35em}} |
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==External links== |
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{{Commons}} |
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* [http://www.cobbandco.net.au Cobb & Co Heritage Trail.] |
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* [http://www.over-land.com/ccwords.html The Overland Trail:Stage Coach Vocabulary- Last Updated 19 April 1998] |
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* [http://www.anvil.clara.net/stage.htm The Stage Coaches of Britain.] Anvil. Text based on ''Stagecoach'' by John Richards (1976). |
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* [http://tombstonetimes.com/stories/stagecoaches.html Stagecoaches: TombstoneTimes.com] |
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* [[Fernand Braudel|Braudel, Fernand]], ''The Perspective of the World,'' vol. III of ''Civilization and Capitalism'' 1979 (in English 1984) |
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* [http://www.archive.org/details/goldenroadthesto013625mbp Felix Riesenberg, Jr., ''The Golden Road The Story Of Californias Spanish Mission Trail'', Mcgraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1962] |
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* [http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25066 Stagecoach History: Stage Lines to California] |
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* [http://www.wildwesttales.com/index.htm Wild West Tales: Stories by R. Michael Wilson; Stagecoach] |
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* [http://books.google.com/books?id=HJLBUhRWGCkC&pg=PA359#v=onepage&q=&f=false Robert Glass Cleland, ''A history of California: the American period'', The Macmillan Company, New York, 1922 Chapter XXIV, The Overland Mail and the Pony Express, pp. 359-368] |
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[[Category:Carriages]] |
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[[Category:Wagons]] |
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[[Category:Animal-powered vehicles]] |
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[[Category:History of road transport]] |
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