JOHN A. SE AVERNS 
 
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 In One Volume, royal 8vo, cloth, gilt top. Price 21s. Net. With 12 Illustrations 
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 NOTITIA VENATICA. 
 
 A TREATISE ON FOX-HUNTING, 
 
 Embracing the General Management of Hounds and the 
 Diseases of Dogs, Etc. 
 
 By ROBERT T. VYNER. 
 
 a IRew Edition, IRcvfscfc, Corrected anfc Enlarges 
 By WILLIAM C. A. BLEW. 
 
 With Twelve Illustrations by Henry Alken, Coloured by Hand. 
 
 Note. — This is a new edition of Mr. Vyner's well-known Treatise on Fox-Hunting, 
 with the admirable illustrations by the late Henry Alken, all coloured by hand. The 
 work has been thoroughly revised and corrected, and voluminous Anecdotes and Notes 
 of much interest added by Mr. William C. A. Blew. 
 
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 wide. There is much valuable information in the footnotes with which Mr. Blew has 
 enriched Mr. Vyner's text." 
 
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 and hunting, diversified with personal reminiscences and authentic anecdotes, brought 
 down to date by the present editor, and illustrated with twelve sketches, hand 
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 deft and scientific hand in depicting hounds, horses, and riders as they should be." 
 
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 good season, and will, no doubt, not lack readers. It is perhaps the most exhaustive 
 and practical work ever printed on the subject, if not the gayest, and it has been care- 
 fully edited by Mr. William Blew." 
 
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 manner in which Mr. Blew has fulfilled his task. We congratulate the publisher on 
 having secured the aid of such a thoroughly competent authority on fox-hunting." 
 
 London: JOHN C. NIMMO, 14 King William Street, Strand. 
 

 Veterinary library 
 
 •jr.- t ! j»v*/ers?ty 
 
 School of veterinary Medicine 
 
 200 West bo ro Rd. 
 
 North Grafton. MA 01536 
 

 
 
 
 ^vVO 
 
 91 
 
BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE 
 
 LONDON AND BRIGHTON ROAD 
 
' — >m T 
 
 *y.VrsVj©Ks> S^'cA'VO'V 
 
 *^ 
 
 X 1 * 
 
BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE 
 
 LONDON AND BRIGHTON ROAD 
 
 WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PROVINCIAL COACHES 
 THAT HAVE RUN FROM BRIGHTON 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM C. A. BLEW, M.A. 
 
 (Editor of Vyner's " Notitia Vrnatica" and Radci.ikfe's " Noblf. Science 
 
 of Fox-Hunting") 
 
 WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ORIGINAL WATER-COLOUR 
 DRAWINGS BY J. & G. TEMPLE 
 
 All Coloured by Hand 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN C. N I M M O 
 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND 
 
 MDCCCXCIV 
 
TO 
 
 STEWART FREEMAN, Esq. 
 
 WHO HAS WELL AND WORTHILY CARRIED ON THE 
 BEST TRADITIONS OF THE BRIGHTON ROAD 
 
 ZTbis 36oofc is 2>efcicate& 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 MANY PLEASANT JOURNEYS. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 T7UFTY-TW0 years have passed since the opening of 
 the London and Brighton Railway caused the break- 
 up of what was perhaps the best-found, the most popular, 
 and the busiest coach-road out of London. He, there- 
 fore, who can remember even the last flicker of the 
 expiring embers of the "Coaching Era" must have 
 exceeded that uncertain period of life known as middle 
 age ; while, if we would hear from living lips of the 
 golden age of Brighton stage-coaching, as it was from, 
 say, 1825, we must listen to an octogenarian. But 
 these old-world coachmen, alas ! are growing fewer in 
 number ; and their memories, once so amply stored 
 with reminiscences which would now be priceless, 
 from the standpoint of the coaching historian, are 
 not quite so retentive as they once were. Moreover, 
 these ancient artists are difficult to find ; and even 
 they cannot convey one back to the earliest days of 
 the Brighton road — that is to say, to the middle of the 
 last century. In venturing to put forth, therefore, 
 some account of the Brighton road, so far as it has 
 been possible to glean its history, I do not claim to 
 do any more than give the dry bones of stage-coaching. 
 It has been my good fortune to converse with more 
 than one of those who drove on the Brighton road 
 in its best days, and their sayings and experiences 
 are incorporated in the following pages : they are, I 
 venture to hope, that little leaven which may go some 
 way towards leavening a whole lump of dry facts. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 Still, it were useless to shut one's eyes to the fact 
 that the table or, more correctly speaking, the box- 
 seat talk is absent ; nor can I say anything of coach- 
 ing of old from personal experience, my earliest 
 recollection of the Brighton road dating from about 
 1857, when, as a small boy, I was taken on Clark's 
 Age, which ran through Kingston, Dorking, and 
 Horsham. Somewhat earlier I had travelled on a 
 white coach with green wheels, which ran, I think, 
 between Dover and Ramsgate ; and these two journeys 
 awoke in me a love for stage-coaching, which at the 
 present time shows no signs of abatement, even though 
 the road is not in many respects what it was ; but 
 I am one of the many who have known nothing 
 better. 
 
 " Nimrod," the late Mr. Birch lieynardson, the late 
 Captain Haworth, Lord W. Lennox, Captain Malet, 
 Mr. Stanley Harris ("An Old Stager"), Colonel Cor- 
 bett, and the contributors to the Badminton Library, 
 have given us much that is of interest in connection 
 with stage-coaching ; but these gentlemen have one 
 and all confined themselves almost entirely to writing 
 about the history of their own time ; and, so far as 
 I know, the present is the first attempt to sketch, 
 in however incomplete a fashion, the history of 
 any coach-road from the earliest times to the period 
 of its decay. In so saying, I am not unmindful of 
 the chapter on "The Coaching Era' 1 in Mr. J. G. 
 Bishop's interesting work on "Brighton in the Olden 
 Time," which embraces some of the main features of 
 the hi story of the road ; but, as it forms one chapter 
 only of the book, it was obviously impossible to deal 
 with the subject in extenso. 1 have apologised above 
 for having little else to set before the reader than [the 
 dry bones of stage-coach history ; but the provision of 
 this scanty fare is loss my fault than my misfortune, 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 for it lias already been explained that many of those 
 who conld have thrown light upon the coaching of old 
 have now crumbled to dust like the " machines " they 
 once drove ; my material, therefore, has been almost 
 exclusively drawn from old newspapers and magazines. 
 The files of all the Sussex papers have been carefully 
 searched page by page, from the date of their establish- 
 ment down to the time when it was no longer in the 
 power of their respective editors to give coaching news. 
 The Times, Morning Post, Public Advertiser, Morning 
 Chronicle, and other journals, mentioned in the Index, 
 have been laid under contribution ; and so have the 
 Gentleman s Magazine, the Annual Register, and the 
 Sporting Magazine, together with as many other books 
 likely to give information as I have been able to dis- 
 cover. In the British Museum I was able to find the 
 tiles of the Sussex papers from 1S25 only; but the 
 proprietors of the Sussex Advertiser very kindly per- 
 mitted me to have access to their back numbers ; Mr. 
 Crunden of Brighton was good enough to lend me the 
 two first volumes of the Brighton Herald; Mr. J. G. 
 Bishop, its proprietor, with equal kindness, allowed me 
 to ransack the remaining volumes ; and Mr. Towner, of 
 the Brighton Gazette, permitted me to search the files 
 of that journal. I must also acknowledge the assistance 
 I have received in searching and compiling the Index 
 from my friend Mr. Edward Penton. To these gentle- 
 men my best thanks are gratefully rendered. 
 
 There has been some little doubt as to the best 
 arrangement of the book. It would probably have 
 been more readable had all minor details been dis- 
 carded, and had the more important matters been 
 treated with a free hand under such headings as " Old 
 Coaches," "New Coaches," "Fast Coaches," "Slow 
 Coaches," "Accidents," "Mails," &c, without regard 
 to chronological order. But there was a desire to 
 
x PEEFACE 
 
 draw up a record of the Brighton, road from the 
 earliest times ; to show, if possible, how the business 
 of stage-coaching grew ; how coaches became more 
 numerous ; when they were accelerated ; and with 
 what difficulties in the direction of bad weather, acci- 
 dents, informations, &c, the callings of coach pro- 
 prietor and coachman were beset. In case the verdict 
 should be that I have come to the ground between 
 two stools, that I have missed the succinctness of a 
 bare chronological record without having succeeded 
 in writing a story to which any interest attaches, I 
 can only plead that a bushel or so of newspaper extracts 
 is not the easiest material out of which to weave a 
 narrative. I have not attempted anything in the shape 
 of an itinerary. As in one form and another the places 
 of interest on the road between London and Brighton 
 have been fully described, the sole object has been to 
 give, as far as possible, a history of the coaches which 
 ran in and out of Brighton. If in another two cen- 
 turies balloons or some other mode of travel shall have 
 superseded railroads, he who sits down to write a 
 history of trains will search the papers in vain for 
 anecdotes of the engine-drivers and passenger-guards 
 who occupy to-day the position that the Snows, the 
 Hines, and the Millises did sixty years ago. 
 
 The twenty illustrations from water-colour drawings 
 by James and George Temple represent the principal 
 points of interest on the Brighton road. 
 
 W. C. A. B. 
 
 London, 
 
 October 1893. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Brighton of Old ........ 1-1S 
 
 Modes of spelling — Pepys's Diary — Brighton, her streets and 
 carriages — Navigation — Descriptions of Brighton — " Merry 
 Doctor Brighton " — First visit of the Prince of Wales (Ge ,rge 
 IV.)— The Pavilion— " Princely Affability "—Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert, her lineage — " Lass of Richmond Hill " — The Prince 
 and Mrs. Fitzherbert — The Prince marries Caroline of 
 Brunswick — Sir John Lade — Lady Lade — Sir John Lade's 
 coachmanship — Colonel Mellish — Sir John Lade and Lord 
 Cholmondeley — The Marchioness of Conyngham — Absence 
 of George IV. from Brighton — Smoaker Miles and the Prince 
 — The Brigbton barber. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Brighton and its Roads. ...... 19-23 
 
 Badness of Sussex roads — Visit of the Emperor Charles VI. 
 to Petworth — Horace Walpole — Dr. John Burton's "Iter 
 Sussexiense" — Long-legged animals in Sussex — Tubb & 
 Davis's machine — Boad-mending — Broad wheels advocated 
 
 — Acts of Parliament relating to turnpikes — New roads 
 
 — Lewes route to London — Horsham route to London 
 — Cuckrield route to London — New road by Hickstead — 
 Protest of inhabitants of Beigate against new road — The 
 White Hart, Reigate, and Oeorge the Fourth's rooms. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Stage- CoAcn Legislation ...... 24-29 
 
 Tbe broad -wheeled waggon — Overloaded coaches — Mr. Gammon's 
 proposed legislation against overloading coaches — Act of 
 
xii ( ONTEXTS 
 
 Parliament 28th George III. chap. 57 — Failure of Act 
 — Act of Parliament 30th George III. chap. 36 — Old 
 English — A third Act passed to prevent overloading — 
 Height of coaches — Act of Parliament 2nd and 3rd 
 William IV. chap. 120. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Brighton Road in the Last Century . . . 30-62 
 
 Beginning of stage-coaching— Chamberlayne on the advantages 
 of coaching — Mr. Cressett opposes coaches — Trains and 
 coaches — De Laune on coaches — Bredhempstone — Earliest 
 coach to Brighton — Company of Parish Clerks — Coach to 
 Brighton in 1732 — Conveyances to Brighton in 1741 — Coach 
 to Lewes — "Flying Machine'" 5 to Brighton — The basket, 
 invention of Bonner — " Back Gammon " — James Batchelor, 
 an early coach-proprietor — The Lewes one-day stage-coach or 
 chaise — Opposition by Tubb & Brawne — Fares from London 
 to Lewes and Brighton — "Machines'' — New large flying 
 chariot — Batchelor's death — Tubb & Davis become partners 
 — A " Fly " — Loshmer & Co. — The Brighton diligence — 
 First coach through Cuckfield — Coaching in 1784 — Snow- 
 storm in 1789 — Springless coach-boxes — Singular wager — 
 Henwood & Scott — Davis l'; Co. — Ibberson & Co. — Wessen's 
 coach — Comforts of a stage-coach — "God permits" — Coach- 
 ing in 1 79 1 — Introduction of mail-coaches — First mail-coach 
 on Brighton road — Long-bodied coaches advocated — Action 
 against coachmen — Exj>enses of coach-travelling and posting 
 compared — Coach accidents — Journey from Brighton to 
 London in last century — Bannister, the publican of Hand 
 ( 'ross — Arrival at Reigate — Coaching dinner — Port and 
 sherry — Walking up Reigate Hill — Tbe " Cock " at Sutton — 
 The Elephant and Castle — Golden Cross, Charing Cross — 
 — Hackney carriages — A coach robbery — Robbery of the 
 Brighton mail — Howell and Rooke, trial and execution of 
 — The boy and the highwayman — Coaching in 1 793 — Coach 
 through Ditchling and Lindrteld — Crosweller becomes a 
 proprietor — Scott's coaches — Reduced fares — Retirement 
 of Tubb — Postboys and return fares — "The vicar's belly 
 and the curate's kitchen" -Night-coaches — Increase of 
 fares — London and Brighton an eight hours' journey — 
 Shrewsbury flying waggon — Increase of price of forage- 
 Bradford becomes a coach proprietor — Coach offices — Coach- 
 ing at the end of the last century. 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAPTEK A' 
 
 PAGE 
 
 From 1800 to iSoy ....... 63-77 
 
 An unsociable traveller — Travelling with pistols — Highway- 
 men — Public apology by abusive coachman — Abusive 
 turnpike keepers — Journey from London to Brighton in 
 1 80 1 — The Blossoms Inn — Breakfast at the " Cock," Sutton 
 -The Tangier — Miss Jeal's elderberry wine — George 
 IV. — Beigate — Hand Cross — Smugglers — Dinner at Staple- 
 field Common — Cherry-trees — Clayton Hill— Coaching in 
 1802 — Rival firms — Fares — New Royal Union Four-Horse 
 Coach Co., starting of — Provided beds gratis at Brighton — 
 Mail-boys and mail-drivers, new uniform of — Bolt-in- 
 Tun — Death of Howell, coach proprietor — Coaches in 1807 
 —"Uncommonly quick travelling'' — The Devil's Dyke— 
 Boulton & Co.'s enterprise — Offer to return fares if coach is 
 late — Sharp practice by two gentlemen — Night-coaches 
 — Later morning coaches — Shergold, projnietor of Castle 
 Hotel — Sale of share in coach business — Returns of coach 
 business — Loss and recovery of bills and notes — Honest v 
 the best policy — Waldegrave's coach capsizes — The "sable 
 plume" — Accident to Pattenden's coach — Letter in defence 
 of Pattenden. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 From 1S10 to 1S14 ....... 78-95 
 
 Curious accident at Angel Inn, Strand — "Miller" Bradford — New 
 mail-coach between London and Brighton in 1810 — Early 
 delivery and late post — Willan and the Prince's hack— An 
 East Street tradesman and the early post — Mail-coaches at 
 the General Post-Office — Passenger by the mail — Lord C. 
 Somerset and the soldier — Freezing and overflow at the 
 " Grand Arch," at junction of Lewes and Preston roads — 
 Gentlemen coachmen — Mr. Warde of Squerries — Benson 
 Driving Club — Mr. Thrupp's "History of Coaches" — Coach- 
 ing statistics for 181 r — Coaches between London and 
 Brighton in 181 1 — Mackerell & Waldegrave — The New Inn, 
 Brighton — The Princess Charlotte coach — Sale at Aldridge's 
 — Great bank-note robbery from a Blue coach — Carelessness 
 in sending money — Account of how the robbery was com- 
 mitted — Combination of postmasters — Turnpike gate-keepers, 
 devices of — Humours of Brighton — Postboy's wedding — 
 London and Brighton coach via Horsham — The Red Office 
 and coaches — The Blue coaches — Accident to Lord C. Somer- 
 set's carriage — A calf killed — Narrow escape of Mackerell's 
 
xiv CONTEXTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 coacli — Coaches and the carriage of letters — Thames frozen 
 over in 1814 — Mr. Whitbread and his sleigh — Coaching 
 arrangements in 18 14 — Green peas at four guineas a pint — 
 " Imperial condescension "■ -The Emperor Alexander and 
 the church congregation. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 From 1815 to 1819 . . . . . . . 96-117 
 
 French oats at eighteen shillings per quarter — Careless driving 
 by coachman of the Comet — Coaches for 181 5 — John Gully's 
 set-to with " The Chicken "■ — Hine's light coach — Coach 
 proprietors and tolls — A test action — Tandem matches 
 between London and Brighton — A Sussex parson makes 
 a bet — A trotting- match — Juvenile mendicants — A fast 
 coach — Breakage of three whips in a journey, and death 
 of fifteen horses in a week — Pace of the modern Comet — 
 Collision between the Phoenix and the Dart — Coaches in 
 181 7 — French Government and English mail-coaches — A 
 hint to coachmen — Robbery from a van — Coaches in 181 7 
 
 — The New Times — A lunged horse-shoe — Death of Mr. 
 John Palmer — The mail-coach system — A safety-coach — Its 
 weight — Accident to the Coburg coach — The " Trivector " — 
 Coaches in 1819. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 From 1820 to 1S24 ....... 118-132 
 
 Mr. Milton and his safety-coach — "Accommodation" and " Post ;i 
 coaches — Procession of mails on King's birthday — Mr. 
 Waterhouse's greys — Coaches in 1820 — Two Defiances — 
 New derivation of safety coach — Subscription for Whit- 
 church, coach proprietor — Snowstorm in 182 1 — Accident 
 to Snow's coach — "Running with a fury" between London 
 and Brighton — William Hine's Alert coach — William Genu's 
 new coach — Breakdown of a safety coach, and capsize of 
 Brighton mail — Coaches for 1821 — Number of coaches on 
 Brighton road in 1822 — Coach advertisement — The common 
 informer — Price's Islington coach — Coaches from George 
 and Blue Boar, and Boar and Castle (London) — Summer 
 coaches — Subscription for booking-clerk — Horse sales at 
 Rymill's and Maitan's repositories — Accommodation at 
 ( ieorgeand Blue Boar — Coaches from London to all parts — 
 Post-horses at Barnet. 
 
CONTENTS xv 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PACE 
 
 From 1825 to 1829 ....... 133-167 
 
 Mr. Jessett's school — Tom Brown's journey to Rugby — 
 Advertisements for coach-horses — The " General Stage- 
 Coach Company " — Its prospectus — Newcastle coach and 
 the fee system in 17S6 — Opposition to the General Stage- 
 Coach Company — The Company's prospectus — " Vampire's " 
 letter on Brighton coaches — Pickpockets at coach-offices — 
 Johnson and Byers, the informers — Legislation to prevent 
 overloading coaches — Waldegrave's Accommodation coach 
 —Byers in court — Byers at Bath— Informers at Oxford — 
 Pursuit of informers — Pi'ofits and losses of coach proprietors 
 — Mr. AVightman's idea of maximum speed of train — King's 
 Road first named — General Stage Coach Company — Sale 
 of the Monarch horses — Coaches for 1826 — Accident to 
 the Eclipse coach — Akehurst's patent bit — A stage-coach 
 prop — AA T aterhouse's coach built after manner of German 
 coaches — A coach with an awning — Runaway coach-horses 
 — The Magnet horses run away — Escape of the mail — 
 Fares by Comet and Old Times (modern) — Pace of Brighton 
 mail — Carrier's liability for loss of parcels of greater value 
 than five pounds — Railway and Canal Traffic Act — Brighton 
 mail robbed — Dart coach robbed — The Rocket coach — 
 — Horse sale at Aldridge's — Coaching and posting inns to let 
 — Pattenden's failure — Byers again— Byers arrested — His 
 release and return to Brighton — Air. H. Stevenson — Coach- 
 travelling in winter — Brighton coachmasters — Burstall & 
 Hill's steam-carriage — Growth of west end of Brighton — 
 A night-coach — Number of coaches on London road in 1828 
 — Expenses of coaches — Earnings of coaches — Opposition on 
 road — Losses of proprietors — "Viator Junior" on coaches and 
 coachmen — Pair-horse coaches — " Tim " Carter — The " Life 
 Preserver" — Coaches in 1828 — No guards to many coaches 
 — Cutting out a lady's pocket — Coach robbery — Accident to 
 Alert coach — Omnibus carrying twenty-four passengers 
 inside suggested — Vans and waggons — Carrier's liability— 
 "Paul Pry" van did not intrude — AA T inch & Chaplin's van. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 From 1830 to 1834 ... .... 168-200 
 
 'Old Lai"' — Four foxhounds in hand on the North road — 
 Dumsdale and his unicorn team of three bulldogs — Death 
 of Mr. H. Stevenson, of the Age — The Coronet — The Water- 
 
 b 
 
PAGE 
 
 xvi CONTENTS 
 
 witch — Mr. Stevenson's career and illness — The Age cap- 
 sized — T. W. Capps and tlie Age — James Cross, the coachman, 
 summoned by Mr. Amiat — Impertinent coachmen — Theo- 
 philus Holmes — Anecdote of Dick Vaughan — A Mother 
 Superior — Byers again — The Red Rover coach — An unde- 
 cided wager — Coaching statistics — Afternoon coaches — 
 " Tim " Carter — Taking the King's Speech to Brighton — A 
 slow coach — Royal Adelaide safety coach — The Reform 
 coach — "Dash wood" on fast driving — The Waterwitch 
 coach — The Red Rover and Waterwitch race — Goodman's 
 "Four-o'clock Times" — The Earl Grey coach — Accidents 
 — Accident to the Brighton mail — Distance run by mail- 
 coaches each night — Post-office mail-carts — Hancock's steam- 
 carriage — Trip of, to Brighton — Clay v. iron retorts — Byers 
 and steam-carriages — Furious driving — The Marcpvis of 
 Worcester starts coaches against Goodman — The Wonder 
 and Quicksilver — Accident to Quicksilver — Mr. AVard's Re- 
 miniscences — Fast travelling — " Nimrod " on bearing-reins 
 — " Nimrod's " Essays — The Criterion coach — Death of Sir 
 William Cosway -- Thomas Wilkins, a coachman sum- 
 moned by Mr. Chamier — Leaving horses unattended. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 From 1835 to 1839 ....... 201-231 
 
 "Well-born coachmen" — Mr. Sackville Gwynne — The Age after 
 Mr. Stevenson's death — The two Ages — Willan's Age — 
 Capps's Age — Newspaper war between Mr. Willan and Capps 
 — Plus si necesse sit — Shillibeer's diligence — A ten-pound 
 coach-horse — The original diligence — Coaches for 1835 — 
 Sir St. Vincent Cotton buys Mr. Willan's Age — Mr. Willan 
 takes the Magnet — Chaplin and Crunden — The Vivid coach 
 — Accident to the Age horses — An intoxicated coachman 
 — The snowstorm of 1836 — Brighton Gazette's account of 
 storm — The mail in the storm — Taylor, the mail-guard — 
 Querini, the King's cook — Energy of Post-Office officials — 
 Coaches snowed up — A "coach retarder" — Death of Cros- 
 weller — Coaches in 1838 — Dummy parcels — The " Stafford " 
 safety-coach — Establishment of Brighton day-mail — Mr. C. 
 Ward its first coachman — Railways — Accident to Adams's 
 coach — The Royal Victoria — Retirement of Sir St. Vincent 
 Cotton from the Age — Mr. C. T. Jones succeeds him — Acci- 
 dent to a coachman — Coachmasters' petition for reduction 
 of duties — Miles run in a year by stage-coaches in England 
 — " Autobiography of a Stage-Coachman" by Thomas Cross 
 — His petition to Parliament — Old stage-coachmen — Death 
 
CONTENTS xvii 
 
 PAC B 
 
 of Mr. Cussell — Skidding without stopping — Death of 
 Fisher, a mail-guard — Francis Vickers and the " half " pas- 
 senger — The Sunday afternoon coach, the Czar. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 From 1S40 to 1846 232-246 
 
 The wane of stage-coaching — The steam-engine as a substitute 
 for horse-power — Accident to the Times coach — Hills's steam- 
 carriage visits Brighton — Brighton to London in live hours 
 — The Duke of Beaufort coach — The " Conservative Mail " 
 — " To coachmasters and others : ' — " Hayward's Heath near 
 ( hickfield " — Opening of the railway from London to Hay- 
 ward's Heath — The battle of Waterloo and death of Queen 
 Elizabeth — Bowing to the inevitable — Last coaches on the 
 Brighton road — Wages of mail-guards raised — The Rival 
 coach — The Coronet coach — Opening of railway to Brighton 
 — " Coach and railway offices " — Omnibuses and flys — The 
 day-mail taken off — A coach-wheel on fire — Bad state of 
 London road — The night-mail — A desponding horsekeeper 
 — Mrs. Hine in the "stationery and perfumery line" — 
 " A'iator " on overcharging — The Golden Fleece — Cabs and 
 omnibxises — Capps's Rail Road coach — The Victoria — The 
 Age the last Brighton coach on near route — The last Lewes 
 and London coach — Lament over the decay of coaching — 
 "Gentlemen coachmen" — The Windsor Taglioni — Mr. 
 Sackville Gwynne. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Brighton Road in Modern Times . . . 247-252 
 
 A coaching middle age — Adlam and Clark — The F.H.D.C. — Cap- 
 tain Haworth and the coaching revival — The Old Times 
 (1866) — Coaches by Messrs. Holland & Holland— The 
 Checpiers at Horley — A Brighton winter coach — The Brigh- 
 ton road 1 868- 1 87 2— Colonel Stracey Clitherow— Mr. Tif- 
 fany — Mr. Freeman takes Brighton road in 1875 — His 
 partners — His coachman — Mr. Freeman runs to Windsor — 
 E. Fownes's Age- — Mr. Tiffany runs to Brighton via Rei- 
 gate — Mr. C. Blythe runs to Brighton via Tunbridge Wells 
 and Lewes — Three leaders abreast — Selby's Old Times on 
 Brighton road — Selby's death — Brighton horses bought, not 
 jobbed- — Mr. Goodbun — The Old Ship — Country coaches 
 from Brighton — The old style and the new. 
 
xviii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAG E 
 
 Brighton's Cross-Country Coaches .... 253-277 
 
 Total number of coaches out of Brighton — The Blue Office — 
 Lewes, Eastbourne, and Hastings road — Smart's stage 
 Lewes to Brighton — Fuller's Eastbourne coach — A " new 
 light caravan" — Durden's Brighton and Hastings coach — 
 The Royal Charlotte — Coachmen and smugglers — A lack of 
 passengers — Routes to Hastings from Brighton— New road 
 from Lewes to Eastbourne — Brighton and Margate coaches 
 — Newman's Hastings coach — A light coach — John Hoare's 
 Magnet coach — Ade's opposition coach — New road by Ash- 
 combe Gate — John Hoare buys Patterson's Hastings coach — 
 Bad roads between Brighton and Lewes — Death of John 
 Hoare, and sale of his stock — Fuller's New Inn, Eastbourne 
 — Conveyance of mails between Brighton and Hastings — 
 Mail-coach between London and Hastings — Increase in 
 number of coaches between Hastings and Brighton — Oppo- 
 sition on Brighton and Hastings road — Travelling gratis— 
 South-Eastern Railway and Hastings coach proprietors- 
 Railway between London and Tunbridge — Mrs. Strevens, 
 female warder at Lewes — Incidents on Lewes road — A dis- 
 located knee-cap and a good Samaritan — Dummy parcels— 
 An intoxicated coach passenger — Collisions — Deaths of Wil- 
 liam and Thomas Simcock — Brighton to Tunbridge Wells 
 and Maidstone — Stage-cart in 1800 — Robbery of Maid- 
 stone coach and caravan — Humphrey's coach in 18 10 — ■ 
 Other coaches to Maidstone — To Chatham — "Fair Play " on 
 the Brighton and Tunbridge Wells road — Fleet's fear of 
 accident — Accident to Fleet — His death— Inquest on Fleet 
 — Further accidents to the Maidstone coach — Snowstorm of 
 1836 — Royal Blue and Defiance coaches — Steam-carriage 
 visits Tunbridge Wells — Opening of South-Eastern Railway 
 to Tunbridge in 1842. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Brighton to Worthing, Chichester, Portsmouth, Bath, and 
 
 Bristoi 278-299 
 
 Worthing of old and its coaches— New road by Lower Lancing 
 — Frost and thaw — Racing between coaches in 18 10 — 
 ] Brighton and Chichester mail — First Portsmouth coach to 
 Brighton — Accidents — Fare from Portsmouth to Bath — 
 Race on Portsmouth road — A madman in a coach — Penalties 
 for overcrowding coacli — Accident to Crosweller's coach — 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 s 
 
 The Swan, Chichester — The Dolphin, Chichester — Snow's 
 coaches on Worthing road — New coach from Brighton 
 to Chichester — Mr. John Walker — His Bognor coach — 
 "Rollin" and " Robin "—Failure of Mr. Walker's coach- 
 Sale of Michel Grove — Cross's Champion coach— Capsize 
 of London and Bognor coach — Earl of Arran coach over 
 the Littlehampton Ferry — A famous roan horse — The 
 thorough bred horse Pomegranate — Coach-horses in a shop 
 window — Blind horses — Accident to one — " One eye amongst 
 ns" — A "■deranged" wheel — " Cads" on a coach — Portsmouth 
 and Brighton coaches in 1830 — The Bath and Bristol Red 
 Rover — Accident to a lady travelling by — Little Red Rover 
 — Accident to Red Rover — To Defiance Portsmouth coach — 
 The new Gloucester mail in the snowstorm of 1836 — How 
 the mail-bags were brought to Brighton — The Worthing 
 mail-cart — The coastguard — Horses running away without 
 coachman — " Xo jarvey " — Upfold, of the Southampton 
 coach — His career, accidents, and death — His successor — 
 Omnibuses — Break-up of the road — The Shoreham Railway 
 —The Royal Victoria — Windsor, Reading, and Oxford — 
 The Oxford Hero — Windsor coach — Mr. Millis, an old 
 coachman — The Royal Sovereign — No opposition — Re- 
 munerative and unremunerative waybills — A Christmas 
 Day journey — The Farnham coach — A pulling leader — 
 Head-terrets — Broken reins and pole — Route of Brighton 
 and Oxford coach in 1 84 1 . 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Growth of Coachmanship ..... 300-315 
 
 The broad-wheeled waggon — A period of advance — No history 
 of driving — An old Act of Parliament — The carrier period 
 — Improvement in driving must have taken place between 
 1780 and 1800 — Who invented pole-hook and bars — 
 Leaders drawing from wheelers' traces — The possibly original 
 bar — The coupling rein — Holding reins — Treatises on 
 riding — "Nimrod's" Essays on driving — Driving clubs — 
 Amateurs — The short wheel-rein — Driving with a full hand 
 — Use of the whip — Ancient whips — A day's stock of whip- 
 points — Catching or folding a whip — " Nimrod's" directions 
 for hitting a wheeler — The old coachman and his whip — 
 Expert use of whip not common in "Nimrod's" time — 
 The "Ilea biting the lobster" — Hitting a leader — Exag- 
 gerated stories of — Old and new school of coachmen com- 
 pared — Collisions — A skilful coachman presuming upon his 
 skill v. a careful muff — Coaching and coach-horses in 
 
xx CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 olden time — Worthing coach-proprietor's directions to his 
 coachman — Mrs. Ann Nelson and one of her coachmen — 
 Modern coach-horses — A good sale desired — Modern coach- 
 men — "Viator Junior's" suggestion why good coachmen 
 were scarce on the Brighton road — Mr. Stevenson — " The 
 Baronet " — Who drew up rules for driving — Letters to the 
 Field — Contradictory directions — Position of hand — Bent 
 arm v. straight arm — Doctors differ : who shall decide ? — 
 Possible explanation of contradictory directions — Driving 
 volume of Badminton Library — Theory and practice — 
 Second hand to the reins — Driving with two hands v. two- 
 handed driving — Shortening reins — How the operation is 
 to be performed— Quot homines tot sentential. 
 
 APPENDIX .... . .317 
 
 INDEX xix 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FROM ORIGINAL WATER-COLOUR DRA WINGS BY J. & G. TEMPLE. 
 
 ALL COLOURED BY HAND. 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 16 
 
 I. King's Road, Brighton .... Frontispiece 
 
 II. The Old Stbyne .... 
 
 III. The White Hart, Reigate 
 
 IV. From the White Hart, Cuckfield . 
 V. Behind Time, Reigate Toll-Gate 
 
 VI. White Horse Cellars 
 VII. Mail- Coach Leaving the Post-Office 
 
 VIII. Racing 
 
 IX. Peas Pottage ..... 
 X. The Tap, Peas Pottage . 
 XI. King's Head, Cuckfield . 
 XII. Junction of the Two Roads at Hand Cross 
 
 XIII. Crawley ...... 
 
 XIV. Off the Road, Earlswood Common . 
 XV. Friars Oak 
 
 XVI. Stage-Coachmen at the Golden Fleece, Brighton 
 XVII. The Chequers, Horley ..... 
 XVIII. The Old Stables, Chequers, Horley 
 XIX. Castle Square, Brighton .... 
 XX. A Close Shave 
 
 22 
 4 8 
 
 54 
 
 64 
 
 80 
 
 102 
 
 128 
 134 
 
 150 
 
 192 
 
 208 
 
 214 
 
 230 
 
 240 
 246 
 
 2 5° 
 254 
 
 272 
 
Brighton and its Coaches 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 BRIGHTON OF OLD. 
 
 fTlIIE ancient town of Brighthelmstone, now almost 
 a marine suburb of London, is said to derive its 
 name from a Saxon bishop of Selsea, named Bright- 
 helm, who lived there in the time of the Heptarchy. 
 The name of the place has been spelt in a variety 
 of ways ; but, in the days of the pack - horse and 
 stage -waggon, people were in no greater hurry to get 
 through their words than they were to reach the end 
 of their journey ; probably, therefore, a long name was 
 not objected to in the good old days. But, as the time 
 drew near for men to again impair the stability of a 
 waggon by cutting out one of its " g's," and literally to 
 curtail the programme by snipping off the two final 
 letters of the word, Brighthelmstone came to be 
 called Brighton ; but I believe the identity of the 
 person to whom we owe the contraction has never 
 been ascertained. While, however, the place was 
 described as Brighthelmstone until well into this 
 century in a good many guide-books, road-books, and 
 maps, the Sussex Advertiser, the London Morning 
 Advertiser, and other newspapers adopted the form 
 Brighton so long ago as 1786, and possibly earlier 
 than that ; but then, as well as at a later date, both 
 forms of spelling may be found in the same copy of 
 
 A 
 
2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 a newspaper. The editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, 
 too, adopted the abbreviated form, for which he was 
 pulled up by a contributor to the second part of the 
 fifty-seventh volume (1787). "Many of your English 
 readers," objected the critic, " will know that you 
 meant Brighthelmstone. Several of them may not 
 know where this new home for our ancient town is. 
 Foreigners will want to know where Brighton is, and 
 they will go north, Yorkshire being the only county ac- 
 cording to our maps and indexes in which there is a place 
 so designated." I have tried to find this Yorkshire 
 Brighton, but have not succeeded in so doing ; it does 
 not appear in any of the editions of Gary or Paterson. 
 
 In his Diary, Samuel Pepys makes casual mention 
 of the fact, under date 1 7th September 1 666, that 
 Captain Balls' ship, the Success, called off Brighthelm- 
 stone, and that the captain wrote thence to Sir W. 
 Coventry news concerning the French fleet ; though 
 what period of time elapsed between the writing and 
 the receipt of the letter we are not told. The excite- 
 ment consequent upon the Fire of London had kept the 
 cheery old gossip from bestowing the usual amount 
 of attention upon the niceties of his toilet, as on the 
 above-mentioned day (17th September 1666) he wrote, 
 " Up betimes, and shaved myself after a week's growth;" 
 and, having duly admired his changed appearance, Pepys 
 felt constrained to reduce his feelings into writing : 
 "Lord ! how ugly I was yesterday, and how fine to-day ! ' : 
 
 May not modern Brighton say the same of herself? 
 When the town consisted of no more than five prin- 
 cipal streets — East, Black Lion, Ship, Middle, and 
 West Streets, with North Street receiving the tops of 
 them — she was probably more or less ugly ; yet how 
 fine she is to-day — fine in her air, her sea " front," her 
 visitors (some of them), her equipages, and in some of 
 her buildings ; while, as we are going to talk about 
 
BEIGHTON OF OLD 3 
 
 public conveyances, let us add that Brighton is fine in 
 her hackney carriages ; for, with the possible excep- 
 tions of her near neighbour, Worthing, and the more 
 distant Edinburgh, I know of no place which has 
 equally good vehicles on its ranks. 
 
 For at least as long as we know anything about the 
 means of access to Brighton, the place has always been 
 a popular resort ; and no wonder. It is the nearest 
 place to London at which one can obtain a glimpse of 
 blue water — the sea of Southend is not as the sea at 
 Brighton — and inhale the glorious sea-air, the finest 
 tonic in the world, according to my way of thinking. 
 
 For these, amongst other reasons, Brighton was in 
 favour in the long distant days, when the principal 
 streets above mentioned were " bounded," as Dr. Relhan 
 tells us, " on the west by a large cornfield, on the 
 east by a fine lawn, called the Steine, which runs 
 winding up into the hills for some miles." In Sir W. 
 Burrell's MSS., we are told that in Queen Elizabeth's 
 time there was a bye-law to the effect that "for every 
 sow found un wrung on the Steine where the nets lye," 
 the owner should forfeit one and eightpence for ever, 
 toties quoties. The Steine, by the way, is said to have 
 been the camping-ground of Julius Csesar. Now that 
 large cornfields have to be sought for farther off, and the 
 fine lawn has practically vanished, Brighton delights to 
 call herself the "Queen of watering-places." 
 
 In still earlier times, we read, lawless banditti used 
 to infest the coast of Sussex between Brighton and 
 Portsmouth ; they would land, break into houses, and 
 then put off to sea again, taking their plunder with 
 them ; while in the papers of 1 780, and later, are 
 plenty of accounts of collisions between smugglers and 
 the Preventive Service men. Prior to 1 76 1 , however, 
 Brighton was a fashionable resort for people to drink 
 salt-water and bathe in the sea ; while one old writer, 
 
4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 in trying to account for the fact that sea-bathing dis- 
 agreed with some of the visitors, attributes it to the 
 omission on their part to drink the sea-water before 
 immersing themselves in it. This gentleman must 
 surely have subscribed to the doctrine that he who 
 drives fat oxen should himself be fat. 
 
 Though Brighton lacks, and always has lacked, a 
 harbour, the place would appear to have been in early 
 times a nursery for mariners, as Dr. Relhan informs us 
 that boys of twelve years old could earn a good living, 
 and learned navigation at the Free School. Here is 
 a hint for the School Boards of seaport towns ! In 
 turning over the files of the Sussex Advertise)' be- 
 tween the years 1788 and 1793, I came across several 
 advertisements for masters of schools ; and in nearly 
 all of them the ability to teach navigation is either 
 required, or stated to be an advantage. 
 
 A gentleman who spent a month at Brighton in the 
 summer of 1 765, describes the place as being " fifty- 
 seven miles from London, a small, ill-built town on the 
 sea-coast, then greatly resorted to in the summer-time 
 by persons labouring under various disorders, for the 
 benefit of bathing and drinking sea-water." But, 
 according to the same authority, it was also visited by 
 the " gay and polite, on account of the company which 
 frequented it at that season." 
 
 So far back, however, as 1765, Brighton had taken 
 an upward step. It had previously been described as 
 " a miserable fishing-village ; " but when the above- 
 mentioned sojourner penned his account for the thirty- 
 sixth volume of the Gentleman's Magazine (1766), it 
 must have been changing its character. " Until the 
 last few years," he wrote, " the place was no better 
 than a mere fishing-town, inhabited by fishermen and 
 sailors." The men fished, the women making and mend- 
 ing nets ; for as yet boat-letting and mild co-operative 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD 5 
 
 yachting, as exemplified by Mr. Collins's Skylarks, had 
 not been invented, nor had Brighton's simple in- 
 habitants learned that laying themselves out for the 
 visitors' gold was a more remunerative and less labo- 
 rious means of gaining a livelihood than going down 
 to the sea in ships to dredge oysters — they were then 
 from fivepence to sevenpence a dozen — in the spring ; 
 catching mackerel or herrings, or setting lobster-pots. 
 
 And how, it may be asked, did Brighton come into 
 notice, and grow, in a comparatively short period, into 
 a fashionable resort ? Dr. Russell was one of Brighton's 
 earliest, as well as one of its best friends. He found 
 himself amongst the fishermen in the middle of the 
 last century, and was so taken with the place that he 
 wrote it up, and did for Brighton very much what 
 Roger Swizzle and Sebastian Mello did for Handley 
 Cross. Since the time of these most useful puffs, 
 Brighton has not, to use a common phrase, "looked 
 back;" and Dr. Russell, for whom a spacious white 
 house was built at the southern part of the Steyne, and 
 who gave his name to a street and a square, fully de- 
 served to have his name and fame handed down to 
 posterity. Brighton was popular, it would seem, when 
 the choice lay between the stage- waggon, a vehicle 
 in which people of quality never travelled, and the 
 travelling carriage as a means of transit. A journey 
 by a two-day stage-coach was not too great a price 
 to pay for a sojourn at the seaside ; Brighton was 
 sought after in the days of slow coaches and fast 
 coaches ; while how popular she now is no one needs 
 to be told. " It is quiet without dulness, busy without 
 noise, and fashionable without a Court," was the de- 
 scription given of it by Mr. Edward Cobby l in 1 800. 
 
 1 Compiler of the Brighthelnistone Directory for 1800. This rare 
 book is reprinted in Mr. Bishop's "Brighton in the Olden Time." 
 
6 BKIGHTON and its coaches 
 
 Thackeray, as every one knows, christened the place 
 "Merry Doctor Brighton," a sentiment which would 
 not seem to be perfectly original. On the title-page 
 of a curious little book, called " A Description of 
 Brighthelmstone and the Adjacent Country ; or, The 
 New Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen," relating to 
 that place of health and amusement, are the lines : — 
 
 " Of purest air and healing waves we tell, 
 Where Welcome Maid Hygeia loves to dwell." 
 
 The book was published long ago, and on page 1 7 the 
 anonymous author writes: "The inhabitants are re- 
 markable for a strength of constitution ; and they are 
 naturally of alert, active, and sprightly disposition." 
 It is observed by Dr. Johnson that a fine air must 
 co-operate with health of body and serenity of mind 
 " to expand the human features to the fulness of 
 perfection ; " and in a letter to the author of this 
 pamphlet, the writer said that the " deservedly cele- 
 brated Dr. Goldsmith " remarked, upon observing the 
 health and spirits so strongly expressed in the features 
 of the inhabitants of Brighthelmstone, that he con- 
 ceived the following sentiment, which he soon after 
 introduced in the "Vicar of Wakefield": "As some 
 men gaze with admiration at the colours of a tulip 
 or the wing of a butterfly, so I was by nature an 
 admirer of happy human faces." 
 
 Altogether, then, Brighton owes much to the writings 
 of her early visitors ; but had the mayor and corporation 
 put up a memorial lamp-post in every street — had they 
 spent the whole of the money bequeathed to them by 
 Davis, the "Leviathan," in perpetuating the memory 
 of Brighton's greatest patron — and had they in every 
 possible way extolled the House of Hanover, they would 
 never pay in full the debt they owe to George IV. 
 When Prince of Wales, he decided to make it his 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD 7 
 
 seaside residence ; and from the moment that he carried 
 out his intention, the fortune of Brighton was made. 
 
 The Prince appears to have visited Brighton for the 
 first time on September 7, 1783, when the townsfolk 
 were naturally anxious of according a fitting reception 
 to His Royal Highness. As a part of the ceremony, 
 they arranged that a salute should be fired from the 
 battery at the bottom of East Street. The salute went 
 off very well ; and so, alas ! did one, if not both, of the 
 arms of the gunner to whom was intrusted the manage- 
 ment of the guns. The Prince, who came to know of 
 the accident which had been unintentionally caused by 
 the town's loyalty, at once gave an indication of his 
 kindly nature — it would be unjust to deny him that — 
 by making the remaining days of the mutilated gunner 
 as comfortable as possible. Brighton, however, was 
 rather unlucky in connection with her guns, for in 
 Mr. J. G. Bishop's " Brighton Pavilion and its Royal 
 Associations," we are told that in the previous year 
 (1782), when the Princess Amelia visited Brighton 
 while on a visit to Lord and Lady Pelham, at Stanmer, 
 the master-gunner, while firing the salute, had one of his 
 hands so badly shattered that it had to be amputated. 
 
 According to Mr. Bishop's book, the Prince had gone 
 to Brighton to see his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland ; 
 according to others, it was, after all, by the merest chance 
 that the Prince went to Brighton at all. Some of 
 his friends, they say, proposed an expedition thither, 
 and he joined them, more for the sake of something 
 to do than for any other reason. At the same time, 
 so far as a member of the Royal Family can be said 
 to be house-hunting, the Prince of Wales was certainly 
 engaged in this occupation. George III., who, if not 
 without his virtues as a king, does not appear to 
 have been a great success as a father, managed to 
 occupy all the royal residences himself, leaving the 
 
8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 junior members of his family to house themselves as 
 best they could. The Prince of Wales, beino- at once 
 struck with Brighton, determined to live there, and at 
 once entered into negotiations with Mr. Kemp to rent 
 of him a pretty cottage which stood in what are now the 
 Pavilion grounds ; but this was occupied for a short 
 time only. His next work was a dwelling on a small 
 scale, surrounded by small grounds ; then alterations 
 and additions were made; and, in 1784, the hideous 
 Pavilion was begun ; surrounding land and premises 
 were subsequently leased, and in 1801 the Pavilion and 
 its adjuncts were bought " out and out." Another 
 four years saw the completion of the Prince's stables — 
 now the Dome — which were very complete, and far in 
 advance, it is said, of anything of the kind then in 
 existence. 
 
 It would possibly have been well for the Prince had 
 he borne in mind the dictum of Horace Walpole, that 
 a man should never lay the first stone till he has settled 
 his children, buried his wife, and hoarded thrice the 
 amount of the estimate : there is no royal road to 
 building operations ; and the Prince's experience was 
 that of others. When the Prince of Wales had once 
 comfortably established himself in his new home, he 
 proceeded to enjoy himself after his own fashion ; and 
 what that fashion was, we pretty well know. So much 
 has been written about the Prince's life at Brighton 
 and elsewhere, that there is no need to go over the 
 ground again ; it will suffice, therefore, to relate an 
 incident mentioned in the Sussex Advertiser of the 20th 
 of March 18 19. It is headed "Princely Affability," 
 and it appears that one night when the Prince was in 
 a merry mood, a phrase which certainly admits of two 
 meanings, he took it into his head that he would have 
 supper in the kitchen at the Pavilion. Whenever 
 royalty steps beyond its own apartments, whether to 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD 9 
 
 open a new building, to depart from a railway station, 
 or to visit a pictur egallery, it appears to be absolutely 
 necessary that a scarlet cloth should be laid down ; and 
 so it was in the kitchen, whose " pavement " was forth- 
 with covered ; a " splendid " repast was provided, and 
 the good-humoured Prince sat down with a select party 
 of his friends, and spent a joyous hour. " The whole of 
 the servants," we are told, especially the female part, 
 were delighted with this mark of condescension, though 
 whether the great Mr. Weltjd, the Prince's cook, looked 
 upon the intrusion in the same light, is another matter, 
 with which we need not concern ourselves. 
 
 Subterranean passages are doubtless great conveni- 
 ences, even in the prosaic form of subways at under- 
 ground railway stations ; and it has been said that the 
 Brighton Pavilion had two. One of them is reported 
 to have led to the stables, where there was an apart- 
 ment containing sundry garments and wigs, to enable 
 the Prince and his light-hearted companions to dis- 
 guise themselves before setting out on their nocturnal 
 rambles — they were fond of hearing the chimes at mid- 
 night. The other subterranean passage led to the 
 house of Mrs. Fitzherbert, on the west side of the 
 Steyne — it is now, by the irony of fate, the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, and seems to remind one 
 of the somewhat unchristian manner in which that 
 unhappy and long-suffering lady was treated by her 
 royal husband. 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, it may not be out of place to note, 
 came of a good old sporting family. She was born at 
 Tonge Castle, Hants, in 1757; was the daughter of 
 Mr. William Smythe, a Hampshire squire ; and was 
 niece of Sir Edward Smythe of Acton Burnell, Salop, 
 whose kinsman, the Sir Edward Smythe of a later date, 
 was master of foxhounds in Shropshire about the year 
 181 5. Her first husband was Mr. Weld of Lulworth 
 
io BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Castle, Dorsetshire ; and Mr. Weld, curiously enough, 
 was a great friend of George III., who rarely failed to 
 visit him when staying at Weymouth, to which place he 
 was as much attached as was George IV. to Brighton. 
 At Lulworth it was, then, that the King first saw the 
 girl who was destined to be his future daughter-in-law. 
 Mr. Weld was an ancestor of the gentleman of that 
 name, who subsequently owned the famous cutter Lul- 
 ivorth. To Mr. Weld, jun., Mrs. Fitzherbert was mar- 
 ried when no more than eighteen years old, and she 
 was a widow before a twelvemonth had passed. Two 
 years later she married Mr. Fitzherbert, of Swinnerton, 
 Staffordshire ; but in i 781 she was once more a widow ; 
 and, having the comfortable income of ^2000 a year, 
 went to live at Richmond, and she has often been 
 called the original " Lass of Richmond Hill ; " but, 
 unfortunately, the Richmond Hill of the song is in 
 Yorkshire, and not in Surrey. 
 
 It was at Richmond that the Prince, who had gone 
 thither to dine with some of his set at the Star and 
 Garter, first saw Mrs. Fitzherbert, and at once fell in 
 love with her on account of her great beauty, not- 
 withstanding the fact that he was at this time deeply 
 smitten w 7 ith " Perdita " Robinson, the actress. Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, however, quite appreciating the force of 
 the Royal Marriage Act, would have nothing to say to 
 her royal adorer, and desired him not to come to her 
 house. Thereupon the Prince is reported to have 
 behaved rather like a maniac. Of self-control he had 
 not a particle. Lord Malmesbury suggested to him a 
 royal alliance, but he indignantly scouted the idea ; 
 and after having indulged in the feminine luxury of 
 " a good cry " in the presence of Charles James Fox, 
 assured Lord Malmesbury that he would go abroad, 
 and live as a private person, as soon as he had married 
 Mary Fitzherbert. 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD it 
 
 To win her hand the Prince had recourse, so the story 
 goes, to all manner of absurd ruses. One day some of 
 his emissaries came to the lady's house with the in- 
 telligence that George had stabbed himself, and that 
 she alone could save him. She consented to go on the 
 condition that some lady of repute went with her. The 
 Duchess of Devonshire's services were accepted, and away 
 went the deputation to Carlton House, where Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert's feelings were worked upon, and she consented 
 to become the affianced wife of the Prince. All that 
 followed belongs to history rather than to stage-coach- 
 ing, so it must suffice to say, it is now admitted that 
 the marriage took place on the 21st December 1785 
 in Mrs. Fitzherbert's drawing-room ; the officiating 
 clergyman being Mr. Burt of Twickenham, who many 
 years afterwards acknowledged, when at the point of 
 death, that he had performed the marriage ceremony, 
 and had received the sum of ^500 for so doing. In 
 the Hon. Charles Langdale's Memoirs of Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert, it is stated that the marriage certificate, a letter 
 written by Mr. Burt, and a memorandum by Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert attached to the letter, together with other 
 important papers, were lodged at the banking-house 
 of Messrs. Coutts. Nevertheless, the Prince was mean 
 enough to allow Fox to state in the House of Commons 
 that no marriage had taken place ; and when Fox dis- 
 covered that he had been made a tool of, he promptly 
 cut the Prince, to whom he declined to speak for 
 upwards of a year. 
 
 In 1795, as the only way out of the difficulties which 
 had overtaken him, and in which Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 shared, the Prince married Caroline of Brunswick, 
 who subsequently made the declaration : " I never 
 committed adultery in my life, unless it was with Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's husband." In about a couple of years 
 the pair separated, and the Prince once more became 
 
i2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 " Mrs. Fitzherbert's husband." After the death of 
 George IV., his successor acted in the kindly manner 
 characteristic of the British sailor, and handed over to 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert every scrap of paper bearing upon the 
 connection which had subsisted between herself and 
 his brother, and showed his faith in the theory that 
 they had been married by asking Mrs. Fitzherbert to 
 wear widow's weeds for the dead king. Furthermore, 
 he offered to make her a peeress, a compliment she 
 declined, stating that she had never brought disgrace 
 upon the name of Fitzherbert, and she would not 
 abandon the name then. Through the intervention of 
 the Duke of York an annuity of £5000 a year was 
 secured to her, upon which she lived at Brighton, 
 mixing in the best society, and being respected by all 
 to the time of her death, which happened in 1837; 
 and some of Brighton's present habitues can, I have 
 been told, remember this elegant lady and her well- 
 appointed carriage. By the poor she was a good deal 
 missed, as she was foremost in the cause of charity, 
 and her decease was much regretted by persons of all 
 grades. 
 
 All this is perhaps a digression from the main object 
 of the book ; yet Mrs. Fitzherbert was so much bound 
 up with the fortunes of Brighton during a good deal 
 of the period of which this work treats, that it seems 
 permissible to mention part of this lady's life. 
 
 If, however, the Prince was an unfaithful husband 
 and an indifferent father to his only daughter, he was, 
 as I have before remarked, a good friend to Brighton. 
 He was the first to make it a really fashionable resort ; 
 and whither went "the first gentleman in Europe," 
 others wore sure to follow. His perch phaeton, drawn 
 sometimes by four, and sometimes by six horses, was 
 a familiar sight in Brighton's streets ; and he rarely 
 failed to drive, or be driven, to the races. 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD 13 
 
 The Prince's informal Master of the Horse, who, 
 for the consideration of ^"400 a year, also appears to 
 have acted in the capacity of driving-tutor and gentle- 
 man-coachman, was that curious character, but excellent 
 waggoner, Sir John Lade, who had to wife a certain 
 Letitia, described as being one of the most abandoned 
 women about the Court. This person was born in 
 Luckner's Lane, in the not very aristocratic region of 
 St. Giles's, and was for some years the chere amie of 
 John Earn, the highwayman, better known as " Sixteen- 
 String Jack," who was hanged at Tyburn. His "relict" 
 next passed into the possession of the Duke of York, 
 and was subsequently married to Sir John Lade. 
 
 In the course of her early life she had necessarily 
 picked up a great collection of "filthy conjunctions 
 and dissolute nouns," not to mention adjectives and 
 expletives adapted to every occasion ; in fact, in strong- 
 language her ladyship was more than a match for any 
 of the Prince's party, than which higher praise can 
 scarcely be awarded her. The Prince himself acknow- 
 ledged her superiority in this line ; and when he heard 
 any one giving vent to language more than ordinarily 
 blasphemous, he was accustomed to say : " Why ! he 
 swears almost as well as Letitia Lade." 
 
 One of the exhibitions of coachmanship with which 
 Sir John Lade used to astonish Brighton was to start 
 at a gallop from Castle Square, go up Market Street, 
 passing to the west of Pear Tree House, now, I think, 
 forming a portion of Messrs. Hannington's premises, 
 by the Knibb Pump, which at that period projected 
 into the road at the bottom of the dunes. Then the 
 route lay into what was called Brighton Place, round 
 the corner into Market Street, and so into Castle 
 Square again. 
 
 Another of the Prince's intimates was Colonel Mellish, 
 who, having come into a huge fortune on attaining his 
 
i 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 majority, addressed himself to the task of running- 
 through it in the least possible time. When seventeen 
 years old he obtained a commission in the 18th Light 
 Dragoons, but subsequently exchanged into the ioth 
 Hussars, of which regiment the Prince of Wales was 
 colonel ; and at that time he was guilty of such 
 reckless extravagance as to fairly surprise the Prince 
 himself, who was only too ready to give Mellish 
 permanent leave of absence, lest by his example he 
 should bring half the officers in the corps to beggary. 
 Like Sir John Lade, Colonel Mellish was an excellent 
 coachman, and he knew it ; for when he drove on to 
 Lewes race-course on the 25th July 1806, the day set 
 for the decision of the match between his horse Sancho 
 and Lord Darlington's Pavilion, he remarked to the 
 royal party as he took off his white hat to the Prince : 
 "If Sancho is beat to-day, I hope some of you will 
 take me for a coachman." On this occasion Colonel 
 Mellish drove four greys, while the Prince, who sat 
 on the barouche seat of his carriage, had six greys, 
 driven by Sir John Lade. Buckle, whose colours 
 were white jacket with crimson sleeves, rode Sancho, 
 Pavilion being ridden by the younger Chifney, in a 
 light orange jacket with gold stripes. Sancho broke 
 down close to home ; Pavilion won easily, and the 
 sun of Colonel Mellish set soon afterwards. 
 
 Prior to this, however, Sir John Lade had made a 
 bet that he would carry Lord Cholmondeley twice 
 round the Steyne within a given time. His Lordship 
 was a stalwart man, and news of the wager having 
 been noised abroad, there was an enormous concourse 
 of people " to see the dwarf carry the giant." Both 
 came to the scratch at the time appointed, and Lord 
 Cholmondeley approached his bearer to get on his 
 back. "Not so fast, please," said Sir John; "please 
 to strip first ; I did not say I would carry your clothes ; 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD 15 
 
 my wager was that I would carry you, so strip and 
 we'll begin." Lord Cholmondeley naturally protested 
 against this stipulation ; but the Baronet remained 
 obdurate — he declined to carry his Lordship's clothes ; 
 and the story goes that, as he declined to strip, the bet 
 was decided in favour of Sir John Lade. 
 
 " Public opinion in England, under the inspiration 
 of the Whigs," wrote that well-informed chronicler, 
 Captain Gronow, " raised a cry of indignation against 
 the Prince. It was imagined, I presume, that a royal 
 personage should be born without heart or feeling ; 
 that he should have been able to live only for the good 
 of the state, and for the convenience of his creditors. 
 ... It is well known that the Prince eventually became 
 so unpopular as to exclude himself as much as possible 
 from public gaze. His intimate companions after the 
 trial of Queen Caroline were Lords Conyngham and 
 Fife. . . . These gentlemen generally dined with him, 
 the dinner being the artistic product of that gastronomic 
 savant, Wattier. . . . When he became George IV., no 
 change took place in the personnels at these banquets, 
 excepting that with the fruits and flowers of the table 
 was introduced the beautiful Marchioness of Conyng- 
 ham, whose brilliant wit, according to the estimation of 
 his Majesty, surpassed that of any other of his friends, 
 male or female. 
 
 Some of the leaders of Brighton society are said to 
 have in some way snubbed the Marchioness of Conyng- 
 ham, and this, they hint, was the reason of the King- 
 turning his back on his once beloved Brighton. He 
 found London and Windsor agree with him very well, 
 and visited the Pavilion no more after about 1824. 
 
 The grief of the Brighton reporter at this period 
 knew no bounds. For weeks and weeks at a stretch 
 he began his column of local news by lamenting the 
 continued absence of " our beloved King," "our amiable 
 
1 6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 monarch," " our liberal benefactor," &c, &c. In one 
 week he would announce there was a rumour that the 
 Pavilion would be again inhabited ; in the next he 
 grieved that the hope of the Brightonians had not been 
 realised. Then the local correspondent would express 
 misgivings lest the continued absence of the King 
 should have a prejudicial effect upon the society and 
 trade of Brighton. 
 
 When, however, the intelligence reached his ears 
 that the housemaids had been seen applying some 
 polishing cream to the Pavilion furniture, an operation 
 which was supposed to point to the speedy return of 
 royalty ; and when a couple of painters were discovered 
 at work, and a member of the King's household came 
 down from town, the local man's cup of joy was well- 
 nigh full — until it became his duty to say that the 
 messenger had merely come down to pack and remove 
 a portion of the royal wardrobe. 
 
 Nevertheless, although George IV. never visited 
 Brighton again, he had given it what most places and 
 undertakings stand in need of — a good start. As a 
 matter of fact, Brighton got on very well without its 
 " beloved benefactor," and continued, as in 1 766, to 
 be the resort of, amongst others, " the idle and dissi- 
 pated." 
 
 To go back, however, for a moment to an earlier 
 time, baths, bathing-men, and bathing-women appear 
 to have sprung into existence as soon as there was the 
 slightest demand for them. By 1770 even the fisher- 
 men were able to find tenants for such rooms as they 
 could spare ; while a baker who took some empty pre- 
 mises never had a room to let during the summers of 
 1790 and 1 79 1. 
 
 But the mention of bathing-men reminds me that 
 there was one, a certain Smoaker Miles, who attained 
 to the dignity of " a character." The Prince, it would 
 

 * RVVk • 
 
BRIGHTON OF OLD 17 
 
 appear, had a private bathing-machine at the bottom 
 of East Street, and when His Royal Highness bathed, 
 Smoaker Miles kept watch to see that no harm came 
 to him. One day, however, the Prince swam out sea- 
 wards farther than Miles thought was compatible 
 with safety, so he loudly vociferated, " Mr. Prince, 
 Mr. Prince, come back, Mr. Prince." "Mr. Prince," 
 however, when he had once got clear of the leading- 
 strings with which his old-fashioned father had en- 
 circled him, was accustomed to having his own way, 
 and heeded not the entreaties of Smoaker Miles. The 
 bathing-man, however, felt that he had a duty to 
 perform, and so, swimming out to the Prince, he, 
 according to an ancient chronicler, caught him by the 
 " lug'g " — a man in bathing costume is not easily 
 handled — and, to use a homely phrase, " towed him 
 ashore." In no measured terms did the Prince expos- 
 tulate, but Smoaker Miles was equal to the occasion, 
 and excused himself for his prompt action by declaring 
 to his patron that "your father, the King, shall not 
 hang me for allowing his son to drown." Miles had 
 no doubt been at sea, and knew the value of discipline. 
 
 Smoaker Miles seems altogether to have been a man 
 who lacked not the spirit of repartee, for on another 
 occasion, whilst loafing about waiting for business, he 
 was asked by two dandies, then lately arrived from 
 London, where they could best procure asses' milk, 
 which they had been recommended to take for the 
 benefit of their health ? The old bathing-man is re- 
 ported to have looked them up and down, and to have 
 answered their question with the curt reply, " Suck each 
 other." About the year 1790 the Prince of Wales had 
 a racehorse called Smoaker, and he was doubtless thus 
 named after the eccentric Smoaker Miles. 
 
 Towards the close of the last century Brighton boasted 
 another " character,'' a barber ; and from the length of 
 
 B 
 
1 8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 his advertisements we may conclude that so long ago 
 as 1798 the number of possible patrons was sufficient 
 to make it worth his while to announce himself, which 
 he did in these words : — 
 
 To the inhabitants of the town of Brighton, also to the Nobility 
 and Gentry of either sex, who may resort to that fashionable watering- 
 place the coming season, for the pleasure or benefit of Bathing. 
 
 This is intended to inform the world that a native of London, 
 Mr. George Ferdinand Augustus Charlemore, has had the honour 
 of carrying arms in the Middlesex Militia, and was particularly 
 distinguished in the course of the last Campaign, when he had the 
 good fortune to be employed in some eminent services at Dover 
 Castle, the advanced fortress of His Majesty's British dominions. He 
 combines the intrepidity of Alexander with the caution of Fabius : 
 his principles patriotic ; equal to Ctesar as a man, nor inferior to 
 Brutus as the friend to liberty; amorous as Anthony, and like 
 him, too, an irresistible person. Incorrupt as Aristides ; patient as 
 Socrates ; eloquent as Cicero. In manners and address what Chester- 
 field was, he is. Although a stranger to Locke, and unacquainted 
 with Newton, he is familiar with the Seven Wise Masters. 
 
 This extraordinary young man, since the conclusion of the war, 
 received his discharge from the service of his country — not enriched 
 by plunder, rapine, or extortion. Poor as Fahricius he retires, and 
 now practises the improvement of those heads without which nothing 
 can improve within. 
 
 "%* He is avowedly the first Hair-dresser, Shaver, and Wig- 
 Maker of the present Age ; and humbly solicits that encouragement 
 and support his transcendent abilities and exalted virtues so justly 
 demand. 
 
 F.S. — He condescends to shave the poor almost gratis, viz., for 
 a Penny each. 
 
Chapter II 
 
 BRIGHTON AND ITS ROADS. 
 
 TN the previous chapter a hasty outline has been given 
 of old Brighton and its surroundings. Before going 
 on, however, with the history of stage-coaches between 
 London and Brighton, it may be convenient to say a few 
 words in connection with a couple of matters the under- 
 standing of which may make plainer what is hereafter 
 written. These matters are the roads and routes between 
 London and Brighton ; and secondly, some of the legis- 
 lation which governed mail and stage coaches. 
 
 The Sussex roads would seem to have enjoyed an un- 
 enviable notoriety for badness from a very early period. 
 When the Emperor Charles VI. came to England (having 
 claimed the title of King of Spain) in 1703, and went to 
 visit the Duke of Somerset, whose seat was at Petworth, 
 it is on record that his coach was capsized a dozen 
 times ere he arrived within measurable distance of his 
 destination. Whether the Emperor — he had been no 
 stranger to hardships — mildly protested against the 
 risk and discomfort to which he was subject, or 
 whether his attendants became alarmed for the mon- 
 arch's safety, does not appear ; but, at any rate, during 
 the latter part of the journey, the services of some 
 sturdy Sussex labourers were secured, and they, by 
 planting their shoulders against the vehicle, kept it 
 right side uppermost until it drew up at the portals 
 of Petworth House, to the great delight, no doubt, of 
 the royal passenger. Horace Walpole, too, has told 
 
 us how he despised the Sussex roads. 
 
 19 
 
2o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Dr. John Burton, who, in his " Iter Sussexiense" 
 gave an account of the Sussex roads, as he found them 
 in 175 1, is equally uncomplimentary. "I fell imme- 
 diately upon all that was most bad, upon a land 
 desolate and muddy, whether inhabited by men or 
 beasts a stranger could not easily distinguish, and 
 upon roads which were, to explain concisely what is 
 most abominable, Sussexian. No one would imagine 
 them to be intended for the people and the public, but 
 rather the by-ways of individuals, or, more truly, the 
 tracks of cattle-drivers ; for everywhere the usual foot- 
 marks of oxen appeared, and we too, who were on 
 horseback, going on zig-zag almost like oxen at 
 plough, advanced as if we were turning back, while 
 we followed out all the twists of the road. Not even 
 now, though in summer time, is the wintry state of 
 the roads got rid of; for the wet even now in this 
 mud is sometimes splashed upwards all of a sudden, 
 to the annoyance of travellers. Our horses could not 
 keep their legs on account of these slippery and rough 
 parts of the road ; but sliding and tumbling on their 
 way, and almost on their haunches, with all their 
 haste got on but slowly. . . . Why is it that the oxen, 
 the swine, the women (note the doctor's table of pre- 
 cedence !), and all other animals are so long-legged 
 in Sussex? May it be from the difficulty of pulling 
 the feet out of so much mud by the strength of the 
 ankle, that the muscles get stretched, as it were, and 
 the bones lengthened? " 
 
 Sussex roads, therefore, had an evil reputation in 
 bygone times ; but the doctor perhaps forgot that not 
 in Sussex only, but in all clay countries, the soil does 
 its own puddling. 
 
 As the early van and coach proprietors lived at 
 Lewes, and worked to Brighton, their conveyances, of 
 course, travelled to London from Brighton through 
 
BRIGHTON AND ITS ROADS 21 
 
 Lewes, for as yet there was no independent Brighton 
 coach or other conveyance. That convenience did not 
 arise much, if at all, before 1 780, when Tubb and 
 Davis's machine went through Steyning. 
 
 As coach and van traffic continued to expand, atten- 
 tion was more and more directed to the state of the 
 roads ; but while several laudable experiments were 
 made in the art of road-mending, a good many sur- 
 veyors, and others, were of opinion that their labour 
 would be all in vain so long as vehicles were allowed 
 to have narrow wheels. Consequently they agitated 
 for a Bill to render broad wheels compulsory, advocating 
 a width which would cause the wheel not only to dis- 
 charge its own functions with regard to the vehicle, 
 but to act as a roller to the roads as well. When, 
 however, we read that about sixteen hundred Acts of 
 Parliament, having to do with turnpikes, were passed 
 between 1761 and 18 10, it is clear that the subject of 
 highways received no little attention. 
 
 In addition to the making and repairing of the roads, 
 however, it was soon noticed that much time and dis- 
 tance might be saved by levelling, or at least reducing, 
 hills, and making new thoroughfares to cut off corners ; 
 and, so far as the Brighton roads are concerned, these 
 improvements were early suggested, or rather they 
 pressed themselves upon the notice of the then not 
 very large coaching world. The road by Falmer, on the 
 way to Lewes, was a difficulty ; while to drive to London 
 via Cuckfield, or Henfleld and Horsham, involved the 
 climbing of sundry steep hills, and the travelling of a 
 somewhat circular route into the bargain. 
 
 In the following pages the coaches are described 
 as going to London by three chief routes, and it may 
 save trouble if these are specified at the outset, 
 
 I. Through Lewes.— By this route the distance from 
 
22 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Brighton to London was 58 miles ; and horses were 
 changed at Lewes (8 miles), Uckfield (8 miles), East 
 Grinstead (13 miles), Godstone (10 miles), and Croy- 
 don (9 miles), from which place to London is 10 miles, 
 so that the coaches going by this road used six teams. 
 
 II. Through Horsham. — This road was one mile 
 shorter than vid Lewes, viz. 57 miles. The Brighton 
 horses ran through Poynings to Henfield (10 miles) ; 
 the second team went to Horsham (10 miles) ; the 
 team from Horsham did 13 miles to Dorking, whence 
 to Epsom was but nine miles ; but the Epsom horses 
 had fifteen miles to cover before they reached London. 
 
 III. Through Cuckfield. — This was the shortest 
 and by far the most fashionable of the three routes. 
 The post-chaises, private carriages, and most of the 
 coaches travelled by this road. Leaving Brighton, the 
 first team worked to Cuckfield (14 miles), whence the 
 fresh horses ran to Crawley (10 miles). The next 
 change was Reigate (9 miles), from which place there 
 was an eleven miles run to Sutton, where the London 
 horses were taken on for their ten miles' journey. 
 
 In course of time, however, this route became subject 
 to material alterations. On reaching Pyecombe, the 
 way to Cuckfield was straight on to Clayton Hill ; but 
 the road-making operations at Pyecombe, which had 
 their origin in more effectually opening out Henfield, 
 led also to the making of the road to Hickstead, through 
 what the old newspapers were accustomed to call the 
 " well-wooded vale of Newtimber," and by this road, 
 which was opened in 181 3, Clayton Hill, and of course 
 Cuckfield, were avoided ; but some coaches still con- 
 tinued to run through Cuckfield and Reigate. Eventu- 
 ally came the proposition to make a new cutting to 
 the eastward to meet the Horley road, whereupon the 
 
BRIGHTON AND ITS ROADS 23 
 
 inhabitants of Reigate, unwilling to be deprived of the 
 custom which coaching and posting brought them, pro- 
 tested against the proposed innovation. They argued 
 that, as the Prince of Wales always travelled through 
 Reigate, all the King's subjects should do likewise. 
 Maps were produced ; distances were quoted ; and the 
 Reigate folk proved to their own complete satisfaction 
 that the best and quickest way to London was through 
 their town : figures proved anything and everything. 
 The White Hart, then as now, was the chief hotel in 
 the place ; and under the guidance of Mr. Girton, the 
 present proprietor, who ministers to the wants of tra- 
 vellers by the modern " Magnet " coach, reminiscences 
 of the Brighton road are still to be seen there in the 
 shape of the rooms the Prince used to occupy when 
 he halted on his travels between the Brighton Pavilion 
 and Carlton House. 
 
 The Reigate protest was not, however, strong enough 
 to check the march of improvement. In spite of oppo- 
 sition, the new road was made ; and, though Rei- 
 gate was no longer the shortest way to London, it 
 would not have been expedient for every coach to 
 have travelled by the same route ; so as the coaches 
 increased in numbers they took different roads. Some 
 went the quickest way, some by Cuckfield, some by 
 Balcombe, and others by Reigate ; while the entry into 
 London was also made by a variety of ways. Then 
 there were one or two coaches which at different dates 
 ran through Ditchling and Linclfield. 
 
Chapter III. 
 
 STAGE-COACH LEGISLATION. 
 
 AVTE are a good deal in the dark as to the precise 
 pattern of the early coaches. The forerunner 
 of the stage-coach was, of course, the broad-wheeled 
 waggon drawn by six or eight horses, which were con- 
 trolled by a man who rode a stout cob. In course of 
 time came vehicles which, whatever their construction, 
 were known as coaches. Some of these carried no out- 
 side passengers at all, as the advertisements tell us. 
 On other vehicles, however, the coachmen were accus- 
 tomed to crowd as many passengers as they could find 
 room for. There would not at first appear to have been 
 any regular seats for them, as they sat on the luggage on 
 the roof, and hung on as best they could. The coaches 
 were high, and, when fully loaded, very top-heavy; 
 while, as the roads were bad, upsets were of every- 
 day occurrence ; and so many of the King's subjects 
 were either killed or injured that the papers took 
 notice of it, and were for ever pointing out the risks 
 to which coach-passengers were exposed. In Mr. 
 Gammon the advocates for safety found a champion 
 for their cause. The late Mrs. Giaccometti Prodgers 
 was not more resolved to compel cabmen to walk in 
 the paths of rectitude than was Mr. Gammon to cause 
 to be passed a Bill having for its object the limiting 
 of the number of passengers to be carried on the roof 
 of a coach. At last he obtained permission to bring 
 
 in a Bill ; and, according to the Journal of the House 
 
 24 
 
STAGE-COACH LEGISLATION 25 
 
 of Commons for the 19th of May 1788, the Bill was 
 read a first time and ordered to be printed. 
 
 This measure was stringent enough in all conscience, 
 as it not only limited the passengers to a number which 
 would have prevented any coach from paying its way ; 
 but it also provided that any coachman who infringed 
 the enactment might be forthwith arrested, with or 
 without a warrant, at the instance of any person or 
 persons who saw the offence committed. These pro- 
 positions naturally called forth a protest from the 
 coaching interest, the outcome being a petition that 
 they might be heard by counsel against the Bill, which 
 was considerably modified before it became law. In 
 the same year, however (1788), the Act was passed. 
 It was the 28th George III. c. 57, and was called 
 an Act " for limiting the number of persons to be 
 carried on the outside of stage-coaches or other car- 
 riages." It was an enactment which put money into 
 the pocket of the common informer — a sneaking sort 
 of rascal, who, nevertheless, performed some service for 
 the good of the community. 
 
 The preamble of the above Act stated that " great 
 mischiefs frequently arise and bad accidents happen 
 by reason of an improper number of persons being 
 allowed to go as passengers on the roofs ■ or boxes of 
 coaches, chaises, and other carriages of the like sort 
 travelling for hire." In the hope of ensuring greater 
 safety for travellers, the Act decreed that on and after 
 the first of November [788, no more than six persons 
 should " at one and the same time ride or go upon the 
 roof, or more than two persons besides the driver on 
 the box." For every person in excess of the proper 
 number, the coachman was, on conviction, liable to 
 a penalty of forty shillings ; while, if the offending 
 coachman happened to be also the proprietor of the 
 coach, the maximum penalty was four pounds. In 
 
26 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 default of payment, the offenders were to go to prison, 
 " without bail or mainprise," for a month, unless the 
 penalty were sooner paid. If the coachman could not 
 be found, the proprietor could be proceeded against ; 
 and by way of stimulating a general interest in the 
 enforcement of this Act, it was decreed that half of 
 the penalty should go to the informer, and the other 
 half to the surveyor of highways for the parish or place 
 where the offence was committed. 
 
 Two years later it was admitted that the above 
 Act had " proved insufficient to answer the good pur- 
 poses thereby intended." It was, as a daily newspaper 
 pointed out, transgressed every hour ; and one corre- 
 spondent to a Brighton paper went so far as to say 
 that the evil of overloading coaches would never be 
 checked until a fine of twenty pounds was inflicted 
 upon each of the persons who mounted the coach after 
 the proper number were seated. 
 
 The failure of Mr. Gammon to pass his original Bill 
 brought forth the following verses in the columns of 
 the Public Advertiser : — 
 
 ON STAGE COACHES. 
 
 Whene'er a loaded Stage drives by 
 
 With more than it should draw, 
 We view the outside group, and cry, 
 
 " That's contrary to Law." 
 
 But all the folks who clamour thus 
 
 Are totally mistaken, 
 For Gammon's Bill did never pass, 
 
 So Coachmen save their Bacon." 
 
 In order more effectually to accomplish the end the 
 Legislature had in view, the 30th George III. c. 36 
 was passed, to take effect on the 29th September 1790. 
 The new provisions were that — (1.) On a coach drawn 
 by three or more horses, the maximum number of out- 
 
STAGE-COACH LEGISLATION 27 
 
 side passengers should be one on the box and four on 
 the roof. (2.) If the coach were drawn by less (sic) 
 than three horses, one on the box and three on the roof ; 
 but (3.) One on the box and four on the roof might be 
 carried by a pair-horse coach which did not travel 
 more than twenty-five miles from the General Post- 
 Office. 
 
 Instead of leaving it to chance and the common 
 informer whether the offenders were proceeded against 
 or not, the framers of this new Act conceived the idea 
 of making the "pikemen" the officers of the law, so 
 the statute provided that the coachman who carried 
 more than his proper number of passengers should pay 
 to the collector of tolls at every turnpike gate through 
 which the vehicle passed a sum of five shillings for 
 every passenger in excess of the proper number. 
 
 A simple way of evading this Act would have been 
 to set down the excess number of passengers before 
 reaching a gate, and to take them up afterwards ; but 
 the penalty for so doing was imprisonment without 
 the option of a fine. 
 
 Another section made it compulsory that, with the 
 exception of the mails, every coach should have upon 
 the outside of each door the name of the proprietor, 
 painted in large and legible characters. Under some old 
 Act having a clause of similar import, a rather amusing- 
 case was reported in the papers. A carrier was sum- 
 moned for not having his name painted on his van as 
 the Act directed. By way of showing that he had not 
 offended, the carrier brought the board, when it was 
 seen that the name was painted in Old English. The 
 bench objected that the spirit of the Act had been 
 infringed, whereupon the carrier retorted that he had 
 seen a true copy of the Act, and had ordered his board 
 to be painted in the same lettering as that in which 
 the Act was written. He got off. 
 
2 8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 It may possibly be taken as a hint that the amateur 
 coachman was getting abroad at this time, as the 4th 
 section forbade the coachman, under a five-pound 
 penalty, to allow any one but himself to drive without 
 the consent of the passengers " within each coach " — 
 the outsides, who could see what was going on, were 
 apparently supposed to take care of themselves. More- 
 over, the coachman was not to quit the box without 
 reasonable occasion, or for a longer time than was 
 absolutely necessary. He was not to drive furiously, 
 nor was he by any negligence or misconduct to over- 
 turn the carriage, or in any manner endanger the 
 persons or property of the passengers. Then, section 
 5 provided that no guard should fire off the arms he 
 was intrusted with, either while the coach was going 
 on the road, or going through, or standing in, any 
 town, except it was for the defence of his coach. The 
 penalty for any causeless firing was twenty shillings- 
 just one-fifth, it will be observed, of the maximum 
 penalty imposed upon the coachman for letting some- 
 body else drive, or for quitting his box without reason- 
 able excuse. 
 
 This subsequent Act, like the first one, was in 1 806 
 admitted to have failed to achieve its object; conse- 
 quently a third was passed, and by it a concession was 
 made to coach proprietors by allowing twelve people to 
 be carried in summer and ten in winter ; but this Act 
 was again repealed by another passed in 181 1, which 
 contained, inter alia, a provision that no driver or pro- 
 prietor might permit any luggage to be carried on the 
 roof of a coach, or any person to ride as an outside 
 passenger, if the top of the coach should be more than 
 8 feet 9 inches from the ground, or the bearing of 
 which on the ground should be less than 4 feet 6 inches 
 from the centre of the off wheel to the centre of the 
 near wheel. The penalty for infraction was five pounds ; 
 
STAGE-COACH LEGISLATION 29 
 
 and it is curious to note that the top of a modern coach 
 is barely 6 feet 1 1 inches from the ground ; so what a 
 vehicle, the top of which was 8 feet 9 inches from the 
 ground, must have looked like one can only guess at. 
 
 The modern coachman, too, may smile on reading 
 the 5th section, which deals with the object of lowering 
 the height of stage coaches, so that more luggage might 
 be carried. It says that it should be lawful to carry 
 luggage and parcels on the roof of any coach to a 
 greater height than two feet, so long as the top of the 
 burden was not at a greater height from the ground 
 than 10 feet 9 inches ; and then by a further Act — 2nd 
 and 3rd William IV., cap. 120 — passed in 1832, ten 
 outside passengers were allowed as the maximum for a 
 four-horse coach. Other provisions were also made ap- 
 plicable to pair-horse coaches, and to vehicles licensed 
 to carry more than four inside, while the top of the 
 luggage carried on the roof was not to be more than 
 8 feet 9 inches from the ground. There were, in addi- 
 tion, other provisions. More than the proper number 
 of persons could not be carried inside a coach — a regula- 
 tion made in the interest of the comfort of the passen- 
 gers ; but a child under seven counted as half a pas- 
 senger, and might be carried with the others. These 
 and other Acts of Parliament dealt with licences, duties, 
 and various matters, with which it is unnecessary to 
 trouble the reader. This last mentioned Act gave the 
 whole penalty to the Crown ; but it left power to the 
 Court to give a common informer what portion of the 
 penalty it thought fit. 
 
Chapter IV. 
 
 THE BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY. 
 
 r\NE may very fairly say of stage-coaching, on the 
 Brighton as well as on other roads, what Entropius 
 said of Rome — that it originated in a very small way ; 
 but when it arrived at its highest state, there was 
 nothing bigger in the whole world. Our easy-going 
 forefathers, some of them, at least, were thankful for 
 small mercies. Had the worthy Chamberlayne, for 
 instance, lived in later years, how he would have 
 enjoyed himself in the era of fast coaches, and what 
 spirited descriptions he would have written of the 
 Devonport Mail, the Manchester Telegraph, the Brighton 
 Age, Magnet, and others ! He must have possessed a 
 real love for coaching, for he saw much to admire in it 
 as long ago as 1649, when he published "The Present 
 State of Great Britain." "Besides the excellent ar- 
 rangement of conveying men and letters on horse- 
 back," he wrote, " there is of late such an admirable 
 commodiousness, for both 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 (not whereon) any one 
 may be transported to any place sheltered from foul 
 weather and foul ways, free from endangering of one's 
 health and one's body by 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 post in some foreign 
 
 3° 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD LX THE LAST CENTURY 31 
 
 countries cannot make in one clay." Happy indeed 
 was the man who regarded four miles an hour in the 
 light of an express. 
 
 Thirteen years after Chamberlayne wrote his panegyric 
 on stage-coaching, that is to say, in 1662, it is said that 
 there were but half-a-dozen stage-coaches in England, 
 and this number was six too many in the opinion of a 
 certain Mr. Cressett. This pessimist, who lived in the 
 Charterhouse, wrote a tract in which he pointed out 
 the injury coaches would cause to society at large. By 
 this rapid mode of travelling — in 1640 it generally took 
 three days to get from London to Dover — gentlemen 
 would come to London upon the slightest pretext — to 
 get their hair cut, for example — which, but for these 
 abominable coaches, they would not do "but upon 
 urgent necessity." Nor did the impending evil end 
 here, for their wives would come too ; and when a man 
 and his wife found themselves in London, they would 
 " get fine clothes, go to plays and treats, and by these 
 means get such a habit of idleness and love for 
 pleasure that they are uneasy ever after." Poor Mr. 
 Cressett ! he must have been a direct ancestor of 
 Mr. Wightman, who, just before the commencement 
 of the London and Brighton Railway, wrote a book 
 and proved, entirely to his own satisfaction, that no 
 train could ever travel faster than at half the speed 
 of the fast coaches ! 
 
 Brighton's earliest visitors must have ridden on 
 horseback ; travelled in their own carriages ; have been 
 content to travel by the primitive stage-waggon ; or 
 be drawn by oxen. 
 
 Chamberlayne's passage in praise of stage-coaching 
 
 1 This oft-made statement would appear to be rather erroneous, 
 unless the argument be that there were no more than six vehicles 
 whose build and construction could be called coaches. 
 
32 BRIGHTON AN J) ITS COACHES 
 
 was so highly approved of by a later writer, a Mr. De 
 Laune, who in 1681 put forth "The Present State of 
 London," that the latter annexed Chamberlayne's para- 
 graphs in their entirety. De Laune, however, is useful 
 for our purpose, inasmuch as he gives a list of coaches 
 and stage-waggons running out of London. Nearly at 
 the head of the list I find that Thomas Blewman, a 
 carrier, came from Bredhempstone to the Queen's 
 Head in Southwark on Wednesday, and went out 
 on Thursday, " Shoreham same day." It must be 
 admitted that " Bredhempstone " cannot be said to do 
 more than bear some resemblance to Brighthelmstone ; 
 but I feel pretty sure that the two places are identical. 
 In the first place, De Laune spells very many of his 
 places in a manner peculiar to himself; secondly, 
 " Shoreham same day " would almost lead one to sup- 
 pose that the Bredhempstone van ran on to Shoreham ; 
 and thirdly, because in the list we read what were the 
 means of communication with Croydon, Clapham, East 
 Grinstead, Horsham, Petworth, Beigate, and Wad- 
 hurst, all of them places on, or bordering on, the road 
 to Brighton. 
 
 The next earliest reference to public conveyances 
 between London and Brighton that I can find is 
 contained in an old work called "New Remarks on 
 London," compiled by the Company of Parish Clerks, 
 and issued in 1732. From that ancient publication 
 I gather that a coach left the Talbot, Southwark, for 
 Brighthelmstone on Thursdays, and that a van departed 
 from the Talbot and George inns on Tuesdays. Both 
 these conveyances must have travelled via Lewes, 
 inasmuch as the same conveyances left the Borough 
 for that place on the same days on which they were 
 announced to start for Brighthelmstone. Possibly 
 this coach and van took three days to compass the 
 distance. 
 
BKIGHTOJS T ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 33 
 
 The " Traveller's Pocket Companion," published in 
 London in 1 741, purports to give a list of all stage- 
 coaches and carriers from London, and includes a 
 waggon to Brighthelmstone from the George, South- 
 wark, on Thursdays, no mention being made of the coach 
 which seems to have been run when the Company of 
 Parish Clerks compiled their "Remarks," nine years 
 earlier. Nor do we find any record of a coach in an 
 old broad-sheet to which no date is attached, but to 
 which the British Museum authorities assign the date 
 1750. This print professes to give all the coaches; 
 but Brighton is served by a waggon only. Lewes was 
 slightly better catered for, as there was a coach thither 
 from the Talbot on Tuesdays and Saturdays ; but this 
 may have run on to Brighton. There was a waggon, 
 too, on Thursdays. The waggon from the George 
 may probably have been the " Flying Machine," which 
 in 1 745 was advertised to leave the Old Ship, Brighton, 
 at 5.30 a.m. in summer, and was due in London on 
 the same evenino-. There is a convenient marsrin left 
 here ; and the proprietor, whoever he was, declined 
 to bind himself to reach his destination at any par- 
 ticular hour. Still, all things considered, it was no 
 doubt something of a feat to do the journey in one 
 day, even though the pace did not exceed four miles 
 an hour. Another writer tells us that these machines 
 were fashioned something like the Brighton bathing- 
 machines. No one was carried on the roof; but 
 subsequently there was added a big basket con- 
 trivance, called a " conveniency," behind, for the 
 accommodation of half-price passengers: this "con- 
 venience," or something like it, was, we are led to 
 suppose, the invention of one Bonner, a Dutchman, 
 who was Queen Elizabeth's coachman ; but it does 
 not appear to have come into general use till about 
 
 1767 ; about twenty years later it was also called the 
 
 c 
 
34 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 "Back Gammon," and was in a larger form added to 
 coaches as a receptacle for outside passengers, in order 
 to avoid the spirit of Mr. Gammon's amended Act, 
 which limited to three, four, or five, the number of 
 passengers carried outside. 
 
 It is just possible that the conveyances to Bright- 
 helmstone mentioned by the Company of Parish Clerks 
 and the "Traveller's Pocket Companion" belonged to 
 James Batchelor of Lewes, who, through the medium 
 of the Sussex Advertiser, in the course of a newspaper 
 controversy with a rival, informed all whom it might 
 concern, " that our family first set up the stage-coach 
 from London to Lewes, and have continued it from 
 father to son, and other branches of the same race, 
 and that even before the turnpikes on the Lewes 
 road were erected they drove their stage in the 
 summer season in one day, and have continued to 
 do ever since, and now in the winter season twice in 
 the week." 
 
 I am, however, rather letting the coach press upon 
 the horses, and must go back a few years to show how 
 Brighthelmstone was served by conveyances. In Mr. 
 Bishop's interesting book, " Brighton in the Olden 
 Time," all these early advertisements are set out at 
 length ; but, as they deal rather with carrying than 
 coaching, except here and there in a very primitive 
 form, it has not been thought worth while to repro- 
 duce them in extenso, though 1 may here acknowledge 
 my indebtedness to Mr. Bishop's book, as from 1756 
 to 1770 I have availed myself of his labours as a 
 means of lightening my own. 
 
 It seems, then, that about 1 746 Thomas Smith, an 
 old Lewes carrier, died, and his widow announced by 
 advertisement that she still carried on the weekly 
 stage between London and Lewes, and I presume that 
 there was an extension to Brighton. At any rate, in 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 35 
 
 the Sussex Weekly Advertiser of the 12th May 1756 
 there is this advertisement : — 
 
 Notice is Hereby Given, that the Lewes one day Stage 
 Coach or Chaise sets out from the Talbot Inn, in the Borough, 
 on Saturday next, the 19th instant. 
 
 When likewise the Brighthelmstone Stage begins. 
 
 Performed (if God permit) by 
 
 James Batchelok. 
 
 Although, as already mentioned, this Mr. Batchelor 
 notified that for a long period his family had driven 
 their stage to London in one day, we find him in 
 May 1757 advertising his "two days' stage-coach," and 
 he apparently had the road to himself for another five 
 years, when competition, which subsequently became 
 so keen on the Brighton road, set in, Messrs. J. Tubb 
 and S. Brawne having made up their minds to start 
 the Lewes and Brighthelmstone new flying-machine 
 (via Uckfield). This " machine " is described as being 
 both light and commodious, and hung on steel springs. 
 It carried four passengers inside, and left the Golden 
 Cross, Charing Cross, at 6 a.m. on Mondays, Wednes- 
 days, and Fridays for the White Llart at Lewes, and 
 the Castle, Brighthelmstone. On the alternate days the 
 machine returned to London. The fare was thirteen 
 shillings to Lewes, and sixteen shillings to Brighthelm- 
 stone. Each passenger was entitled to take 14 lbs. 
 of luggage free ; but all in excess of this weight was 
 charged for at the rate of a penny a pound for the 
 entire journey. Children "in lap" and outside pas- 
 sengers — -the latter no doubt travelled in the basket 
 " conveniency " behind — paid half price. 
 
 At this time we learn that the "machines" were 
 not unlike the Brighthelmstone bathing-machines ; 
 the coachman drove four horses in hand, and his 
 
J 
 
 6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 extra leaders were ridden by a lad ; but Batchelor, in 
 response to the opposition of Tubb and Brawne, lost 
 no time in starting " a new large flying chariot with 
 a box and four horses, via Chailey, to carry two 
 passengers only, except three should desire to go to- 
 gether;" and he reduced his fares. Then the rival 
 proprietors rushed into print, and a series of blasts 
 and counterblasts were published, which, though by 
 no means unamusing reading, do not throw much light 
 on coaching. 
 
 However, Tubb and Batchelor carried on their op- 
 position vehicles till 1 760, when Batchelor's death left 
 the upstart Tubb master of the situation. His first step 
 was to take into partnership a Mr. Davis, and these 
 two proprietors seem to have carried on business in 
 a state of brotherly love for a long time. Seven 
 years later, that is to say, in 1767, the partners put 
 on a double conveyance, a " Fly," leaving London 
 and Brighton every day, the route being through 
 Uckfield and Lewes. 
 
 In 1770, whatever the cream of the Brighton road 
 may have been, it was apparently skimmed by Tubb 
 and Davis, who had a "machine" and a waggon at 
 work ; but in 1777 they had to encounter the opposition 
 of Lashmar and Company ; and one firm or the other 
 appears to have been most energetic, as in a London 
 Directory for 1777-78 I find that a diligence ran daily 
 between Brighthelmstone and the Bull and Gate, Hol- 
 born, leaving either end at six o'clock in the morning, 
 and carrying passengers for fifteen shillings a head. 
 Then, according to the same publication, a coach ran 
 to Brighthelmstone from the Golden Cross, Charing 
 Cross, at five o'clock on the mornings of Monday, 
 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday during 
 the summer, and at six on Tuesdays only in the winter. 
 The proprietor of this conveyance charged but fourteen 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 37 
 
 shillings for the journey. Another diligence ran daily 
 from the Swan with Two Necks, Doctor's Commons, 
 starting at four in the morning, and carrying three 
 passengers at threepence a mile each. A couple of 
 carriers, who left the Borough once a week at three 
 and four respectively in the morning, appear to make 
 up the list of Brighton's conveyances. 
 
 In the year 1780, Tubb and Davis's machine set out 
 from the New Ship, Brighthelmstone, on Mondays, 
 Wednesdays, and Fridays, returning on Tuesdays, 
 Thursdays, and Saturdays from the Spread Eagle, 
 Gracechurch Street. This coach passed through Steyn- 
 ing ; the fare from London to that place was eleven 
 shillings, and to Brighthelmstone fourteen shillings. 
 
 The same firm had also another coach which set 
 out at five o'clock on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 
 mornings from the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, and 
 took passengers to the Star at Lewes for twelve 
 shillings each, and to the Castle at Brighton for four- 
 teen shillings. 
 
 We now, for the first time, hear of Cuckfield on 
 the route from Brighton to London ; and a quaint place 
 it used to be, the White Hart having a sort of out- 
 door tap, at which subsequently coachmen waiting for 
 up or down coaches, and as many of the villagers who 
 were not better employed, used to congregate. 
 
 The Brighthelmstone and Cuckfield machine, then, 
 started from the Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane, 
 London, at five in the morning on Mondays, Wednes- 
 days, and Fridays, and returned from the Castle at 
 Brighthelmstone on the other three days. The fare to 
 Cuckfield was ten shillings and sixpence, and to Brighton 
 fourteen shillings. A diligence, too, set out from the 
 New Ship, Brighton, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and 
 Fridays at six in the morning, and arrived at the Swan 
 with Two Necks, Lad Lane, at about three in the 
 
38 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 afternoon. It returned on the other three days, and 
 would thus appear to have been a two-end coach, as 
 no doubt the machine and the diligence were in one 
 and the same interest, judging from the hour of starting 
 and the destination. 
 
 During the summer of 1784, Tubb and Davis found 
 the increase in the traffic sufficient to warrant them in 
 putting on a second light post-coach; while in 1787, 
 three light post-coaches, two heavy coaches, three 
 machines, and three waggons ran on the London and 
 Brighton road. 
 
 The year 1789 appears to have been ushered in by 
 bad weather, as on New Year's day a high wind caused 
 the snow to drift to a depth of several feet in many 
 places, though not in such a manner as to interfere 
 with the main road, " as appears by the regular arrival 
 of our mails and stage-coaches — the mails at this time 
 were, on the Brighton roads, carried by boys on horse- 
 back — which have not yet been materially retarded." 
 A week later, the stage-coachmen working in and out 
 of Brighton declared that they had never been out in 
 weather like that which prevailed on Thursday the 
 8th January (1789). It was the keenest day they ever 
 remembered ; it was only with the greatest difficulty 
 that the horses were induced to face the blizzard, and 
 the snow had drifted to such a height that the roads 
 were in some places impassable, while the London 
 coach, after leaving Lewes, had sometimes to "break 
 the road " and go over the fields ! 
 
 Up to the time of which we write no mention can be 
 found of amateur coachmen on the road, possibly because 
 there was little or nothing to make stage-coach driving 
 the pleasure it subsequently became. The coach-boxes 
 had no springs under them until, at a later date, Mr. 
 John Warde, the father of fox-hunting, suggested the im- 
 provement, which was opposed by many of the coach 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 39 
 
 proprietors, upon the ground that if their coachmen were 
 made too comfortable they would go to sleep. Never- 
 theless four-in-hand driving must have been indulged 
 in to a greater or lesser extent, because, in the Sussex 
 Advertiser for 23rd February, 1789, it is recorded that 
 " a singular wager is now depending between a driving- 
 baronet and a certain gentleman on the wrong side of 
 sixty, with little conspicuity but what arises from the 
 lower scenes of gallantry. The former in his phaeton, 
 and with six white coursers, is to trot thirty miles over 
 the grounds at Newmarket before a snail, now in train- 
 ing by the latter, should have crawled from one end to 
 the other of a stone three yards square, and covered 
 with powdered sugar. Great bets are depending, and 
 the trial will come off next spring." Whether the 
 driving baronet paid forfeit, or whether the snail failed 
 to survive the exigencies of training, does not appear ; 
 but no record of the match having taken place can be 
 found, though, if it had come off, it would have been a 
 thousand to one on the horses. 
 
 During the summer of 1 790, Messrs. William Hen- 
 wood and James Scott ran, between London and 
 Brighton, a new and elegant post-coach, carrying four 
 inside and three out. The route was through Cuckfield 
 and Reigate ; the coach left the White Horse Inn, 
 Brighton, at eight o'clock in the morning, and reached 
 the Blossoms Hotel, Lawrence Lane, Cheapside, in 
 nine hours ; the inside passengers paid eighteen 
 shillings, and the outsides half that amount. 
 
 Meantime Davis & Co., as the firm was now styled, 
 were not by any means idle. They ran a "machine," 
 which appears to have been a two-end coach, daily, 
 between London and Brighton by way of Lewes ; the 
 Castle and the Old Ship inns were the houses of start 
 and call at Brighton, and the down-coach started from 
 the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. Both coaches left at 
 
4 o BRIGHTON ANT) LTS COACHES 
 
 six in the morning, and finished the journey at " about 
 five " in the afternoon. 
 
 For those who liked quicker travelling, a "light" 
 post-coach left the same places as the above, and at 
 the same times, but finished the journey at three o'clock 
 instead of " about " five. The " llyegate and Cuck- 
 field " coach ran as before, except that the up-journey 
 was performed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 
 The coach was nine hours on the road. 
 
 A new proprietary is now met with in Ibberson and 
 Co., whose light post-coach ran from the George and 
 Blue Boar, Holborn, at half-past five on Tuesday, 
 Thursday, and Saturday vid Lewes, arriving at the 
 White Horse Inn, East Street, Brighton, at three 
 o'clock. The up-journey was made on the other 
 days ; but it took less time by half-an-hour, as the 
 coach started at six and arrived in town at three. The 
 same firm also ran a " machine from the same places on 
 alternate days with the post-coach," and this machine 
 arrived at either end before five in the evening. When 
 entering and leaving London, Ibberson's coaches called 
 at the Swan, Charing Cross. 
 
 Wessen's coach ran from the " Spread Eagle, Grace- 
 church Street, London," at six on the morning of 
 Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, travelling by Hors- 
 ham and Shoreham, and reached the Gun Inn (now 
 Harrison's Hotel) on the Cliff, at Brighton, about four in 
 the afternoon. The coach returned on the other days. 
 There was also a light coach from the Gun Inn at 
 half-past six every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 
 to the White Bear, Piccadilly, whither it arrived at 
 three in the afternoon. 
 
 During the winter season the arrangements were 
 sufficiently liberal ; a machine ran to the Golden Cross, 
 Charing Cross, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays ; 
 a post-coach (through Chailey) on Tuesdays and Satur- 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 41 
 
 days, and a daily post-coach from the Castle and New 
 Ship, Brighton, to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, 
 vid Cnckfield. 
 
 If, however, Chamberlayne and De Laune had nothing 
 but praise for the new mode of travel, there was at least 
 one individual who was by no means smitten with the 
 coaches of 1 790 which carried six " insides." He had 
 learned the discomforts of these vehicles by bitter 
 experience, and to the Public Advertiser for Tuesday, 
 the 28th September, 1790, he forwarded the following 
 lines, headed : — 
 
 THE COMFORTS OF A STAGE-COACH. 
 
 A country friend to visit, I, a cit, 
 
 Bespeak my passage in a God-permit. 
 
 Th' impatient coachman warns us to prepare, 
 
 And, long ere sunrise, mounts his daily care.— 
 
 Scarcely awake, in dreaming mood I rise, 
 
 Enter the coach, and ope my wondering eyes 
 
 On two old females of the Falstaff size ; 
 
 No choice is left me, so, between the two, 
 
 On each side elbow'd, I am doom'd to stew. 
 
 A nurse, a child, a soldier swelled with pride, 
 
 And a fat landlord, fill the other side. 
 
 Day scarcely dawns, before the rugged road 
 
 From this to that side jolts the motley load, 
 
 One beldame coughs, the other scolds and stares, 
 
 The landlord snores, child pukes, and soldier swears. 
 
 Of God-permits, if these the comforts be, 
 
 My feet, thank Heaven, still can carry me. 
 
 With reference to the expression " God permit " in 
 the above lines, it is only necessary to state that the 
 old coaching advertisements invariably concluded with 
 the announcement that the journey would be "per- 
 formed, if God permit," x by So-and-so. 
 
 1 Is it not Dean Ramsay who in one of his books quotes an 
 old advertisement to the effect, that the Glasgow boat would start 
 on Monday, God willing and weather permitting ; or on Tuesday, 
 whether or no 1 
 
42 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 In the year 1 791, Tubb & Davis no doubt kept on 
 their waggons and machines ; but they at the same 
 time turned their attention to putting light and faster 
 coaches on the road. At seven o'clock every morning 
 a coach left the Castle Inn, calling at the Old and New 
 Ship inns, and ran to London by way of Lewes and 
 Uckfield ; at eight o'clock a post-coach left the above- 
 named inns and reached town in eight hours ; while at 
 nine o'clock another light Post-coach left the same 
 starting-places on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 
 for the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. 
 
 There was, however, opposition to be again encoun- 
 tered at the hands of Messrs. Henwood, Scott, & Hol- 
 brook, whose undertakings included the " original eight- 
 o'clock post-coach, wrt-Cuckfield and Reigate, which, like 
 Tubb & Davis's vehicle, reached London in eight hours, 
 arriving at the Blossoms Inn, Cheapside, at four o'clock 
 in the afternoon. Their other coach was a " new post- 
 coach with guard and lamps," which left at eight o'clock 
 at night ; carried four insides at twenty shillings a head, 
 and two outside at ten shillings each ; and arrived in 
 London at five o'clock in the morning, a branch coach 
 meeting her at the Elephant and Castle to take passen- 
 gers to the West End. 
 
 The mail-coach system, as is well known, originated 
 with Mr. John Palmer, M.P. for Bath, and proprietor of 
 the Bath Theatre. For some reason, best known to 
 the Post-Office officials of the time, Mr. Palmer's sug- 
 gestions met with stern opposition ; but he at last 
 carried his point, and the first mail-coach ran between 
 London and Bristol on the 8th August 1 784. It has 
 frequently been said that there was no mail-coach on 
 the Brighton road till the year 18 10; but this is a 
 mistake, as a mail-coach first ran between London 
 and Brighton on May-Day, 1 79 1 . The coach which 
 was to make the first up-journey passed through 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 43 
 
 Lewes on Saturday the 31st April, en route for 
 Brighton, and, in the opinion of the Lewes critic, she 
 was elegantly finished, and presented a very showy 
 appearance, which, added to the expedition the mails 
 must observe on the road, might induce some people to 
 travel by them in the summer ; but, during the winter, 
 the opinion was hazarded, it would be impossible that 
 they could be made to answer, unless the amount then 
 allowed to the contractors by the Post-Office were con- 
 siderably augmented. There would appear to be some 
 doubt as to the hour at which the mail left Brighton. 
 According to the Morning Chronicle for the 29th April 
 1 791, the hour was half-past eight; the Sussex Ad- 
 vertiser of the 9th May (the advertisement was sur- 
 mounted by a woodcut of the royal arms) gave it as eight 
 o'clock ; while a few days later the mail was announced 
 to leave Brighton at nine o'clock at night, Lewes at ten, 
 and to run to the Golden Cross. It would appear, too, 
 that Tubb & Davis horsed the mail out of Brighton, 
 as in the advertisement their other coaches are in- 
 cluded. 1 Not quite all, either, as in another paragraph 
 it is announced that Messrs. Tubb, Davis, Shergold, 
 Tilt, Best, Hicks, & Co. had put on an elegant new 
 coach, to carry six people inside, at sixteen shillings 
 a head, to London. The Old Ship was the starting- 
 point ; the hour of setting out was half-past seven in 
 the morning on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays ; 
 the route was through Cuckfield and Reigate, and, as 
 with Tubb & Davis's other coaches, the Golden Cross, 
 Charing Cross, was the London terminus. 
 
 On Tuesday, 12th July 1 79 1, the royal mail was 
 requisitioned for the officers of the Guards, who had 
 
 1 Were it not for this circumstance, I should have imagined that 
 the mail and Henwood's night-coach, " with guard and lamps," were 
 one and the same vehicle. 
 
44 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 received instructions to join their respective regiments, 
 " in case their assistance should be necessary at the 
 Crown and Anchor on Thursday." This phrase occurs 
 in both a London and a Sussex paper, and in neither 
 is it stated in what place the Crown and Anchor was 
 situate. The Sussex Advertiser continues, "And thus 
 was their (the officers') pleasure interrupted to fight 
 a phantom that vanished in smoke without tire." The 
 Morning Chronicles comment is, " How much it is to 
 be lamented that the gentlemen were not ordered to 
 take places for Birmingham," where some riots had just 
 broken out. We are, therefore, left in ignorance why 
 the Guardsmen were called away from Brighton ; it 
 seems clear that they were not wanted, however, and 
 they were, no doubt, back in Brighton without loss of 
 time. 
 
 Owing to many causes, travelling by coach was not 
 all beer and skittles in the last century ; but, at any 
 rate, a limited number of persons had the oppor- 
 tunity of sitting outside in the fresh air when the 
 weather was not too inclement. Coaches, however, 
 toppled over with such unpleasant frequency that 
 people grew alarmed, and the fault was laid to carry- 
 ing people on the roof. There were not wanting sug- 
 gestions how to overcome this liability to get wrong- 
 end upwards ; but the remedy would surely have been 
 worse than the disease had coach proprietors fallen 
 in with the ideas of a gentleman who wrote to the 
 Morning Chronicle, of 10th October 1791, to urge the 
 adoption of "an elegant long-bodied carriage, that 
 conveniently contains four-and-twenty insides, which 
 runs at a great rate with four horses. Why then 
 the dangerous practice of carrying outsides ? " Fancy 
 travellers from London to Brighton, a nine or ten 
 hours' journey, in an elegant long-bodied carriage with 
 twenty-three other " insides " ! 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 45 
 
 Without, however, dealing with imaginary difficulties, 
 stage-coach travellers of an early day were often con- 
 fronted with some of a very real nature, and occasionally 
 it took a court of law to settle the disputes. In the 
 thirteenth volume of the Annual Register is an account 
 of a case tried in the Common Pleas, wherein a pas- 
 senger by the up P (probably Portsmouth) coach 
 
 was the plaintiff, and the master of the coach defendant. 
 It seems that the coachman pulled up for dinner at a 
 "hedge ale-house," one of the coachman's favourite 
 places. The passengers, however, declining to dine at 
 such a place, walked on to another inn at Epsom, and 
 sent word to the coachman where they were, bidding 
 him at the same time to stop for them, as he would 
 have to pass their inn when he resumed his journey. 
 The coachman, however, drove straight through to 
 London without stopping for his passengers, leaving 
 them to return as best they might. The coach pro- 
 prietor having refused to make any pecuniary recom- 
 pense, a test action was brought, with the result that 
 the passenger obtained ^20 as damages, the others 
 presumedly being requited on the same scale. 
 
 Drawbacks of various kinds would appear to have 
 weighed upon the mind of a certain apparently philan- 
 thropic person, who may, for all one can tell, have been 
 the owner of post-horses, and to have prompted him to 
 insert, by way of advertisement, in the Sussex Advertiser 
 and Morning Chronicle for the 3rd August 1 79 1, a long 
 document. It was headed "Travelling," and, as it 
 sums up the situation very fairly, its opening sentences 
 are given verbatim: — 
 
 " To those ladies and gentlemen who travel from 
 London to Brighthelmstone, Dover, Deal, liamsgate, 
 Margate, and other places in the counties of Kent and 
 Sussex.— -The many gross impositions that are practised 
 
46 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 upon strangers travelling in almost every country has 
 made it necessary to publish, for their benefit and 
 consideration, the different modes of conveyance from 
 London to Brighthelmstone, Dover, Margate, &c, and 
 the expenses of each. 
 
 " There are two modes of conveyance, either by 
 common stages or by a post-chaise. By the common 
 stage you are classed with company of every description, 
 and who may very frequently turn out very disagreeable. 
 You are also paid no attention to at the inns where 
 you stop, although you pay exorbitant for refreshment, 
 and are frequently insulted by the indecent behaviour 
 of the coachman ; and besides your fare, you have a 
 considerable sum to pay for luggage. 
 
 " On the contrary, if two or three persons choose to 
 travel together, they may, by travelling in a post-chaise, 
 not only avoid all these inconveniences in adopting the 
 first stile of travelling in the kingdom, but suit their 
 own convenience in point of time, and be at less ex- 
 pense, as the following statement will sufficiently prove, 
 besides meeting with the genteeler treatment at the inns 
 on the road : — 
 
 By post-chaise from London to Brighton, with 
 three passengers and luggage, 54 miles from 
 Westminster Bridge @ 1 s. per mile . . ^2 14 o 
 
 Six turnpikes . . . . . . .030 
 
 Postboys, 5 stages . . . . . .076 
 
 By the mail from London to Brighton, three 
 passengers, and each 14 lbs. weight only of 
 luggage 
 
 Supposing each passenger to have only 50 lbs, 
 weight of luggage more than the 14 lbs 
 allowed at id. per lb. — it is generally more 
 
 Coachman all the way at 2s. each 
 
 Guard ,, ,, is. each 
 
 £■ 
 
 ^63 
 
 012 6 
 060 
 0^50 
 
 £4 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 47 
 
 " The balance in favour of travelling by post-chaise 
 from London to Brighton is seventeen shillings." 
 
 Hitherto we have come across scarcely any instances 
 of the Brighton coaches coming to any harm ; but on 
 Saturday, the 13th August, 1791, one of them was 
 overturned at Clapham Common on its way to London, 
 owing to one of the front wheels coming off. Several 
 passengers sustained somewhat severe injuries, and the 
 coachman was so badly hurt as to be unable to drive 
 into town. " The great attention shown to the dis- 
 tressed state of the passengers by the inhabitants of 
 Clapham Common," says the Sussex paper, " reflects 
 the highest credit on them." As, however, we get 
 more news of coaching, we find that accidents were by 
 no means rare ; and few of the old coaches ran for any 
 length of time without coming to grief more or less 
 often. It could not, however, have been pace which 
 necessarily brought coaches to grief; for the following 
 description of a journey from Brighton to London 
 about this time shows that it could not have been a very 
 hurried affair. It is extracted from Mr. Shergold's 
 " Recollections of Brighton in the Olden Time : " — 
 
 '& 
 
 " There were three roads from Brighton to London. 
 The first and chief passed through Cuckfield and 
 Reigate. This was the Appian way for the high nobility 
 of England. The other two were vulgar. The one 
 passed through Lewes, the other through Horsham. 
 The best method of conveyance on the Cuckfield road 
 was by the pair-horse coaches. These started at eight 
 o'clock in the morning, and, if nothing intervened, 
 proceeded steadily and boldly as far as Preston, where 
 they stopped at the public-house — it being a pre- 
 scriptive right of all coachmen in those days never to 
 
4 8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 pass a public-house without calling. Coachmen were 
 also persons of much consideration, a great deal of the 
 business of the country being transacted by them. 
 After quitting Preston, the coach snailed it on to 
 Withdean and Patcham, stopping, of course, a little 
 time at each. The next stoppage was at the bottom of 
 Clayton Hill — the formidable Clayton Hill — where the 
 coachman descended from his box and civilly obliged 
 all passengers, outside and in, to walk up, on the plea 
 ' that the roads were very heavy, it being absolutely 
 killing to his horses.' This walk to the top of Clayton 
 Hill took about half-an-hour, and was very fatiguing, 
 especially if a man had the gallantry to offer his arm to 
 a fat widow. From the top of Clayton Hill you had a 
 most delightful view. From Clavton Hill the coach 
 snailed it on towards Cuckfield, the coachman not 
 deeming it proper to ask the passengers to walk above 
 three or four times until he arrived at that little town. 
 At St. John's Common, on the hither side of Cuckfield, 
 was a neat little public-house where the coachman 
 usually took a snack, which consisted of a mouthful of 
 bread and cheese and five or six glasses of gin and 
 bitters, for that was the liqueur par excellence of 
 coachmen in that day. When the coach arrived at 
 Cuckfield, it was usual for some of the passengers to 
 say to one another, ' Well, as the coach will stop here 
 some time, we will walk on.' This walking on often 
 consisted of a hard tug, up hill and down, over five or 
 six miles of slimy, slippery road. 
 
 " Before the coach overtook the passengers who had 
 proposed to walk forward, they arrived at Hand Cross, 
 a complete rustic inn, of which the landlord bore the 
 impress of Sussex rusticity. With that kind and bene- 
 volent attention to the happiness and comfort of walk- 
 ing travellers which innkeepers by the roadside usually 
 possess, a number of stools and benches were always 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 49 
 
 placed in front of the inn to receive the wearied 
 muscles of the promenaders. 
 
 " Bannister, the publican of Hand Cross, walked forth 
 from his inn, carrying a gallon bottle of gin in one hand, 
 and a small wicker bnsket of slices of ginger-bread in 
 the other. ' You must be tired, gentlemen,' said he. 
 ' Come ! take a glass and a slice.' So we all partook 
 of gin and ginger-bread ; and I can safely aver that I 
 never heard a gentleman's character disputed, or his 
 reputation blackened, because he took a glass of gin 
 and ate a slice of ginger-bread at the rustic hostelerie 
 of Hand Cross. 
 
 " But the coach was soon seen tending towards Hand 
 Cross, and the outside and inside passengers, leaping 
 up, took each person his place, and off we went, at the 
 quiet and everlasting pace of four miles and a half 
 an hour ! As we had a downhill passage from Hand 
 Cross, and not above four or five public-houses to stop 
 at, we soon arrived at Crawley, a miserable place, the 
 sight of which always gave me the stomach-ache. At 
 Crawley we delayed not more than was sufficient just 
 to kick the dust from our feet, which Horace, or some 
 other poet, mentions as a demonstration of contempt. 
 We then bundled on to Eeigate, and arrived at the 
 King's Arms, the horses absolutely trotting up to the 
 door as if they took a real pleasure in presenting their 
 passengers in grand style. At the door of this com- 
 fortable inn there was always standing (I mean in the 
 days of coaching) a waiter, who, after handing out the 
 passengers, informed them that dinner was ready, and 
 would be on the table in five minutes. Every man felt 
 hungry ; for out of the thirty-two miles which lie be- 
 tween Brighton and Reigate, they had walked twenty. 
 When they entered the room where dinner was to be 
 served, they found some other passengers, who had 
 come by a downward coach, waiting to dine. 
 
 D 
 
5o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 " Here, then, we were, about fifteen ladies and gentle- 
 men of the coach-going community — and who were 
 not coach-goers in those simple and happy days ? — 
 about to sit down to a plain dinner, with two bottles of 
 wine, at two o'clock in the day, at one of the best inns 
 of the sort in the kingdom. The waiters put every- 
 thing expeditiously on the table, wine and all, and 
 said, very obligingly, ' Ladies and gentlemen, you have 
 just two minutes for dinner ! The coachman is just 
 putting-to his horses, and he will be round at the 
 door immediately!'" [This almost occasioned a " scene ; " 
 but, the writer says, the coachman was appealed to, 
 " firstly, to the stomach, by a tumbler of sherry ; and 
 secondly, to his brains, by plain and solid argument," 
 and " time was allowed."] " After dinner the coach 
 went on as fast as two horses could carry us. The 
 coachman, after we quitted Reigate, entered into an 
 able soliloquy, addressed to me, to prove that eating 
 dinner at two o'clock, and drinking heavy port wine, 
 was imprudent. I was sitting on the box, and perfectly 
 agreed with him. He did not say anything about 
 drinking sherry, so I did not allude to it ; but when he 
 told me that he was quite sure he should lose his place 
 through staying so long at Reigate, we on the outside 
 all gave him a shilling apiece ; so that, by delaying 
 ten minutes, he gained seven shillings and a tumbler 
 of sherry. The coachmen of those days were such 
 honest men — not at all cunning ! But those were the 
 days of the olden time, before the slippery railroads 
 came into fashion ! 
 
 " When the coach arrived at Reigate Hill, the pas- 
 sengers, outside and inside, were requested to descend. 1 
 This hill was the most formidable tug on the road. 
 
 1 This sort of thing was in great contrast to the style of going 
 in later days, when some of the ground near Reigate was that over 
 which a little time could be, and was, made up. 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 51 
 
 The best and easiest way of arriving at the top of the 
 hill was to follow humbly the movements of the coach, 
 but some ladies and gentlemen ventured up a steep 
 path which led almost perpendicularly up the hill, and 
 joined the road by a transverse path. Here was the 
 trial of sound lungs and easy and comfortable lacing. 
 Ladies who looked more to dapper shapes than to easy 
 respiration were sure to be brought to a non-plus about 
 the middle of the path, and it was necessary sometimes 
 to despatch a deputation of the gentlemen, who were 
 walking near the coach, to aid in dragging the impeded 
 ladies up the path. The fair passengers, however 
 squeamish, were obliged to submit to the pulling and 
 pushing movement, for there was only this method of 
 surmounting the difficulties, unless they preferred to 
 be rolled down the steep like a bundle of goods, and 
 thus rejoin their fellow-passengers below. When we 
 arrived at the top of Reigate Hill, we — the travellers 
 of the ancient epoch — considered the journey to London 
 almost as completed ; for we were so accustomed to 
 slow travelling, that an hour in a coach was as patiently 
 borne as five minutes are now on the railroad. At 
 ' the Cock ' at Sutton we delayed a little half-hour, as 
 the French say, and then valiantly proceeded on to 
 the noted ' Elephant and Castle,' where w r e waited for 
 the completion of many businesses, such as change of 
 coach, if you were going into the City ; and other neces- 
 sary duties. The destination of the Brighton coaches 
 in those days was ' The Golden Cross,' Charing Cross 
 — a nasty inn, remarkable for filth and apparent misery, 
 whence it was usual to be conveyed to the place to 
 which you were going in one of those large, lumbering- 
 hackney-coaches, with two jaded, broken-winded and 
 broken-kneed hacks, which were common in those 
 days, before the introduction of safety cabs and light 
 flys. These vehicles were always damp and dreary, the 
 
52 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 very epitomes of misery. On arriving at the house you 
 were going to in London of some friends or relations, 
 the following conversation often occurred : ' Happy to 
 see you ; but what brings you so soon ? — didn't expect 
 you before nine, and it's now only seven.' 'We have 
 been eleven hours on the road — is not that enough ? ' 
 ' Oh ! quite enough, but formerly the Brighton coaches 
 arrived at midnight. Travelling improves every day. 
 I wonder what we shall arrive at next ! Only eleven 
 hours from Brighton to London ! Wonderful ! Almost 
 incredible ! ' 
 
 In 1792, Tubb, Davis, & Co., and Henwood, Scott, 
 & Co. were the proprietors who ran coaches to London; 
 and, so far as I can make out, each firm ran one or 
 two during the winter, Tubb & Davis going the long- 
 road by Lewes and Uckfield. In the summer, how- 
 ever, both proprietors put forth their best energies : 
 opposition was keen, and directly one firm made an 
 alteration, its rival followed suit. For example, in June 
 1792, Tubb & Davis started a Sunday-coach vid Lewes 
 and Uckfield to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, 
 whereupon an opposition concern was at once put on 
 the road by Henwood & Co. ; but, whereas Tubb & 
 Davis took off theirs towards the end of October, the 
 other ran up to December. 
 
 Independently of the Sunday-coaches, however, the 
 following appear to have run during the summer of 
 1792 between London and Brighton : — 
 
 TUBB, DAVIS, & CO.'S COACHES. 
 From the Castle Inn, and the Old and New Ship Inns. 
 
 A Coach vid Lewes and Uckfield to the Golden Cross, Charing 
 
 Cross. 
 Post-Coaches at 7, 8, and 9 o'clock, vid Cuckfield and Reigate, to 
 
 the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. 
 Post-Coaches vid Lewes and Chailey, at 7, 8, and 9 o'clock, to Golden 
 
 Cross, Charing Cross. 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 53 
 
 HEN WOOD, SCOTT, HOLBROOK, & CO.'S COACHES. 
 
 From the White Horse Inn, East Street. 
 
 Post-Coach via Cuckfield and Reigate, at 8 a.m., to Blossoms Inn, 
 Lawrence Lane, Cheapside. 
 This coach appears to have been accelerated, as she now reached 
 London at three instead of at four o'clock. 
 An Elegant and Light Post-Coach, carrying four inside and three 
 out, at 9 o'clock, arriving at Hatchett's New White Horse 
 Cellar at 5 p.m. 
 The Original Eight o'Clook Post-Coach, via Cuckfield and Reigate, 
 to the Blossoms Inn, Cheapside. 
 Ibberson's & Wessen's coaches ran as before. 
 
 The above list, it will be seen, gives a total of a 
 dozen coaches a day running between London and 
 Brighton during the summer months. In the winter, 
 the 'Original Eight - o'Clock Post- Coach ' : ran but 
 three times a week — up on Mondays, Wednesdays, 
 and Fridays, and down on the alternate days. 
 
 At the time of which we are speaking the coaches 
 seldom carried guards ; comparatively few passengers 
 were carried on the post-coaches, which, like all 
 other coaches, down to the very last, had to depend 
 greatly for their receipts upon the carrying of parcels. 
 These parcels were, in the early days, stowed away any- 
 where and anyhow ; they were tucked in just where 
 room could be found for them ; and the only wonder is 
 that robberies were not of more frequent occurrence, 
 as it would seem possible to commit them with some- 
 thing like impunity, if, at least, we may judge from the 
 papers of the date. In the Sussex Advertiser for the 
 6th February 1792, for instance, there is an account of 
 how one Sarah Baxter booked herself as an outside 
 passenger by one of the London coaches. In the course 
 of the journey she thought that she would like to ride 
 inside, and as there was no one else, on or in the 
 coach, the coachman allowed her to change. In the 
 
5 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 seclusion of the inside Sarah Baxter at once began to 
 examine the contents of some of the parcels ; and, while 
 manipulating one, she was seen by the coachman, and 
 in answer to him said that the package was her own — a 
 statement the truth of which was readily accepted ; 
 but farther along the road she slipped out. The coach- 
 man did not miss her till a short time after she left 
 the coach, and then, becoming suspicious, he went in 
 pursuit of his missing passenger, whom he caught, and 
 on her was found some property she had extracted 
 from a parcel. She was prosecuted, and duly impri- 
 soned ; and possibly the coachman learned to be more 
 careful of his parcels in future. 
 
 On the 30th of October in this year (1792) there 
 occurred what has been known as the " Robbery of the 
 Brighton Mail," a heading suggestive of a well-mounted 
 highwayman stopping a mail-coach and four, and getting 
 away with his booty before the guard had time to dis- 
 charge his blunderbuss. In reality, however, instead of 
 a dashing highwayman, we have a couple of very ordi- 
 dinary footpads, and in place of the mail-coach, guarded 
 and lighted, we have a lad twelve years old riding on 
 horseback from Horsham to Steyning and Brighton, 
 carrying the mail-bags. 
 
 A certain habitual criminal named Howell became 
 aware of the fact that a farmer who lived near Gold- 
 stone Bottom, not far out of Brighton, would be return- 
 ing home on the aforesaid 30th October with a large sum 
 of money about him, and it occurred to Howell that, 
 with assistance, he might possess himself of the farmer's 
 money, so he induced a young man named Rooke to be 
 his accomplice. As good luck had it, the farmer was 
 persuaded to stay in Brighton for the night ; but while 
 Rooke and Howell were waiting in Goldstone Bottom, 
 the " Brighton Mail," in the person of the above- 
 mentioned small boy, came by. He had ridden for 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 55 
 
 some distance behind the Brighton coach, on which 
 the Steyning post-mistress was a passenger ; and she, 
 for some reason or other, directed the boy to part com- 
 pany with the coach, and to take a short cut which 
 turned out to be down the very lane in which Rooke 
 and Howell were in waiting. 
 
 The chance was too good to be lost ; so the boy 
 was stopped, and the bags taken from him ; but the 
 whole of the plunder consisted of half-a-guinea in a 
 letter. The lad " conducted himself very properly," 
 we are told. He made his way to the nearest farm- 
 house ; the farmer, like a good fellow, sent to Brighton 
 to acquaint the post-master of the robbery, and that 
 functionary at once sounded the alarm, with the result 
 that a band of horsemen at once turned out to scour 
 the country. In the early morning two of the horse- 
 men met a suspicious-looking person whom they at 
 once captured, and he, " after sinking to the ground 
 with fear," not only confessed to his share in the 
 robbery, but informed his captors where they would 
 find his accomplice. The boy's horse and the bags 
 were recovered, but not the contents of the latter. 
 This is one version of the capture of the thieves ; but, 
 according to another, Rooke was caught through the 
 information given to the authorities by an old woman. 
 
 Rooke and Howell were tried at the Horsham Spring- 
 Assizes in 1 793 ; were found guilty, and sentenced to be 
 hanged near the spot at which the robbery took place. 
 They were taken in a post-chaise from Horsham, and 
 the sentence was duly carried out, the bodies being 
 afterwards hung on gibbets twenty-five feet high. 
 Howell, as already mentioned, was a hardened and 
 habitual criminal. During the interval which elapsed 
 between his capture and the carrying out of the sen- 
 tence, he was proved to have been concerned in a 
 number of burglaries and other crimes. Howell was 
 
5 6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 forty years of age, while Rooke was but twenty-four ; 
 though, young as he was, he had been several times " in 
 trouble." He lived at Old Shoreham with his mother, 
 a hard-working and respectable woman, and the only 
 pathetic part of the story is that when the flesh had 
 decayed from the bodies, Rooke's mother would go 
 to the gibbets night after night to collect the bones 
 which the wind scattered, and these she ultimately 
 buried in a chest in Shoreham churchyard. 
 
 The little post-boy was scarcely as lucky in his 
 adventure as another lad whose doings are related in 
 one of the old volumes of the Sporting Magazine. 
 He had been sent to market with a cow which he was 
 to sell for seven guineas ; but he was lucky enough to 
 dispose of her for more than that sum, and, in his 
 inexperience, while having his dinner at an inn, was 
 unwise enough to boast of what he had done. A " road 
 inspector," as highwaymen sometimes called them- 
 selves, happening to be present, very naturally made 
 his arrangements accordingly, and before the boy had 
 gone very far he was requested to hand over his money ; 
 but, instead of doing so, he scattered the guineas on the 
 ground. The highwayman hurriedly dismounted to 
 pick them up, and then the boy is said to have mounted 
 the highwayman's horse, and to have galloped off 
 home, where, on making up a profit and loss account, 
 it was found that though he had lost about eight 
 guineas of his father's money, he had become the 
 possessor of a horse worth about twenty guineas ; while, 
 on further examination, sixteen guineas were found 
 sewn up in the saddle ! 
 
 In the main, the coaching arrangements of 1792 were 
 repeated in 1793. Mr. John Baulcombe, maltster, of 
 the New Ship Inn, Brighton, advertised that he had 
 become a partner with Tubb & Davis, and the firm 
 put on a new post-coach, carrying eight passengers, 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 57 
 
 four inside and four out ; while Henwood, of the 
 White Horse Inn, North Street, after returning thanks 
 for the patronage extended to him, announced that the 
 coaches ran as usual from his house, and that firm now 
 appeared as Johnstone, Whichelo, Scott, & Henwood ; 
 hut in subsequent advertisements the names appeared 
 in different order. 
 
 In 1 794 there appeared for the first time an advertise- 
 ment of a coach running to London through Ditchling 
 and Lindfield ; but as its anonymous proprietors stated 
 that it " continues running," it must have been on the 
 road during the previous year, and possibly longer than 
 that. She started from the White Lion and Golden 
 Cross, Brighton, and ran to the George and Blue 
 Boar, Holborn, leaving Brighton at eight o'clock on 
 Mondays and Fridays, returning at seven o'clock in 
 the morning on Wednesdays and Saturdays ; though 
 wheu the summer set in, the coach ran thrice a week 
 each way. 
 
 Messrs. Law, Grenville, & Crosweller had for some time 
 run a service of waggons between London and Brighton, 
 and, in 1795, Crosweller, whose name subsequently be- 
 came famous in the annals of stage-coaching as the pro- 
 prietor of the "Blue" coaches and "Blue" office, as well 
 as a partner in many other concerns, flew at higher 
 game than a waggon, and joined Henwood & Scott, 
 Kenwood's former partner soon after going out of the 
 business. Henwood & Crosweller kept on the post- 
 coaches, which now left the White Horse Inn at 
 eight and nine o'clock in the morning, running to 
 Hatchett's New White Horse Cellar, and to the Cross 
 Keys, Wood Street, instead of to the Blossoms Inn, as 
 in previous years. This firm also ran " the long coach 
 as usual ; " but whether this means that it ran by the 
 long road, or whether it was one of the long-bodied 
 vehicles, I am unable to say. At any rate, it ran three 
 
5 8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 times a week, leaving Brighton at eight o'clock in the 
 morning. 
 
 Meantime Scott, having severed his connection with 
 Kenwood, lost no time in becoming coach-master on 
 his own account, as in November 1795 (the dissolution 
 of partnership was announced in October) he thanked 
 the public for the support accorded to his coaches and 
 diligences, and announced that during the winter he 
 would run a light post-coach or diligence to the Blos- 
 soms Inn and the Old White Horse Cellar every morn- 
 ing at a quarter to eight o'clock, at the reduced fare 
 of half-a-guinea inside and six shillings out. 
 
 Tubb had apparently made his fortune, or amassed 
 a competence, for he announced that he had retired 
 from every kind of business ; but Davis & Boulton kept 
 on the coaches, which appear to have run as usual ; and 
 now for the first time we find mention of a ' coach- 
 oifice, " Davis & Boulton's coaches starting from the 
 establishment which they appear to have themselves 
 founded at the bottom of North Street. 
 
 During all this time the Sussex paper contained 
 lengthy weekly lists of fashionable arrivals ; but we 
 meet with no mention of any of these great people 
 travelling by coach ; in fact, whenever an accident, a 
 dispute, or some other cause leads to the mention of a 
 name, it is invariably that of a " respectable tradesman." 
 or some one not known in the highest fashionable circles. 
 Travelling with post-horses either in one's own car- 
 riage or in a post-chaise was the "first stile," and 
 it was not till later that stage-coaching was regarded 
 as anything more than third-class travelling. Post- 
 chaises in great numbers travelled along the London 
 and Brighton roads, and on the return journeys the 
 post-boys were in the habit of picking up people walk- 
 ing in their direction, and keeping the money given to 
 them by their informal fares. The practice appears to 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 59 
 
 have attained to such large proportions that the Brighton 
 and Lewes post-masters clubbed together, and offered a 
 reward of half-a-guinea to any one who would inform 
 them of an instance of a post-boy picking up a return 
 fare. It afterwards became illegal for post-boys to take 
 up any one while on their way home ; but the above 
 form of " shouldering " must have been very common, as 
 the advertisement offering a reward for information ap- 
 peared for more than a year. At the end of the Brighton 
 season there was a great exodus of all classes, and one 
 writer declared that the coaches " go up as full as a 
 vicar's belly, and return as empty as a curate's kitchen." 
 
 In 1796 Henwood, Crosweller, & Co. kept on the 
 coaches already mentioned, and early in June announced 
 their intention of putting on a night-coach to London 
 in July. Davis, Boulton, & Co. (who also kept to the 
 arrangements of the previous year) likewise determined 
 to start a night-coach; but the two firms had the sense 
 not to run on the same night, so Henwood & Crosweller 
 started on a Monday, and Davis & Boulton on the Sunday. 
 
 A " diligence on a new construction," carrying three 
 inside and three out, was advertised in July (1796) to 
 run to London by way of Lewes and ITckfield three 
 days a week, leaving Brighton at half-past seven, to 
 reach the Blossoms Inn at seven ; and the coaching 
 news of the year is completed by the announcement 
 that Henwood, Crosweller, & Co. had taken in some 
 more partners. In the autumn the firm was Hen- 
 wood, Crosweller, T. Pockney, R. Cuddington, and 
 J. Harding ; and they appear to have signalised the 
 inauguration of this large amalgamation by starting a 
 coach to match ; for, like some of the older vehicles, 
 it carried six passengers inside, though two only on 
 the roof. It left the White Horse and New Inns, 
 Brighton, and the New White Horse Cellar (Hatchett's) 
 at eight o'clock in the morning, calling at the Bios- 
 
6o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 sonis Inn en route, and travelling vid Cnckfield and 
 Crawley. The fares by this coach were fifteen shil- 
 lings inside and nine shillings outside ; but scarcely 
 had New Year's Day 1797 passed before the firm were 
 compelled to give notice of an increase of fares, owing 
 to the imposition of extra duty on coaches. Insides 
 were now charged nineteen shillings ; half-a-guinea 
 was demanded for "children in the lap;" outsides 
 were also charged half-a-guinea, and parcels twopence 
 each ; but the last-named charge must, I presume, be 
 taken to mean twopence in addition to the tariff pre- 
 viously in force. These additions, however, the firm 
 with many names somewhat sanguinely hoped would 
 meet with the approbation of their patrons. It need 
 scarcely be said that the rival firm made a correspond- 
 ing advance in their prices ; and in the summer of 
 1797 Davis seems to have followed the retired Tubb 
 into private life, as the firm was now Boulton, Tilt, 
 Hicks, Baulcombe, & Co., the last-named being pro- 
 prietor of the New Ship Inn. W. II. Henwood, jun., 
 had succeeded his father at the New Inn, and William 
 Allen, who described himself as late butler to Lord 
 Torrington, and who subsequently blossomed into acoach 
 proprietor, had become landlord of the White Horse Inn 
 in 1798, and at that house coaches for London called at 
 eight, nine, and ten a.m. The coaches of Boulton & Co. 
 started from the General Coach Office at the bottom of 
 North Street ; and those which ran via Cuckfield and 
 Re i gate went to the Golden Cross, Old White Horse 
 Cellar, Gloucester Coffee-House, Piccadilly ; and the 
 Swan with Two Necks. Post-coaches ran to London 
 by way of Lewes at 6.30 and 8.30, returning from Lon- 
 don at seven and eight a.m. As already mentioned, 
 some of the coaches covered the distance between Lon- 
 don and Brighton in eight hours, which, all things con- 
 sidered, was not bad work ; and the coachmen of that 
 
BRIGHTON ROAD IN THE LAST CENTURY 61 
 
 day, when the improvement in pace and organisation 
 was taking place, were fully justified in priding them- 
 selves on the superiority of their undertakings over 
 those of a past age. For example, in the twelfth volume 
 of the Sporting Magazine is this passage : — " For- 
 merly it appears, from ancient records, that the Shrews- 
 bury flying waggon came to London (if God permitted) 
 in twenty-one days, and the coach in nine. Now 
 (1798) the waggon comes in four days and a coach in 
 about twenty hours." On the whole, therefore, the tra- 
 vellers of nearly a century ago may have congratulated 
 themselves that they were " born so late." 
 
 The usually comprehensive columns of the Sussex 
 Advertiser tell us little or nothing of the Brighton road 
 during the year 1 799. Coach proprietors seem with one 
 accord to have abandoned advertising, while the pen 
 of the paragraphist was still. Coaches started as usual 
 at eight and nine o'clock from the New Inn in North 
 Street, and that is one of the very few items of coaching- 
 news given in connection with the main road. 
 
 Hay and corn had risen in price, and in consequence 
 Shelley & Son, and William Bradford (the latter ere 
 long turned " 'rioter," as a coach proprietor was termed, 
 as we shall see in the next chapter), together with 
 several other carriers, announced that they would be 
 obliged to charge an additional sixpence per cwt. for 
 the goods they carried after the 1 st of January 1 800 ; 
 while, on the other hand, the innkeepers on the road 
 advertised that, notwithstanding the high price of 
 forage, post-chaises could still be hired to Brighton via 
 Epsom, Dorking, Horsham, and Henfield at the old 
 price of a shilling a mile. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the establishment 
 of a coach-office, for, as business and traffic increased, 
 it was found that the limited space at the different 
 inns was insufficient ; and now Henwood, Crosweller, 
 
62 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Pockuey, & Co. notified that, for the better accom- 
 modation of the public, and for the more expeditious 
 conduct of the coaching business, they had engaged 
 the New General Coach Office, 44 East Street, at the 
 corner of Steine Lane ; and, as will be seen later on, 
 coach-offices grew and multiplied in and about Castle 
 Square. The history of stage-coaching between Lon- 
 don and Brighton for the eighteenth century ends, 
 therefore, with the distinct advance of the establish- 
 ment of public coach-offices. 
 
 On the whole, it must be admitted that, if stage- 
 coaching had not advanced with the proverbial leaps 
 and bounds, it had at any rate undergone considerable 
 improvement in the seventy years which had elapsed 
 since the two-day conveyance ran in 1 73 1 . At the 
 close of the last century there must have been about ten 
 or a dozen coaches running daily to and from London ; 
 a mail-coach up and down had been on the road for 
 eight years ; night-passenger coaches ran in the sum- 
 mer ; and the fastest coaches were timed to run between 
 London and Brighton in eight hours, though, as a 
 matter of fact, it was rarely that a coach crossed the 
 Thames under nine hours. Still, roads were then a 
 long way from being at their best ; heavy horses and 
 long stages were doubtless the rule ; and the driving of 
 four horses could not have been the art it afterwards 
 became. 
 
Chapter V. 
 
 FROM 1800 to 1809. 
 
 rnHE nineteenth century appears to have opened 
 without bringing with it any startling change in 
 the coaching arrangements. One at least of Cros- 
 weller's coaches seems to have started half an hour 
 later than before ; but, beyond that trifling deviation 
 from the programme of 1799, things appear to have 
 gone on as before. Then, as now, the average Briton 
 was evidently inclined to keep himself to himself while 
 on a journey, and from the Sussex Advertise}- for the 
 3rd March 1800 I extract this paragraph: — "A few 
 clays ago two persons, strangers to each other, took 
 their departure together in one of the public carriages. 
 After some time one of them said, ' Here is a fine 
 morning, sir.' The other remained silent. They rolled 
 on a mile or two, when the first spoke again, ' Well, 
 how do you do now, sir V ' I am very well, thank 
 you, sir,' was the answer, but no more. Some time 
 afterwards the talkative gentleman accosted his silent 
 companion with, ' Well, my friend, and how are you 
 now V 'I am as well,' was the reply, ' as when you 
 asked me before, and if I ail anything I will let you 
 know.' ' Here is a story guaranteed to be at least 
 ninety-three years old, and it must have stood sponsor 
 to numberless others of later date ; but it is scarcely 
 surprising that in olden days people should have been 
 chary of entering into conversation with strangers, for 
 then, even to a greater extent than at the present time, 
 one was liable to make undesirable acquaintances. " I 
 
64 BRIGHTON AND IT8 COACHES 
 
 always feel very nervous in a coach," said a highly re- 
 spectable female to a fatherly old gentleman, who was 
 the only other inside passenger, " on account of these 
 dreadful highwaymen. I have now with me a gold 
 watch I am taking as a present to my sister, and 
 the sum of twenty guineas, and I confess I scarcely 
 like to have so much about me." The gentleman very 
 politely replied, " Madam, you may rest assured that 
 no highwayman shall touch your property ; I never 
 travel without a brace of pistols," a speech which tended 
 to reassure his companion. Some distance farther 
 on the road the gentleman said, " I alight at the end 
 of this stage, and before I take my leave I must 
 trouble you for the gold watch and your twenty 
 guineas, and I warn you to say nothing of the matter 
 when the coach stops." 
 
 On looking through the old newspapers, one cannot 
 help being struck with the number of apologies which 
 are met with in the advertisement columns. Here, for 
 example, is one, headed " Caution to Stage-Coachmen," 
 and the apology proceeds, " Whereas I, William Wager, 
 late driver of the Brighton and Lewes stage-coach from 
 the Golden Cross, London, did on Wednesday, the 7th 
 November, grossly, and without provocation, abuse and 
 otherwise ill-treat a gentleman on horseback opposite 
 Loughborough House, near Brixton Causeway, for which 
 offence he has justly commenced a prosecution against 
 me ; but in consequence of my (thus publicly) asking 
 pardon and acknowledging my offence, and out of com- 
 passion to my wife and family, the same gentleman has 
 humanely condescended to stop proceedings against me, 
 for which act of lenity I beg to return my thanks, and 
 publish this as a caution to all other coachmen not to 
 offend in like manner." Turnpike gate-keepers were 
 very prone to lose their tempers and become abusive, 
 but were generally brought to book when proceedings 
 
FROM 1800 to 1809 65 
 
 were commenced against them, and an abject apology 
 in the Sussex paper was the inevitable sequel. 
 
 The extract given on a previous page graphically 
 described a journey from Brighton to London ; and in 
 Mr. Bishop's book appears an account of the down- 
 journey ; but if the opening sentence means that the 
 two pair-horse coaches were the only vehicles running 
 between London and Brighton, the writer is clearly 
 wrong. The Directory of Brighton for 1800 by Mr. 
 Edward Cobby — it is reprinted in Mr. Bishop's book- 
 shows that there were half a dozen coaches daily, and 
 one which ran but three days a week. 
 
 " In 1 801 two pair-horse coaches ran between London 
 and Brighton on alternate days — one up, the other down 
 — and they were driven by Crosweller and Hine. The 
 progress of these coaches was an amusing one. The 
 one from London left the ' Blossoms ' Inn, Lawrence 
 Lane, at seven a.m., the passengers breaking their fast 
 at the ' Cock,' at Sutton, at nine. The next stoppage 
 for the purpose of refreshment was at the 'Tangier' 
 (Banstead Downs), a rural little spot, famous for its 
 elderberry wine, which used to be brought from the 
 cottage ' roking hot,' and on a cold wintry morning- 
 few refused to partake of it. George IV. invariably 
 stopped here, and took a glass from the hand of Miss 
 Jeal as he sat in his carriage. The important business 
 of luncheon took place at Reigate, where sufficient 
 time was allowed the passengers to view the Baron's 
 Cave. 
 
 " Handcross was the next resting-place, celebrated 
 for its ' neat ' liquors, the landlord of the inn standing 
 bottle-in-hand at the door. (He and several other 
 Bonifaces, at Friar's Oak, &c, had the reputation of 
 being on pretty good terms with the smugglers who 
 at this period carried on their operations with such 
 audacity along the Sussex coast.) 
 
 E 
 
66 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 "But the grand halt for dinner was made at Staple- 
 field Common, celebrated for its famous black cherry- 
 trees, under the branches of which, when the fruit 
 was ripe, the coaches were allowed to draw up, and the 
 passengers to partake of their tempting produce. The 
 hostess of the hostelry here was famed for her rabbit- 
 puddings, which were always waiting the arrival of the 
 coach, and to which the travellers never failed to do 
 such ample justice, that ordinarily they found it quite 
 impossible to leave at the hour appointed ; so grogs, 
 pipes, and ale were ordered in, and, to use the lan- 
 guage of the fraternity, ' not a wheel wagged ' for two 
 hours. The coach then went on to Clayton Hill, and 
 as the passengers had to walk up this ascent, a cup of 
 tea was sometimes found to be necessary at Patcham, 
 after which Brighton was safely reached at 7 p.m." 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1802 Boulton & Co. 
 and Crosweller, Pockney, Henwood, & Co. ran their 
 coaches as usual during the winter. The fare by the 
 post-coaches was a guinea inside, and eleven and six- 
 pence outside ; while the Blue coaches (Crosweller's), 
 which started at eight o'clock in the morning from the 
 Blue Coach-Office, in East Street, charged the same 
 amount. The Blue coaches ran to the Blossoms Inn, 
 Lawrence Lane, Cheapside, and Hatchett's New White 
 Horse Cellar, returning at a quarter to eight every 
 morning. By the time May came round, the inside 
 fare by Crosweller's post-coach (Vallance & Co., 
 brewers and coal merchants, of West Street, had now 
 joined the firm) was reduced to nineteen shillings, but 
 one could travel by the " accommodation ' : coach (six 
 inside) for fifteen shillings, or for half-a-guinea out- 
 side ; this vehicle left Brighton at nine in the morn- 
 ing. The rival firms were also busy, for Boulton & Co. 
 started their coaches at seven, eight, and nine in the 
 morning from the General Office, North Street, to the 
 
FROM 1800 to 1809 67 
 
 Golden Cross, Charing Cross, the Old White Horse 
 Cellar, and the Gloucester Coffee-House, Piccadilly, 
 and the Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane. 
 
 A fortnight later, however — that is to say, on the 
 24th May 1802 — a fresh opposition sprang up in the 
 shape of the " New Royal Union Four-Horse Coach 
 Company," who gave notice that their commodious 
 coaches would commence running between London and 
 Brighton at eight o'clock every morning on Monday, 
 the 3 1 st of May. 
 
 Messrs. Crosweller, Henwood, Vallance, Pockney, 
 & Co. had, however, a shot in their locker, and 
 promptly advertised that a coach on a new construction, 
 built on a safe, elegant, and commodious principle (it 
 had need to be commodious, seeing that it carried six 
 passengers inside), and drawn by four horses, would 
 start from the Blue Office for the Blossoms Inn, and 
 Hatchett's New White Horse Cellar, and would carry 
 people for half-a-guinea inside and seven shillings 
 out ; while Boulton, Tilt, Hicks, Gourd, Baulcombe, 
 & Co. likewise reduced their fares ; like the proprietors 
 of the Blue coaches, they ran post-coaches, and each 
 firm again ran a night-coach thrice a week. 
 
 With three, or possibly four, rival establishments in 
 full work, there were seven day-coaches to London, a 
 night-coach, the mail, and Scott's diligence with its 
 three passengers inside and one outside. It started 
 from the White Lion, North Street, at half-past eight 
 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and ran vid 
 Cuckfield and Crawley to the Belle Sauvage. There 
 was, of course, bitter rivalry — in fact, from this time 
 until the opening of the railway there was possibly 
 more competition on this road than on any other in 
 England. The newly-started company would appear 
 to have obtained their share of public support, if at 
 least we may credit their own statements, as in July 
 
68 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 (1802) we find them begging "to return thanks for the 
 very liberal support they have experienced," and they 
 followed the time-honoured precedent in stating that 
 they would always study to have " their coaches safe 
 with good horses, and sober, careful coachmen." The 
 company also took the opportunity of contradicting a 
 statement made, to the effect that one of their coaches 
 had been turned over a week previously, by which 
 accident it was reported that a gentleman's leg had 
 been broken. The company modestly pointed out that 
 the mishap really befell one of the Blues (Crosweller's) ; 
 and, as several mistakes had occurred through their 
 friends booking at the wrong place, patrons were in- 
 vited to note that they should betake themselves to 
 the Royal New Coach-Office, the Catherine's Head, 47 
 East Street, Brighton. 
 
 This new body showed commendable enterprise, as 
 they appear to have done a good stroke of business 
 by running " an elegant " post-coach from Lewes to 
 London via Brighton. This new venture made its first 
 journey on Monday, the 22nd November 1802, starting 
 from the Bear Hotel, Lewes ; but unfortunately the 
 advertisement does not give the hour of departure, 
 though it does tell us that the coach reached London 
 at half-past four in the afternoon, so that passengers 
 could write letters in town in time to catch the even- 
 ing down-mail. It left the Bull Inn, Holborn, every 
 morning at seven ; called at the Green Man and Still, 
 Oxford Street ; the old White Horse Cellar ; the Meck- 
 lenburgh Coffee - House, Cockspur Street ; and the 
 Elephant and Castle, proceeding thence to the Eoyal 
 Coach-Office, Brighton, and on to Lewes. The proba- 
 bility is that the coach started from Lewes at a some- 
 what uncomfortably early hour in the morning ; so by 
 way of tiding over the difficulty to some extent, the 
 proprietors, with rare foresight, allowed the more sloth- 
 
FROM 1800 to 1809 69 
 
 ful of their passengers to go overnight to Brighton, 
 where they were "accommodated with a good bed free 
 of expense," and conld proceed comfortably to London 
 by one or other of the Company's morning-coaches. 
 The fare from Lewes to London through Brighton 
 was twelve shillings inside and eight shillings out- 
 side. 
 
 In different parts of the country both the mail-boys 
 and the mail-coaches had been stopped with too great 
 frequency ; so on the Brighton road an attempt appears 
 to have been made to remedy this state of things ; for 
 in the Sussex Advertiser for the 30th August, 1802, is a 
 paragraph stating that " any attempt on the mail pass- 
 ing between London and Brighton will now be ex- 
 tremely dangerous, as the persons travelling with them 
 are armed in a manner that enables them to bid 
 defiance to the attacks of all ordinary robbers, which 
 adds much to the safety of the conveyance, and does 
 great credit to Mr. Aust, one of the principal surveyors, 
 on whose suggestion, we understand, this mode of 
 defence was adopted. The post-boys have all lately 
 been presented with a uniform dress and helmet, simi- 
 lar to those worn by the artillery-drivers, which gives 
 them a very fierce and formidable appearance," though 
 it may be doubted whether on the cross-roads many 
 mails were saved by reason of a boy looking like a bad 
 imitation of an artillery-driver. 
 
 During the years 1803, 1804, and 1805, there is a 
 remarkable dearth of coaching news ; so we may pre- 
 sume that no very great change took place in the 
 previously existing arrangements. In 1804 the unex- 
 pired portion of the lease of the Bolt-in-Tun, the inn, 
 in Fleet Street, where at some of the coaches called 
 on their way to Brighton, was sold by Mr. Aldridge at 
 his repository ; and the alteration was made in the 
 road at the entrance to Brighton for the convenience of 
 
7 o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the Prince of Wales, by whose order several houses in 
 the rear of Church Street were bought, in order that 
 they might be pulled down. A Mr. Howell, who com- 
 bined the callings of builder and lodging-house-keeper 
 on a large scale, and who also had a wheel in one of 
 the London coaches, died, and so did Mr. Pockney, a 
 member of Crosweller's firm. In 1805 "New Tele- 
 graph and Post Coaches " ran to London every morning 
 at seven, eight, and nine o'clock, vid Cuckfield and 
 Keigate, to Cheapside, Charing Cross, and Holborn, 
 and there was still a night-coach at ten o'clock. 
 
 During the year 1807 there are comparatively few 
 coaching advertisements beyond those put forth by 
 Messrs. Boulton, Tilt, Gourd, Baulcombe, & Co. During 
 the summer of 1807 that enterprising firm ran "post 
 and accommodation coaches to London at seven, eight, 
 and nine o'clock in the morning, the route being 
 through Cuckfield and Reigate, and the destination 
 the Golden Cross Hotel, Charing Cross, and the Swan 
 with Two Necks, Lad Lane. They also ran, through 
 Lewes, a coach which left Brighton at half-past six 
 in the morning, and the night- coach left Brighton at 
 nine instead of at ten. 
 
 As the season progressed, Boulton & Co. determined 
 to take a new departure, and so they announced, 
 " Uncommonly quick travelling to London by coaches 
 from the Royal Clarence Coach-Office, Castle Square." 
 A coach left at eight in the morning, and ran to the 
 Golden Cross, Charing Cross ; and the Spread Eagle, 
 Gracechurch Street. This coach went by way of the 
 Devil's Dyke and Henfleld, described in the advertise- 
 ment as being the most pleasant and cheerful route to 
 London — as it no doubt was — and the plan, we are 
 told, upon which this undertaking was conducted had 
 been frequently attempted, but never punctually acted 
 upon. Messrs. Boulton & Co., however, were confident 
 
FROM 1800 to 1809 71 
 
 of succeeding where others had failed ; they had intro- 
 duced sundry reforms, and had each year shown them- 
 selves ready to move with the times. With that confi- 
 dence, therefore, which is the secret of success, they 
 guaranteed that these long-route coaches should " arrive 
 at the stones-end of London in eight hours ; " but 
 then came in a saving clause — the eight-hours bargain 
 would only hold good if there was " no general disposi- 
 tion of the passengers " to delay on the road. Hence 
 it would appear that the time-bill was really in the 
 hands of the public. If, however, the passengers did 
 not delay the coach, and if the coach did not reach 
 the " stones-end of London " at the specified time, 
 then Boulton & Co. engaged to return the fares — an 
 offer which, as we shall presently see, was made in 
 18 16 by another firm anxious to secure patronage. 
 
 We occasionally read in the papers of people suing 
 railway companies for the expenses they have been 
 put to for horse-hire, or hotel-expenses, when they miss 
 trains, or when the connection between two lines fails, 
 and there were persons who did the same sort of thing 
 in the old coaching days. In the spring of 1808 some 
 very bad weather was experienced, and on one parti- 
 cular day all the London and Brighton coaches had 
 to return, consequently one of Mr. Pattenden's was not 
 in London to make the down-journey as far as Horsham 
 on its proper d ay. Two gen tlemen — the Brighton Herald 
 is careful to italicise the word — appear to have booked 
 places ; and as no coach was forthcoming, they posted 
 down to Horsham at the cost of £3, 2s., and " insisted" 
 on Pattenden reimbursing them this sum, which he did, 
 coach proprietors of that time possibly finding it expe- 
 dient, like insurance offices, to establish a reputation 
 for liberality rather than for stinginess ; but the de- 
 mand seems to have been rather an unjust one. 
 
 The night-coaches to and from London were an- 
 
72 BEIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 uounced to start for the season in the middle of April 
 1 808 ; and the other proprietors worked on the lines 
 of the previous year until Pattenden, whose office 
 was in St. James's Street, decided to try his luck with 
 a ten - o'clock coach, this being an hour later than 
 any morning - coach had started at before ; he also 
 decided to run one at noon. Crosweller at once 
 replied with a ten-o'clock coach from the Blue Office, 
 44 East Street. Meantime, Pattenden ran a light 
 four-horse post-coach on Mondays, Wednesdays, and 
 Fridays at seven o'clock in the morning, by way of 
 the Devil's Dyke, Henfield, Horsham, and Dorking, 
 to the Angel Inn, St. Clement Danes, in the Strand, 
 the down -journey being undertaken on Tuesdays, 
 Thursdays, and Saturdays. 
 
 The success of Pattenden' s andCrosweller's ten-o'clock 
 coaches had the effect of calling forth further oppo- 
 sition ; and, after the above-mentioned concerns had 
 been running about a month, Waldegrave & Co. 
 announced that on the 13th August 1808 they would 
 run an eleven - o'clock coach from the St. James's 
 Tavern to the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate, whence the down 
 coach would return at noon. The proprietors stated 
 that they, being anxious to render their conveyances 
 the most complete on the road, " combining the 
 greatest convenience with the quickest despatch," 
 would be happy to receive, from time to time, any 
 observation or information from passengers "tending 
 to promote such desirable objects." Leaving Brighton 
 at eleven, it was proposed to reach Cuckfield about 
 one p.m., Crawley about a quarter -past two, Reigate 
 at about half- past three, and Croydon about five, 
 reaching London at about seven. In those days the 
 Brighton horses commonly ran to Cuckfield, about 
 a fourteen-mile stage. The fares by this coach were 
 twenty-three shillings inside and thirteen shillings 
 
\ 
 
 FROM 1800 to 1809 73 
 
 outside ; while, following a not uncommon practice, 
 parties booking the whole of the coach had the privi- 
 lege of starting at what hour they chose. 
 
 Mr. Shergold, whose name has figured in sundry 
 coach advertisements, was twice proprietor of the 
 Castle Hotel, Castle Square, which afterwards became 
 the coaching centre of Brighton, for in the Square, 
 and close to it, were all the coach booking-offices. 
 As we have already seen, the first regular coach-office 
 to be established away from an inn was the General 
 Office, North Street, founded by Boulton & Co. in 
 1795; but that firm seems subsequently to have 
 migrated to the Royal Clarence Office (afterwards 
 known as the Reel Office), in Castle Square. Secondly 
 came the Blue Coach - Office at 44 East Street ; it 
 stood nearly on the site of Messrs. Treacher's premises : 
 Pattenden's town office was in St. James's Street. 
 These are all that were open up to this date, but others 
 followed in due course, as will be seen farther on. 
 On Mr. Shergold's second tenancy, business increased 
 to such an extent that he took Messrs. Tilt and Best 
 into partnership, and the three carried on the house 
 till the year 1 791, 1 when they gave up hotel-keeping, 
 and confined themselves to the coaching business, 
 with which they had been previously connected. 
 After the fashion of the firms of coach proprietors, 
 the personnel of the confederacy underwent several 
 changes ; and in course of time, Messrs. Samuel 
 Shergold, John Hicks, Richard Wood (of Reigate), 
 and Mr. John Davis were gathered to their fathers, 
 the surviving partners paying to their respective 
 executors the value of their shares. In 1808 the 
 members of the firm were Stephen Gower one- sixth, 
 Thomas Tilt one-sixth, William Tylish (of Lewes), 
 
 1 Brighton in the Olden Time, by J. G. Bishop. 
 
74 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 one-sixth, George Boulton (of Lewes), one-sixth, and 
 half of one-sixth, and James Gregory half of one- 
 sixth. 
 
 In the Brighton Herald for the 19th November 
 1808. there appeared an advertisement announcing 
 that there was for sale, by private contract, the good- 
 will of one-twelfth part or share of the above coach 
 business, carried on for nearly fourteen years in North 
 Street ; at the Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane, 
 London ; and the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, Lon- 
 don. Included in the share to be sold was one-twelfth 
 part of all the horses, harness, straw, hay, corn, and 
 stase- coaches, and the beneficial leases of stables, 
 lands, and premises, both on the Cuckfield and Lewes 
 roads to London. 
 
 Some idea of the magnitude of such a comparatively 
 small coaching business may be gained from the state- 
 ment in the advertisement that the returns of the busi- 
 ness were more than £ 12,000 a year. From Christmas 
 1794 to Christmas 1808 it had paid more than £7, 10s. 
 per cent, upon the capital invested, besides buying up 
 the shares of the deceased partners. 
 
 Coaching intelligence for the year 1809 opens with 
 an announcement that the proprietors of the " Origi- 
 nal " coaches had removed from their office at the corner 
 of North Street to Castle Square (the house near the 
 entrance to the Castle Inn) ; while, taking a jump to 
 London, we find that the Bolt-in-Tun, an old coaching 
 house in London, the lease of which has been men- 
 tioned above 1 as being for sale, passed from Mrs. Carter 
 to Mr. Croom, while at the same time the former also 
 gave up the Sussex CofFee-House in Fleet Street. 
 
 During the month of June 1809, Mr. Shee, a well- 
 known Brighton wine merchant, mysteriously lost, while 
 
 Ante, p. 69. 
 
FROM 1800 to 1809 75 
 
 travelling by one of the night-coaches, a parcel con- 
 taining £700 or ^800 worth of bills and notes. The 
 package was eventually found in the hollow of the road 
 which led to the common sewer, in the Steyne, by an 
 employe of Mr. Scrase, of Brighton, and this person 
 kept the parcel for several days before notifying the 
 owner that he had found it. The bills and notes were, 
 when lost, sealed up in other packages ; but, in the 
 interval which elapsed before the safety of the parcel 
 was made known, the finder had opened and examined 
 everything, a circumstance which led Mr. Shee to limit 
 the reward to five guineas, the amount advertised. Had 
 the enclosures not been opened, he said that he should 
 have considered the man would have had a still 
 stronger claim on his liberality. Honesty, one sees, is 
 the best policy, because, as a rule, it pays best. It 
 would have done so in this case ; but the examination 
 of the parcels by Mr. Scrase's man was rather sugges- 
 tive that had he found in the package coin, which could 
 not have been traced, it would not have been restored. 
 So far as it is possible to ascertain from the news- 
 papers, comparatively few accidents had hitherto over- 
 taken the Brighton coaches ; but what appears to have 
 been quite a preventible one befell, in August, 1809, one 
 of the coaches belonging to Messrs. Waldegrave & Co. 
 She had arrived from London, carrying a good load, and 
 the coachman had pulled up to set down Mr. Hoare, 
 the banker, at his house in Pavilion Parade. In order 
 to get into Church Street and the New Road, en route 
 for North Street and St. James's Street, it became 
 necessary to turn the coach, and this always delicate 
 operation in a confined space seems to have been un- 
 dertaken so hastily that the vehicle locked and turned 
 over. One of the inside passengers, a lady, sustained 
 a fracture of the collar-bone ; and her companions 
 were slightly injured ; but an undertaker's man, who 
 
76 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 " had come down with the sable plume to attend the 
 removal of the remains of Mr. Baillie, a merchant," had 
 his thigh broken ; while one of Waldegrave's horse- 
 keepers, who had just climbed on to the back-seat, fell 
 under the coach, and was so dreadfully crushed that 
 his life was in great danger. The coachman, who 
 caused the accident, of course escaped unhurt, nor 
 was the vehicle as much shattered as might have been 
 expected. Pattenden, too, the proprietor and coach- 
 man of one of the London coaches, met with an accident 
 while on the up-journey. Pattenden was very much 
 respected on the road, but this occurrence appears to 
 have given rise to rumours not altogether of a compli- 
 mentary kind ; whereupon one of his patrons sent to the 
 papers the following outspoken letter, in which the 
 incident is fully explained : — 
 
 " Sir, — I hope you will not deem me intrusive when 
 I beg leave to offer a few observations respecting the 
 late accident which happened to Mr. Pattenden, a pro- 
 prietor of a Brighton coach, and the consequent effect 
 of it in prejudicing the public against him. He was, 
 when the accident happened, passing through Ewel (sic) 
 at a very moderate speed ; and, as he was turning the 
 corner by the church, one of the wheel-horses fell, on 
 which Mr. Pattenden, with the intention of making 
 him spring up again, applied the whip. This, however, 
 failed in the effect of raising the wheel-horse, and 
 unfortunately occasioned the two leaders, very spirited 
 animals, to dart forward, drag the coach upon the 
 fallen horse, and overturned it. The horse, which had 
 but last summer cost Mr. Pattenden ^35, was killed 
 on the spot, and one of the passengers was slightly 
 hurt ; Mr. Pattenden himself was violently precipi- 
 tated from the box, and his head thereby was so much 
 bruised that he was for some time in great danger, but 
 from which situation he is now happily recovered. Can 
 
FROM 1800 to 1809 77 
 
 any blame here attach to the unfortunate proprietor ? 
 He was driving- very moderately, and was quite sober, 
 so that he cannot be accused either of rashness or 
 inebriety. The place where the coach was overturned 
 was a very wide and level piece of ground, which saves 
 him from the blame of unskilfulness. Yet, notwith- 
 standing the plainness of these facts, malicious reports 
 have been circulated, which have so much prejudiced 
 the public that Mr. Pattenden has, in consequence, lost 
 a great deal of that custom upon which he depends for 
 his own support, and that of his wife and family. 
 
 " If this misfortune were a single, or an unprecedented 
 one, my surprise would cease ; but when I see a liberal 
 public prejudiced against a man whose misfortune was 
 evidently the effect of chance, I cannot help conclud- 
 ing that some of those wretches who disgrace society 
 by secretly injuring the fair fame of individuals — the 
 vendors of private scandals — have been levelling their 
 envenomed shafts against his character ; and, like base 
 assassins, stabbed his reputation in the dark. I will 
 conclude, Mr. Editor, by observing, that I would as 
 soon go myself, and recommend all my friends to go, 
 by Mr. Pattenclen's conveyance from Brighton to Lon- 
 don as by any other, so much am I convinced of his 
 skill, his care, and his attention. 
 
 " Justice." 
 
Chapter VI. 
 
 FROM 1810 to 1814. 
 
 \yiTH the opening of the new year (18 10) came 
 the happening of a curious accident at the Angel 
 Inn, St. Clement Danes, Strand. While some men 
 were putting a quantity of oats in the granary over 
 the stables, the floor gave way, and all the vast stock 
 of grain was precipitated into the stable, in which 
 stood four mail-coach horses. Three of them were 
 with difficulty rescued without their sustaining any 
 injury, but the fourth was completely smothered, and 
 was found to be dead by the time the oats were re- 
 moved. The horsekeeper had only just left the stable, 
 and was in the act of locking the door on the outside 
 when the collapse occurred. 
 
 In Mr. Bishop's book I find it stated that in, or 
 about, 1 809, a certain Mr. Bradford, known as " Miller " 
 Bradford, became associated with about a dozen others 
 in starting a two -end four-horse coach, the speed of 
 which " revolutionised the trade." Although a careful 
 search has been made through the files of all papers 
 extant at the date, I have been unable to find the 
 paragraph upon which the above statement is based ; 
 but it is certainly the fact that, a year or two later, 
 Bradford started an office at 53 East Street, and had 
 a share in one or two coaches. Before this, however, 
 the firms of Crosweller & Boulton had done what they 
 could toward increasing the speed of coaches. 
 
 It has already been mentioned * that a mail-coach 
 
 1 Ante, \k 42. 
 78 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 79 
 
 ran between London and Brighton so long ago as 1 791 , 
 leaving Brighton at half-past eight, and going vid 
 Lewes to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. How long- 
 that mail ran 1 have been unable to discover ; but 
 probably the prediction of the Sussex Advertise!', that 
 the speculation would not answer unless the subsidy 
 from the Post-Office were increased, was verified, for 
 we hear nothing of the old mail during recent years ; 
 or it perhaps became amalgamated with the two night- 
 coaches run by Crosweller & Boulton. When, there- 
 fore, in the spring of 18 10, it was announced that a 
 night-mail would be put upon the road, it was spoken 
 of as quite a new, and very convenient, institution. 
 
 The mail — I fancy it was a pair-horse concern — 
 made its first journey from either end on the evening 
 of Monday, the 21st May, 1810. It left Brighton at ten 
 o'clock at night, arriving in London at six in the morn- 
 ing, being thus eight hours on the road. The down- 
 mail left London (the Bull and Mouth) at a quarter 
 to eight, and reached the New Inn, North Street, 
 Brighton, at four in the morning, the route being- 
 through Cuckfield, Crawley, Keigate, and the new cut 
 to Croydon. The Brightonians, seeing that their 
 town had materially increased year by year both in 
 size and population, rejoiced at the new arrangement, 
 and anticipated that great advantages would accrue to 
 the town and neighbourhood from the establishment of 
 the mails. They regarded with satisfaction the pro- 
 spect of an early delivery of letters, and a post open 
 till nearly ten at night, conveniences which the local 
 papers, in forge tfulness of the old mail, declared had 
 never been enjoyed before. Nor was it Brighton alone 
 that profited by the new arrangement. Reigate, 
 Cuckfield, and Crawley had up to this time been sub- 
 offices only ; but, now that the mails ran through those 
 places, they were promoted to the dignity of general 
 
8o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 offices, and shared with Brighton the advantages of a 
 late post and early delivery. In the advertisements re- 
 lating to the mails, they are said to have been horsed, 
 in part, that is to say, by J. Willan, of the Bull and 
 Mouth, and Mr. Phillips of the New Inn, Brighton ; 
 but J. Willan was no connection of the Mr. J. J. 
 Willan who afterwards became a famous amateur on the 
 Brighton road. Willan of the Bull and Mouth was, I 
 fancy, a man who began life in a small way, and made 
 a good start afterwards by selling a perfect hack to the 
 Prince of Wales ; subsequently he horsed some of the 
 coaches, and gradually acquired a large business. 
 
 Prior to the establishment of the new mails, letters 
 were not delivered till between eight and nine in the 
 morning ; but now, notwithstanding the fact that all 
 Brighton was talking about the new departure, there 
 was at least one simple soul to whom early deliveries 
 and late posts appeared to be matters of no conse- 
 quence. This East Street tradesman had done very 
 well under the old order of things, and bothered not 
 his head about new-fangled arrangements. He was, 
 however, the recipient of a letter after the mail had 
 been running but a day or two ; and, on the postman 
 knocking at his door a couple of hours earlier than 
 usual, he jumped from his bed, put his night-capped 
 head out of the window, and, according to the Brighton 
 Herald for the 26th May, 18 10 (the mails only started 
 on the 21st), threatened to beat the disturber of his 
 rest into a post if he were not off ! The departure 
 of the mails from the General Post-Office was always 
 one of the sights of London. The mail-coaches were 
 drawn up outside, and as their respective bags were 
 made up, were summoned by the name of the place 
 they ran to — Oxford, Birmingham, Brighton, and so on. 
 
 Just as the mail was about to leave the New Inn, 
 Brighton, on the night of Tuesday, the 6th November 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 81 
 
 (18 10), a soldier who had omitted the preliminary of 
 paying his fare was discovered inside. " No pretences 
 are permitted to cause a delay in the journey," said the 
 mail notice ; so the stowaway was hauled out of the 
 coach there and then. In explanation, he stated that he 
 belonged to the German Legion ; had served in Spain 
 and Portugal ; was for nine months a prisoner under 
 the French ; and that, having made his escape, he was 
 brought by an English transport to Portsmouth, whence 
 he had that day walked to Brighton, a distance of about 
 fifty miles. Lord C. Somerset, who then commanded 
 the district, very kindly gave the destitute man money, 
 lodgings, and food, the soldier announcing his inten- 
 tion of joining his regiment next day at Bexhill. It 
 was discovered, however, that he had made off in the 
 opposite direction — towards Portsmouth — so he was 
 promptly pursued, and on the men approaching him he 
 cut his throat ; but as the wound was not a severe one, 
 he was brought back to Brighton, where subsequent 
 investigation showed that, besides being a deserter, 
 he had stolen several valuable articles. " Indiscrimi- 
 nate charity " was evidently as risky a thing then as it 
 now is. 
 
 The cold weather, which came in with the year 181 1, 
 was so far productive of inconvenience to the London 
 coaches that it froze the water at the mouth of the 
 "Grand Arch" of the conduit which carried the water 
 to the sea, and this being choked, the water overflowed 
 the junction of the Preston and Lewes roads for nearly 
 a quarter of a mile, thereby forcing the coaches to take 
 a circuitous route to their respective destinations. 
 
 Though the professional side of stage-coaching had 
 
 made great strides since the beginning of the century, 
 
 we find no mention of amateurs, or rather, to use 
 
 ■ Nimrod's " phrase, of " gentlemen coachmen," who in 
 
 subsequent years added such great lustre to the Brighton 
 
 F 
 
82 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 road. By 1 8 1 1 , however, amateur talent had begun 
 to take its place on the coach-box, for a contributor 
 to the Brighton Herald for the 2nd February of that 
 year wrote : " The education of our youth of fashion 
 is improving daily ; several of them now drive stage- 
 coaches to town, and open the door of the carriage 
 for passengers, while the coachman remains on the 
 box. They receive the money also for the fare, and 
 many of them farm the perquisites of the coachmen 
 on the road, and generally pocket something by the 
 bargain. These young gentlemen will in time make 
 excellent hackney-coachmen." 
 
 Up to this period, however, there could have been but 
 little inducement for any one to take to coaching as a 
 pleasurable amusement. Loug stages were the rule ; 
 the horses could not have been first-rate, nor were the 
 roads ; while there must have been at this time many 
 coaches the driving-boxes of which were not on 
 springs. This humane invention is generally credited 
 to Mr. John Warde, of Squerries, in Kent, the " father 
 of fox-hunting," and who was himself an enthusiastic 
 coachman of the then old school. He was accustomed 
 to drive, in addition to his own team, the old heavy 
 Gloucester coach, and must have endured much dis- 
 comfort in consequence of the absence of springs 
 under the driving-box. Mr. Warde is reported to 
 have often suggested to coach proprietors the expedi- 
 ency of putting the driving-box on springs ; but he 
 invariably received the same answer, " The beggars 
 will always be asleep." At last, however, his sugges- 
 tion was adopted, but in what year the improvement 
 took place I am unable to ascertain. It may, however, 
 be noted that the members of the Benson Driving- 
 Club, founded in 1807, and of the Four Horse Club, 
 established in the following year, did not drive what 
 we should call drags or coaches, but a kind of landau. 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 83 
 
 In his interesting book, " The History of Coaches," 
 Mr. G. A. Thrupp writes : " The driving-box of the post- 
 coaches was placed high above the horses on a narrow 
 boot, something like what is called a Salisbury boot ; 
 this was placed upon the beds or timbers of the carriage, 
 with a tolerably comfortable seat for two persons upon 
 it ; but the jolting and shaking over rough bits in the 
 road must have been very trying. In the Hall of the 
 Coachmakers' Company in Noble Street, Cheapside, is 
 a picture of Hyde Park Corner in 1796, painted by 
 Dagaty, in which is an old stage-coach : the hinder 
 part has a boot and guard's seat attached to the body, 
 as in modern stage-coaches ; but the box is detached 
 from the body, and on the beds, as described above." 
 Rowlandson has given us a drawing; of a stage-coach 
 built on the above-mentioned lines, and Mr. Thrupp 
 has engraved it in his book. The box-seat looks any- 
 thing but a comfortable perch, and its rail is about 
 two feet below the roof of the coach ; l there are no 
 front seats, nor are there any back seats ; but suspended 
 over the hind-axle, which is some distance behind the 
 back of the body, is a large basket, of a shape resem- 
 bling a Ralli car, in which the outside passengers were 
 carried. So long as these primitive arrangements pre- 
 vailed, no wonder that amateur talent kept clear of the 
 stage-coach. 
 
 And now to go on with the Brighton road. The 
 Herald for the 8th June 181 1 tells us that "twenty- 
 eight coaches at present pass daily between Brighton 
 and London, conveying between fifty and sixty thou- 
 sand persons in five months. Thirty-five years ago 
 only one went daily to town, and that went by the 
 circuitous route of Lewes. During the last twenty 
 
 1 For notice on the height of coaches, see ante, in chapter on 
 Legislation, pp. 28 and 29. 
 
8 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 years Brighton has quadrupled its population." This 
 estimate of the coaches was under the mark, there 
 being really thirty-four, including three-days-a-week 
 coaches, on the road, as will be seen from the following- 
 lists : — 
 
 From the Blue Office, 44 East Street, Brighton : 
 Crosweller, Cuddington, Allan, Vallance, & Co., Proprietors. 
 
 Coaches at 8, 1 o, and 1 2 o'clock, for Hatchett's White Horse Cellar 
 
 (not Cellars), the Blossoms Inn, Lawrence Lane, Cheapside, and 
 
 the George and Blue Boar, Holborn. 
 At half-past nine every night, a Four-Horse Coach, guarded and 
 
 lighted, calling at the George Inn, Borough, and the Hope, 
 
 Charing Cross. 
 
 '& 
 
 From the Spread Eagle, East Street. 
 
 A Four- Horse Accommodation Coach, to carry four inside, at half- 
 past nine, to the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate Street. 
 
 This coach was put on by a new proprietor, named 
 Mackerell, who had formerly been booking-clerk to 
 Marsh & Co., who had an office at the Bull, Bishops- 
 gate, London. Mackerel! bought Waldegrave's coach, 
 and set up for himself; but, as will presently appear, 
 the two became involved in a newspaper war. Shortly 
 afterwards Mackerell started an eleven-o'clock coach 
 to London, and opened a Brighton office of his own at 
 134 North Street, which he called the "only general 
 office for four-horse coaches," whence also started the 
 Royal Brighton and Telegraph coaches to the White 
 Horse, Fetter Lane, and Bull Inn, Bishopsgate. These 
 coaches he stated to be on an improved principle, and 
 were particularly constructed for safety. Fares, twenty- 
 three shillings inside, and fourteen out. 
 
 From the General (Bed) Coach-Office, 10 Castle Square. 
 
 A Post- Coach every morning at eight, by way of Cuckfield, Crawley, 
 Reigate, and Croydon to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, 
 Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane, and the Spread Eagle, 
 Gracechurch Street. 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 85 
 
 A new and elegant Post-Coach (four inside) at eleven on Mondays, 
 Wednesdays, and Fridays, to the same inns, and taking eight 
 hours for the journey. 
 
 A Post-Coach daily at ten o'clock in the morning to the Swan with 
 Two Necks and Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street. 
 
 A Post-Coach on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, at 1 1 a.m., 
 for the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. 
 
 A new and expeditious Post-Coach at ten o'clock every night during 
 the season to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. 
 
 A new Telegraph Coach through Lewes, Uckfield, Maresfield, East 
 Grinstead, and Croydon, every morning at six, to the Golden 
 Cross and Spread Eagle, arriving at half-past three, being nine 
 hours and a half on the road. These coaches were run by 
 Boulton, Barry, Gourd, Tilt, & Co., who were responsible for 
 the statement that the coaches were new and easy, and tra- 
 velled post. 
 
 From the old coach-office, North Street, William 
 P attend en ran a four-horse coach daily at eight o'clock 
 along the new road so as to avoid the hills. The route lay 
 through Henfield, Horsham, Dorking, Boxhill, Epsom, 
 Ewell, Morden, Merton, Tooting, and Clapham, and 
 the coach went to the White Lion, Talbot Court, 
 Gracechurch Street, and the Angel, St. Clement Danes, 
 Strand, calling at the Bolt-in-Tun, Fleet Street, and 
 the Catherine Wheel in the Borough. 
 
 In addition to the above, Samuel Waldegrave ran 
 a couple of coaches between London and Brighton, 
 but though they are said to run to the Bull Inn, 
 Bishopsgate Street, the Brighton starting-point is not 
 mentioned. 
 
 It was said just now that Mackerell and Waldegrave 
 engaged in a newspaper warfare, the beginning of 
 which was when, in the paper of the 31st August 181 t, 
 Mackerell advertised that " the New Twopenny book- 
 keeping office, adjoining the Old Bull Inn Gateway, 
 Bishopsgate Street, has no connection whatever with 
 his concern at Marsh & Son's Original and General 
 Coach and Waggon Office, Bull Inn Yard, Bishopsgate 
 
86 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Street." Mackerell then circulated a handbill headed 
 " Caution," in which he stated that he had bought 
 Waldegrave's business ; and that Walclegrave was dis- 
 honourably booking for other coaches to injure him 
 (Mackerell), who had paid a great sum for the said 
 business and coaches. To this Waldegrave replied 
 that Mackerell's representation was false ; for Mackerell 
 had not only broken his agreement, but he had also 
 omitted to pay a great part of the purchase-money, 
 while he had also set up an opposition coach in another 
 concern, and spread reports injurious to Waldegrave's 
 good name. This brought Mackerell into print again 
 to inform " his numerous friends that the statement 
 given by S. Waldegrave, so far as it relates to the 
 alleged breach of agreement on the part of Mackerel], 
 is utterly destitute of truth ; "' and so the quarrel con- 
 tinued for a long time. 
 
 Meanwhile the lease of the New Inn in North Street 
 was sold by auction for the small premium of ^20, 
 the rent of the house being 600 guineas a year ; and 
 a Mr. James Rickards became the new tenant of the 
 White Horse, Fetter Lane. 
 
 Except that the royal mail, the contractors for which 
 were J. Cross, of London, and Tilt, Barry, & Gourd, of 
 Brighton, was removed from Bradford's office, 53 East 
 Street, to the Original (Red) Coach-Office, 10 Castle 
 Square, and that a new coach, named the Princess 
 Charlotte, was started by Noble, Roberts, & Co., coach- 
 ing would not appear to have undergone any very great 
 change in the year 181 2. Noble, Roberts, & Co. was 
 probably Mackerell's firm, as in the previous year 
 (181 1) Mackerell & Roberts ran to London, and the 
 Princess Charlotte, which left Brighton at half-past 
 nine, called at Mackerell's old place, Marsh's office in 
 Bishopsgate, as well as the White Horse, Fetter Lane, 
 and the Belle Sauvage. 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 87 
 
 One of the coaching businesses seems to have been 
 given up, or perhaps it was only one of the confede- 
 racies formed for the season, as on the 4th of Novem- 
 ber 181 2, Mr. Aldridge sold at his repository "about 
 forty horses, of different colours, all remarkably fast ; 
 also four coaches : these are part of a general stock ; " 
 and a month later the " residue of a joint-stock," con- 
 sisting of fifty horses, mostly young and in high condi- 
 tion, were disposed of at the same mart. 
 
 When we come to read the accounts of the coach 
 robberies of old, and see in how remarkable a manner 
 the operations of thieves were facilitated, one cannot 
 help wondering how it was that coaches were not 
 despoiled much oftener. In February 181 2, Brighton 
 was all excitement on the fact being made known that 
 a parcel containing notes to the value of between 
 ^3000 and ^"4000 had been abstracted from one of 
 the Blue coaches. It appears that Messrs. Brown, 
 Hall, Lashmar, & West, proprietors of the Union 
 Bank at Brighton, had been in the habit of hiring — 
 plenty of people, no doubt, were aware of the custom — 
 of Crosweller & Co. a box beneath the seat of one of 
 their London coaches, in order to allow of a small box 
 containing cash, &c, being transmitted to their agents 
 in London with a greater degree of security ! Each 
 box had two keys, for the convenience of the parties at 
 either end. On the aforesaid 5th of February 18 12, the 
 notes— they having been cashed at the bank of Messrs. 
 Weston & Co. in the Borough — were placed in the box 
 for transmission to Brighton. In due course the Blue 
 coach reached the Blue Office, Brighton, where Mr. 
 Peacock, one of the Union Bank clerks, was, as usual, 
 in waiting to receive the contents of the box under the 
 seat. Provided with his key, he proceeded to unlock 
 the box, when he made the discovery that it had been 
 broken open and the contents taken. As there was no 
 
88 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 guard, one is scarcely surprised to read that " the coach- 
 man was immediately applied to ; " but he, poor man, 
 could, of course, do no more than tell the history of his 
 journey, and this is the substance of his simple narra- 
 tive. The six inside places were booked at the Lon- 
 don office, as the presence of a stranger would have 
 been fatal to the proposed operations. Two only of 
 the six passengers turned up when the coach started, 
 a gentleman and lady, " dressed in the first style of 
 fashion, and who seemed to be man and wife." Two 
 more of the six were picked up soon afterwards, and 
 then, in the cosy privacy of the capacious inside, the party 
 proceeded to anticipate the operations of Mr. Peacock, 
 of the Union Bank, Brighton. On the coach reaching 
 Sutton, about eleven miles from London, the lady was 
 suddenly taken ill, and was obliged to alight, she and 
 her husband being left at the inn. Finding that room 
 had unexpectedly been made inside, a foreign gentleman, 
 who had been riding outside, exchanged his seat for an 
 inside one, when he, of course, became the companion 
 of the two men who had been picked up on the road. 
 On the coach arriving at Reigate, the two men left, 
 while the horses were being changed, to inquire, as 
 they said, after a friend. They returned before the 
 coach started, and told the coachman that as the friend 
 they expected to find at Brighton had returned to Lon- 
 don, it was useless for them to proceed farther, so they 
 paid their fares and took their leave. No sort of sus- 
 picion attached to the passenger who shifted from the 
 out to the inside, as he was a well-known resident 
 of Brighton ; it was, therefore, as clear as the prover- 
 bial mud, that the robbery was committed by the four 
 insides between London and Sutton. 
 
 It is scarcely credible that business people should 
 have sent large sums of money up and down in this 
 casual way ; they were as heedless of consequences as 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 89 
 
 those ladies who, in spite of the constant committal of 
 jewel robberies, persist in casually leaving thousands of 
 pounds' worth of trinkets on their dressing-table when 
 they go down to dinner. After the steed was stolen, 
 however, the proprietors of the Union Bank carefully 
 shut the stable door, and then for many months spent 
 large sums of money in advertising their loss, giving 
 the numbers of all the notes, and offering a reward of 
 ^"300. Some time after the robbery a few of the stolen 
 notes were found in circulation, but the reward was 
 never claimed. 
 
 The postmasters on the London and Brighton road 
 were, like those on other routes, in connection with 
 certain hotels to which their horses went ; and from 
 them, if the passengers had no objection, the next 
 horses were taken, one of the advantages of this ar- 
 rangement being that each postmaster got a chance of 
 business, and knew that his horses would be properly 
 looked after in his friend's yard ; but the proprietors of 
 rival houses were accustomed to bribe the postboys to 
 change at their establishments instead of at those to 
 which they were bidden to drive by the occupants of 
 the chaise or carriage. This state of things having 
 come to the ears of the postmasters on the road, several 
 of them combined, and advertised in the August papers 
 (181 2) that, as investigation had proved the existence 
 of a complete system of bribing postboys, they had re- 
 solved to at once discharge any boy who induced a fare 
 to go to any other inn than that to which he was 
 ordered. 
 
 At the same time an old turnpike gate grievance 
 once more cropped up. Writing to the Brighton 
 Herald of the 25th July 18 12, a correspondent signing 
 himself " Viator " complained that at one gate on the 
 London road appeared this notice : " Take a ticket 
 here to clear to Brighton." The artful keeper of the 
 
go BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 'pike, however, managed to keep one of the gates shut, 
 and by turning the board managed to present its blank 
 side to the view of travellers proceeding in the direc- 
 tion of Brighton ; consequently they omitted to take a 
 ticket, unless they were up to the trick, and had to 
 pay again. "Whose business is it," asked Viator, "to 
 see to these things ? " 
 
 This letter called forth one from Sir K. Phillips, 
 who, writing as " Publicola," gave his experience of the 
 Shoreham Bridge Gate. The man there gave no 
 tickets ; he put up no name, as he should have done ; 
 and, when asked, he declined to give his name ; from 
 which it would seem that the authorities who farmed 
 out the tolls cared very little what went on so long as 
 they got their money. 
 
 Brighton at this time was not without its humours. 
 Four gentlemen, said to be officers, passed along the 
 front in a chaise drawn by "four spanking ponies." 
 Two of them sat inside the chaise, the other two acting 
 as postillions ; an outrider preceded the turn-out, and 
 a party of friends rode on horseback in the rear of the 
 conveyance, to the amusement of the people about. 
 "On the same day," we learn, "the Countess of 
 
 P partook of the healthful exercise of riding in 
 
 a donkey-cart, attended by one of her livery servants 
 mounted on an asinine charger, which, in a manner 
 peculiar to those frisky animals, threw his rider in 
 North Street with all the neatness imaginable, to the 
 infinite deliglit of the spectators ; " possibly the reporter 
 meant amusement. 
 
 There was yet another free show for the Brighton 
 lounger. A chaise drawn by six horses, all of which 
 were profusely decorated with favours and coloured 
 ribands, was seen to be travelling at a quick pace 
 through Brighton's principal street. There were natu- 
 rally many inquiries as to whom the vehicle contained. 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 91 
 
 and it subsequently transpired that one of the post- 
 boys in the employ of Crosweller & Blaber had that 
 day been married at Worthing, and was bringing home 
 his bride in " bang-up stile," as he phrased it. 
 
 In 181 2 the only London coach running through 
 Horsham was that run by William Pattenden from the 
 General (Red) Office, 10 Castle Square; but in 181 3 
 we find a coach called the Duke of Norfolk running 
 the same route from the same office ; but its destina- 
 tions were the Angel, St. Clement Danes, Strand, the 
 Belle Sauvage, and the Spread Eagle ; while the pro- 
 prietors were John Eames, William Home, & Co. ; 
 but whether this was a new coach, or only a continua- 
 tion of Pattenden's, I am unable to say. From the 
 advertisements, however, one gleans that one could 
 travel expeditiously to London — that is to say, in eight 
 hours— from the same Red Office by the old original 
 coach, which carried four or six passengers inside, and 
 travelled via Cuckfield, Crawley, and Reigate to the 
 Golden Cross, Charing Cross, Holborn, and the City. 
 John Cross and Co. were said to be the proprietors ; 
 but the coach was advertised as being conducted by 
 Charles and George Newman. In August (1813), how- 
 ever, for some unexplained reason, the Red coaches 
 were removed, temporarily only, it would appear, from 
 the Red Office to the New Inn (now the Clarence), 
 North Street. 
 
 Meantime there was the usual amount of activity 
 at the Blue Office, whence Crosweller. Cuddington, 
 Pockney, & Co. ran three London coaches a day, at 
 eight and ten o'clock, and at ten at night, all three 
 apparently travelling by the Cuckfield and Reigate 
 route. In the summer, however (1813), Boulton, 
 Home, & Co. started a couple of new coaches from 
 the Red Office. They were named respectively the 
 Defiance and the Prince Regent ; both left at nine 
 
92 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 o'clock, and both ran to the Ship, Charing Cross ; the 
 White Bear, Piccadilly ; the White Horse, Fetter Lane ; 
 and the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate. The routes, unfortu- 
 nately, are not mentioned ; but the two coaches no doubt 
 travelled by different roads. By the Defiance the fares 
 were fifteen shillings inside and ten shillings out, and 
 by the Prince Regent " cheap and expeditious travel- 
 ling " was exemplified by the charge being brought 
 down to twelve shillings inside and eight shillings out- 
 side ; but according to an advertisement in the follow- 
 ing November, the Prince Regent's fares appear to have 
 been fifteen shillings inside and eleven shillings out. 
 
 Private carriages were not exempt from the misfor- 
 tunes which occasionally overtook the stage-coaches, 
 as in July 1813 Lord C. Somerset and his family 
 nearly came to grief while his private travelling car- 
 riage, drawn by four horses, was descending Pyecombe 
 Hill. The leaders' reins broke, and away went the 
 horses down the decline. A butcher driving a cart, 
 in which was a fat calf, failed to get out of the way 
 in time, and into the cart the carriage crashed ; the 
 pole went through the tail-board and ran into the 
 calf, of course turning the cart over, while Lord 
 C. Somerset's horses joined in the general confusion 
 on the ground. When all had been righted, it was 
 found that the leaders of the coach were not materially 
 injured, nor were the butcher and his horse ; the calf, 
 however, was killed. It was only a few weeks after 
 this mishap that Mackerell's coach had a very narrow 
 escape in Church Street. By the time it reached 
 Brighton from London, in October, darkness had set 
 in. The road opposite the old barracks had been 
 undergoing some repairs, and a big hole was very 
 carelessly left unguarded. Into this excavation the 
 leaders fell, and it says something for the skill of the 
 coachman that he was able to prevent the wheelers 
 
FROM 1810 to 1814 93 
 
 going into it too. He managed to stop them, however, 
 and the coach was not overturned, but the leaders 
 were much cut and injured. It was by accidents like 
 these that the profits of those who horsed the coaches 
 were so often reduced or turned into a loss ; for it 
 depended upon the luck a man had with his stock 
 whether the amount he drew every month paid him 
 or not. 
 
 The coaches depended for their success as much 
 upon parcels as passengers, if not more, and in very 
 early times the coachman was often asked to undertake 
 the duties of postman. To put a stop to this once 
 common state of things, which interfered with the 
 revenue receipts, the Act 42 Geo. III. c. 81 was 
 passed ; it provided that all letters must be sent 
 through the Post-Office, and not by ordinary public 
 conveyances. A certain mercantile house in the City, 
 however, appeared to think that a printed circular 
 letter did not come within the provisions of the 
 statute, so they sent it by coach, with the result that 
 the Postmaster-General proceeded against them, and 
 recovered penalties to the amount of £j$. 
 
 To turn to another matter, in 18 14 the Thames was 
 frozen over, and the severity of the weather was greatly 
 felt by the coachmen on the different roads, while 
 travelling was of course much impeded by the snow. 
 One of Brighton's visitors, a Mr. Whitbread, amused 
 himself by sleighing, and was one day, while driving a 
 little way out of the town, considerably surprised to 
 find his horse suddenly stopped by a countryman, who 
 hoped the gentleman was not hurt. Mr. Whitbread 
 was naturally at a loss to account for the man's evident 
 interest concerning his welfare ; but it turned out that 
 his would-be rescuer had never before seen a sleigh, and 
 was under the impression that the horse had bolted ; 
 that the wheels of the carriage had become detached ; 
 
94 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 and that Mr. Whitbread was in imminent danger of 
 being turned over. 
 
 So far as the coaching arrangements of the year are 
 concerned, there ran from the Red Office, 10 Castle 
 Square, Newman's Prince Regent (via Cuckfield and 
 Reigate) at nine in the morning ; the Princess Charlotte 
 at ten, put on by Whitchurch, Thorpe, & Co. ; the Duke 
 of Norfolk, run by Barrett & Burgess, leaving Brighton 
 at nine, and travelling by way of Horsham and Dork- 
 ing ; Painter & Simcock's coach ran through Lewes 
 and Uckfield ; and a night-coach started at ten p.m. A 
 new and fast coach called the Eclipse, doing the journey 
 in six hours, was started — seven coaches in all running 
 from the Red Office. The Eclipse, by the way, was put 
 on the road to run opposition to a coach called the 
 Hero, owned by Whitchurch & Co., of 1 35 North Street, 
 this being the very first coach to make the journey to 
 London and back in the day. 
 
 The Blue coaches appear to have run as usual ; while 
 the Dart, taking a leaf out of the Eclipse's book, left 
 1 8 Castle Square, Brighton, at six in the morning, and 
 returned from the White Bear, Piccadilly, at three in 
 the afternoon ; while the Times left 9 and 1 5 Castle 
 Square at one, reaching the Four Swans at eight, and 
 leaving the latter place at one daily. 
 
 Although it has nothing to do with the Brighton road, 
 it may be of interest to some to learn that, according 
 to a notice in the Brighton Herald for the 2 1 st May 
 1 8 14, in the year in which a stage-coach first ran 
 to town and back in a day, early green peas were 
 being sold at four guineas a pint in Covent Garden 
 Market. 
 
 At this time the Emperor Alexander, during his 
 visit to England, made a tour in Sussex, and, under 
 the heading " Imperial Condescension," the above-men- 
 tioned journal narrates how, while driving on a Sunday 
 
FROM 1810 to 1 814 95 
 
 in the neighbourhood of Ilellingley, His Majesty was 
 much struck with an old house described as the 
 residence of Mr. R, a wealthy yeoman. The party 
 stopped, and were shown over the premises by Mr. 
 and Mrs. R, after which the Emperor " condescended " 
 to express his surprise at finding " so many of the 
 elegancies of life in the house of a farmer ! " Later 
 in the day another stoppage was made for refresh- 
 ment near Battle, and the presence of His Majesty 
 having somehow or other become known inside the 
 church, the congregation forthwith rushed out to see 
 the Imperial visitor, the service thus rudely inter- 
 rupted being suspended while those who had, but a 
 few moments before, been devout worshippers satisfied 
 their curiosity. 
 
T 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 FROM 1815 to 1819. 
 
 HE table given below affords all the information that 
 can be gleaned in connection with the starting and 
 arrival of the several coaches. It is compiled from 
 Cary's " New Itinerary," which was published for the 
 benefit of travellers to, rather than from, Brighton ; 
 consequently the hours of return are not in all cases 
 given. The Brighton and Sussex papers, on the other 
 hand, generally give the times at which the coaches 
 left Brighton, leaving out in many cases the times 
 of the departure from London, while both Cary and 
 the Sussex papers omit many of the names of the 
 coaches. Further uncertainty is caused by the fact 
 that, at both ends, the coaches called at several offices 
 and inns ; it has not, therefore, been possible to fill 
 in the blanks in every instance. It may also be pointed 
 out that the table does not profess to show how 
 many coaches ran between London and Brighton. 
 As I stated just now, all of them called at more 
 than one place, and it has been found impossible 
 to identify each coach ; but the number running each 
 way was about eighteen. The following (pp. 98, 99), 
 however, is a table showing the coach accommodation 
 in 181 5. 
 
 In the county of Sussex the price of oats has seldom 
 or never been high, but Bradford, the coach proprietor, 
 looked further afield for some of his supplies, as he 
 
 bought two hundred quarters of French oats of the 
 
 96 
 
FKOM 1815 to 1S19 97 
 
 primest quality at eighteen shillings a quarter, a price 
 at which, at that date (18 15), running a coach could 
 profitably be carried on. At the present time (1893) 
 the contract price for foraging horses varies between 
 sixteen and twenty shillings. 
 
 In one or two other places I have ventured to make 
 mention of the driving of the ancients. Judging from 
 an account in the papers for the 2nd September 18 15, 
 the coachman of the Comet appears to have been 
 guilty of an amount of carelessness which would have 
 done discredit to the youngest and least experienced 
 amateur of to-day. The coach had completed its 
 journey from London, and had set down the greater 
 number of its passengers at Whitchurch's Office, 18 
 Castle Square, and, on leaving there, was about to 
 proceed to some other places. The coachman, however, 
 in turning, came round so abruptly that he got the 
 coach on the lock, and she capsized. The coachman 
 was very much hurt, and so were a gentleman who 
 was riding outside, and a lady who was an inside 
 passenger ; but the hardest luck of all was that which 
 overtook Mr. Walker. He had gone to the office to 
 meet a friend bound for the Old Ship, and had climbed 
 on the coach as she moved away from the office in 
 Castle Square. Scarcely was he seated than the accident 
 happened, and he had his leg broken, but subsequently 
 returned thanks in the columns of the Gazette for kind 
 inquiries, and stated that he was getting better. 
 
 A rather good story is told in the Brighton Gazette 
 for the 2nd September 18 15, in connection with that 
 really remarkable man John Gully. While travelling 
 from London to Brighton, he stopped for refreshment 
 at Ileigate, and soon after he had begun his meal a 
 heavily laden coach drew up at the inn — most probably 
 the White Hart, the terminus of the present Magnet. 
 "Well, gentlemen," quoth the waiter, "you are just 
 
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ioo BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 in time to see John Gully set to with the Chicken." 
 " The Chicken," it is hardly necessary to explain, was 
 that chivalrous prize-fighter Henry Pearce, known in 
 the ring as the " Game Chicken," the man who rescued 
 Gully from the Fleet Prison, and who eventually lost 
 his life in rescuing some women from a burning build- 
 ing. Well, the coach-passengers crowded into the 
 hotel, and some of the more bold peeped into the room 
 in which Gully was, and there, sure enough, he was 
 setting to with the Chicken — but it was a roast chicken. 
 In the event of there being any truth in this story, it is 
 but an illustration of how the names of well-known 
 pugilists were held in remembrance ; for the last battle 
 between Gully and the "Game Chicken" took place 
 just ten years previously, that is to say, on the 8th of 
 October 1805. At the time of the above story Gully 
 was landlord of the Plough Tavern, Carey Street, Lin- 
 coln's Inn Fields, whither he retired about 1809, after 
 his two fights with Gregson. 
 
 There is no reason to believe that the Brighton 
 mail-coach had ceased to run at this time ; but, in the 
 autumn of 181 5, the Post-Office were anxious to find 
 some one to contract for carrying the mails between 
 London, Brighton, and other places in Sussex in "light 
 carts," and at a rate of seven miles an hour, stoppages 
 included. 
 
 In 18 16 Hine 1 & Co. put on the road a new light 
 coach to carry four inside passengers ; for the old six 
 insides were now going out of favour. This new con- 
 cern left 52 East Street, the corner of Steyne Lane, 
 at half-past nine in the morning, returning from the 
 
 1 Hine senior and Crosweller drove the two "Blue" pair-horse 
 coaches which ran at the beginning of the century, and Hine was 
 a very popular and skilful coachman. It was said that he must have 
 driven 100,000 persons into Brighton without having had an acci- 
 dent. Amongst his more famous passengers were Mathews, who so 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 ior 
 
 Jell, Holborn, at half-past eight in the evening, 
 thus adding to the number of the coaches which made 
 the double journey to London and back in a day. 
 At this time, too, a decision was given whereby the 
 stage-coaches were relieved of a kind of injustice 
 under which they had for some time laboured. The 
 turnpike people had long argued that if a coach re- 
 turned with a different team to that with which it had 
 previously passed through a gate, it was liable to pay 
 toll a second time, and this view of the case had been 
 upheld in more than one court of law. At last, how- 
 ever, some coach proprietors combined, and took a test 
 case to the Court of King's Bench, where a victory was 
 gained by the coach proprietors, the decision causing 
 an annual saving of many hundreds of pounds a year 
 to the coachmasters. 
 
 From a very early period of its history, the Brighton 
 road had been the scene of a variety of matches against 
 time. Horses had been ridden and driven along it for 
 wagers of a greater or lesser amount, just as in recent 
 years people have attempted, on a coach, in sulkies, 
 in the saddle, and on cycles, to lower records. In the 
 summer of 1816 a Captain Brodie drove a tandem 
 from the Marsh Gate, Lambeth, to the King's Arms, 
 George Street, Brighton, in four hours and fifty minutes ; 
 and a day or two later, Captain Wombwell, of the First 
 Life Guards, backed himself for a wager of 500 guineas 
 to drive a like team over the same distance, but in 
 less time, without changing horses. Starting from the 
 Marsh Gate at four in the morning, the gallant Captain 
 reached Brighton at a quarter to nine, thus beating 
 
 severely caricatured the dress of the amateur coachmen of the day in 
 " Hit or Miss;" Munden, Emery, and Russell, as well as Bannister, 
 Quick, Mr. Thornton, the Rev. Rowland Hill, Sir M. Tierney, 
 and Mr. G. Faithful. Hine had only just given up driving the Belle- 
 rophon, started in 18 n, and named after Captain Maitland's ship. 
 
102 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Captain Brodie's time by five minutes, and winning his 
 bet. One of the earliest matches between London and 
 Brighton was brought about by a bet made by a Sussex 
 parson with an officer of a cavalry regiment, the former 
 undertaking to ride his own horse between the two 
 places in a shorter time than would be occupied by his 
 gallant opponent in posting down, and the parson won 
 by a few minutes. The Prince of Wales, too, drove 
 that very senseless team a "random," i.e. three horses 
 one in front of another, from London to Brighton 
 in four hours and a half ; while in later times a trotting 
 match, to which Mr. C. Webling, now (1893) proprietor 
 of the Excelsior Tunbridge Wells coach, and Mr. H. 
 L. Beckett, the well-known amateur coachman, were 
 the parties, took place. The late James Selby's drive 
 against time * is of course well remembered. Accounts 
 of different kinds of matches are to be found in such 
 numbers in the pages of the newspapers, that it has 
 not been deemed worth while to extract them. 
 
 In connection with stage-coaching, as in other mat- 
 ters, history repeats itself. Those who travel by the 
 modern coaches are familiar with the boys who turn 
 wheels, and who, by an exhibition of youthful pedes- 
 trianism, try to extract coppers from the passengers. 
 These little urchins, however, had their prototypes 
 upwards of seventy years ago, for " a great many indi- 
 gent parents," we are told, were in the habit of sending 
 out their children to places at which the stage-coaches 
 were in the habit of stopping, to beg money from the 
 passengers. At Hickstead, on the new road between 
 Pyecombe and Staplefield Common, nine or ten juve- 
 
 1 On the 13th July 1888, Selby drove the "Old Times" coach 
 from Hatchett's, in Piccadilly, to the Old Ship, at Brighton, and 
 back, in seven hours and fifty minutes. The time from London to 
 Brighton was three hours and fifty-six minutes, and that from 
 Brighton three hours and fifty-four minutes. 
 

 ^-c'vi-^-' 
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 103 
 
 nile mendicants between four and six years of age 
 would be found waiting for coaches. 
 
 I must not, however, forget to mention that the 
 feature of the stage-coaching of 18 16 was the starting 
 of a new fast coach by a confederacy called by the 
 Annual Register x " some Jews." It was put on the road 
 in the spring, and was timed to do the journey between 
 London and Brighton, fifty-three miles, in six hours, 
 with a pledge that, if the coach did not accomplish the 
 journey in that time, the proprietors would carry the 
 passengers gratis ; to accomplish this, the horses were 
 kept upon a gallop all the way; and, "notwithstand- 
 ing the great risk," the coach was always filled with 
 passengers. On one of the journeys the coachman 
 broke three whips, and in one week fifteen horses died. 
 The coach, however, was never once capsized, and no 
 material accident happened, except overturning a fish- 
 cart near Kennington Common, whereby the driver was 
 injured, but not seriously. This coach ran for about 
 three months, and excited attention and curiosity 
 all along the road. A crowd used to collect at the 
 Elephant and Castle to see it start and come in, and 
 it always kept its time within a few minutes. Its pace, 
 however, in populous places like Newington, caused 
 information to be laid against it under the Act of 
 Parliament for regulating stage-coaches, and this being 
 followed up, speed was reduced, and the coach was 
 afterwards about three-quarters of an hour longer on 
 the road. 
 
 What reasons, beyond bad management and bad 
 coachmanship, can be assigned for this alarming 
 sacrifice of horseflesh and whips, not to mention colli- 
 sions with fish-carts and authorities, I am at a loss to 
 understand. Unless the time-bills of the other coaches 
 
 1 Vol. lviii. p. 161. 
 
104 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 are untrustworthy, several of them — the Dart and the 
 True Blue, for instance — did the journey comfortably 
 in six hours : so the gentlemen who were at the head 
 of this ill-fated undertaking were cutting no record. 
 The present Comet runs between London and Brighton 
 in six hours, and her stoppages are long in comparison 
 with those made on the six-hour coaches seventy-five 
 years ago. They went right through, and are said to 
 have allowed no more time at the end of each stage 
 than was necessary to put to the fresh horses. Mr. 
 Freeman, however, gives his passengers a full half-hour 
 for luncheon at Horley, thus reducing the time on the 
 road to five hours and a half. I have never timed the 
 stoppages on the road ; but if we allow three minutes 
 at Streatham, four at Purley, four at Merstham, four at 
 Hand Cross, and six at Albourne, we have twenty-one 
 minutes for changes, or fifty-one minutes out of the six 
 hours for stoppages, consequently but five hours and 
 nine minutes remain in which to travel the fifty-three 
 miles and a half which intervene between the Hotel 
 Victoria and the Old Ship. During this time scarcely 
 a horse is out of a trot from start to finish, and 
 perhaps a leader will not be touched all the way. 
 The roads are, of course, better than they used to be ; 
 but how about the three whips broken in the course of 
 a single journey'? The whip was an instrument upon 
 which it was claimed for the old performers that they 
 could play in a manner far beyond the dream of the 
 present race of coachmen ; yet the artist in charge of 
 this Hebrew coach seems to have made a terrible mess 
 of hitting his horses. 
 
 Racing has claimed a good many victims in one way 
 and another, and one is somewhat surprised to find 
 that, in the autumn of 1816, so experienced a coach- 
 man as Snow was a party to this dangerous sort of 
 thing. One Saturday night the Phcenix and Snow's 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 105 
 
 Dart, both heavily loaded, were sailing along at a great 
 pace between Patcham and Brighton, the Phoenix lead- 
 ing, when Snow foolishly tried to overtake it. As 
 it was in the evening in October, the light was bad, a 
 circumstance which no doubt had something to do 
 with what followed. Snow failing to clear the Phcenix, 
 ran into her, and overturned her, the Dart losing her 
 dickey-seat in the scrimmage. The crash was heard 
 a long way off, and the shrieking was described as 
 being very terrible. Mr. Taylor, of the Golden Cross, 
 had his thigh broken ; some of the other passengers 
 sustained fractures ; and nearly all were more or less 
 damaged. Snow, through whose fault the accident 
 occurred, was much hurt, and there was some talk of 
 prosecuting him ; but whether the threat was carried 
 into effect, I cannot find out. 
 
 Several fresh arrangements are met with in connection 
 with the year 1817. As soon as the summer coaches 
 were running in their full strength, the Golden Cross 
 Inn, Brighton, became the starting-point of coaches 
 which left for London at six, nine, ten, and three 
 o'clock. G. Barratt & Co. had the night-coach, which 
 left 10 Castle Square at ten at night; while from the 
 Blue Office ran the accommodation coach at nine and 
 the True Blue at two, the public being informed that 
 the object of the latter coach was to keep its time, and 
 not to indulge in the folly of racing other coaches, 
 which exposed the passengers to the most serious acci- 
 dents. At eleven o'clock a light post-coach set out via 
 Pyecombe, Crawley, and Peigate, and it was claimed 
 for this vehicle that it had the merit of travelling 
 like a post-chaise. This coach carried four passengers 
 inside and four out, and, like several other vehicles of 
 small capacity, could be hired for the exclusive use 
 of private parties, who could then start at their own 
 hour. The Irresistible, a new light post-coach, run 
 
io6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 by a Mr. Pugeroh, 1 was removed from the Union Coach- 
 Office, in Castle Square, to Whitchurch's Office, 135 
 North Street, and ran as in the previous year up one 
 day and down the next, the Boar and Castle, Oxford 
 Street, and the Gloucester Coffee-House, Piccadilly, 
 being the houses of call in London. The following 
 table (pp. 108, 109), to which the remarks already made 
 in connection with that of 1 8 1 5 apply, shows most of 
 the places in London at which it was possible for a 
 passenger to book for Brighton. 
 
 The mail-coach system, as inaugurated by Mr. Palmer 
 of Bath, 2 appears to have commended itself to our 
 French neighbours, as, in the year 181 7, the French 
 Government asked some of the London coachbuilders 
 whether they would contract to build for France 900 
 mail-coaches at the price of ^150 each ; but I cannot 
 discover whether the offer was declined or accepted. 
 
 In another place I have ventured to make some 
 remarks about coachmen and their performances ; but 
 in connection with a couple of paragraphs 1 find in 
 the papers of this date (181 7), it will for the present 
 suffice to say that we have as yet found very little 
 information, in praise or otherwise, of coachmen. They 
 have hitherto no individuality ; we are told the names 
 of very few, and these we chiefly get through the 
 medium of police-court proceedings. I have, how- 
 ever, come across two paragraphs which are not quite 
 complimentary to the artists of 181 7. The first is 
 from the Sussex Gazette, in which journal a corre- 
 spondent, after complaining of the extent to which 
 people suffered by the cupidity and negligence of stage- 
 coachmen, suggested that while the proprietors should 
 still be liable to pay damages, the coachmen should 
 
 1 Mr. Rugeroh died in 1846 at the age of eighty, while his wife 
 died so long ago as 1787. 2 See post, p. no, 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 107 
 
 be imprisoned if it should be found that the accident, 
 in respect of which damages were claimed, was brought 
 about by overloading ; and that accidents were some- 
 times due to this cause we may readily understand 
 on reading in the Brighton Herald that a "respectable 
 correspondent " had begged the editor of that paper to 
 give a gentle hint to coachmen respecting the quantity 
 of luggage which was piled up (often to the height of 
 four feet) on the tops of their coaches. The building up 
 of these luggage stacks, it was suggested, was not only 
 illegal, but rendered the coaches so loaded liable to be 
 turned over by the slightest accident. This warning, 
 however, would appear to have fallen on deaf ears, as 
 a few months later the Herald told its readers that on 
 one of the staa'e-coaches there was more than four feet 
 of luggage, while on the summit of all that reclined 
 a passenger, who must have looked like one of the 
 figures on the top of a wedding-cake. 
 
 The theft of the Union Bank notes, not to mention 
 other coach robberies which were taking place almost 
 daily in different parts of England, does not appear to 
 have induced coach and waggon proprietors to adopt any 
 means for effectually guarding the property committed 
 to their care. A deal box, containing jewellery to the 
 value of ^150, was abstracted from Knowles's van 
 while the horses were being baited at Merstham ; and 
 shortly afterwards a trunk containing a good deal of 
 valuable property was taken from one of the Blue 
 coaches soon after she had left the Elephant and Castle. 
 In this case the thieves proved to be two outside passen- 
 gers, who, together with their plunder, were soon missed. 
 After a pursuit of two miles, and a stout resistance, how- 
 ever, the men were captured and committed for trial, 
 Crosweller, one of the proprietors of the Blue coaches, 
 being bound over to prosecute at the Surrey assizes. 
 
 So far as I am able to gather, a new coach— the 
 
io8 
 
 BRIGHTON" AND ITS COACHES 
 
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no BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 New Times — was put on the road in 1818. She started 
 from the Union Office, 9 Castle Square, at six in the 
 morning, and ran to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross ; 
 the Cross Keys, Cheapside ; and the White Bear, Pic- 
 cadilly, returning from the last-named place at half- 
 past six in the morning. Between the same points, 
 the Original Times, the Regent, the Royal Clarence, 
 and the coach through Lewes and Uckfield ran as 
 usual, Holmes, Home, & Co. being the proprietors ; 
 while the two night-coaches, from the Blue and Red 
 offices respectively, went on as before. 
 
 It is no longer ago than July of the present year 
 (1893) si nce some one advocated a horse-shoe which 
 had a hinge at the toe, so that it could be adapted, at a 
 pinch, to feet of various sizes. There may or may not 
 be any merit in the idea, which, at any rate, was not a 
 new one, as I find that a precisely similar shoe was an- 
 nounced in the Brighton Herald of the 18th July 18 18. 
 
 The year 181 8 cannot be passed over without noticing 
 the death at Brighton, on the 16th or 17th August, of 
 Mr. John Palmer, whose introduction of the mail-coach 
 system was one of the most important events which 
 have been chronicled in connection with the history of 
 the road. Before the introduction of mail-coaches the 
 mails were carried by post-boys on horseback, a system 
 introduced by Mr. Allen. Mr. Palmer was given to 
 state that the mails were almost invariably intrusted 
 to some idle boy without a character, and I have 
 given an instance of two of these boys being stopped ; 
 but scarcely a week passed without the mail being- 
 robbed in some part of England or another. On the 
 ground of speed and safety, Mr. John Palmer proposed 
 to supplant these boys by mail-coaches, for he knew 
 that merchants and others were in the habit of intrust- 
 ing valuable packages to the coachmen of stage-coaches 
 — a practice which led to the passing of the Act of 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 in 
 
 George III. already mentioned. 1 However, for some 
 reason best known to themselves, the Post -Office 
 authorities strenuously opposed Mr. Palmer's sugges- 
 tions, which were not acted upon till 1 784. When once 
 mail-coaches were started, their advantage over the old 
 system soon became apparent ; in later times the mails 
 were the glory of the road, and Thomas De Quincey 
 sang their praises as few men could sing them. 
 
 I know of no collection of pictures showing the 
 change which gradually came over the stage-coach. 
 Affairs like the old Bellerophon did not bear even a 
 distant likeness to what we understand by a coach, 
 while in the first quarter of the present century the 
 changes were many. The year 1819 was, I am in- 
 clined to think, a somewhat remarkable one from a 
 coachbuilder's point of view. 
 
 In March 18 19, Robert Snow, Cooper, Boyce, and 
 Chaplin advertised that they had bought the newly 
 invented safety coach, carrying four insides only, 2 the 
 first ever built. This new coach, which was called the 
 Sovereign, left the Spread Eagle Office, 3 Castle Square, 
 at three in the afternoon, and performed the journey to 
 London in six hours. This new-fashioned affair made 
 its first journey on Sunday, the 21st March 18 19, when 
 between two and three thousand people assembled to 
 see it start. The Herald, in describing the coach, said, 
 " The outside passengers are not placed on the roof of 
 the body of the carriage, but have excellent accommo- 
 
 1 Ante, p. 93. 
 
 2 Some of the advertisements of a slightly earlier period than 
 this speak of coaches carrying four insides " only." This does not 
 mean that they carried no outside passengers, though in the time 
 of the old machines such may have been the case, exclusive of those 
 carried in the basket. The " four insides only " was intended as an 
 intimation to the public that the vehicle was a light coach, in which 
 the passengers would not be subject to the inconvenience and discom- 
 fort inseparable from the coaches which carried six people inside. 
 
ii2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 elation in a well-contrived compartment between that 
 and the box, beneath which there is a spacious lock-up 
 receptacle for the stowage of luggage." 
 
 Whether there was anything in the build of the new 
 coach, or whether there was not, it appears to have hit 
 the public fancy, if, at least, we may believe the local 
 papers of the date. " If," said the Herald for May 
 Day 1 8 19, " the public continue to give the safe coach 
 the decided preference they now do, there can be no 
 doubt that coachmasters will very soon generally adopt 
 it as their present stock wears out. The luggage-box 
 can be made less or enlarged, according to the require- 
 ments of the road, so as to contain much more than 
 the present coaches in all their parts. The confidence 
 which manufacturers and dealers have of their valu- 
 able property being secured from wet and pilfering is 
 enough to secure for it the most decided preference, 
 independently of its personal safety ; and it has a right 
 secured by Act of Parliament of carrying two more 
 passengers than coaches which carry luggage outside. 
 
 " The weight is so placed as to produce a saving to 
 the horses of 11 lbs. in every 25 lbs. in draught. The 
 base on which this coach stands is five inches broader 
 than others, 1 and the weight placed five feet lower, so 
 that, when the wheels on one side are thrown off, the 
 axle drags on the ground, and will allow the remaining 
 wheels to be lifted twelve inches or more before the 
 coach loses its balance. If a wheel had been thrown 
 off any other coach while going at the rate of nine 
 miles an hour with two outside passengers, it must have 
 gone over ; but should it take place with the safe coach, 
 it will not incline on one side so as to make passengers 
 uncomfortable. 
 
 "It weighs only 1500J lbs., which is 400 lbs. lighter 
 
 1 That is to say, this coach was live inches broader between the 
 wheels than others. 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 113 
 
 than the average of coaches built to carry luggage, and 
 8oo| lbs. less than some gentlemen's landaus. The 
 different coachmen who have driven it say that on level 
 ground it runs much lighter than others, and every 
 mechanic knows that small wheels have the advantage 
 at a hill ; but it is difficult to compare it with other 
 coaches, as it is mostly laden twice as much as they 
 are ; it always, however, performs its daily journey as 
 quickly as any of them. It has been reported that 
 coaches like this have been running in the North for 
 some time ; but this is not the case ; they are very dis- 
 similar in almost every particular, and all the luggage 
 is placed on the roof, having no luggage-box, only a 
 very small boot under the coachman." 
 
 In this notice it is not difficult to discern the hand 
 of an " inspired " writer. It is a delightful little sen- 
 tence that in which the contributor points out the 
 difficulty of comparing the safety concern with other 
 coaches, " as it is mostly laden twice as much as they 
 are." This is bold advertisement indeed. The most 
 curious thing about this coach — and it was five inches 
 wider than most coaches — was its lightness. It might 
 have been thought that the writer of the above had 
 cooked his figures ; but they appear to be correct, for at 
 a later page mention is made of one of Ade's coaches 
 which weighed the same. Now 1500 lbs. is but six 
 pounds more than thirteen hundredweight and a half. 
 This safety coach was 400 lbs. lighter than an ordinary 
 coach, as the notice tells us, from which we are to 
 infer that the average vehicle, which carried such great 
 loads, weighed less than seventeen hundredweight. 
 Proverbially it is as well not to prophesy unless you 
 know ; but it is certainly difficult, even in the face of 
 two express statements, to believe that any stage-coach 
 was ever built at about thirteen hundredweight and 
 a half, or that the old coaches, safety or otherwise, 
 
 H 
 
ii 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 scaled less than seventeen hundredweight. Our modern 
 builders turn out coaches as light as is compatible with 
 safety, but possibly not one weighs under eighteen or 
 nineteen hundredweight ; while the coach that " Mad 
 Wyndham " used to drive between Norwich and Cromer 
 weighed thirty hundredweight ; and when I last saw 
 her, she was running between Bucle and Holsworthy. 
 
 The inexorable law of supply and demand applies to 
 stage-coaching as well as to everything else, and as 
 the public seemed to fancy safety coaches, these vehicles 
 rapidly made their appearance ; so, on the 26th of July 
 1 8 19, "the Umpire, a light, elegant, patent stage- 
 coach, for safety on a new principle," was put upon 
 the road. She ran from 125 North Street to the Bull 
 Hotel, Leadenhall Street, taking but six hours for the 
 journey, and running up and down in a day ; the Hero 
 and Dart ran from the same office, and were owned by 
 Whitchurch. I do not know whether the Coburg was 
 a safety coach or not ; but, at any rate, she turned over 
 at Cuckfield on her way to London. Horses had been 
 changed; the leaders started in "an unruly fashion," 
 and brought the coach into collision with a waggon. 
 Eleven passengers were on the roof, and all were more 
 or less hurt, a Mr. Blake, a " well-known London gen- 
 tleman, dying next day ; " another passenger broke his 
 arm, and five had to remain at Cuckfield, where the 
 King's Head was, not for the first time, turned into 
 a hospital, as was so often the case when coaches 
 upset. However, the inside passengers, on this occa- 
 sion three in number, were unhurt. 
 
 There was in the autumn of 1819a further addition 
 to the list of patents in connection with locomotion in 
 the shape of a "Trivector," a curious machine, invented 
 by " Mr. C. Birch of London." This was one of the 
 first, but by no means the last, of the curious road 
 carriages which successive inventors brought out, with 
 the object of superseding horse-power. As we shall 
 
FROM 1815 to 1819 115 
 
 presently see, Brighton was often taken by surprise 
 by the arrival of a steam- carriage ; but none of these 
 contrivances came to anything. The " Trivector," 
 however, was not a steam-carriage ; it was impelled by 
 three men sitting on seats " formed out of the body," 
 whatever that may mean, with their feet resting on the 
 bottom ; and with either hand each man worked a 
 lever, with an action which resembled that of rowing 
 a boat, and the machine's course was directed by the 
 foremost man, who steered with his feet. Here, at any 
 rate, we have the principle of the coxwainless four — 
 the idea that one man shall, in addition to contributing 
 his share of propelling power, do the steering, and so 
 obviate the necessity of a person whose weight must 
 be carried, but who contributes nothing to power or 
 speed. This conveyance, which was capacious enough 
 to carry luggage, weighed, with the men, seven hundred- 
 weight ; it left London at half-past five in the morning, 
 and reached Brighton at four in the afternoon ; but the 
 party stayed for four hours at Crawley, being by that 
 time of opinion perhaps, like the Irishman after his 
 experience of the sedan-chair with the bottom out, 
 that, were it not for the honour of the thing, they 
 might just as well have walked. On reaching Brighton, 
 the " Trivector " went round the Steyne — afterwards this 
 became quite the stereotyped journey for all newly 
 invented carriages — and then started for Lewes on its 
 way back to London. Some of the coachmasters re- 
 duced their stock of horses as the winter approached, 
 and with an announcement that a dozen horses from 
 the Alert coach, together with three goats and some 
 miscellaneous effects, would be sold, the coaching news 
 for the year 1819 comes to a close as far as the news- 
 papers are concerned. 
 
 The following table shows, as far as I have been 
 able to ascertain, the coaches which ran between 
 London and Brighton during the year 18 19 : — 
 
n6 
 
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Chapter VIII. 
 
 FROM 1820 to 1824. 
 
 QUITE early in the year 1820, a Mr. William Milton, 
 a clergyman of Heckford, in Hertfordshire, wrote 
 to the Brighton Herald in praise of a patent coach of 
 his own designing. Theory, he asserted, had led him to 
 construct first a caravan, and secondly a stage-coach, 
 in each of which the sum of the diameter of the wheels 
 was twenty-fonr feet. Without any pecuniary gain to 
 himself, said Mr. Milton, his invention had been tested 
 over fifteen hundred miles of road ; and, in the opinion 
 of several very competent coachmen, these high wheels 
 were calculated to effect a saving of one horse in 
 every four, five, or six, according to the roads and hills 
 encountered. This statement, it was claimed, had been 
 borne out by experiments conducted by Messrs. Brooks 
 and Dougall, coachbuilders, of the City Road, Finsbury, 
 on the plan adopted by Mr. Edgworth ; and on that 
 gentleman's calculation, Mr. Milton declared that his 
 coach would carry nine or ten more people than the 
 ordinary coaches, with no extra labour to the horses. 
 It is unnecessary to do more than mention these inven- 
 tions in connection with the Brighton road, the details 
 of practical coachbuilding being altogether beyond the 
 scope of this work ; but for some years there was a 
 great deal of discussion about safety- coaches and their 
 build. A good deal of it is interesting enough ; but, 
 in spite of new inventions and arguments, the majority 
 of the coachmasters kept to the usual style, which appear 
 to have been known as that of the light post-coach. 
 
 The terms " Accommodation " and "Post" coaches 
 
 n8 
 
FKOM 1820 to 1824 119 
 
 have several times been made use of in the foregoing 
 pages ; and I may take this opportunity of stating that 
 nowhere has it been possible to find a definition of 
 either word. From what can be gleaned, however, 
 and from the fact that the accommodation coaches 
 seem to have been almost invariably a long time on 
 the road, the chances are that the accommodation 
 coach was the largest-sized vehicle used for the carry- 
 ing of passengers, and in consequence of its great size 
 and weight would necessarily have to travel somewhat 
 slowly. With respect to the post-coaches, there is no 
 hint that they had anything to do with the Post-Office, 
 or the carrying of mails, so I think that the term post- 
 coach simply meant a light coach, which in construction 
 originally bore some resemblance to a post-chaise, and 
 travelled at a quicker pace than the heavier and more 
 capacious concern — it was, in fact, a sort of co-operative 
 post-chaise. In after days the term appears to have 
 been retained to signify a light and fast coach. 
 
 The first procession of the royal mails in honour of 
 the King's birthday took place in the year 1791, and 
 continued to be an annual function for about thirty-six 
 years. 1 This procession is mentioned here for the sake 
 of saying that, according to the Brighton Herald for 
 the 29th April 1820, Mr. Waterhouse, one of the 
 mail contractors, was offered 800 guineas for the two 
 teams of greys which drew the Bristol and Holyhead 
 mails. It has always been said that the London teams 
 
 1 In 1892 the stage-coaches running in and out of London 
 paraded for the first time on the Horse Guards Parade in St. 
 James's Park. The affair was so far successful that the intention 
 was to make it an annual function. Accordingly, in the spring of 
 1893, arrangements were made for holding a gathering early in 
 May, but owing to some misunderstanding negotiations fell 
 through ; but subsequently the coaches met on the Horse Guards 
 Parade, on Thursday, the 8th of June, after each of the Driving 
 Clubs had met twice. 
 
i2o BRIGHTON AXD ITS COACHES 
 
 of some of the mails were exceedingly good ; but it 
 may be doubted whether Mr. Waterhouse or any one 
 else ever put hundred-guinea horses into coaches 
 seventy years ago. It is as likely as not that these 
 greys did not belong to Mr. Waterhouse at all, or, if 
 they did, that they were not the regular mail-coach 
 horses. I have somewhere read that it was customary 
 for people who had fine horses to ask permission of the 
 contractors for the coachmen to be allowed to drive 
 them in the procession from St. James's Palace to the 
 General Post-Office. Then the fancy teams would be 
 changed for the regular horses, and the mails would 
 start on their respective journeys. 
 
 The following is an account of the procession of 
 mails given in the Brighton (gazette for the 26th April 
 1 821: "The general postmen appeared in new uni- 
 forms. Eighteen l new mail-coaches and ornaments 
 were launched from Mr. Vidler's manufactory in Mil- 
 bank Row, in a most complete and elegant style, drawn 
 by the finest sets of horses possible to be procured ; 
 amongst the best and most admired were the greys in 
 the Dover, the chestnuts in the Portsmouth, the bays 
 in the Norwich by Newmarket, and the greys in the 
 Leominster and. Worcester. The coachmen and guards 
 had all new uniforms, with flowers in their bosoms, as 
 did also the extra guards, and the three-penny post- 
 boys. They all assembled at the manufactory to form 
 the procession. The boys' hats were decorated with 
 blue, orange, and purple ribbons. The mail-coach 
 contractors were also entertained with a handsome cold 
 collation, and a profusion of wines, &c. 
 
 " Then the King s health was drunk on the grass-plot 
 at the back of the house. The procession proceeded 
 about five o'clock to Charing Cross, Pall Mall, St. 
 
 1 The number was sixteen in 1791. 
 
FROM 1820 to 1824 121 
 
 James's Street, Arlington Street, Piccadilly, and re- 
 turned through Piccadilly, down Regent Street, Waterloo 
 Place, halted opposite the King's Palace in Pall Mall 
 to make their dutiful obeisance, and then proceeded 
 through the Strand to the General Post-Office." 
 
 And now once more to the Brighton road. The 
 coach companies were, as we have already seen, con- 
 stantly changing their personnel ; and in the year 1820 
 we find that the Blue Office and the Blue coaches be- 
 longed to Crosweller, Rogers, Norris, Balchin, & Co. ; 
 while Snow, Cooper, Boyce, & Chaplin owned the 
 coaches which ran from the Spread Eagle Office, 4 
 Castle Square, to the Spread Eagle, Gracechurch 
 Street; and Webb's Hotel, Piccadilly. These coaches 
 were the Dart safety coach, built on Wright & Powell's 
 system, and which left at six o'clock in the morning; 
 the Comet (in seven hours), at ten o'clock ; and Wright 
 and Matthews' s patent safety coach, the Sovereign afore- 
 said, at three o'clock. 
 
 Meanwhile Messrs. Whitchurch, Best, & Wilkins ran 
 a good service of coaches from their office (the Union), 
 135 North Street, Brighton, to the Bull Inn, Bishops- 
 gate, and the office 222 Piccadilly. The list of Snow's 
 coaches just given is taken from the papers for 1 7th June 
 1820, Whitchurch's being advertised in the issues of 
 the 1st July in that year. At the head of Whitchurch's 
 stands the Defiance, which was timed to leave Brighton 
 at six o'clock, the same hour as Snow's Dart ; but 
 Snow's Defiance did not leave until eleven. There can 
 scarcely be any mistake with advertisements, one would 
 think, as the respective firms must surely have known 
 the names of their own coaches ; but save when the 
 Age confederacy split up, as we shall presently see, I 
 know of no time at which there were two coaches of 
 the same name undistinguished by some other word. 
 However, both these Defiances covered the journey in 
 
i22 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 six hours, and both left Brighton at the same hour ; but 
 the advertisements do not state that both ran to the same 
 place in London. The original Dart left Whitchurch's 
 office at eleven, and the Umpire at three in the after- 
 noon, the hours of return from London being a quarter 
 to eight, ten, and a quarter to three respectively. 
 
 In putting forth the above advertisement, Whitchurch 
 embraced the opportunity of reminding the public that 
 he was the first person who " progressed," and ran to 
 London in six hours, returning the same day, 1 and he 
 was pleased to think that he had done so daily for six 
 years without having had an accident ; on the strength 
 of which he further hoped that it would not be deemed 
 presumptuous in him " claiming the privilege (if not a 
 patent) of calling his a safety coach;" and this desirable 
 safety was assured, as he explained, by having only ex- 
 perienced coachmen, steady horses, and allowing neither 
 racing nor furious driving. One does not, of course, 
 know all the secrets of the Whitchurch confederacy ; 
 but four years later the pioneer of fast coaching fell 
 upon evil times, as in the Brighton Herald for the 3rd 
 of January 1824 I find a paragraph headed " Distressing- 
 Case," and stating that " James Witchurch (sic), late 
 coachmaster of Brighton, who started the first coach 
 that ever performed the journey to and from Brighton 
 in the day," had, by a series of unforeseen circumstances, 
 been reduced to the greatest distress. Some of his old 
 friends and patrons took the trouble to inquire into the 
 case, and, having come to the conclusion that it was one 
 which deserved "the commiseration and charitable aid 
 of the public," invited contributions, which would be re- 
 ceived by the Union Bank, and the money so subscribed 
 would, it was announced, be applied by Mr. J. Mort- 
 lock. Whether this appeal was attended with success 
 
 1 See ante, p. 94. 
 
FEOM 1820 to 1824 123 
 
 or not I cannot discover, nor have I been able to find 
 out what eventually became of Mr. Whitchurch. 
 
 The year 182 1 was ushered in by another snow- 
 storm, and on the 3rd of January so deep were the 
 drifts that neither the mail nor Crosweller's guarded 
 and lighted night-coach could get to London. The 
 mail, indeed, struggled on as far as Pyecombe, and 
 then had to return ; nor could she make a start till late 
 next day, while the early coaches on the following 
 day had to delay starting until intelligence reached 
 Brighton that the roads were fairly clear. Between 
 Crawley and Brighton some of the drifts were ten feet 
 deep, but the storm was so far partial that on the 
 London side of Crawley only little snow had fallen. 
 
 To say just another word or two about safety coaches. 
 It had been so conclusively proved that Matthews's 
 safety coach, run by Snow & Co., could not turn over, 
 that no one was surprised to hear that one of these 
 concerns had capsized, and it was immediately and 
 industriously reported that the mishap had befallen 
 Snow's coach ; but this turned out to be a mistake, as 
 it was Newman's patent safety which turned over near 
 Patcham, but luckily no one was hurt. In connection 
 with this accident, Mr. Genu, who seems to have owned 
 the coaches managed and driven by the Newmans, wrote 
 a letter to the Brighton Gazette of the 5th April 1821, 
 in which he explained that the accounts published 
 were not accurate, inasmuch as the coach did not 
 turn over ; the pole did not break ; nor was the coach- 
 man hurt as reported. Mr. Genn's version was that 
 while the coachman was turning round to address some 
 remarks to a passenger on one of the back-seats, the 
 horses started and "turned over a high bank." The 
 safety coach, however, true to its name, remained 
 right-end uppermost, and " reclined " against the bank. 
 The exertions of three male passengers were sufficient 
 
i2 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 to right her, after which the coach proceeded on her 
 journey, and reached Brighton at the usual time. The 
 opportunity for putting in a good word for the safety 
 coaches was naturally too good to be lost, so he pro- 
 ceeded to point out that had this mishap overtaken 
 one of the old Telegraph coaches, the accident might 
 have been attended with more serious consequences, 
 though why one does not quite understand, because the 
 coach was prevented from turning over, not by virtue of 
 any contrivance about her, but because she " reclined " 
 against the bank and could go no farther. Mr. Genu, 
 like many another man, however, having been indebted 
 to the good offices of the bank, forthwith proceeded to 
 advertise his vehicles as being the only patent safety 
 coaches between London and Brighton ; they were 
 the Royal Sussex, New Dart, and Royal George, which, 
 leaving Brighton at seven, twelve, and three o'clock 
 respectively, ran to town in six hours, from 3 Castle 
 Square ; the Royal Oak, St. James's Street ; and the 
 King's Head, West Street, to the Bull, Leadenhall Street; 
 the Ship, Charing Cross ; and the Old Black Bear, 
 Piccadilly. These coaches ran by way of Crawley, 
 Sutton, Mitcham, and Clapham, the fares being one pound 
 inside and ten shillings outside. The coaches from 
 the Blue Office ran as usual, the firm now figuring as 
 Crosweller, Cripps, Wilkins, & Co. ; while Snow & Co. 
 ran as before the Dart, Comet, and Sovereign through 
 Hickstead, Crawley, and Reigate ; but, as the Comet 
 was not destined to run during the winter, sixteen of 
 the horses which had been working in her were sold 
 at the King and Queen Inn by Mr. Attree. During the 
 month of May in this year (182 1) I find it stated that 
 some of the stage-coaches went from Brighton to London 
 in four hours and twenty minutes, which, as the Gazette 
 observed, was " running with a fury." The table on 
 pp. 126 and 127 summarises as far as possible the coach- 
 ing arrangements for the year 1821. 
 
FROM 1820 to 1824 125 
 
 William Hine, who had been for five-and-twenty 
 years at least on the road, and therefore was one of 
 the old school in 1822, then contented himself with 
 running one coach only, the Alert ; but the other 
 affairs went on much as before. With the arrival of 
 spring- (1822), William Genn put on those of his 
 coaches which had been in dock during the winter, 
 and announced by advertisement that, in honour of the 
 King's birthday, his entirely new patent safety coach, 
 the Royal Sussex, would start on the 23rd of May, 
 leaving 135 North Street at seven in the morning, 
 and London (the Bull, Leadenhall Street) at two in 
 the afternoon ; while the Royal George was put on the 
 road a few days earlier, and the New Dart, which ran 
 through the preceding winter, kept her place. 
 
 From the Red Coach Office, 10 Castle Square, went 
 the two Times coaches at six o'clock and three o'clock ; 
 while Matthews' s patent, which appears to have been 
 well thought of, was adopted for the Regent, which left 
 Brighton at ten o'clock ; and these coaches, said Home, 
 Holmes, & Goodman, "are allowed to be far superior 
 for safety, care, and convenience to any ;" but so also said 
 William Genn and Bob Snow of theirs. Snow's coaches 
 now consisted of the patent safety Dart, Comet, Sove- 
 reign, and Rocket. In the autumn (1822) the Herald 
 reporter announced the breakdown of a London safety 
 coach through the fracture of an axle ; but the occasion 
 was one of triumph for the safety vehicle, as, though 
 there were fourteen passengers in and upon her, she did 
 not overturn. In that respect she was more fortunate 
 than was the Brighton mail, which a day or two before 
 Christmas 1822 capsized on the down-journey close to 
 Peas Pottage Gate, about sixteen miles from Brighton. 
 As will have been noticed, coaches had for some time 
 been running at good speed, and this presupposes 
 decent roads ; nevertheless this mail turned over through 
 
126 
 
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i28 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 one of the off-side wheels getting into a rut tivo feet 
 deep, which caused the axle to break. The box-seat 
 passenger, a gentleman from Lewes, was badly hurt, as 
 the off-wheel horse fell upon him. The account in the 
 papers goes on to say that there were ten passengers 
 on the mail, a number far in excess of that I thought 
 the mails were allowed to carry. I always thought 
 that prior to the year 1834 mail-coaches were restricted 
 to three or four passengers, one on the box-seat, and 
 two or three behind the coachman, none being allowed 
 at the back anywhere near the guard. 
 
 These few particulars which are given are all that 
 are to be found in the papers by advertisement and 
 otherwise for the year 1822 ; yet, according to the 
 Brighton Herald for the 28th of September, there were 
 forty-two coaches running between London and Brighton 
 — i.e. twenty-one each way. 1 A large number, there- 
 fore, were never advertised ; and, as will be seen by the 
 tables for the different years, it has been found impos- 
 sible to supply the names of all the coaches, hence the 
 frequent use of the phrase " a coach." Upon what 
 principle the coachmasters proceeded in giving their 
 advertisements to the papers I know not. In some 
 vears a considerable number of coaches are advertised, 
 and many paragraphs of gossip are given ; in other 
 years one may search every number of a paper, and 
 find scarcely anything in connection with the coaches. 
 If one proprietor advertised, one or two more generally 
 followed suit ; but if no one took the lead, the pro- 
 prietors kept their money in their pockets ; and the 
 year 1822 is a bad year for information. It is only 
 through reading a report of the prosecution (instituted, 
 
 1 There were altogether sixty-two coaches working in and out of 
 Brighton at this time, including those going to places other than 
 London. 
 
FROM 1820 to 1824 129 
 
 of course, by a common informer) of a Mr. Dale, for 
 carrying more than his proper number of passengers, 
 that we know there was a coach proprietor of that 
 name, as no advertisements from him appear in any 
 of the papers. The facts of the information case were 
 on all-fours with the hundreds of others heard all over 
 the country, several of which are noticed in the follow- 
 ing pages. The informer and his hirelings hung about 
 the roads, and if they saw a coach carrying more people 
 outside than the Act of Parliament allowed, they made 
 a note of the fact, instituted proceedings, and took half 
 the penalty in the event of a conviction. In this case 
 the informer's witnesses deposed to seeing eleven pas- 
 sengers on the coach, none of them being under the age 
 of seven, and so unable to count as half a passenger only. 
 The defence was based upon a somewhat peculiar line 
 of argument. It was contended that, as the coach- 
 man had accounted for no more than ten passengers 
 in the waybill, and as he derived no pecuniary ad- 
 vantage from the extra passenger, he was not liable 
 to the penalty imposed by the Act. The magistrates, 
 however, had no difficulty in quickly disregarding that 
 theory, and so they fined Mr. Dale ^"10. 
 
 Then, again, but for reading (17th May 1823) that 
 John Lanton, part proprietor and driver, was examined 
 on a charge of running over and killing two little 
 girls at Newington Butts, we might have remained in 
 ignorance of Price's coach, which ran from Brighton 
 to Islington in six hours. The poor little children 
 whose deaths formed the subject of the inquiry ap- 
 pear to have done what children of to-day are con- 
 stantly doing — they jumped out from behind another 
 vehicle at so short a distance from the horses, that, 
 although Lanton pulled up at once, he was too late to 
 save the children from injury ; and no blame whatever 
 attached to him. 
 
 1 
 
130 BEIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Neither William Genn nor Crosweller & Co. made 
 any material change in their arrangements ; but Mr. 
 Edward Augur, of the George and Blue Boar, Oxford 
 Street, acting in conjunction with one or two others, put 
 on the New Comet coach, to run from 134 North Street 
 to the George and Blue Boar ; the Lamb Inn, Lamb's 
 Conduit Street; and Price's Office, Islington. This new 
 coach, leaving Brighton at ten o'clock, ran through 
 Cuckfield, Worth, Balcombe, Horley, and Croydon. 
 Bearing in mind the not unnatural desire of the public 
 to travel in safety, Augur & Co. were not slow to point 
 out that the construction of the New Comet rendered 
 it infinitely superior to public carriages in general, be- 
 cause the luggage was carried beneath the passengers, 
 "which materially assists in preserving its equili- 
 brium, contrary to the usual and dangerous custom of 
 loading it on the roof." At the end of his advertise- 
 ment Mr. Augur gave a list of the coaches which left 
 his London establishment, the George and Blue Boar, 
 for different parts of England ; and in the Times for 
 the 13th August 1823, his neighbour, Mr. Sanderson, 
 of the Boar and Castle, informed those whom it might 
 concern that the best-regulated coaches on the Brighton 
 road (in which he included the True Blue, Royal 
 George, and the Royal York, all belonging to Crosweller 
 and Co.) started from his house. 
 
 One of the new summer coaches for 1823 was the 
 Tally-Ho ! run by Gray, Nelson, & White from the 
 Tally-Ho Coach-Office, at the Royal Exchange, corner 
 of the New Road, at ten o'clock every morning, for the 
 Bolt-in-Tun, and Sussex Hotel, Fleet Street ; and the 
 Black Bear, Piccadilly, returning at half-past nine every 
 morning. The same firm also ran a coach to London 
 at six o'clock every morning. 
 
 The booking-clerks at the different offices were natu- 
 rally very useful servants of the public ; and in at least 
 
FROM 1820 to 1824 131 
 
 one instance the regular travellers by Genu's coaches 
 readily came to the rescue, as in the autumn of 1825 
 John Jones, bookkeeper at Genn's office, returned 
 thanks, " with feelings of the deepest gratitude, to the 
 Countess of Winterton and those ladies and gentlemen 
 who had so kindly assisted him in the hour of misfor- 
 tune." With a straightforwardness which cannot too 
 highly be praised, John Jones gave out that the amount 
 of money subscribed was quite sufficient to cover his 
 loss ; and so he considered it his duty to decline any 
 further appeal to the charitable feeling of his patrons. 
 
 Half a century ago the Brighton season would ap- 
 pear to have extended w 7 ell into the winter, as it does 
 now, as in January and February 1824 are advertise- 
 ments announcing the then forthcoming sales of horses 
 which had come off the road at the end of the season. 
 At Dixon's, now Ry mill's, Genn sold thirty horses which 
 had been running in the New Dart, and probably in 
 some of his other coaches ; while at Maitan's Reposi- 
 tory, Golden Cross Mews, eight of the Tally-Ho's 
 horses were disposed of. The George and Blue Boar, 
 Holborn, was to let, and the description shows that an 
 extensive business must have been carried on there. 
 The coach-offices, the paper tells us, were fitted up in 
 a style equal to that of any merchant's office ; while 
 the proprietor's residence — men lived over their shops 
 in those days — was convenient for a small family. In 
 the yard was stabling for eighty horses, with granaries, 
 lofts, harness-rooms, &c. ; while the stock consisted of 
 300 horses and several coaches — for proprietors, not 
 confining themselves to one road, horsed a number of 
 coaches over a given distance of ground. 
 
 Some idea of the magnitude to which stage-coaching 
 had attained can be gathered from an article published 
 in the Brighton Herald for the 8th of January 1824. 
 According to the writer, a person had fifteen hundred 
 
1 32 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 opportunities of leaving London every twenty-four 
 hours by stage-coaches, including the repeated trips 
 of the short coaches. Rather over than under three 
 hundred coaches passed Hyde Park daily, about forty 
 of which were running between London and Brighton 
 (this was a little under the mark) ; eighty-four coaches, 
 of which number forty ran daily, plied between London 
 and Birmingham ; sixteen out of nineteen ministered 
 daily to the wants of Chester ; seventy coaches, thirty- 
 four of which were daily ones, ran to Manchester ; 
 Liverpool claimed sixty, all but four running daily ; a 
 dozen went to Preston ; eighteen to York ; a dozen to 
 Hull ; half that number to Newcastle ; thirteen went 
 to Glasgow ; and thrice that number to Edinburgh ; 
 while distant Inverness could do with three coaches. 
 There was at that time, the writer ventured to think, 
 the most perfect public arrangement as regards travel- 
 ling ever carried out : it extended from Falmouth 
 throughout London to Thurso — in other words, a dis- 
 tance of 1082 miles. On the occasion of the meeting 
 of Parliament shortly before the article, of which the 
 foregoing is the substance, was published in the Herald, 
 one posting house at Barnet had sent no fewer than 
 fifty-four pairs of post-horses to Westminster ! 
 
Chapter IX. 
 
 FROM 1825 to 1829. 
 
 TjUlOM the foregoing pages it will be seen that the 
 uses of advertisement have in truth been very 
 many, and with the opening of the year 1825 I find 
 the Rev. T. Jessett, B.A., of the "Slinfold Parsonage 
 Boarding-School, near Horsham," availing himself of 
 the newspapers. Just before the conclusion of the 
 Christmas holidays he informed parents, through the 
 medium of the Sussex Advertiser, that the Comet, 
 from London to Bognor and Littlehampton, the In- 
 dependent, from Chichester to London, the Hero, from 
 Oxford to Brighton, and the Sovereign, from Oxford 
 to Brighton, passed through Slinfold daily. In those 
 days taking a boy to school was somewhat, of an un- 
 dertaking, involving a good deal of time and money 
 — Tom Brown's father took him no farther than the 
 Peacock Inn, Islington, whence he made the journey 
 to Rugby by himself. The Slinfold pedagogue did 
 well, therefore, in informing the parents of his 
 pupils, who might not have had a perfect acquaint- 
 ance with the pages of Paterson and Cary, from what 
 places there was direct coach accommodation to his 
 house. 
 
 On the main road between London and Brighton 
 a new opposition was started, and it is the second 
 mention to be found of a " company," as distinct 
 from the confederacy which commonly prevailed. It 
 had been talked about for some little time, and the 
 first step was taken on the 1 6th May 1825, on which 
 
 1 33 tP 
 
i34 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 clay the following advertisement appeared in the Sussex 
 Advertiser: — 
 
 " Wanted immediately, for a Company now forming, upwards of 
 300 horses. Any person having horses from 15 to 16 hands, with 
 good action, and suitable for post-coaches, and not exorbitant in 
 price, may find a ready sale and prompt payment by applying at 
 Dixon's Repository, Barbican, London." 
 
 On the 23rd of May there was another sign of the 
 awakening of the coaching business in the appearance 
 of another advertisement in the same journal, to the 
 effect that a hundred and fifty horses were needed for 
 the fast summer coaches then about to be put upon 
 the road. 
 
 Meantime, on the 19th May 1825, there appeared in 
 the Brighton Gazette the prospectus of " The General 
 Stage-Coach Company ; " and those who drew up the 
 document could never have dreamed of the huge con- 
 cern that was destined in later clays to come into exist- 
 ence under the similar title of the " London General 
 Omnibus Company." 
 
 By 1825 stage-coaching on the Brighton road, as on 
 other roads, was about entering on its final stage — that 
 is to say, driving had become a fine art ; horses were 
 good, the coach and its appointments perfect, pace 
 was accelerated, and both coachmen and guards were 
 superior to the men of ten or twenty years previously ; 
 yet, in the opinion of the promoters of the General 
 Stage-Coach Company, something more remained to 
 be done ; and, as the prospectus sets out possible 
 improvements, and gives a general view of coaching 
 arrangements usual at that date, it may be worth while 
 to reproduce it in extenso : — 
 
 "The necessity of better regulations for securing the comfort of 
 passengers by stage-coaches has long been a matter of observation 
 with all persons whose pleasure or occupation has compelled them to 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 135 
 
 t ravel ; therefore the idea of removing those inconveniences arising 
 from impositions on the road is not by any means a new one, but 
 claims merely the originality of reducing into practice the sugges- 
 tions which are common with every one, and which have so long 
 been urged in vain with the present coach proprietors. The inatten- 
 tion which is in all cases manifested towards any public or individual 
 complaint of neglect or abuse is so common, it can scarcely fail to 
 excite considerable surprise that men are so blind to their real 
 interest not to see that a perseverance in those illiberal measures 
 must sooner or later elicit that opposition to their progress which, 
 when once adopted, must either compel them to act properly and 
 justly by the public, or to forfeit their claim to support. A well- 
 turned voluntary liberality would have availed them, when, on the 
 contrary, a compulsory one will not. 
 
 "These men have assumed a high tone because individual opposi- 
 tion is too weak to affect them ; and knowing that they are sure of 
 custom when unopposed induces them to indulge the elevated hope 
 of maintaining it; but public opinion is against them, however much 
 they may disregard it. 
 
 " The levies which coachmen and guards are allowed to make, with 
 the sanction of the coach proprietors, upon passengers, to supply 
 the inefficiency of their wages, and the monstrous charges of them, 
 even in short journeys, has become a tax of very considerable magni- 
 tude, and has long called for the interposition of some measures 
 which would put a stop to so great a grievance. 
 
 " The shameful imposition, also, at the road inns, where the 
 coaches stop for refreshments, is intolerable — the charge is usually 
 heavy — the fare bad — the attendance deficient — punctuality seldom 
 observed — and as to comfort, it has almost become proverbial ' that 
 a man must not expect comfort in travelling.' Yet he pays more 
 than sufficient to ensure it. 
 
 "These, and other equally crying evils, have induced the pro- 
 prietors to establish a Public Company, to be called The General 
 Stage-Coach Company, the objects of which will be to remove all 
 the disagreeable consequences arising from the present scandalous 
 system : to pay the coachmen and guards full wages, and never 
 allow them, on any occasion, to receive money for civilities, which their 
 duty will command without — to continue the present rate of charges, 
 and not to increase the fare — whereby the money now spent upon 
 coachmen and guards will be saved to the passengers ; to provide 
 suitable places for refreshments, and to fix a moderate charge, 
 including ivaiters, so that any person travelling by the Company's 
 coaches may know to a fraction what money it will cost him to the 
 journey's end — to avoid delays on the road, by observing one regular 
 pace, equal to the present rate of travelling, and to prevent the 
 
136 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 necessity of galloping when time is lost ; from which latter circum- 
 stance much and serious danger is always to be apprehended. 
 
 " These are some of the advantages the public will derive from the 
 establishment of this Company ; and it must be manifest to every 
 one that such a plan will unquestionably ensure that public support 
 and patronage necessary to the profit of the concern, leaving no 
 doubt of the success which from such arrangements may be fairly 
 and reasonably expected. 
 
 " The Capital of the Company will be ^500,000, in shares of 
 ^50 each, the deposit required on each share being ^3. 
 
 "A Committee of Management being already formed, no time 
 will be lost in reducing this plan into practice ; and as the Company 
 must ensure quick return of capital, being entirely a ready-money 
 concern, the accounts will be made up quarterly, at which time the 
 dividends will be paid. 
 
 " It may be fairly expected, from the present influx of applications 
 for shares, that the lists will be entirely filled, and the Company 
 enabled to introduce coaches upon all the principal roads by the 1st 
 of July. 
 
 " The Committee having received various suggestions from several 
 highly respectable tradesmen, who are in the constant habit of receiv- 
 ing and forwarding packages and parcels by stage-coach conveyance, 
 have taken into consideration the adoption of a plan which will 
 operate as a powerful corrective to that liability of loss and delay 
 that at present exists. 
 
 " The Company will also ensure the safe delivery of bankers' remit- 
 tances at a less expensive rate than they now incur. In short, 
 every facility will be given to the public and the trade that is 
 within the pale of possibility. 
 
 " Applications for shares and other communications to be made, 
 without delay, to Messrs. Dickins & Davidson, 30 Queen Street, 
 Cheapside, Solicitors to the Company. Bankers : — Messrs. Frys & 
 Chapman, Mildred's Court, Poultry, and Sir Walter Stirling, Stirling, 
 & Hodson, Strand." 
 
 The coach-travelling public were no doubt a long- 
 suffering race ; and then, as now, folks hated the "fee 
 system." The advantages offered by this new company, 
 the promoters of which had probably felt the public 
 pulse, must have been awaited with infinite interest : 
 everything sounded so well — inclusive fares ; careful 
 coachmen, no loitering, no galloping ; comfort and 
 moderate charges at roadside inns ; civility ; and, above 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 137 
 
 all, no tips : surely the millennium was at hand. In 
 coaching, however, as in other matters, history repeats 
 itself; for in the Newcastle Chronicle for Saturday the 
 7th of January 1 786, there appeared a prospectus of 
 the Newcastle Post-Coach, which took three days to 
 go between London and Newcastle. The following is 
 an extract from the document in question : — 
 
 " The proprietors beg leave to acquaint the public that they have 
 provided several superintendents, one of whom will constantly attend 
 the coach in order to prevent the drivers from taking up inside or 
 outside passengers on their own account " (this was technically termed 
 shouldering), "stopping to drink, or otherwise loitering on the road. 
 The coach arrives in London early in the afternoon of the third clay 
 from Newcastle ; and, as the proprietors allow very genteel salaries 
 to their superintendents, they are neither to ask nor accept any 
 gratuity from passengers." 
 
 So here was a set against the fee system forty years 
 anterior to the starting of the new General Stage- 
 Coach Company. 
 
 Considering how well the Brighton papers had been 
 supported by the already existing coach proprietors, 
 it was rather bold of them to back up the prospectus 
 of the new company with the paragraph — 
 
 " Our readers will rejoice to find that the impositions to which 
 travellers have so long been subject are likely to be put a stop to 
 by the New Stage Company." 
 
 Competition, however, inures to the public advan- 
 tage ; and so, in a short time, an older-established firm 
 were to the front with a displayed advertisement, 
 headed with the stock woodcut of a coach-and-four, 
 the horses going at full speed, and the coach laden 
 with passengers. It announced " very superior travel- 
 ling to London in six hours from the Tally-Ho Coach 
 Office, 137 North Street." The Tally-Ho post-coach 
 started daily at six a.m., and the Eclipse at two p.m., 
 the destinations in London being the New White 
 
138 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Horse Cellar and Gloucester Hotels, Piccadilly ; the 
 Angel Inn, Islington ; and the Swan with Two Necks, 
 Lad Lane. Waterhouse & Co. were the proprietors 
 of these coaches. 
 
 The General Stage-Coach Company, having per- 
 fected their arrangements, despatched their first coach 
 to London on the 26th August 1825, and on the 
 1st September there was a grand advertisement, sur- 
 mounted by the now familiar woodcut of the coach- 
 and-four. 
 
 No Fees to Coachmen and Guards. 
 
 GENERAL 
 
 STAGE-COACH COMPANY. 
 
 Brighton to London in Six Hours. 
 
 The Company's New Elegant Post-Coach, carrying fonr inside and 
 ten out, leaves Mr. Wilkins's Booking Office, 
 
 No. 5 Castle Square, Brighton, 
 
 Every Morning at six o'clock precisely, Sundays excepted, to the 
 Axe Inn, Aldermanbury, London. 
 
 Fares 
 Inside, £1, is. Outside, 12s. od. 
 
 In case of incivility being experienced by the passengers travelling 
 by the Company's coaches from servants of the Company, it is 
 particularly requested that prompt notification will be given to the 
 Secretary, as it is the anxious desire of the Company to render all 
 the convenience to the public in their power ; they will therefore 
 feel obliged by any communication or suggestion which on any occa- 
 sion may be considered deserving of report. One regular pace is 
 observed, and no frivolous stoppages allowed on the road, whereby 
 the Company's coaches are enabled to keep the present fast rate of 
 travelling without the necessity of any galloping whatever. 
 
 By Order of the Board, 
 
 Clerke Burton, Secretary. 
 
 N.B. — Superior travelling by the Company's coaches to Bath and 
 Bristol, through Reading, Marlborough, Calne, &c, in fourteen 
 hours, every morning from the Axe Inn, Aldermanbury, at a quar- 
 ter-past six o'clock, and the Old White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, at 
 seven o'clock precisely. 
 
FEOM 1825 to 1829 139 
 
 For some time there had appeared in the Brighton 
 Gazette a series of papers headed " The Vampire," deal- 
 ing with various social topics, and No. 1 1 in the issue of 
 that journal for 1st December 1825 had stage-coaching 
 for its subject. It may not be a composition of the 
 highest class, but as an example of the " smart " writing 
 of the period, and as giving some idea of the surround- 
 ings of coaching at that time, some of it may be worth 
 transcribing, as, so far as I am aware, it has never been 
 reproduced : — 
 
 "Few persons, I believe, pass through Castle Square at the time 
 of the arrival of the Brighton coaches without stopping to give at 
 least a transient glance at the various kinds of luggage, animate 
 and inanimate, which these vehicles bring down from the metropolis. 
 
 " As for myself, T have so inveterate a curiosity to see what fresh 
 inhabitants are coming to increase our population, that even on 
 these cold afternoons I often take my station at the door of the Red 
 Coach-Office, where I stand shivering for half an hour on the faith 
 of a promise, renewed and broken every five minutes, that the stage 
 will arrive in a moment. 1 All this time, the reader must know, I 
 am speculating on the sentinels who pass to and fro upon the pave- 
 ment opposite, and saying to myself, ' Thank God ! I am not fool 
 enough to be a soldier.' 
 
 " There, then, I stand, without any real necessity, amidst a group 
 of habitual idlers" (of which "Vampire," from his own account, 
 frequently made one), "loungers, shopmen, waiters, and pastry-cooks' 
 boys, who jostle among the crowd, regardless of the burden on their 
 heads. On one side of me is a party of frolicsome children await- 
 ing the arrival of papa, and jumping about with cold and expectation. 
 On the other stands a long unformed gawkey, half- footman, balf- 
 shopboy, with his mouth gaping as though he would swallow the 
 parcel he is sent for. A low muttering kind of conversation is 
 kept up around me among the various figures who are awaiting 
 the arrival of their friends ; and it is only now and then that a false 
 alarm of ' Here it comes ' directs our excited attention to some 
 empty fly that rattles by us round the corner. Presently, however, 
 the real, long-expected vehicle arrives, and its approach is greeted 
 by a volley of nods and general discharge of smiles from my sur- 
 
 1 If " Vampire's " statement is true, it would appear that strict punctuality 
 was not observed, and that there was some ground for the assertion that 
 coachmen loitered by the way. 
 
Mo BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 rounding group, a salute which is returned from the top of the 
 stage, whilst I, expecting no one, and caring for nobody, remain 
 silent and unmoved amidst this universal rejoicing, like an old 
 spiked cannon on a battery. As soon as the wheels have given 
 their last turn and slide, the hubbub of voices begins, and the 
 passengers, rejoiced at having arrived at their journey's end, 
 descend from their travelling prison like the Grecian warriors from 
 the wooden horse of Troy. 
 
 "The first person I observe is a smirking young man in a white 
 greatcoat, with his neck enveloped in a gay worsted wrapper. He 
 is evidently pleased with something that has occurred during the 
 journey, and, as with a scornful anticipation " (disregard for, our 
 friend probably meant) " of the steps intended for ten lively passen- 
 gers, he flings himself out of the dickey to the great peril of the 
 spectators' heads below. I perceive this show of alacrity is in- 
 tended to fix himself in the good graces of a smart, painted, bold- 
 looking, but pretty woman about thirty, who discovers her profession 
 by her countenance and tight-fitting pelisse. Though not married, 
 she runs no risk of leading apes in hell. As her beau assists her 
 down the steps, I see she endures his attentions ; but her eyes are 
 still on the alert for any better game that may offer. I hear him 
 roaring for a fly, and storming about her luggage, and see him 
 fidgeting round her with all the awkward but conceited gallantry 
 of a young fool who wishes to pass for an experienced man of the 
 town. 
 
 "He in his vanity thinks her a conquest; and she considers him 
 a good take-in. She gets into a fly, and as she refuses his escort 
 to her intended lodgings, gives him an inviting glance and a card 
 through the window, whilst he remains looking as much like an 
 ass as his conceit will suffer him. But I must not neglect the rest 
 of the passengers. The next wdio gets down forms a pleasing 
 contrast to the above. It is a modest-looking young female, with 
 a little basket in one hand and a child in her arms, who, in spite 
 of the cold, has eaten itself fast asleep, and is dozing away with 
 the remains of a bun in its left hand. Two of the dickey passengers 
 have got down on the opposite side and escaped my notice, but the 
 sixth is slower in his motions ; he is a huge, fat man, whose bulk. 
 I can perceive, has completely protected those who sat on the same 
 side with him from suffering by jolts. He rises with a loud grunt, 
 gives himself a shake like a dog just out of the water, and proceeds 
 cautiously to let his enormous body down the side of the coach, 
 swaying about like a bale of merchandise dangling on a waiehouse 
 crane. Of the passengers who ride in front, I have only time to 
 notice one, a young man in a splendid cloth roquelaure, with a cigar 
 in his mouth, who, I conjecture from his look of importance, is 
 
FROM 1825 to 1S29 141 
 
 paying his first visit to Brighton. As soon as he touches the pave- 
 ment, he throws his eyes round hiui with a wild look of surprise, 
 and seems perfectly astonished that nobody mistakes him for a 
 great man. 
 
 " The first who gets out from the inside is a consequential yet 
 good-humoured merchant, who is soon recognised as papa by the 
 giddy little urchins I mentioned, who literally pull him down the 
 steps ; yet he stops when half way out, and turns to give a nod 
 to his travelling companions as he bids them good-day, and having 
 no luggage, is carried off in triumph by his children, who dance 
 down the street for pure joy. He is no sooner delivered from the 
 stage than a good-natured footman runs up with a warm cloak 
 to the coach-door, to welcome a substantial housekeeper who has 
 just come down, and who, half ashamed of her old acquaintance 
 in presence of the company inside, receives his hearty ' How d'ye 
 do, Mrs. Spicer,' with much dignity, and only replies by 'Oh! James, 
 my band-box is behind.' 
 
 " By this time the coachman is multiplying himself to answer all 
 the queries of his temporary family. With one eye on the waybill 
 and the other on the passengers, he turns about like a weathercock 
 in a variable wind, and seems to answer, 'Yes, ma'am,' and 'No, 
 sir,' at random, whilst his left hand is mechanically extended to 
 receive all donations, like a parish poor-box, or the prospectus of a 
 new institution. 
 
 " But now the noise begins to thicken whilst the passengers dis- 
 perse in as much confusion as the labourers of Babel. I can no longer 
 distinguish one thing from another, and, after jostling and hustling 
 with porters and portmanteaus, I leave the office, my ears ringing 
 with the sound of 'luggage,' 'square,' 'street,' 'hotel,' 'crescent,' 
 'porter,' 'No. 16,' 'wheelbarrow,' 'row of houses,' 'fly,' 'opposite 
 the Chain Pier,' 'shawl,' 'shoes,' ' pattens,' ' King's Head,' 'in my 
 bandbox.' " 
 
 Here, then, is a freely written, and possibly not too 
 coherent, account of the arrival at Brighton of a stage- 
 coach from London ; an incident which perhaps did 
 not materially differ from the arrival of the " Husband's 
 boat " at Margate, or of one of the modern fast trains 
 from London to Brighton. At any rate, the pickpocket 
 of the period made the coach-office the scene of his 
 happy hunting-ground. One gentleman, we are told, 
 was robbed, on alighting from an afternoon coach, of six 
 five-pound-notes, a sovereign, and several bills of ex- 
 
142 BEIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 change for a large amount, while another passenger was 
 robbed of cheques and notes of the value of about ^300. 
 
 Before passing on to the year 1826, mention may again 
 be made of the manner in which the common informer 
 harassed the coachmen and coach proprietors of the 
 time. In 1824, a man of the name of Johnson, an 
 informer by profession, carried on war against the 
 coaching fraternity under every discoverable head of the 
 Acts of Parliament by which stage-coach travelling was 
 governed. 1 Johnson had had in his service one Byers, 
 who, leaving his former employer, appears to have 
 himself become a master-informer, and in the month of 
 August 1825 laid informations against several persons, 
 including a Mr. Selby, owner of a coach, and the bearer 
 of a name destined in later times to become famous on 
 the Brighton road. The information charged Selby 
 with having carried more passengers than were allowed 
 by the Act. 
 
 It was doubtless a wise proceeding on the part of 
 the Legislature to limit the number of persons to be 
 carried on a coach. The proprietors had their living to 
 make, and would naturally have carried as many pas- 
 sengers as they could crowd on and into their vehicles, 
 with the result that the strength of axles, springs, and 
 the stability generally of the coaches might have been 
 overtaxed, and, when anything did break, a preventible 
 accident of a more or less serious nature was the result. 
 For example, the Brighton Herald for the 30th June 
 1 8 10 relates how an accident overtook Waldegrave's 
 accommodation coach while proceeding to London 
 heavily loaded. " The hind-wheels," says the report, 
 " were suddenly crushed by the load, and the coach 
 overturned near Brixton Causeway." In this case the 
 deus ex machind was a corn-waggon which chanced to 
 
 1 Some of these are mentioned at pp. 24 to 29. 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 143 
 
 be passing at the time, and on to it were pitched the bulk 
 of the passengers. One gentleman, however, had his 
 thigh broken, and contusions were " evenly distributed." 
 Moreover, there was the question of cruelty to horses, 
 and Parliament would appear not to have been unmind- 
 ful of this, inasmuch as fewer passengers were allowed on 
 a pair-horse coach than on one drawn by four horses. 1 
 
 To return, however, to the case of " Byers v. Selby." 
 A witness for Byers, who appears to have combined the 
 calling of a journeyman informer with the keeping of 
 " a respectable shop at ^40 a year near London," stated 
 that on the 28th July (1825) he saw a London stage- 
 coach drawn by two horses at Pyecombe, with eight 
 passengers on the outside. Selby's name was not painted 
 on the coach-door, and the coach was not one of those 
 exempted by Act of Parliament. 
 
 As is not unusual in the present day, an attempt was 
 made to drag in irrelevant evidence, which the magis- 
 trates, to their credit, at once refused to admit. The 
 coachman proposed to produce his waybill to show the 
 number of passengers booked, and therefore presumably 
 carried ; but the Byers party retorted that the waybill 
 would show only the number of passengers booked, 
 and not the actual number travelling, for the coachman 
 might have picked up one or more passengers on his 
 own account, without putting them in the waybill at 
 all ; and Byers also contended that the coachman was 
 an incompetent witness, on the further ground that, if 
 it should ultimately appear that he had taken more 
 passengers than he had accounted for to his master, he 
 was liable to be imprisoned for three months, and was 
 therefore an interested party in the case. The coach- 
 man's contention was that he had booked no more than 
 seven passengers and a boy under seven years of age, 
 
 See ante, p. 27. 
 
144 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 who would not have counted as a full passenger ; he 
 further averred that he carried no one who did not ap- 
 pear on the waybill, unless one of the informers jumped 
 up unknown to him. The Bench, however, came to 
 the conclusion that an attempt had been made on the 
 part of Selby to impose on them ; they therefore re- 
 jected the evidence of the coachman, and convicted 
 Selby in the mitigated penalty of ^5 and 16s. costs. 
 
 Having thus vanquished Selby, Byers betook him- 
 self to Bath, where, during the first fortnight of Nov- 
 ember (1825), he laid no fewer than thirty-four infor- 
 mations involving penalties, says the Brighton Gazette 
 for the 17th November 1825, amounting to nearly 
 ^500 besides costs. This would mean penalties aver- 
 aging about £14. in each case ! 
 
 Whether Byers, in seeking for more worlds to con- 
 quer, went to Bristol and thence to Oxford, or whether 
 there were in Bristol some who adopted the calling on 
 account of its returns, I know not ; but a few months 
 later a couple of informers began business in Oxford, 
 and laid a number of informations against coach pro- 
 prietors for carrying, during an election which had just 
 taken place, more than the legal number of passengers. 
 On the day appointed for the hearing of the case the 
 informers were not present in court ; but their absence 
 was satisfactorily explained. On their way to the Hall 
 they had been interrupted by some patriotic coachmen, 
 who, roused to indignation at the number of informa- 
 tions laid against their employers, endeavoured to secure 
 the informers, and they, on realising the turn things 
 had taken, incontinently bolted. Thereupon ensued a 
 chase, and as the spirit of sport was ever strong in 
 Oxford, men, women, and children joined in the hunt ; 
 and this mixed pack, in due time, ran down the infor- 
 mers. " They were then brushed down by a chimney- 
 sweep," says the report, " and afterwards well ducked 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 145 
 
 in the river." After this course of treatment, one is 
 not surprised to learn that " they started for Bristol, 
 and have not since been heard of." Possibly the Mr. 
 " Four-in-hand Fosbroke" of the period contributed his 
 share towards running down the informers. 
 
 Something will be said later on concerning the 
 profits and losses of coach-owning ; but the penalties 
 which were continually being inflicted, as the result 
 of informations laid, must have made appreciable en- 
 croachments on the profits ; and to the penalties must 
 be added the compensation paid to passengers. Only 
 a few months before the Oxford episode a servant-girl 
 brought an action against Sanderson & Co., pro- 
 prietors of a Brighton coach, and was awarded ^"400 
 by a sympathetic jury as a solatium for a broken arm, 
 and other injuries, sustained by the overturning of the 
 coach. It is not for a moment suggested that the 
 compensation was excessive ; the sum is merely men- 
 tioned by way of showing to what reductions the 
 profits of coach proprietors were liable. 
 
 So early as the year 1825, the idea had come over 
 the coaching world that it might, in the future, be 
 threatened with a serious opposition in the form of 
 railways ; but a certain Mr. Wightman did his best to 
 allay these fears by publishing a pamphlet in which he 
 was bold enough to state that the velocity attained by 
 the locomotive could not exceed one half of that of the 
 best stage-coaches. "A complete illusion prevails," 
 he wrote, " as to the possible speed of trains," and he 
 warned his readers that all money expended in rail- 
 ways would be thrown away. What would the worthy 
 Wightman have said to the "Flying Dutchman," the 
 "Zulu," and the "Flying Scotchman," not to mention 
 the unnamed express trains on the London and 
 Brighton and other lines ? 
 
 It was in the year 1826 that the Cliff roadway between 
 
 K 
 
146 BEIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 East Street and the western extremity of the town was 
 first called King's Road. On reference to Gary's " New 
 Itinerary," the coaches enumerated in the table on page 
 
 147 appear to have run between London and Brighton. 
 From this and former tables it is shown that several 
 
 of the coaches called at more than one office ; and there 
 were thirty-one opportunities of booking from London 
 to Brighton. The number of coaches was eighteen; 
 there are seventeen names in the list ; but there was 
 a Times both morning and afternoon. The number 
 shows a falling off from previous years ; but the ex- 
 planation probably is that the list is incomplete by 
 reason of its including but one summer coach in lieu 
 of the many which were put on the road during what 
 was then the season. The most notable absentees, 
 however, are the coaches belonging to the General 
 Stage-Coach Company, of which mention has already 
 been made. So far as I have been able to ascertain, 
 its first advertisement was its last ; and we hear 
 nothing more about the company, which probably died 
 an easy death. 
 
 From Mr. Cary's list we miss the Monarch, which 
 may have been given up at the beginning of March 
 1826. Thirty horses which had been working in that 
 coach were sold at Tattersall's, at an average price 
 of £37, 2s. 8d. In these days of high-priced coach- 
 horses, it may not be uninteresting to note that a 
 brown gelding, which had been bought during the 
 previous summer for thirty-five guineas at Aldridge's, 
 now realised ninety-five guineas ; a piebald brought 
 seventy-six guineas, and a chestnut seventy guineas. 
 These, however, were the flowers of the flock ; there 
 must have been some very cheap ones amongst the 
 remainder. Nor does the usually accurate Cary make 
 any mention of the Eclipse, which we hear about 
 in the summer in consequence of an accident which 
 
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148 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 overtook it. The coach had just arrived in Castle 
 Square from London ; and at the end of a journey, the 
 late Mr. Birch Reynardson tells us, the coach-horses of 
 old were not likely to " move on," after having done 
 their ten miles an hour. The horses of the Eclipse, 
 however, seem to have been the exceptions which 
 proved the rule, as, in spite of the man at their heads, 
 they suddenly started off towards the Steine ; and the 
 man having prevented them from turning the corner, 
 the leaders jumped the railing opposite the Club-House. 
 One of them fell, and the other further complicated 
 matters by turning back through the opening left for 
 foot-passengers. Luckily, however, the wheel-horses 
 were amenable to control, and, in spite of the presence 
 of a big heap of stones, the coach was not overturned. 
 In connection with accidents, W. Akehurst, saddler, 
 125 St. James's Street (till a few years ago, there was 
 a saddler of the same name on the King's Road at the 
 corner of Black Lion Street), notified that after a busi- 
 ness experience of over twenty years, he offered his 
 newly invented bit to the public. " It united," said 
 the advertisement, "simplicity and power," and "with its 
 assistance the most timid rider may, in perfect security, 
 mount the hardest mouthed horse with the conviction 
 of being able at pleasure to stop it." On reading this, 
 one can only regret that, like the recipe for the trans- 
 parent amber varnish on the Cremonese violins, Mr. 
 Akehurst's valuable patent should have been suffered 
 to drop out of knowledge. There have, however, 
 been a good many patent bits since then, and still we 
 cannot always hold our horses. Mr. Akehurst further 
 informed his customers that his bit differed from all 
 others, inasmuch as it did not hurt the horse's mouth, 
 as all other patent bits did ; and was consequently 
 recommended both for harness work, or as a bit for a 
 lady's horse, as not half the usual exertion was needed. 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 149 
 
 About this time we hear a good deal more about 
 safety coaches, an innovation which was later on not 
 a little condemned by some writers on coaching in the 
 Sporting Magazine. However, the Leeds Intelligencer 
 notified that a Leeds man had invented a " stage- 
 coach prop." In somewhat dubious phraseology it was 
 reported to be self-acting, and could be made to work 
 at the bidding of coachman or guard. The details are 
 not particularly clear, but it would seem as though 
 the invention consisted of an iron stay beneath the 
 coach, and when the vehicle leaned over, the prop 
 would come out, and force the coach back into her 
 proper position again ; while, if a wheel came off, or 
 an axle broke, the prop was expected to keep the 
 concern right side up. 
 
 Taking a jump from North to South, we find the 
 Sussex press taking notice of an " improvement," rather 
 than an invention, which had been introduced on the 
 Brighton road. Than this particular " improvement," 
 few are said to have excited more curiosity than the 
 new coach introduced by Messrs. Waterhouse & Co. 
 It was built on the lines of the German coaches, and 
 was the only one of the kind in use in England. " In 
 appearance it is heavy," said a critic, "but it runs very 
 light ; and a peculiar advantage belonging to it is that 
 the outside passengers are, by means of an aivning, 
 protected from the weather." Modern coachmen are 
 chaffed enough, goodness knows, by those stern critics, 
 the old school, about the absence of luggage from their 
 coaches, the patent brake, pulling up with two hands, 
 &c. ; but they have so far kept the awning off the 
 coach-top. We can well believe the statement in the 
 Sussex papers that " among the modern improve- 
 ments in travelling, few perhaps have excited more 
 curiosity" than this new concern of Messrs. Water- 
 house & Co. 
 
iSo BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Mention has just been made of an accident which 
 happened to the Eclipse coach through not having two 
 men to mind the horses, and another coach nearly came 
 to grief from the same cause. The coachman had 
 driven in from London, and on getting down left the 
 horses in charge of a boy. A butcher's cart, coming 
 by in that happy-go-lucky style which is frequently 
 characteristic of those affairs, frightened the horses, 
 which started off at full gallop down North and East 
 Streets. Luckily, however, the ends of the reins were 
 flying loose, and an active pedestrian getting hold of 
 them, he managed to bring the horses to a standstill. 
 A little while before, the Magnet horses ran away — 
 one porter only was left to look after the four horses 
 — through some one cracking a whip close to them. 
 Before they had gone very far, one of them fortunately 
 fell, a circumstance which enabled the bystanders to 
 secure the others. In this instance some ladies were 
 in the coach, but, though frightened, they were not 
 hurt. These mishaps, and many others which are not 
 worth mentioning, occurred after the horses had done 
 their stage into Brighton, by which time, one would 
 think, they would not have been averse to standing 
 still, especially as some of the coaches ran from Cuck- 
 field to Brighton, fourteen miles, having changed 
 horses at the King's Head. 
 
 Per contra, the mail very nearly came to grief soon 
 after starting (April 1827). As she was leaving the 
 town, the leaders got the better of the coachman, and, 
 dashing out of the road, just as they reached the corner 
 of Gloucester Place, ran against the wall with such 
 violence as to knock down a few yards of it as well as 
 the railing on the top. They do not, however, appear 
 to have done themselves any very great injury, as the 
 mail proceeded on her way to London without the 
 light-hearted leaders being changed. Less fortunate, 
 
FROM 1825 to 1S29 151 
 
 however, than the Brighton mail was the Patriot, 
 which ran from the Bolt-in-Tun, Fleet Street, as on 
 reaching- Patcham, on her way to Brighton, she collided 
 with a cart and capsized. One gentleman had his leg- 
 broken ; but the other passengers got off with only 
 slight injuries. Shortly after this, the proprietor of the 
 Patriot adopted Cooke's " protection reins," an innova- 
 tion which caused the coach to be watched with interest. 
 
 Although stage-coaching had now, as it had been 
 for some time past, worked so systematically, it was 
 deemed expedient every now and then to insert adver- 
 tisements for the information of the travelling public. 
 Accordingly we find it announced that "light and fast 
 coaches, conducted upon the most improved system, 
 leave the Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street ; and Spread 
 Eagle Office, Webb's Hotel, 220 Piccadilly, connected 
 with Snow & Co.'s Brighton Office, at seven and a 
 quarter to ten in the morning, and at a quarter before 
 three in the afternoon." The fares, too, as we shall see, 
 were constantly undergoing revision ; and in January 
 1827, the Comet safety coach, which ran from the 
 Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street, to 1 8 Castle Square, 
 at the corner of the Steine, reduced its fares to 16s. 
 inside and 8s. out. By the modern Comet — that which 
 runs now — the inside passenger pays less than he who 
 goes outside. When the Comet and the Old Times 
 were both running to and from Brighton, the fare by the 
 former was 10s. and by the latter 15s.; but from the 
 very beginning fares have varied : I think 25s. was the 
 most ever asked ; while in the heat of the opposition 
 5s. was often accepted, and sometimes passengers were 
 carried for nothing, to keep them off the other vehicles. 
 
 These advertisements were doubtless rendered neces- 
 sary by the fact that, at any rate on the Brighton road, 
 the coaches occasionally changed their London starting- 
 places ; the booking-places changed hands, and were 
 
i52 BRIGHTON" AND ITS COACHES 
 
 put to other uses ; while coaches were from time to 
 time given up, and new ones were started. 
 
 For example, Messrs. Crosweller & Co., proprietors of 
 the Blue coaches and Blue Coach-Office,begged to inform 
 the public (September 1827) that a "safety and commo- 
 dious post-coach, called the ' Rocket'" — a new addition 
 to the list — would leave the Blue Office every day, except 
 Sunday, for London, at one o'clock. The True Blue ran 
 from the same place at nine o'clock ; the Royal George 
 (a safety coach) at eleven ; and the Royal Mail at 
 half-past ten at night. The latter, by the way, appears 
 to have been accelerated, for whereas she was eight 
 hours on the road when Cary compiled his list in 1826, 
 she was now advertised to do the journey in six hours. 
 
 To most of the coach advertisements was appended 
 a notice stating that the proprietor would not be 
 answerable for any parcels or packages containing 
 goods above the value of five pounds, unless entered 
 as such, and paid for accordingly. In early times it 
 was found expedient to make common carriers insurers 
 of the goods intrusted to them : they were bound to 
 deliver the goods safely and in as good condition as 
 when they received them. But for this, losses would have 
 been more frequent than they were, through careless- 
 ness on the part of the carrier, or collusion with thieves. 
 But in course of time special contracts, which had the 
 effect of limiting a carrier's liability, came into use, 
 and in his book on "Bailments" Mr. Justice Story 
 said, " The right of making such qualified acceptances 
 by common carriers seems to have been asserted in 
 early times." This license not unnaturally led to rail- 
 way and other carriers unduly restricting their liability, 
 and to remedy the hardships thus occasioned the Rail- 
 way and Canal Traffic Act became law in 1854. 
 
 The limiting of their liability on the part of the 
 coach proprietors was one of these qualified accept- 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 153 
 
 ances ; and even though they fixed their liability at five 
 pounds, unless the excess value were declared and in- 
 sured, proprietors must have paid a large sum by way 
 of compensation in the course of a year. In November 
 1826 the London and Brighton mail was robbed of 
 several parcels which had very carelessly been placed 
 in the pockets inside the coach-door. There was no 
 inside passenger, but it subsequently transpired that a 
 fellow got in at the Plare and Hounds unknown to 
 the coachman, and got out some distance up the road 
 while the coach was bowling along at the rate of about 
 nine miles an hour. The coachman heard the door 
 shut, but saw no one. About twelve months later the 
 Dart coach was robbed in the most barefaced manner 
 one November afternoon. Two suspicious-looking 
 fellows were observed to be following the coach for 
 some distance in a dark-coloured chaise. On reaching 
 some cross-roads the chaise turned off, and just after- 
 wards, when the coach was a few miles from Reigate, the 
 property was missed from the hind-boot ; but how the 
 two suspicious-looking fellows could have abstracted 
 the parcels without being observed was probably as 
 great a mystery to the Dart people as it is to us who 
 read the account of the theft. 
 
 Reference was made just now to the starting of a 
 new coach, the Rocket ; but starting and stopping were 
 always going on in the coaching world, and by way 
 of compensation, one of the Brighton coaches, the 
 name of which is not stated, was given up, in conse- 
 quence of the proprietor, Mr. Cooper, retiring from 
 the coach business. Eighteen horses (from the number 
 we may gather that he, according to the usual custom, 
 horsed the coach for a portion of the distance only), 
 together with the harness, clothing, &c, were sold, in 
 October 1827, at Aldridge's, then in the hands of Mr. 
 Morris. 
 
i54 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Coaching-houses, too, were often in the market. 
 An inn bearing the euphonious name of " The Leg of 
 Mutton and Cauliflower," at Ashstead, eighteen miles 
 from London, and on the turnpike road from Epsom to 
 Dorking, Horsham, Worthing, Bognor, Chichester, &c, 
 did not long want a buyer, more particularly as some of 
 the coaches changed horses there, and there was a 
 flourishing posting business attached to the house. 
 The George Inn, at Henfield, too, had to be sold, owing 
 to the bankruptcy of Mr. Richard Pattenden, formerly 
 in the coach business at Brighton. This commercial 
 failure also necessitated the sale of a miscellaneous 
 collection of jobmaster's effects, including a hearse and 
 mourning-coach "with velvets," &c. The unfortunate 
 Pattenden also seems to have kept the New Inn, 
 Brighton, one of the earliest of the Brighton coaching 
 inns. 1 
 
 Then some one who had too many irons in the fire 
 to attend to coaching, advertised " an excellent stage- 
 coach in good running order, for sale, without reserve, 
 'price forty guineas," and the Old Bed Coach-Office in 
 North Street was to be let. 
 
 In the summer of 1827 the ubiquitous and iniqui- 
 tous informer, Byers, once more visited Brighton. He 
 caused to be laid a whole batch of informations through 
 his journeyman, Aaron Holland. 
 
 The first information was laid against William 
 Blunden, a van proprietor, for omitting to have painted 
 on his van the number of passengers he was authorised 
 to carry, as directed by 44 George III. c. 98, s. 3. The 
 full penalty for this heinous offence was ^20, and it 
 would appear that for some time after the passing of 
 the Act the magistrates had no power to mitigate it ; 
 but happily for Blunden's pocket, the disparity between 
 
 1 See p. 59. 
 
FEOM 1825 to 1829 155 
 
 the crime and its punishment struck the Legislature, 
 and shortly before Byers laid this information a statute 
 was passed giving the magistrates power to mitigate 
 the penalty to one-fourth, which they did in this case ; 
 and as one half of the penalty went to the informer, 
 Byers got fifty shillings and his costs. 
 
 Byers next had an unsuccessful shot against Mr. 
 Crosweller, the coach proprietor, for driving against a 
 gentleman on horseback. A third case against Mr. 
 Osborne, for carrying more than his proper number of 
 passengers on a pair-horse coach, resulted in a fine of 
 ^10 and costs; but Byers was defeated by Mr. Snow, 
 the coach proprietor, against whom he laid an informa- 
 tion for carrying too many passengers. It turned out, 
 however, that the coach was not carrying passengers 
 for hire, but was on its way to a funeral. 
 
 During the hearing of one of the preceding cases, 
 Sir David Scott, the chairman of the bench, told Byers 
 that they had no particular leaning towards him, a 
 sentiment in which a crowded court doubtless shared ; 
 and on the 9th August the Brighton coaching fraternity 
 must have experienced a feeling of intense delight on 
 reading in their Brighton Gazette a paragraph taken 
 from the Hampshire Chronicle to the effect that Byers 
 had been labouring in his vocation here — no place 
 named, but probably it was Southampton. On enter- 
 ing the office to proceed with some of his cases, he 
 was arrested for debt by the sheriff's officer, and lodged 
 in gaol, where, if the prayers of his victims could have 
 availed aught, he would probably have remained till 
 he died. 
 
 The arch-informer, however, contrived to get his 
 liberty again, and made his appearance on his favourite 
 hunting-ground, Brighton, in November 1827, where 
 he lost no time in laying an information against Mr. 
 Cripps, a stage-coach proprietor, for having on the rail 
 
iS6 BRIGHTON AX1) ITS COACHES 
 
 of the Brighton coach a name which was not included 
 in the license. This case possesses a certain amount 
 of interest, because in it we hear for the first time 
 of Mr. Henry Stevenson, destined in a short time 
 to become famous as the proprietor of the Coronet 
 and the Age. In fact, it was Mr. Stevenson's name 
 which was on the coach, and not in the license ; but 
 Mr. Stevenson was the coachman, and the proprietors, 
 Messrs. Cripps & Wilkins, imagined that, by putting 
 up the name of the "Cambridge graduate" as one of 
 the proprietors, it would bring increased patronage. 
 Whether this coach was the Coronet or not, I have 
 been unable to find out. In the result, Mr. Cripps 
 had to pay £5 and costs. 
 
 The truth of the saying that a converted poacher 
 can, if he choose, be a good gamekeeper, was not 
 inaptly illustrated by one of Byers's "journeymen" 
 leaving his service and setting up on his own account 
 as a coachman's " lawyer." He was naturally up to 
 every wrinkle, and it must have been a proud moment 
 for him when he defeated no less a person than Byers 
 himself at one of the London police-offices. 
 
 In the papers of January 1828 we learn something 
 of the fun of coach -travelling in winter. The new 
 year was ushered in by heavy downfalls of rain ; and 
 in the lower-lying districts the floods were productive 
 of considerable inconvenience, as the coaches had to 
 travel through water nearly the whole of the way from 
 Brighton to Patcham : in some places the water was 
 axle-deep. One of the coaches stuck fast in the water 
 and soft soil, so extra horses had to be sent for. 
 Then ensued a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull 
 altogether ; but the net result was the breakage of the 
 pole. After a while the waters subsided, and snow fell 
 so heavily as seriously to interfere with the London and 
 Brighton traffic ; but when the snow vanished, the roads 
 
FROM 1S25 to 1829 157 
 
 were so heavy that the coach-horses were very much 
 distressed. These were the good old days, which no 
 doubt possessed greater attractions for amateur coach- 
 men than for the mere passenger. 
 
 Steam, which in a few years was to annihilate stage- 
 coaching, an industry which arrived at perfection in so 
 comparatively short a time, and fell away even more 
 rapidly, appears by this time (1828) to have offered a 
 little mild opposition to coaching. The following para- 
 graph, which was no doubt funny to those conversant 
 with the facts of the case, appeared in the Brighton 
 Gazette for the 17th January 1828 : — 
 
 " The coachinasters are resolved not to be outdone by the steamers, 
 and a Brighton Company have started a new coach, that can do any- 
 thing almost but hold a conversation with the passengers. A full 
 gallop down a hill is to be as safe as to walk up it. By the turn of 
 a screw all the horses can be put in strait-ioaistcoats in a moment ; 
 the wheels take up a contrary revolution, and intersect the line of 
 progress." 
 
 On the other hand, there were rumours of the success 
 which had been attained by Burstall & Hill's steam- 
 carriage. The London Weekly Review gave currency 
 to the report that the patentees had made arrangements 
 for running one of these steam-carriages on the Brighton 
 road ; but suggested that it might be better policy to run, 
 in the first instance, a steam-caravan for goods, by way 
 of experiment, to Brighton or Bath. 
 
 The west end of Brighton was beginning to grow 
 about this time, so by June 1828 some coaches were 
 arranged to run from London direct to that quarter of 
 the town ; but the old places were still houses of call. 
 In addition to the mail, the True Blue, the Royal 
 George (via Balcombe), and Rocket, already noticed, 
 an elegant fast post-coach was put on to run between 
 the Blue Coach - Office, Brighton, and Sanderson's 
 Hotel, Oxford Street, and Hatchett's Hotel, Piccadilly, 
 
158 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 leaving Brighton at six o'clock, and several other new 
 coaches, the names of which are not given, were 
 announced as having been put on the road ; while a 
 still further increase in the number was expected. 
 
 One of the new ventures — it ran for the first time 
 on Sunday, 27th July 1828 — was a night-coach to 
 London, leaving the Red Coach-Office, 10 Castle 
 Square (it had been moved from North Street), and 
 the Spread Eagle Coach-Office, 18 Castle Square, at 
 10 p.m., for the Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street, and 
 some of the West End booking-offices, returning from 
 town each night at ten o'clock. Seven hours was the 
 time allowed on the journey, and Snow, Chaplin, 
 Hume, & Goodman were the proprietors. 
 
 The Morning Herald, in one of its November issues 
 — it copies, by the way, from the Sporting Magazine — 
 says that during the summer and autumn of 1828 no 
 fewer than forty-two coaches left Brighton daily for 
 London, and as many down. This is evidently a mis- 
 statement, as the number was twenty-one each way ; 
 and the newspaper goes on to state that of these 
 sixteen run all the year round, and that calculation 
 assumes that twenty-six extra coaches ran each way 
 during the season months. The Morning Herald 
 then proceeds to state that " to pay anything like their 
 expenses up and down, each of them must earn £\o 
 a day, which gives an amount of ^"100,000 per annum 
 spent in coach travelling on that one road, the best and 
 most profitable, perhaps, for its length in England." 
 
 It used to be said, in the olden days, that a coach 
 could be run at a profit if she earned £5 per double 
 mile per month. The distances between London and 
 Brighton were measured from Westminster Bridge ; so 
 if we say fifty-three miles thence to Brighton, and 
 allow two extra miles for reaching the different book- 
 ing-offices, we have a total of fifty-five miles. The 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 159 
 
 phase " double mile " meant a mile each side of the 
 road, i.e., up and down; or, in other words, a coach 
 paid if she earned £5 per mile one way only, leaving 
 the other journey to be paid for out of that sum. At 
 this estimate each Brighton coach must have earned 
 ^"275 per month; but "Viator Junior," the Sporting 
 Magazine writer, puts down the expenses at ^"10 per 
 day ; and as they did things rather grandly on this 
 road, his calculation was doubtless correct. 
 
 However, a ruinous opposition set in, and proprietors, 
 in their thirst for patronage, would carry passengers 
 almost at the latter's own figure. During the heat of 
 the contest, the fares, with very few exceptions, were 
 five shillings from Brighton to London, and seven 
 shillings from London to Brighton, an index that even 
 at that time, as is the case now, there was a greater 
 demand for seats one way than the other, though it is 
 not easy to understand why this should have been the 
 case when there was no railway. Such, however, was 
 the fact ; and three sets of proprietors were losing 
 respectively £50, ^"60, and £yo per week ; while a few 
 others galloped straight iuto the Bankruptcy Court. 
 Then came an honourable truce, and the fares were 
 raised to the level of twelve shillings outside and a 
 guinea inside. 
 
 On reference to the Sporting Magazine for 1828, one 
 is able to gather more of the gossip of the road than it 
 is possible to collect from newspaper authority, so I 
 make no apology for giving the pith of three papers 
 contributed by "Viator Junior" to the above-named 
 publication. This somewhat outspoken critic 1 ranked 
 Goodman's Times and Regent as amongst the best- 
 horsed coaches on the road ; while Goodman himself, 
 who drove one of the Times coaches, is not considered 
 
 1 See, too, pages 161 and 170. 
 
160 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 to be a very great artist ; but Moseley, who drove the 
 midday Times, was thought well of. Gray, too, on the 
 Regent, satisfied " Viator Junior." It is, however, 
 for Robert Snow that the highest compliments are re- 
 served. He was spoken of as a brilliant coachman, 
 and with more knowledge of driving in his little finger 
 than his brother William had in his whole body. 
 
 George Sheward, it appears, was interested in both 
 the Magnet and the Age ; and he was pretty sharply 
 called over the coals for letting one of his best coach- 
 men, young Cook, slip away to the Regulator. We 
 have always been so accustomed to hear the Age spoken 
 of as the beau-ideal of a stage-coach, that it is at first 
 something of a shock to hear it spoken of as a " flash 
 concern," and Corinthian in its tout ensemble. Yet 
 when we recollect that the horses wore fanciful pad 
 cloths and elaborate silver-plated harness, and that a 
 servant played the part of guard, and handed round 
 sandwiches and sherry gratis, Viator's description may 
 well be true enough. As a light coachman, however, 
 Mr. Stevenson is admitted to be very good ; "he beats 
 nineteen out of twenty of the regular working drags- 
 men into fits," was the verdict passed on him ; yet 
 he could not at this time have been more than about 
 twenty-three years old. Charles Newman, who drove 
 Genn's coach, is damned with faint praise ; but Bris- 
 tow, Hind's partner, satisfied our critic, who was also 
 pleased to speak well of Crosweller's coaches. 
 
 There were a couple of pair-horse coaches on the 
 road at this time, the Hero and the Royal Exchange. 
 "I have never thought it worth while to inquire the 
 names of these pair-horse performers," wrote " Viator 
 Junior ; " " but I believe that one Carter has some- 
 thing to do with the driving of the Hero." This is 
 quite correct ; but " one Carter " — whose Christian 
 name, by the way, was Philip — drove two horses so well, 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 161 
 
 that Mr. Robert Nelson thought he might with practice 
 drive four. Accordingly he put him under one of his 
 best coachmen, and about six weeks later young Philip 
 Carter was sent out of London with the Courier, a 
 Yorkshire coach. Then he was changed on to the 
 Stroudwater Mail, which he drove as far as Bensington, 
 in Oxfordshire, and eventually Carter drove the Red 
 Rover, between London and Brighton. This " one 
 Carter" was none other than Philip or "Tim" Carter, 
 who died in March of the present year (1893), at the 
 ripe old age of eighty-eight ; and if he was given to the 
 idea that there were few, if any, coachmen as good as he 
 was, he certainly had some ground for his opinion, for 
 he was by common consent one of the best men that 
 ever mounted a box. The late Mr. Samuel Sidney 
 called him the " standing counsel " to the rising genera- 
 tion of coachmen. 
 
 To the above may be added a story told by " Viator 
 Junior," who professed to have been present at the 
 time. "As James Pickett was starting with his 'Union' 
 (a safety coach) out of Holborn, up comes a fussy old 
 citizen, puffing and blowing like a grampus. ' Pray, 
 coachman, is this here the patriotic Life-Preserver 
 Safety Coach ? ' ' Yes, sir,' says Pickett, not hearing 
 above half of his passenger's question. ' Room behind, 
 sir ; jump up, if you please ; very late this morning.' 
 ' Why, where's the machinery ? ' said the old one. 
 'There, sir,' replied a passenger (a young Cantab, I 
 suspect), pointing to a heavy trunk of mine that was 
 swung underneath. ' In that box, sir, that's where the 
 machinery works.' ' Ah ! ' quoth the old man, climb- 
 ing up quite satisfied, ' wonderful inventions nowadays. 
 We shall all get safe to Brighton, not having an acci- 
 dent by this coach.' ' This makes a very good story, 
 but it is suspiciously like one or two more told at an 
 anterior date. 
 
 L 
 
162 
 
 BKIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 The accompanying table of the coaches running from 
 Brighton is extracted from the Sporting Magazine for 
 1828:— 
 
 Names. 
 
 Offices. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Dragsmen. 
 
 Dart 
 
 18 Castle Square. 
 
 6.0 a.m. 
 
 Bob Snow, up and down. 
 
 Item 
 
 Blue Coach Office. 
 
 6.0 , 
 
 > 
 
 Mellish, 
 
 New Times 
 
 Goodman's, Castle Sq. 
 
 7.0 , 
 
 J 
 
 Sam. Goodman, ,, 
 
 Royal Exchange 
 
 Beehive, Castle Square. 
 
 7.0 
 
 j 
 
 ■ • . 
 
 Royal Clarence 
 
 Goodman's, 52 East St. 
 
 9.0 , 
 
 » 
 
 The. Holmes and son. 
 
 Alert 
 
 >j 11 
 
 9.0 , 
 
 ) 
 
 Hine and Bristow. 
 
 Regulator. 
 
 Beehive, Castle Square. 
 
 9-30 
 
 j 
 
 Young Cook and Adams. 
 
 Comet 
 
 18 Castle Square. 
 
 10.0 
 
 ) 
 
 Clary and Jordan. 
 
 Patriot 
 
 7 Castle Square. 
 
 10.0 
 
 5 
 
 Harding. 
 
 Magnet 
 
 5 Castle Square. 
 
 10.0 
 
 ■ ! 
 
 Womack and Young 
 Callow. 
 
 Regent 
 
 Goodman's, Castle Sq. 
 
 1 0.0 , 
 
 ■ I 
 
 Cray and Goodman's 
 brother. 
 
 True Blue. 
 
 Blue Office. 
 
 1 0.0 
 
 
 Mellish and Scriven. 
 
 Union 
 
 52 and 53 East Street. 
 
 II.O 
 
 » 
 
 Pickett and Egerton. 
 
 Age . 
 
 5 Castle Square. 
 
 12 noon 
 
 Mr. Stevenson. 
 
 Coronet . 
 
 Beehive, Castle Square. 
 
 12 „ 
 
 5 
 i 
 
 Old Tommy and C. New- 
 man. 
 
 New Dart j 
 
 135 North Street and ) 
 18 Castle Square. \ 
 
 12 ,, 
 
 ! 
 
 Geo. Deere and Ned 
 Pattenden. 
 
 Royal George . 
 
 Blue Office. 
 
 12 ,, 
 
 ! 
 
 Rugeroh and J. New- 
 man. 
 
 Rocket 
 
 >> 
 
 2.0 p. 
 
 m .j 
 
 Houldsworth and young 
 C. Newman. 
 
 Times 
 
 Goodman's Office. 
 
 3-o , 
 
 
 Mosely and Ellis. 
 
 Sovereign 
 
 18 Castle Square. 
 
 3-o , 
 
 :i 
 
 Ned Russell,upand down ; 
 sometimes W. Snow. 
 
 Hero 
 
 Beehive, Castle Square. 
 
 3-o , 
 
 
 
 Evening Star 
 
 18 Castle Square and ) 
 Goodman's. \ 
 
 1 0.0 , 
 
 
 Penny and Rumble. 
 
 Royal Mail 
 
 Blue Office. 
 
 1 0.0 , 
 
 
 Farley and Allen. 
 
 N.B. — An extr 
 
 1 coach, from 18 Castle Square, 
 
 at 8 o'clock every Saturday 
 
 
 morning, driven by Willian 
 
 1 Snow. 
 
 The spirit of opposition, however, appears to have 
 been strongly implanted in the nature of every one con- 
 nected with the stage-coach business, as, in a milder 
 form, the cutting-down tactics were again pursued in 
 the summer of 1829, when the usual addition of sum- 
 mer coaches made their appearance at a time when 
 business was at its height ; but no new conveyance 
 which made a name for itself appears to have been put 
 on the road. 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 163 
 
 A great many of the coaches, contrary to the general 
 idea, had no guards ; and there being no one to 
 look after things, robberies were necessarily frequent. 
 Reference has been made to one or two ; but the 
 accounts for the close of the year 1829 include several 
 others. After one coach was well clear of Brighton, 
 two rough-looking fellows appear to have hung on 
 behind the vehicle ; and, as an old lady sat on the back- 
 seat, she was immediately pitched upon as the victim 
 of a robbery. One of the hangers-on had provided 
 himself with a sharp instrument, says the account, 
 with which he cut into the old lady's pocket, and 
 allowed the knife to penetrate even a little beyond, 
 when the poor old lady, feeling herself wounded, is 
 reported to have shouted " thieves, murder," where- 
 upon the two fellows dropped from the coach and ran 
 away. The coachman, however, with commendable 
 promptitude pulled up, handed the reins to his box- 
 seat passenger, and gave chase, eventually capturing 
 one of the thieves. 
 
 Another similar case was reported from London. 
 Two men, whom the passengers supposed to be porters, 
 hung on behind the coach ; and when the Obelisk on 
 the Surrey side of the Thames was reached, a female 
 passenger discovered that her cloak had been cut 
 through, and her purse would have been taken had it 
 not been for the clasp becoming entangled in the cloth. 
 
 Here were two incidents which could never have 
 occurred had the coaches carried guards, and a no less 
 celebrated vehicle than the Comet came to grief not 
 long afterwards through the absence of that functionary. 
 On reaching Epsom, the coachman got down to take 
 in a passenger ; and while he was on the ground the 
 horses turned round, backed the coach, and caused her 
 to turn over, a lady who was riding outside having 
 some of her ribs broken. Owing to the want of 
 
1 64 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 proper assistance, an accident which might have been 
 attended with very serious consequences happened to 
 the Alert, which was driven by young Mr. Hine. The 
 coachman had gone round to pick up passengers, and 
 the leaders had not been put on, when Hine drove it 
 round to Russell Square to take up a lady passen- 
 ger, Mrs. Stewart ; Hine then drove on to Belle Vue 
 Mansion, in the King's Road, for some more passengers. 
 As the coach porter required assistance in getting the 
 luggage on the coach, Hine got down to help him. 
 From some unexplained cause the horses tried to bolt. 
 A passer-by seized one horse by the bridle, and the 
 coachman hung on to the other ; but, as a cart was 
 driven by at a furious pace and close to the coach, 
 Hine had to let go to avoid being run over. The 
 horses then, turning short round, made straight for the 
 cliff, dashed against the iron railing forming the pro- 
 tection, burst it through, and horses and coach toppled 
 over. The pole broke while the coach was falling, and 
 the vehicle turned right over. The horses alighted 
 on their haunches, and, strange to say, were so little 
 injured, that one of them, later in the day, ran the 
 first stage out of Brighton in another coach. The 
 coach itself was broken to pieces, poor Mrs. Stewart 
 being picked up in an insensible condition ; and 
 seeing that the coach and horses fell a distance of 
 twenty feet, the only wonder is that the unfortunate 
 lady was not killed. She was removed to the Old 
 Ship, and in a week or two had sufficiently improved 
 to be able to leave Brighton ; but she recovered the 
 substantial sum of ^400 from the coach proprietors. 
 
 Brighton, it would appear, was sufficiently well catered 
 for as regards the style of its coaches. There were fast 
 coaches and slow coaches, high coaches and low coaches, 
 safety coaches and vehicles of the ordinary build ; but 
 some genius conceived the idea of adding still further 
 
FKOM 1825 to 1829 165 
 
 to the existing variety, by reviving the old suggestion 
 of an omnibus with a double body to cany twenty-four 
 inside and fourteen outside passengers, the strange 
 vehicle to be drawn by five, six, or seven horses, as 
 might be found requisite ; while a large well below the 
 passengers was to contain the luggage. 
 
 By a curious process of arithmetic the twenty-four 
 inside fares at 15s. each were estimated to produce 
 £18, 14s., and fourteen outside fares at 8s. 6d. are 
 reckoned at £6, 9s. 6d. ; but this intending speculator, 
 who must have carried more than his proper number, 
 assumed that his vehicle would be full on every journey. 
 Now a coach is one thing, an omnibus is another ; and 
 the man who would ride fifty-four miles, or thereabouts, 
 in a full omnibus would be the man to do what any 
 living mortal dared. 
 
 The fast coaches of the time of which we have been 
 speaking answered to the quick passenger-trains of the 
 present day, and they went by both the near routes — 
 that is to say, by both Cuckfield and Albourne. Their 
 accommodation would not have sufficed to carry all the 
 heavy luggage of their passengers. This, as well as the 
 various articles of merchandise required for the use and 
 consumption of the inhabitants of Brighton, together 
 with some of the meat and farm and dairy produce 
 generally which was sent to the London markets, was 
 intrusted to the vans, which were practically carriers' 
 carts on a rather exalted scale. They were indeed 
 the successors of the old stage-waggons which ran to 
 Brighton and Lewes before coaches were put upon the 
 road ; and, with few exceptions, these vans carried 
 both goods and passengers ; while the van proprietors, 
 like the Pantechnicon people of modern times, adver- 
 tised that they were ready to remove furniture and 
 goods to any part of England. If we may judge from 
 the woodcuts heading the advertisements in the papers 
 
1 66 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 of the date, the horses running in the vans were of a 
 much stouter build than those which worked in the 
 coaches ; but, as the van owners were common carriers 
 (see ante, p. 152), they had to take every care of what 
 was committed to them ; and so they appear to have 
 carried a guard, a functionary who, as we have seen, 
 was not always found upon a coach. 
 
 In the early part of May 1826, a case was heard in 
 the Court of King's Bench which seems to have estab- 
 lished the right of carriers to escape liability to make 
 good parcels of a value exceeding £5, unless the same 
 was duly declared and paid for. A couple of boxes of 
 silk, worth about ^200, were sent to Bath. The value 
 was, of course, known to the sender ; and, in the 
 report of the case, it is stated that he was aware of 
 the general notice given by the carriers in connection 
 with the £5 limit. The boxes were lost, and the 
 sender sought to recover their value from the carrier, 
 on the ground that no particular notice had been given 
 to him by the carrier when the boxes were accepted 
 for transit. "The jury," we are informed, "gave in a 
 special verdict," though in what terms we are unfor- 
 tunately not told, and the judge gave judgment for 
 the carrier, " after citing several analogous cases." 
 
 As with the stage-coaches, so it was with the vans, 
 opposition was rife, as we have seen it was in the days 
 of James Batchelor {ante, p. 35). Towards the close 
 of December 1827, an opposition van, called the Paul 
 Pry, was started on the Portsmouth road, and being 
 an opposition concern, it bore the legend " I hope I 
 don't intrude." Apparently it did not, for in the 
 February of the following year it was advertised for 
 sale. 
 
 At this time, however, there was something in a 
 name. Some of the van proprietors were apparently 
 in the habit of charging fancy prices for carting goods 
 
FROM 1825 to 1829 167 
 
 from the West End of London to the City, whence 
 most of the vans started for Brighton, and so the great 
 firm of Winch & Chaplin announced that they had 
 started a new Fly van, for luggage only, direct to the 
 Spread Eagle Office, Regent Circus, and Brown's 
 Gloucester Warehouse, Oxford Street, in addition to 
 their usual van to the City ; and the new venture paid 
 well. 
 
Chapter X. 
 
 FROM 1830 to 1834. 
 
 T)EADERS of Captain Haworth's "Road Scrapings" 
 will remember the account of " Old Lai," the leg- 
 less pauper, who, being of a sporting turn of mind, con- 
 trived to obtain for himself a sort of miniature " buck- 
 board." To this vehicle "Old Lai" — he was known 
 by no other name — was accustomed to harness four 
 foxhounds, and with this singular team, put together 
 with true coachmanlike skill, he would beat all the 
 fast coaches on the North road. The story, as told by 
 Captain Haworth, is a curious one ; but in some 
 of its features it was reproduced on the Brighton 
 road. 
 
 At East Grinstead there lived one Dumsdale, a tailor 
 in a small way of business, whose son had been a 
 cripple from his childhood. As Dumsdale pere could 
 afford a no more expensive equipage for his afflicted 
 son, he had built for him a light four-wheeled cart — - 
 something after the fashion of " Old Lai's," possibly 
 — and this affair, drawn by a unicorn team of bull- 
 dogs, startled those who happened to be in the Strand 
 one morning at the beginning of February 1830. The 
 usual pace of this vehicle was said to be seven miles 
 an hour ; but the team often went at the rate of ten 
 miles an hour. From East Grinstead to Brighton is 
 twenty -four miles, and, allowing for stoppages, the 
 bulldog team used to do this journey comfortably in 
 four hours ; while very often it would beat the 
 
 Brighton coach that travelled by this road, just as 
 
 168 
 
FROM 1S30 to 1S34 169 
 
 " Old Lai's" foxhounds would shoot by the North road 
 coaches. At some of the gates the keepers would 
 exact the toll ; but young Dumsdale was generally 
 permitted to travel toll-free. 
 
 At the end of the month of February 1830, the 
 coaching world was shocked to hear of the death, at 
 the age of twenty-six, of Mr. Henry Stevenson, pro- 
 prietor of the famous Brighton Age. Mr. Stevenson 
 had been at Eton and Cambridge ; and, according to 
 one account, he had got through most of his money 
 before starting as a coachman. This, however, can 
 scarcely be the true version ; for, although nothing is 
 impossible to the spendthrift, the proprietor of the 
 Age must have run through his patrimony very 
 quickly, inasmuch as he first of all started the Coronet 
 in conjunction with a Mr. Crisp (possibly a misprint 
 for Cripps), who was somewhat vaguely described as 
 " of Piccadilly." It is said in Pierce Egan's " Book 
 of Sports ' that Mr. Stevenson's first coach was the 
 Waterwitch ; but I can find no confirmation of this, 
 though, as will be seen presently (p. 179), a Waterwitch 
 was started subsequently ; but nothing is said in con- 
 nection with that coach of Mr. Stevenson ever having 
 had one of the same name. 
 
 The Age was put on the road regardless of expense. 
 It was, I think, a blue coach, and the harness, unlike 
 that of the ordinary coach-horse, was silver-plated in- 
 stead of brass. Everything was turned out in the 
 very best style. A private servant in livery, who may 
 have officiated as guard, accompanied the coach ; and 
 on the road a silver sandwich-box was passed round 
 to the passengers, and the sandwich could be washed 
 down by a glass of very fine sherry. 
 
 When Mr. Stevenson first appeared in the capacity 
 of coach proprietor and coachman, the professional 
 element was strongly against him, partly, no doubt, 
 
170 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 on account of his youth, and partly, perhaps, because 
 it was thought that, by reason of his connection, his 
 coach would receive greater patronage ; though the 
 aforesaid "Viator Junior" says that the concern could 
 barely have paid expenses for days together. He was, 
 however, such a good fellow, and withal such an artist 
 on the box, that the opposition to him did not last 
 long, and he soon became one of the most popular 
 men on the road. 
 
 The beginning of Mr. Stevenson's illness would seem 
 to have been an accident ; but eventually, if his bio- 
 graphers are to be believed, mortification in the foot, 
 and brain fever, set in. He certainly appears to have 
 been afflicted with the latter, as some time before his 
 death it was found necessary for his attendants to use 
 a certain amount of force to restrain him. When, 
 towards the last, he seemed thoroughly exhausted, his 
 watchers removed the bandages which bound him to 
 his bed, and were somewhat horrified to find him raise 
 himself, as nearly as his very feeble state would permit, 
 to the attitude he assumed when on the box. Once 
 up, and his nature seemed to revive. In imagination he 
 again handled the reins. " Let them go, George ; I have 
 them," he exclaimed, as though addressing a favourite 
 servant, who invariably stood at his leaders' heads, and 
 then, overcome by the exertion, he sank again on to 
 his pillow and passed away. There could be something 
 affecting even in connection with stage-coaching ; the 
 ruling passion was certainly strong in death in Mr. 
 Stevenson's case. 
 
 Only a month or two after Mr. Stevenson's death 
 the passengers by the Age on Tuesday, the iith July 
 1830, most probably regretted that the "Cambridge 
 Graduate " was not at work, as, for the first time in 
 the coach's history, she was turned over, the accideut 
 taking place at the bottom of Red Hill. The passen- 
 
FROM 1830 to 1S34 171 
 
 gers were shot into a field — nothing is said ahout the 
 " insides," if there were any — but neither they nor 
 the coach were materially injured. Modern coachmen 
 have occasionally experienced some difficulty in keep- 
 ing their horses straight should there happen to be 
 some straw, blood, tan, or any other unusual thing on 
 the road ; and, in the case of the Brighton Age, some 
 furze was the cause of the mishap. The horses shied 
 at it, and landed the coach in the ditch ; while two 
 other Brighton coaches, which went the same road, 
 nearly came to grief at the same place from the same 
 cause. On the death of Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Thomas 
 Ward Capps appears to have found funds to keep the 
 Age going, but a dispute arose in connection with the 
 coach, as will be seen in a later chapter. 
 
 A little farther on we shall have occasion to notice 
 the writings of one who congratulated the public upon 
 the improvement which had unquestionably taken 
 place in the general conduct of stage-coachmen ; yet 
 the coachmen of this date (1830) occasionally kicked 
 over the traces, like their horses. 
 
 James Cross, for instance, who ranked amongst the 
 best of the Brighton coachmen, was summoned before 
 Mr. Minshull, at Bow Street, by Mr. Augustus Amiat, 
 for having used abusive language to him ; and the evi- 
 dence given at the hearing of the summons shows us 
 some of the incidents of coach-travelling at this time. 
 
 Mr. Amiat, it appears, was waiting at the Ship, 
 Charing Cross, for some coach which would take him 
 to Croydon. Up drove Cross, who, in answer to the 
 question, " Any room for Croydon ? " promptly replied 
 that there was, and Mr. Amiat seated himself on the 
 coach, which in due course reached the Elephant and 
 Castle. At that point were several people wanting to 
 go to Brighton, so Cross asked his Croydon passenger to 
 get inside. Mr. Amiat, however, was one of those people 
 
172 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 against whom an earlier writer had inveighed because 
 they preferred the outside to the inside of a coach ; 
 but he at length agreed to get inside rather than deprive 
 Cross of a through fare. Then Cross appeared at the 
 coach-window and begged Mr. Amiat to get out and 
 travel by a Croydon coach which had just come up. 
 The good-natured man, who, in the words of young 
 Cook, a notable Brighton coachman, had been " moved 
 about between Hell and Hackney," consented to shift 
 to the other vehicle, upon the understanding that Cross 
 would guarantee him an outside seat, which Cross, 
 anxious only to get rid of his short passenger, with- 
 out caring a farthing whether there was room or not, 
 immediately undertook to do. 
 
 The Croydon coach being full, Mr. Amiat returned 
 to Cross's vehicle, and resumed his seat inside, when the 
 coach started with three insides ; at Streatham they 
 picked up a fourth, and a fifth was pushed in soon 
 afterwards. This last indignity seems to have upset 
 poor Mr. Amiat altogether, so when he alighted at 
 Croydon he asked Cross whether he was one of the 
 proprietors, and on receiving an answer in the affirma- 
 tive, told him that he would be summoned for carrying 
 more than his proper number of passengers ; whereupon 
 the veneer of the swell dragsman dropped off, and in 
 true plebeian style he told his passenger that he should 
 "like to give him a d — d good hiding," adding, "It 
 is such fellows as you that, when you come down the 
 road, and can't find anything to steal, turn informers." 
 Opposition was, no doubt, very keen at this time, and 
 Cross urged, in explanation of what he admitted was 
 unjustifiable conduct, that he had lost two through 
 fares to Brighton ; while, like people who have put 
 themselves in the wrong often do now, he tendered 
 the cheap restitution of an apology ; and this not being 
 accepted, Mr. Cross had to pay the full penalty of forty 
 
FROM 1S30 to 1S34 173 
 
 shillings and costs, the magistrate observing that he 
 never felt less regret in imposing a punishment for an 
 offence of this nature than he did on that occasion. 
 
 Coachmen of the time of which we are speaking are 
 invariably represented as having been models of every- 
 thing that is o-ood ; but not a few cases are on record 
 which seem to suggest that, in many instances, theirs 
 was a sort of cupboard love. To their box-seat pas- 
 senger they were doubtless very civil and nice ; but to 
 those who did not happen to take an interest in horses 
 or in the details of the coach, and who would tip but 
 moderately or not at all, there is every reason to 
 assume that many of them behaved as did Cross to 
 Mr. Augustus Amiat. 
 
 In point of civility Theophilus Holmes, coachman of 
 one of the London coaches, who entertained an angel 
 unawares when he carried Mr. Robert Taylor, a Surrey 
 magistrate, left something to be desired. Mr. Taylor 
 drove to meet the coach, and found that there were on 
 the box two persons, one of whom got down to enable 
 Mr. Taylor to find room ; but that gentleman declined 
 to share with any fellow-passengers a seat intended for 
 one only. Thereupon Holmes remarked that if Mr. 
 Taylor did not choose to get on the box, he would 
 go without him ; but Mr. Taylor's answer was that if 
 he did, he would take a post-chaise, follow the coach, 
 and inform Mr. Goodman, one of the proprietors, of 
 Holmes's conduct ; to which threat Holmes replied that 
 he did not care a d — n for Goodman or anybody else. 
 In the end the magistrates called upon Holmes to pay 
 the mitigated penalty of thirty shillings and costs. 
 All these little matters tend rather seriously to discount 
 the glowing terms in which coachmen were described ; 
 but in that calling, as in others, there were specimens 
 good and bad. The famous Dick Vaughan, who drove 
 the Cambridge Telegraph, was exceedingly civil when 
 
1 74 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 he liked ; but he had a rough side to his tongue, and it 
 is said that, while talking to his box-seat passenger, he 
 would break off to swear at somebody or something, 
 stop in the middle of his oath to apologise, and then 
 finish the oath. This rather reminds one of the Mother 
 Superior of a French convent, who, when her mule pro- 
 voked her to wrath, would utter one half of some 
 naughty word, making the lay sister who sat by her 
 side say the other half, by which expedient she hoped 
 to escape the sin of swearing. 
 
 Meantime the dragsman's sworn enemy, Byers, was 
 keeping his eye on all coachmen who ventured in the 
 very least degree to infringe any law which governed 
 stage-coaching, and one day in August 1830, he laid 
 three informations against Francis Vickers for having 
 carried more passengers than he was entitled to do. 
 In one of the cases it was alleged that one of Byers's 
 minions was in an upstairs room of a public-house, and 
 could not see the coach for a sufficiently long time to 
 swear to the number of passengers on the roof; but 
 the hireling swore that he was standing on the pave- 
 ment, that all the persons were seated, and he averred 
 that he not only saw the coach passing him, but that 
 he also "saw it out of sight." The informer, however, 
 gained the day, and the unfortunate Vickers had to 
 pay three penalties of £10 each in addition to costs. 
 
 Yet another stage-coachman found himself arraigned 
 before the magistrates. This time it was Edward 
 Bristow. He was part owner of the Alert, and drove 
 one end, and was summoned for furious and improper 
 driving, whereby a valuable horse belonging to Captain 
 Fuller, R.N., was seriously injured. The horse, which 
 was standing in front of Tupper's Library, was frightened 
 by the horn blown by some one on the Alert, and 
 turning round into the roadway, was struck by the step 
 of the coach, whereby he was a good deal hurt ; but 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 175 
 
 the Bench, considering that the affair was a pure acci- 
 dent, dismissed the complaint. 
 
 And now to the coaches. As there was an increased 
 demand for afternoon coaches to London, the Red 
 Rover was put on in August 1830, leaving Brighton 
 daily at four o'clock ; and, to meet the wishes of those 
 who liked fast travelling, it was decided to run another 
 which should accomplish the journey to London in 
 four hours and a half; while some bold spirits were 
 anxious to exceed even this pace, as the Brighton 
 Gazette for the 18th November announced that a wager 
 of ^500 was pending that a certain coach, which was 
 not named, should run to London in three hours and 
 a half; but I cannot find that an attempt was ever 
 made to accomplish this feat. 
 
 Before this time (1830) the railway had been talked 
 about ; in December the prospectus of the proposed 
 London and Brighton line was published in the papers ; 
 and the following extract may serve to show the extent 
 to which coach and waggon traffic — destined to be 
 completely run off the road in another twelve years — 
 was carried on between London and Brighton : — 
 
 " It has been ascertained that more than 500 persons pass daily 
 upon the average of the year from one town to the other. The present 
 inside coach fares are 20s. to 24s., and the outside 10s. to 12s. ; and 
 it is presumed that it would not be unreasonable to calculate upon 
 1 os. per head ; and taking this upon 400 only, it would produce a gross 
 revenue of .£73,000 per annum " (reckoning /200 per day for seven 
 days in the week, the exact sum for tifty-two weeks would be ,£72,800). 
 
 Then, to the amount represented by passenger fares 
 must be added what was paid for parcels and excess 
 luggage, and the money expended on what would now 
 be called goods traffic, but which in those days went to 
 the vans ; so it will be seen that, when railways once 
 started, they immediately began with a twofold business. 
 By way of offering further facilities to the afternoon 
 traveller, it was announced that, during the summer of 
 
176 Brighton and its coaches 
 
 1831 a coach would leave Brighton at five o'clock, and 
 would arrive in London at about ten ; but the local papers 
 suggested that six would have been a more convenient 
 hour, as it would have afforded intending passengers the 
 very questionable advantage, as we should now consider 
 it, of dining at five o'clock. Eventually, however, the 
 new coach was timed to leave Brighton at 4.30 ; and it 
 made its first journey on Monday, the 5th March 1831. 
 It was run in opposition to the Red Rover, which, as 
 mentioned above, started at four o'clock. 
 
 The Bed Rover coach is so far of special interest to men 
 of the present day in that its coachman was an artist 
 who died no longer ago than the spring of the present 
 year (1893). I refer to Philip, better known as " Tim " 
 Carter, to whom reference has already been made. 1 
 
 The Badminton Library gives currency to the oft- 
 told story that when King William IV. opened Parlia- 
 ment in 1 83 1, Tim Carter drove the Red Rover down 
 to Brighton with the King's maiden speech in three 
 hours thirty-five minutes ; while other coachmen — that 
 is to say, Charles Harbour and Israel Alexander' — have 
 been credited with having taken down another Royal 
 Speech in three hours and forty minutes. According to 
 the Brighton Gazette for the 23rd of June 1 83 1, how- 
 ever, Tim Carter and the Red Rover left the Elephant 
 and Castle at four o'clock on Tuesday the 19th June, 
 and reached Brighton at twenty-one minutes past eight, 
 being thus four hours and twenty-one minutes on the 
 road. "This coach," said the journal in question, which 
 would not be likely to understate the case, "brought 
 the King's Speech." 
 
 While one section of the public were praising the 
 rapid pace at which the fast coaches now travelled, 
 another body apparently clamoured for something rather 
 
 1 See ante, p. 161. 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 177 
 
 slower, and slightly more sure than the galloping con- 
 cerns whose achievements, or accidents, as the case 
 might be, were recorded in print every now and then. 
 In coaching, as in other matters, there was a supply of 
 everything for which there was a demand, and, to suit 
 those who were of opinion that " it's the pace that kills " 
 — passengers as well as horses — a diligence was put on 
 to run to London, and omnibuses carried the timid to 
 Lewes. From Goodman's Office " a new coach on a 
 new principle " started for London, the new principle 
 being that the coach was "low, wide, and consequently 
 may be considered more than usually safe." 
 
 Another " safe " coach was the Royal Adelaide, 
 which covered the distance between London and 
 Brighton in six hours. In the words of the advertise- 
 ment, " this coach claims the decided preference of 
 families and invalids, the proprietor having selected 
 steady horses that can trot the distance with ease, 
 without once breaking into a gallop, as well as steady 
 coachmen, thereby avoiding the danger incurred by 
 other coaches which profess to perform the journey 
 in less time ; and also from their engaging to set down, 
 and take up, passengers in any part of Brighton." No 
 doubt the " other coaches which professed" to go more 
 quickly were much obliged to " Robert Gray & Co.," 
 the proprietors of the Royal Adelaide, for the character 
 given them ; but competition was keen, and in some 
 instances, despite the proverb, self-praise may have 
 been a recommendation. The Royal Adelaide started 
 from the Age Coach-Office, Castle Square, Brighton, at 
 ten o'clock, and ran to the Bolt-in-Tun, Fleet Street, 
 and the Lamb, Lamb's Conduit Street, branch coaches 
 conveying passengers to the West End of the town. 
 At eleven o'clock the coach left on the down journey. 
 A week after the above advertisement appeared, the 
 new undertaking was patted on the back by a local 
 
 M 
 
178 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 journal: "A very neat and well-conducted coach, the 
 Royal Adelaide, has just been established between this 
 place and London, which rests its claim to public 
 patronage on a ground novel in the present clay — the 
 steadiness with which it is driven, as opposed to the 
 rapidity that generally prevails." 
 
 A new coach called the Reform also made its ap- 
 pearance at this time, and presumably derived its name 
 from the fact that it carried passengers at reduced 
 fares. 
 
 On the subject of fast driving and coach accidents, 
 a contributor to the New Sporting Magazine, writing 
 under the signature of " Dashwood," made some very 
 sensible remarks, which, shortly summed up, mean that 
 he was quite on the side of Robert Gray & Co., of the 
 Royal Adelaide, in thinking that, for safety, one uni- 
 form pace should be kept up. During the wordy 
 warfare which for a short time raged between the Old 
 and New Sporting Magazines, " Dashwood " was very 
 rudely designated as " Donkey Dashwood." How- 
 ever, " Donkey " or not, here are some of his remarks 
 on pace and its effects, which are, I think, worth 
 reproducing : — 
 
 " One great mistake amongst people who do not see 
 much of the road is to imagine, when they hear of a 
 fast coach, that there must be galloping and racing. 
 These two sins, indefensible at all times, are never 
 committed on a well-regulated concern. It is by per- 
 severing from end to end at a regular steady pace, 
 losing no time at the changes, and making no stoppages 
 beyond what the business of the coach requires, that 
 the fast dragsman keeps his time to a minute, and 
 does justice to his stock. Look, for instance*, at Robert 
 Nelson's Brighton Rover" (the Red Rover already men- 
 tioned in connection with Tim Carter), " time five hours, 
 distance fifty-four miles ; and, unless a springing them 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 179 
 
 up a shoot or two be called galloping, not a leader 
 is out of a trot from the river to the ocean. As to 
 racing, the etiquette of the road is now completely 
 against it ; and, except in the provinces, where some- 
 times there is a little bad blood amongst the pro- 
 periators, as Ned Bnrford used to style them, we hardly 
 nowadays hear of such a thing. Whilst I am writing 
 this, however, a report has reached me that there is a 
 little taste of it just now going on on the Portsmouth 
 road, and if so, all I can say is, the sooner it is put 
 an end to the better, for no man, take even the best 
 and strongest coachman that ever sate on a box, is safe 
 with four horses let loose in a gallop." 
 
 There is a good deal of truth in this. It is all 
 right so long as the horses are galloping ; the diffi- 
 culty sometimes comes in when you want to stop ; 
 and even in some of the modern coaches there are 
 occasionally seen teams that not many men would care 
 to gallop ; with many a horse it is a case of crescit 
 eundo — the faster he goes the faster he wants to go. 
 
 In the Brighton Gazette for the 25th August, 1831, 
 appears the first mention I can find of the Waterwitch, 
 the coach which Mr. Stevenson is said to have owned 
 before he had the Age. This coach, which appears 
 to have been started only a few days before, is reported 
 to have travelled very rapidly, and to have found 
 general favour. In the issue for the 1st September it 
 is announced in grandiloquent terms. First comes 
 an illustrated heading with the name of Cooper, the 
 novelist. 
 
 The Water Witch. 
 
 "Few novelists have excited more intense feeling or exhibited a 
 more perfect acquaintance with the taste of the day, or more com- 
 pletely arrested public attention and admiration in so short a time, 
 as the above author in his various works, more particularly with 
 the far-famed 
 
i So BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Water Witch. 
 
 We know that Brighton is the residence of the Queen of Taste, 
 that is, Fashion — that here her Court is held — that here she in- 
 variably appreciates, in the highest degree, each endeavour to 
 please her votaries. This is evident in the astounding extent of 
 admiration and patronage. 
 
 As though there were icitchery in the name bestowed on the 
 indefatigable and spirited proprietor of the 
 
 Brighton Water Witch, 
 
 which here, and in the Metropolis, and on its intervening route, has 
 excited a degree of extraordinary attention, which nothing but its 
 unexampled adherence to taste and truth, the surprising and satis- 
 factory concidence of its professions, and the regularity of its de- 
 velopments could have collected and commanded during so short a 
 time. Punctually at three o'clock every afternoon it leaves the 
 
 Royal Bedford Hotel, 
 
 and following the "line of ocean track" to those of the 
 
 Albion and York, 
 
 It leaves precisely at half-past three the Bull and Mouth Office, 
 3 Castle Square, and passing through Hixtead, Crawley, Red 
 Hill, and Croydon, endeavours to crown its various merits by 
 most sedulously accommodating its patrons in their various desti- 
 nations to 
 
 All parts of the City and West End. 
 
 George Wagner; Edward Sherman, 
 
 Proprietors. 
 
 This composition is, I venture to think, quite worthy 
 of the pushing hairdresser whose advertisement is quoted 
 in the first chapter; but the newspapers of this date 
 gave the coach a free advertisement by remarking that 
 the streets were rendered most melodious by the horns 
 of the stage-coaches — it is to be hoped that they were 
 tuned in one key — some of which were played extremely 
 well. Among the best, it was pointed out, was that 
 of the Waterwitch, " a new and well-conducted coach, 
 which, as we last week mentioned, has just been started 
 from this place to London." 
 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 181 
 
 Mr. Wilde, of the Clarence Hotel, had, for some undis- 
 covered reason, advertised in the Brighton Guardian 
 that the Red Rover coach was discontinued, a state- 
 ment which drew forth a prompt contradiction from 
 Christopher Holmes, one of the proprietors, who ex- 
 plained that the office was removed to East Street, 
 where passengers and parcels could be booked as usual. 
 Just before this the Red Rover was very much in evi- 
 dence through racing with the Waterwitch, a little 
 frolic which resulted in the Rover's coachman, Charles 
 Holmes, Christopher's son — Tim Carter was driving the 
 other end — having to answer an information laid by Mr. 
 Slight, Clerk to the Commissioners. Both coaches were 
 sailing along the New Road, and when near the theatre 
 the Red Rover passed the Waterwitch at a gallop. 
 Foot people fled in all directions, and Mr. Slight enter- 
 tained serious apprehensions for their safety. The ex- 
 planation was that there was a noise outside the theatre 
 which frightened the horses, and caused Holmes to 
 whip his horses to keep them on the proper side of the 
 road ; but as Holmes had previously pleaded guilty, the 
 Bench inflicted the full penalty of £$ and costs. One 
 of the local journals understood that the galloping was 
 due to a guinea bet having been made as to which coach 
 would arrive first, and asked the pertinent question 
 why an information was not also laid against the coach- 
 man of the Waterwitch. 
 
 At the beginning of January, 1832, Goodman put on 
 the " Four-o'clock Times " to London — it left at half- 
 past four — and, before it had been running very long, it 
 had a narrow escape from turning over, owing to the 
 pole breaking ; but, as this mishap occurred before the 
 horses had got into their stride — that is to say, by 
 Wright's Library in North Street — the coachman man- 
 aged to pull up the horses and saved the capsize. The 
 Times was one of the fast coaches, and the irrepressible 
 
1 82 BKIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Red Rover maintained its claim to be ranked in the 
 same category by reaching London in four hours and 
 ten minutes on Sunday, the 8th June 1832. As a 
 refuge from all this expeditious travelling, the Earl 
 Grey, another new coach, was started, to travel at a 
 comparatively slow speed by way of Ditchling and 
 Lindfield. Many times in these pages has it been stated 
 that new coaches have been put on ; but the majority 
 of them must have been merely butterfly concerns to 
 meet the exigencies of the summer traffic. 
 
 " Dashwood," from whom I have quoted above, be- 
 gins his article in the Sporting Magazine by congratu- 
 lating the world at large on the few coach accidents 
 which took place ; but, after a lengthened period of 
 searching into coaching records, I fear that " Dash- 
 wood's " compliments were a little premature ; the wish 
 was probably father to the thought. On every road 
 in England mishaps, more or less serious, were chroni- 
 cled with monotonous frequency. Many of them were 
 doubtless accidents against which no human foresight 
 could have guarded ; but racing, either against opposi- 
 tion vehicles or against time ; carelessness, insufficient 
 examination of coaches, poor harness, and weak horses 
 were, in their turn, productive of many accidents ; and 
 they arose from all sorts of causes. 
 
 For example, Wilkins, the driver of the Coronet, got 
 down at Horley to see to the harness of the leaders ; 
 one of the wheel-horses took it into his head to mis- 
 behave, and startled the team, which overcame Wilkins, 
 who was thrown to the ground, the wheels of the coach 
 passing over his leg. By something little short of a 
 miracle the bone was not broken, and the coachman 
 was able to drive on. It would appear as though this 
 were another case of no guard, otherwise he would 
 have been directed to get down and make the neces- 
 sary examination or alteration, while the coachman 
 
FROM 1S30 to 1834 183 
 
 remained on his box — a very much safer method of 
 proceeding. The sad death of a gentleman named 
 Schraeder, while travelling by the Comet, was entirely 
 due to his own act. The coach had reached Patcham 
 from Brighton, when the reins became " entangled ; " 
 but whether one of the horses got its tail over a rein, 
 or in what manner the entanglement took place, is not 
 stated. Mr. Schraeder, who had the box-seat, appears 
 to have deemed the situation critical, as, in spite of 
 the remonstrance of the coachman, he attempted to get 
 down, before the coach had stopped, to adjust the reins. 
 In so doing he fell beneath the coach, and the wheels 
 passing over him, caused injuries which resulted in 
 death. Mr. Schraeder was on his way to Brighton to 
 join his family, who were living on the Marine Parade. 
 Next it was the turn of the Red Rover to be within an 
 ace of having a bad accident, as on turning the corner 
 at the end of Church Street the leaders came in contact 
 with a carriage. They then behaved as leaders often 
 do in such circumstances — they " began to plunge and 
 kick violently." The coachman, we are told, " losing- 
 command of them, the consequences would probably 
 have been serious had not a person caught the leaders' 
 reins and succeeded in quieting them." The account 
 continues by informing readers that " the pole was 
 snapped asunder, and this was happily the only clam- 
 age done." A new pole was provided, and the Red 
 Rover proceeded on her way after a twenty minutes' 
 delay. 
 
 The mails, we are informed, came to grief but rarely; 
 but, just as " Fortune knocks once at every man's door," 
 so, apparently, does ill-luck. At any rate, it so hap- 
 pened to the Brighton mail, as on the 30th October 
 1832, while on her way from London to Brighton, she 
 was upset just as she entered Reigate while turning 
 a corner. The coachman, whose name is not given, 
 
1 84 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 died on the spot, his skull being fractured against a 
 gate. Outside the coach were three passengers and the 
 guard, while there were also some inside passengers. 
 The latter escaped unhurt, but the former were all 
 more or less injured, one of them having three of 
 his ribs fractured. All the horses were thrown down, 
 and the harness was completely broken ; but, Reigate 
 being a coaching centre, this portion of the damage 
 was repaired, and, after the dead coachman and the 
 injured passengers had been brought into the town, 
 a man was found to drive the mail — for the vehicle 
 itself was not much injured — on to Brighton. The 
 coachman unhappily left a wife and four children. Not 
 a very long time before this a somewhat singular inci- 
 dent occurred to the Brighton mail just as she was about 
 to start for London. " One of the hind horses," says 
 a local journal — so by the year 1831 the Brighton mail 
 had four horses instead of the two which had sufficed 
 in earlier years — got his leg entangled in the wheel 
 "in so singular a manner that it was nearly half an 
 hour before it could be extricated, the poor animal all 
 the time groaning most piteously." A year or two 
 before this, it was calculated that the mail-coaches 
 of England ran over twelve thousand miles — half the 
 circumference of the globe — in a single night. A local 
 journal remarked that a newspaper published in the 
 morning in London was read at a place a hundred 
 and twenty miles distant in the evening ; and that a 
 traveller going at night from London, slept on the 
 second night four hundred miles off. As a tribute 
 to modern enterprise, however, I may mention that 
 I have bought the Yorkshire Herald for the day at 
 York Station at about half-past two in the morning. 
 
 If, however, the leaning of coaches, mail and other- 
 wise, was towards fast travelling, the Government 
 of 1827 appear to have been content with a very 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 185 
 
 moderate rate of speed for their cross-country posts, 
 as we find the Post- Office authorities advertising for 
 tenders from those willing to convey the mails in light 
 carts between Brighton and Chichester, the pace to be 
 seven miles an hour, including stoppages. The con- 
 tractor was to pay the Shoreham Bridge tolls and the 
 assessed taxes ; and it was pointed out that to convey 
 a passenger rendered the mailman liable to a month's 
 imprisonment. 
 
 In one of the April issues of the Observer for 1832, it 
 was stated that the Post-Office authorities had it in con- 
 templation to substitute light two-wheeled vehicles for 
 the mail-coaches. The improvement in road-making, 
 and the advance of stage-coaching in all its branches, 
 including the rate of speed, had tended to bring about 
 the result that the mails were no longer the fastest 
 coaches on the road. The contractors, therefore, both 
 complained and explained that the preference for mails 
 on the part of travellers, upon which they calculated, 
 no longer existed, and that they could not horse the 
 four-horse mails with any profit to themselves unless 
 the Post-Office were a little more liberal in their allow- 
 ance. In France the custom had for some time been 
 to convey the mails in light pair-horse vehicles ; and 
 it was reported that the English Government intended, 
 when the then existing contracts ran out, to try a fresh 
 experiment all the kingdom over, especially as they 
 were led to believe that the pace might be increased 
 by two miles per hour, while much expense might be 
 saved. Whether the Post-Office ever really contem- 
 plated the change or not, I cannot say ; but it is certain 
 that, on the main roads, no alteration was made in the 
 arrangements which then obtained, and the mails con- 
 tinued to be run on the lines which had made them 
 famous throughout the world. 
 
 I am sorry to say that more space will have to be 
 
1 86 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 devoted to accidents presently, so, by way of relief, let me 
 turn for a moment from the tragic side of stage-coach- 
 ing to the somewhat comic element of steam-carriages. 
 
 In the summer of 1831, Mr. Hancock proposed to 
 build a new and improved vehicle by subscription 
 of forty shares of ^"20 each ; it was to ply between 
 London and Brighton. I can find nothing more of 
 importance in connection with this new invention till 
 November in the following year, when, as the steam- 
 carriage " The Infant," as it was called, was an accom- 
 plished fact, the presumption is that Mr. Hancock's 
 £20 shares were taken up. About the 1st of November 
 1832, it went from London to Brighton; but the fuel 
 ran short on the way, and a long time was consumed 
 in travelling " from the river to the ocean." At 
 Brighton, " The Infant " took in a supply of water, and 
 then steamed back to London at a pace which is said 
 to have been between six and eight miles an hour. 
 
 Our horses of to-day should be pretty well accus- 
 tomed to steam, yet traction-engines are occasionally 
 as lions in our path, and one is not surprised to learn 
 that, in the course of its journey, Mr. Hancock's 
 steam-carriage was at least on one occasion a source 
 of terror to the Sussex horses. " The noise of the 
 engine," we learn, "so alarmed a gig-horse who met 
 this machine, that a gentleman driving him had much 
 difficulty in reaching an inn on the road." Had the 
 steam-carriage been behind this recalcitrant gig-horse, 
 the inn would probably have been reached in double 
 quick time. The house being gained, however, the driver 
 of the gig left his horse there, and posted to London, 
 from which we may infer that the gig-owner was not 
 much accustomed to horses. Some Brightonian, who 
 apparently took an interest in steam-carriages, wrote 
 a letter to the Brighton Gazette of which the following 
 is a copy : — 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 187 
 
 "Having received an intimation that Mr. Walter 
 Hancock's steam-carriage, the 'Infant,' was on the 
 way from London to this place on an experimental 
 trip, I went to meet it eight miles on the road on 
 Friday morning, and came with it from thence into 
 Brighton. We travelled at the rate of between five 
 and six miles per hour up the steep hill at Pyecombe, 
 and descended at the rapid pace of full thirteen miles 
 per hour, proceeding afterwards into the town steadily 
 at about ten miles an hour. Mr. Hancock made a 
 tour round the North Steine enclosure, up to the 
 New Palace gates, and returned to the tank near the 
 new church, where he waited a short time to take in 
 coke and water, and proceeded immediately on his 
 return towards London. This unexpected visit excited 
 a lively interest on the road, and at the north end of 
 the town it caused an instantaneous assemblage of 
 the entire neighbourhood. I understand from some of 
 the gentlemen who accompanied Mr. Hancock from 
 London that the only inconvenience experienced on 
 the road arose from the want of proper relay stations 
 for coke or water, which would be readily obviated 
 under an organised establishment. They travelled from 
 nine to eleven miles per hour on the level parts of the 
 road, from five to seven up the hills, and from twelve 
 to fourteen going down. The coke for the first part 
 of the journey was procured from London ; that for 
 the latter part from Brighton. A fact worth noticing 
 was elicited from this circumstance, namely, that it was 
 much more difficult to keep up the fire with the Brighton 
 coke ; and a much greater quantity of it was con- 
 sumed than of the London coke in travelling equal 
 distances, — a circumstance I have found, on inquiry, 
 to be satisfactorily accounted for by the use of clay 
 retorts at the Hove gasworks, which enable the 
 directors to obtain 12,000 feet of gas from a chaldron 
 
1 88 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 of coals, while the iron retorts used in London limit 
 the operation to 10,000. Thus the London coke is 
 obviously less exhausted of its carbon. This experi- 
 ment may, I conceive, be considered as a decisive 
 proof of the practicability of travelling by steam on 
 common roads. Every one knows there are several long 
 and steep acclivities between London and Brighton, all 
 of which were gallantly ascended, and the roads were 
 generally wet and heavy. — C. A. Busby." 
 
 There is a P.S. to the effect that Mr. Hancock had 
 almost completed a steam-carriage which he expected 
 to run from London to Brighton in three hours and 
 a half. 
 
 In the summer of 1833 it was announced that seve- 
 ral noblemen and gentlemen, members of Parliament, 
 were expected to arrive at the Marine Hotel on a 
 certain evening by the steam- carriage. This announce- 
 ment was quite sufficient to bring together nearly as 
 many idlers as Brighton happened to contain. The 
 company, indeed, came — fourteen of them, including 
 Sir Charles Dance and Sir Henry Watson — but it was 
 on the time-honoured coach, and not in the new-fangled 
 steam conveyance. They started in the steam-carriage, 
 and travelled safely as far as Hand Cross, where, in 
 endeavouring to avoid one of the Brighton coaches 
 while descending a hill, one of the piston-rods snapped 
 and prevented farther progress. The party were forced 
 to complete their journey by coach. Amongst the 
 party were the stage-coach proprietors Messrs. Chaplin 
 and Sherman, who probably watched the working of 
 Mr. Hancock's new conveyance with more than passing 
 interest, uncertain, no doubt, whether, in the immediate 
 future, steam would not become a very formidable 
 opponent to the coaching business, which the two 
 proprietors abovenamed carried out on so vast a scale. 
 The experience of the day, however, must have caused 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 189 
 
 them to take heart, for although some of the critics 
 foretold that in a very short time the steam-carriage 
 would do the distance in less than five hours, the 
 machine once more broke down a week or two later, 
 when, after running between Stratford and London, 
 it paid a second visit to Brighton. The mishap, 
 however, seems to have occurred in Brighton, while 
 the concern was, like Lord Dundreary's bird, " flocking 
 by itself" through the streets of Brighton. 
 
 The "Infant" seems to have been anything but a 
 noiseless machine, for it signalised its departure from 
 Brighton by such snorting and puffing that it fright- 
 ened a gentleman's horse, which broke away from the 
 lad who was holding it, and dashed over a barrow 
 containing some dozens of ginger-beer, " which were 
 mostly broken." There was, indeed, as the local journals 
 observed, " a sort of fatality " over these steam-carriages 
 in their journeys to Brighton, as not one had succeeded 
 in getting there and back without an accident of some 
 kind. 
 
 Mr. Hancock, however, was not easily cast down ; 
 and, in spite of broken piston-rods, a failure of fuel, 
 and frightened horses, he announced that he would 
 soon run a steam-carriage between Brighton and Worth- 
 ing. Meantime another steam vehicle, called the 
 Autopsy, steamed down to Brighton early in October 
 1833. It appears to have been owned by some rival 
 of Hancock's, and the proprietor of the opposition, 
 taking advantage of the curiosity of the multitude, 
 turned a few honest pence by carrying people round 
 the town at a shilling a head. 
 
 One person there was who watched those steam- 
 coaches with a keen, and a not altogether disinterested, 
 eye — the hated Byers, the informer. In them he 
 fancied he saw a source of probable gain, and hesitated 
 not to avow his intention of laying information against 
 
i 9 o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the proprietors of these machines for plying for hire 
 without having the Stamp Office plate attached to their 
 vehicles. He stated that he would proceed under the 
 Hackney Carriage Act, but I cannot discover that he 
 carried his threat into execution. 
 
 The summer of 1S33 witnessed the usual amount of 
 opposition on the road ; several new coaches were, as 
 in former years, put on for the busy season. One by 
 one, however, the "butterflies" were taken off as the 
 winter approached, and the road resumed its wonted 
 comparative quiet, as exemplified by about sixteen or 
 seventeen coaches. During the summer, however, the 
 Brighton magistrates attempted to read a wholesome 
 lesson to those men who set pace above everything, by 
 inflicting the penalty of £5 on James Bristow, coach- 
 man and part proprietor of the New Red Rover (an oppo- 
 sition coach to the Red Rover), for furious driving. 
 
 Here I must have recourse to the "Driving" volume 
 of the Badminton Library to enable me to fill in some 
 of the gaps in the local journals. Goodman's Times I 
 have already mentioned ; and the Duke of Beaufort 
 relates that during this year (1833) his father, then 
 Marquis of Worcester, took a house in Brighton, but 
 having to attend to his parliamentary duties, was 
 obliged to travel often between Brighton and London. 
 Being a very fine coachman, and well known on several 
 roads, he was in the habit of driving the public coach 
 on whatever road he might happen to travel, and he 
 not unnaturally expected to drive between London and 
 Brighton. This, however, old Goodman, a fine coach- 
 mau, but described by the Duke of Beaufort as "a 
 surly, cross-grained fellow," would not allow him to 
 do on the Times. The Marquis of Worcester was very 
 angry at this, and at once entered into negotiations 
 with Alexander, a coach contractor and livery stable- 
 keeper in the Borough, to start his opposition coaches. 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 191 
 
 Preliminaries were soon arranged, and the outcome 
 was the establishment of the Wonder, a yellow coach 
 which left Brighton at seven a.m., the same hour as 
 the Early Times ; and the Quicksilver, which opposed 
 Goodman's " Four-o'clock Times." Both travelled be- 
 tween Brighton and the Elephant and Castle in four 
 hours and three-quarters ; Capps, either the proprietor 
 of the booking-office or some relation of his, drove the 
 Wonder, while Bob Pointer, 1 who had formerly been 
 on the Oxford road, was on the Quicksilver. The 
 latter coach appears to have made its first journey on 
 the 10th July 1833, when, as the local papers tell us, 
 " an unusually large crowd assembled in Castle Square 
 and North Street, attracted by the departure of the 
 Quicksilver coach, driven by the Marquis of Worcester. 
 Most of the officers of the 1st Dragoon Guards, and 
 many other fashionables, were among the assemblage." 
 A fortnight later there was unhappily far less cause for 
 congratulation. 
 
 1 In Mr. Ward's book appears the following lecture delivered by 
 Bob Pointer to a young Oxonian who chanced to be his box-seat 
 passenger: "Soldiers and sailors may soon learn to fight; lawyers 
 and parsons go to college, where they are crammed with all sorts of 
 nonsense that all the nobs have read and wrote since Adam — of 
 course very good if they like it ; but to be a coachman, sir, you must 
 go into the stable almost before you can run alone, and learn the 
 nature of horses, and the difference between corn and chaff". Well 
 can I remember the first time I went out with four horses. I never 
 slept a wink all night. I got a little flurried coming out of the 
 yard, and looking round on the envious chaps who were watching 
 me — it was as bad as getting married — at least I should think so, 
 never having been in that predicament myself. I have escaped that 
 dilemma, for when a man is going backwards and forwards between 
 two points, what is the use of a wife ; a coachman could never be 
 much more than half married. Now if the law — in the case of 
 coachmen — allowed two wives, that would be quite another story, 
 because he could then have the tea-things set out at both ends of 
 the journey. Driving, sir, is very like life ; it's all so smooth when 
 
192 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 " All went swimmingly," says the Badminton Library, 
 " till one evening, going out of Brighton, a young- 
 coachman, son of one of the large coach proprietors 
 whose office was in Castle Square, 1 was driving the four 
 thoroughbred chestnuts, as good and quick a 'Town- 
 end team ' as could be found, when, for some never- 
 to-be-explained reason, they broke away from him, and 
 he turned the coach over just opposite the New Steine 
 Hotel. Several passengers were badly shaken, and 
 two unfortunate ones were thrown on the spikes that 
 surmount the railings of the New Steine. Happily in 
 time they all recovered, but it cost some money to cure 
 them." 
 
 In the Brighton Gazette of the 25th July 1833, there 
 is a further account of the accident : — 
 
 " The melancholy coach accident which occurred 
 here last Thursday has seldom been equalled as re- 
 gards the number of sufferers, although it is now 
 hoped that no fatal consequences will ensue. Almost 
 the whole of the passengers, of whom there were no 
 fewer than thirteen, the inside being full, were severely 
 
 you start with the best team, so well-behaved and handsome ; but 
 get on a bit, and you will find you have some hills to go up and 
 down, with all sorts of horses, as they used to give us over the mid- 
 dle ground. Another thing, sir, never let your horses know you are 
 driving them, or, like women, they may get restive. Don't pull 
 and haul, and stick your elbows a-kimbo ; keep your hands as 
 though you were playing the piano ; let every horse be at work, and 
 don't get flurried ; handle their mouths lightly ; do all this, and you 
 might even drive four young ladies without ever ruffling their fea- 
 thers or their tempers." The Duke of Beaufort says that Pointer 
 had one great failing. He could be depended upon to start at any 
 hour perfectly sober ; but it was necessary to have the stables at 
 which the coach changed horses away from a public-house, or he 
 would certainly have become intoxicated before he reached his 
 journey's end. 
 
 1 Young John Snow, a booking-clerk in the office, was driving. 
 
t 
 
 % 
 
 ■J' 
 o 
 
 r- 
 4 
 
 
FEOM 1830 to 1834 193 
 
 hurt, some of them very dangerously, and in particular 
 Mr. Sugon, who is well known here as an annual visitor, 
 was so much injured that instant death was expected 
 to ensue. His right arm was dreadfully fractured, 
 several ribs were broken, and both jaws ; yet, to the 
 astonishment of his medical attendants, Messrs. Taylor 
 and Lawrence, as well as of all around him, he is not 
 only still alive, but, thanks to an excellent constitution, 
 hopes are even entertained of his recovery. Among 
 the other passengers were Mr. Pearson, the Common 
 Councilman ; Captain Hunter, Mr. Beale, a butcher at 
 Peckham, whose wife and child were inside, as well 
 as many others, were all more or less hurt. Mr. John 
 Snow, who drove the coach, sustained considerable 
 injury, and now lies very ill. The regular driver, Mr. 
 Halyar, 1 who was also on the coach, escaped with 
 some slight bruises. As usual on such occasions, all 
 sorts of stories are in circulation, some of which are 
 certainly groundless. It has been said, for instance, 
 that Mr. Snow was intoxicated ; but this we can state 
 to be untrue. All we know with certainty is that Mr. 
 Snow had undertaken, on the morning of Thursday 
 last, to drive one of the new coaches, the Quicksilver, 
 which leaves Brighton for London at five o'clock. The 
 horses became unmanageable soon after starting. When 
 they reached the sharp projecting corner in Marlborough 
 Place, beyond the King and Queen, a cart was stand- 
 ing near the lamp-post at that spot, and, in making a 
 sweep to avoid it, the coach was overturned : unfor- 
 tunately the injury which such an accident must, under 
 any circumstances, have occasioned, was increased by 
 the passengers being thrown against the iron rails of 
 the North Steine, several of which were absolutely 
 
 1 Presumably he drove the other side of the road to Bob Pointer, 
 mentioned above. 
 
 N 
 
i 9 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 broken. From this spot the coach was dragged, after 
 being upset, by the unmanageable horses a consider- 
 able distance before they could be stopped. The pas- 
 sengers were conveyed to the King and Queen, the 
 Gloucester Hotel, &c, where surgical assistance was 
 immediately obtained, and every assistance which care 
 and skill could bestow was afforded. It has long been 
 easy to foresee that, amongst so much competition and 
 fast driving, some serious calamity would occur, and 
 we have ourselves, by the expression of our apprehen- 
 sions on this point, more than once sought to avert 
 it ; but the evil having arrived, we shall await the 
 elucidation, which will no doubt be made, of the 
 truth, and in the meantime only express our hope that 
 the melancholy occurrence has put an end to the 
 dangerous mania for ' fast driving ' which some 
 coach proprietors and drivers have recently been seek- 
 ing to make fashionable. They may gratify by such 
 means a few heedless persons ; but must, at the same 
 time, in so doing, cause dissatisfaction to others, while 
 they incur a frightful risk of inflicting suffering on 
 their passengers, to say nothing of the certain loss 
 which must follow to themselves." 
 
 The strictures of the above writer on fast driving- 
 may have been deserved in a general way ; but it must 
 be remembered it was not every fast coach that came 
 to grief at short intervals. The still living Mr. C. S. 
 Ward, who has taught generations of amateur coach- 
 men to drive, tells us in his book that, when only 
 seventeen years old, he drove the Norwich and Ipswich 
 mail between London and Colchester for nearly five 
 years without an accident ; and when he was promoted 
 to the Quicksilver, a namesake of the ill-fated coach on 
 the Brighton road, the like good fortune attended him, 
 on the fastest coach at that time (about 1835 to 1842) 
 out of London, for seven years. The Quicksilver, it 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 195 
 
 need scarcely be said, was the Devonport coach ; while 
 we may quote Mr. Ward once more as showing what 
 fast driving there was on other roads. 
 
 A few years later this famous coachman was on the 
 Exeter Telegraph, which subsequently became, owing 
 to the railway opposition, a fast coach from Devonport 
 to London, joining the railway at Bridgewater ; and 
 later on, the coach went from Exeter to Plymouth 
 only. " We did the fifty miles," says Mr. Ward, 
 " several times in three hours and twenty-eight minutes 
 (that is, at the average rate of a mile in four minutes 
 nine seconds, including stoppages), and for months 
 together we never exceeded four hours." 
 
 With reference to the Brighton Quicksilver accident, 
 however, it is perhaps incorrect to say that intentional 
 fast driving was in any sense the cause of the capsize. 
 No coachman would start his horses at their best pace ; 
 the horses broke away with Snow, who was going fast 
 in spite of himself by the time the Steine w r as reached. 
 At the close of the account of the Quicksilver accident 
 there is a paragraph stating that the Blue Office Van, 
 a vehicle which certainly did not run -any risk by 
 galloping, w r as capsized while going down a hill near 
 St. John's Common, on which occasion the coachman 
 and guard sustained but little injury, though the van 
 was a great deal damaged. 
 
 At this time (1833) there was a sort of contro- 
 versy on bearing-reins, a piece of harness the use of 
 which has been disputed down to the present day. 
 " Nimrod" was unquestionably at his best when writing 
 upon hunting subjects, but he had a tolerably wide 
 experience of the road ; and he boldly averred that the 
 man was then unborn who could, without bearing-reins, 
 drive the horses to be found in some coaches. " In the 
 first place," he wrote, " there are many horses — some- 
 times whole teams — that will not face anything but 
 
196 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the cheek ; and where is the arm that could bear the 
 weight of four horses leaning upon it for an hour or 
 more together, perhaps at full gallop?" "Nimrod," 
 in short, was an advocate for the bearing-rein, a con- 
 trivance which, like many other things, is open to both 
 use and abuse ; and the writer in one of the Sussex 
 papers would appear to have been of the same opinion, 
 for he wrote, "Persons acquainted with the art of driving 
 attribute the late stage-coach accidents to the novel 
 practice of discontinuing the use of bearing-reins. We 
 believe there are at this time upwards of fifty coaches 
 running between Brighton and London daily." Here, 
 however, I must for the present leave the knotty point 
 of bearing-reins, which the reader will find fully dis- 
 cussed in Nimrod's Essays, reprinted from the Sporting 
 Magazine in Captain Malet's " Annals of the Road." 
 
 The proprietors of the Quicksilver not unnaturally 
 came to the conclusion that the above-related accident 
 would render the coach unpopular with the public, 
 so they promptly repainted her brown, and, as the 
 Driving volume of the Badminton Library informs us, 
 she again took her place on the road re-named the 
 Criterion. 
 
 Everything appears to have gone well with the 
 Criterion, until one day in March in the following 
 year (1834), when the coachman, Bob Pointer afore- 
 said, appeared before the local bench of magistrates to 
 answer a charge of having contravened the Town Act. 
 The carriage belonging to a Mrs. Hoare was standing on 
 the Old Steine, when the Criterion, driven by Pointer, 
 collided with it, causing some damage. Harum-scarum 
 coachmen of all ages are very much alike, and Pointer 
 drove on without stopping to see what injury he had 
 caused, an unchivalrous line of conduct, which, how- 
 ever, stood him in good stead, for, as he could not be 
 identified, the summons was eventually dismissed. 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 197 
 
 Misfortunes, it is truly said, never come singly ; and 
 three months later a terrible and fatal accident overtook 
 the Criterion (late Quicksilver) coach, by which Sir 
 William Cosway lost his life, and a Mr. Todhunter 
 sustained a fracture of the thigh. The accounts in the 
 papers are very lengthy, but the main features may be 
 shortly summarised. 
 
 Driven by John Ilowchin, the Criterion left London 
 with several passengers, and all went well till coming 
 down the declivity on the Surrey side of London Bridge, 
 where, a dray being in the way, and the driver making 
 no effort to clear the road, the coachman of the Criterion 
 had to pass the dray on the wrong, that is, on the near 
 side. There being insufficient room, the dray struck the 
 off fore-wheel of the Criterion, and the collision was 
 of such violence as nearly to throw one of the outside 
 passengers off his seat. This contretemps, in the opinion 
 of the witnesses who gave evidence at the inquest held 
 on Sir William Cosway, caused the pole f"to crack, 
 though no one seems to have been aware of the fact at 
 the time. Some little distance farther on, a horse 
 ridden by a gentleman shied at a barrow which was 
 covered with a white cloth, and ran in front of the 
 leaders of the Criterion. Ilowchin, who seems to have 
 been deservedly described as a skilful and careful coach- 
 man, was equal to the occasion, and at very short 
 notice stopped his horses at once, a feat which was 
 supposed to have caused the complete fracture of the 
 damaged pole at the futchells — "near the splinter 
 bar," as one of the witnesses described it. 
 
 This sudden stoppage, though it seems to have vir- 
 tually saved the gentleman on the shying horse, cost 
 Sir William Cosway his life, as, soon after starting 
 again, the broken portion of the pole dropped down, 
 and struck the hind-legs of the wheel-horses, who 
 thereupon became unmanageable. A porter in the 
 
i 9 8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 employ of Mr. Alexander, the nominal proprietor of the 
 Criterion, happened to be on the coach, and Howchin, 
 seeing what had happened, called to him to try and 
 skid the wheel. This the man made every attempt to 
 do by climbing down the back of the coach and making 
 his way to the step ; but he was not able to get the 
 wheel into the slipper. The horses were, it is said, 
 further startled by a well-meaning pedestrian catching- 
 hold of the reins. A coach with a broken pole, how- 
 ever, is obviously a risky conveyance, and so thought 
 Sir William Cosway, who, on seeing the turn matters 
 had taken, attempted to clamber on his hands and 
 knees from the box-seat, which he was occupying, to 
 the roof, presumably with the intention of dropping off 
 the coach at the back ; and a Mr. Stokes, a fellow- 
 passenger who gave evidence, prepared to follow this 
 example. Before this intention could be carried into 
 effect by either passenger, the Criterion turned over. 
 The inside passengers, as was the case when the Quick- 
 silver capsized, escaped injury ; but, as already stated, 
 Mr. Todhunter broke his thigh, and Sir William Cos- 
 way fractured his skull. The latter was picked up and 
 carried into the house of Air. Lever, a surgeon of Bridge 
 House Place ; and, in Mr. Lever's absence, a Air. Stringer 
 attended, and remained with Sir William till he expired, 
 an hour and a half later. 
 
 After hearing a good deal of expert evidence, the 
 jury found that the coach was overturned in consequence 
 of the pole having been broken, and gave it as their 
 opinion that no blame attached to the coachman, who, 
 they thought, acted with the greatest propriety in the 
 difficult circumstances in which he was placed. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the opposition 
 which at intervals set in on the Brighton road, and 
 one of the incidents was that the coach-masters were 
 willing to make bargains for fares. This practice occa- 
 
FROM 1830 to 1834 199 
 
 sionally led to disputes, and shortly after Sir William 
 Cosway's lamentable death a Mr. Chamier brought an 
 action against Thomas Wilkins, the coachman of the 
 Echo, one of the recognised fast coaches, for "demanding 
 a larger sum of money for fare and luggage than he had 
 a right to do." According to Mr. Chamier's account, 
 he was induced to travel by the Echo by reason of 
 an advertisement ; and he stated that the book- 
 keeper at Hatchett's Hotel engaged that he should 
 travel down to Brighton as an inside passenger for the 
 sum of fourteen shillings. On the coach arriving at 
 Castle Square, Brighton, Wilkins, the coachman, de- 
 manded seven shillings more, saying that the inside 
 fare was a guinea. In vain did Mr. Chamier protest 
 that he made his bargain in London, as the coachman 
 and the Brighton bookkeeper said that they had no- 
 thing to do with him ; and on the part of the coachman 
 it was urged that he had no power to carry passengers 
 at lower fares, he being responsible to his proprietors 
 for the amount on the way-bill, and on this particular 
 way-bill Mr. Chamier was put down as a twenty-one 
 shillings passenger. The seven shillings were paid, 
 and the coachman was summoned. 
 
 The defence was that Mr. Chamier contracted with 
 an unauthorised person, and that he was mistaken 
 about the advertisement, the appearance of which, he 
 alleged, induced him to book himself. The advertise- 
 ment stated that passengers would be carried inside 
 from Brighton to London for fourteen shillings, but 
 nothing was said about the same rate being charged 
 on the down-journey ; though it was admitted that, after 
 the coach had left the West End, it was not unusual to 
 make special terms with people, especially poor people, 
 who, anxious to get to Brighton, picked up the coach 
 on the Surrey side of the water. Eventually the magis- 
 trates, considering the case proved, fined Wilkins 
 
200 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 twenty-five shillings and costs, whereupon Mr. Cha- 
 mier, who had previously stated that he brought the 
 case into court " to see if such knavery is to flourish," 
 professed himself satisfied, and withdrew another charge 
 against Wilkin s for an overcharge on the luggage, for 
 the carriage of which he was charged twenty-five 
 shillings, after the bookkeeper had engaged that it 
 should go free. 
 
 Coach proprietors, it would seem, were, in some 
 respects, slow in learning lessons which considerations 
 of safety would suggest. Many mishaps occurred, some 
 of which have been recounted here, through having in- 
 sufficient attendance for the horses on the arrival of 
 the different coaches; and in the July of 1834 there 
 was another instance of the folly of leaving horses un- 
 attended, as, after the arrival of the Union coach from 
 London, the leaders, anxious no doubt to get to their 
 stables, suddenly turned round, knocked down a man 
 who was standing near, and trampled upon him. The 
 victim chanced to be a post-boy from Sutton, and so 
 not unaccustomed to the ways of horses. On finding 
 himself, therefore, in the above dangerous predicament, 
 he had the presence of mind to roll away from the 
 wheels of the Union, which would otherwise have 
 passed over him. As it was, he sustained injuries to 
 his head, but was not otherwise seriously hurt. 
 
Chapter XI. 
 
 FROM 1835 to 1839. 
 
 TN the previous chapter I have mentioned the famous 
 Age, started by the late Mr. Stevenson after he gave 
 up the Coronet. " Well-born coachmen prevail on 
 this road," wrote "Nimrod" in his Quarterly Review 
 article. " A gentleman connected with the first families 
 in Wales, and whose father long represented his native 
 county in Parliament, horsed and drove one side of the 
 ground with Mr. Stevenson." This gentleman was Mr. 
 Sackville Frederick Gwynne, who, as will hereafter be 
 seen, experienced his full share of ups and downs on 
 life's road. 
 
 We are left rather in the dark as to the arrangements 
 for carrying on the Age after Mr. Stevenson's death, 
 though practically there can be no doubt that Mr. 
 Gwynne, Mr. Capps, of the Brighton booking-office, 
 and the people who horsed it at various stages, kept 
 the coach going, with Mr. Capps as the man of money. 
 On Christmas Day, 1834, however, the following an- 
 nouncement was published in the Brighton Gazette :— 
 
 Age Coach. 
 
 The Public are respectfully informed that, in consequence of one 
 
 of the late Proprietors of the Age having suddenly withdrawn his 
 
 stock from the concern, the Coach has commenced running from 
 
 Goodman's Office, No. 10 Castle Square, instead of what is called 
 
 the Age Office. No alteration will take place at the London end, 
 
 the Coach continuing to book at the same Offices it has hitherto 
 
 done, and will leave the Bull and Mouth, Eegent Circus, as usual, 
 
 at twelve o'clock precisely. 
 
 John James Willan & Co., 
 
 Proprietors. 
 
202 BEIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Mr. J. J. Willan was a Hampshire man, who formerly- 
 lived at Preston Candover, and was a prominent member 
 of the old Hambledon Cricket Clnb. He subsequently 
 either let or sold his residence to Mr. John Truman 
 Villebois, who was one of the ruling body of the 
 Hampshire Hounds from 1802 to 1804, an d sole 
 master from that date to the time of his death in 
 
 ^37- 
 
 An oft-told story is that Mr. Willan succeeded to the 
 
 Age on the death of Mr. Stevensou, and the above 
 
 advertisement would appear to be some confirmation of 
 
 the commonly accepted version. But there were two 
 
 Kings of Brentford, as on the same day (Christmas 
 
 Day, 1834) the following advertisement appeared : — 
 
 Age Office, No. 5 Castle Square, Brighton. 
 
 Notice. — The Public is most respectfully informed that the Age 
 Coach will continue running from the above Office as usual, daily at 
 twelve o'clock, the late Proprietor, Sackville Fredei'ick Gwynne, Esq., 
 having assigned the same to Thomas Ward Capps ; and having con- 
 ducted the whole of the Age business ever since its commencement 
 under the late Henry Stevenson, Esq., he throws himself on a generous 
 Public for that patronage and support with which the Age Coach 
 has for the last nine years been favoured. 
 
 N.B. — There being another Age now running, J. W. Capps begs 
 to caution the Public that it has no connection with the Age from 
 the Age Office, 5 Castle Square. 
 
 It will be observed that in the above advertisement 
 Mr. Capps refers to the patronage extended to the Age 
 " for the last nine years." This would mean that the 
 Age was running in 1826 ; yet the name of this coach 
 is missing from Cary's list of that year (see ante, p. 147)- 
 The Coronet, Mr. Stevenson's first coach, was then in 
 existence, however, and possibly Mr. Capps may have 
 regarded the Coronet, and its successor the Age, as one 
 concern, just as the Quicksilver and the Criterion were 
 practically one and the same coach, — a more likely 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 203 
 
 explanation. However, the two above-qnoted advertise- 
 ments by no means settled the question, as on New 
 Year's Day, 1835, Mr. Capps sought, in the columns of 
 the local papers, to uphold his claim to the possession 
 of the original Age ; and he published these parti- 
 culars : — 
 
 A CAUTION. 
 
 A Coach having commenced running from Mr. Goodman's Office, 
 named the Age, in opposition to the one from the Age Office, and 
 an advertisement having appeared leading the public to suppose 
 that the Age Coach had been removed from the Age Office to that 
 of Mr. Goodman, the present proprietor feels called upon to publish 
 the following letter, which he has received from the late proprietor, 
 Sackville Frederick Gwynne, Esq. 
 
 London, December 23, 1834. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have been informed that an advertisement has 
 appeared in the Brighton papers stating that the Age Coach had 
 been removed from the Age Office to Mr. Goodman's, which may be 
 detrimental to your Coach. I beg to say I have in no way assigned 
 my interest to Messrs. Goodman & Willan, or anybody else, except- 
 ing yourself, and I consider the Coach going from Mr. Goodman's 
 Office decidedly in opposition. You may make any use of this you 
 think proper, and hoping that you may meet with the same liberal 
 support that I did, — I remain, yours very truly, 
 
 S. F. GWYNNE. 
 
 To Mr. Capps, Age Office, Brighton. 
 
 Then follows a repetition of the advertisement of 
 the 25th December 1834, put forth by Mr. Capps, who 
 subjoins this notice : — 
 
 In consequence of an intrigue with the opposition Coach, the 
 Proprietors are compelled (for the present) to alter their London 
 Offices. The Age Coach now leaves as follows : The Gloucester 
 Warehouse, corner of Park Street ; the Feathers Office, 336 Oxford 
 Street ; and Mosse's Green Man and Still, Oxford Street, at half- 
 past eleven o'clock ; the Spread Eagle Office, Begent's Circus ; British 
 Coffee-House, Cockspur Street; Hungerford Office, 16 Strand, and 
 7 r Gracechurch Street, at 1 2 o'clock precisely. 
 
 T. W. CAPPS & CO., Proprietors. 
 
2o 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 The opposition, "J. J. Willan & Co.," lost no time in 
 replying to Mr. Capps's statement, and, repeating the 
 notice of the previous Christmas Day, added this ex- 
 planation : — 
 
 Having inserted the first notice above, stating that I had removed 
 the Age Coach, which I have been horsing and managing from 
 London to Horley (28 miles) since the 3rd of last August, from 
 Mr. Capps's office to Mr. Goodman's, my attention has been called 
 to a contradiction from Mr. Capps, who states he has conducted the 
 whole of the Age business since its commencement, and further 
 adds a letter from Mr. Gwynne, stating that he has made over his 
 interest in the Age entirely to Mr. Capps. Now, with respect to 
 Mr. Capps having had the sole management of the Age since its 
 commencement, the statement is a direct falsehood, he having been 
 solely employed as a bookkeeper by the proprietors, and paid five 
 guineas a month for his services. He has, however, I admit, had 
 the direction and management of the Brighton end during the last 
 three months, owing to Mr. Gwynne's stock having been seized by 
 the Sheriff under an execution issued by Mr. David Lloyd Harries, 
 solicitor, Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, and under which they were 
 sold by Mr. Alexander on Tuesday, the 6th inst. (January). 
 
 Mr. Harries residing at a distance, assigned over the stock he 
 had taken to Mr. Capps, who conducted for him his business from 
 Brighton to Horley. On Saturday, December 13, I received the 
 following letter from Mr. Capps, giving me notice Mr. Harries in- 
 tended taking his stock off the Age that day week, and whether a 
 week's notice is a handsome and sufficient one, I will leave all 
 coachmasters and the public to decide. 
 
 Age Office, Brighton, December 19, 1834. 
 
 Sir, — Mr. Harries has come to the determination to take his 
 stock off the Age this day week (Saturday). An arrangement will 
 be made to continue working the same without any delay, but when 
 it is definitely settled I will write to you again immediately. Pro- 
 bably you can give me some information on the subject. — I am, sir, 
 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 T. W. CAPPS. 
 
 J. J. Willan, Esq. 
 
 This shows how much interest Mr. Gwynne possessed in the 
 coach, he not having had a horse at work on it during a period of 
 three months. Upon the strength of this notice, not wishing to be 
 left in the lurch, or obliged to draw the coach the whole way myself, 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 205 
 
 I applied to Mr. Goodman and his partners to take the ground 
 from Horley to Brighton, which they immediately acceded to, viz., 
 on Sunday the 14th. On Monday the 15th, Mr. Capps wrote to 
 me (and both his letters are lying for any person's inspection at 
 No. 10 Castle Square), to say that he himself intended horsing the 
 coach to Horley (and Mr. Alexander intended lending him horses 
 for the present to take it to Hand Cross). I sent him an answer 
 stating that as I was drawing the coach twenty-eight miles, I con- 
 sidered I had a perfect right to choose my own partners ; that I had 
 already got the ground covered, and that I declined working with 
 him. I stated at the same time that neither myself nor Mr. Good- 
 man had any wish to remove the coach from his office, but would 
 pay him as usual five guineas a month for booking, and would con- 
 tinue to do so, and that nothing but misconduct on his part would 
 ever cause its removal. My letter he has, and may publish it if it 
 will contradict what I assert. This he declined, and has joined Mr. 
 Alexander, and they have altered the colour and name of the Sur- 
 prise coach, which formerly started at ten and various other hours, 
 to our time at twelve o'clock, and they now call it the Age. 
 
 Under these circumstances I had no alternative but to remove 
 my coach to the Red Office, 10 Castle Square, and I will now leave 
 the subject for ever, allowing the public to decide to whom the 
 charge of putting on an opposition coach applies. 
 
 The best proof that this is the original Age is, that it books at 
 the original offices in London, being the Globe, Baker Street and 
 New Road ; the Bull and Mouth, corner of Portman and Oxford 
 Streets, and starts from the same office in London as before. 
 
 J. J. WILL AN. 
 
 Then came a counterblast from Mr. Capps, who re- 
 peated his earlier Age advertisement, and then devoted 
 himself to the task of pulverising his rival, in these 
 words : — 
 
 In consequence of the unfounded assertion inserted in the 
 Brighton Herald of the 17th inst., and signed "J. J. Willan." I, 
 Thomas Ward Capps, the present proprietor of the Age coach, feel 
 myself called upon to state the simple facts. 
 
 Mr. John James Willan states that he horsed twenty-eight miles 
 of the Age coach up to the 27th December last, viz. : from London 
 to Horley ; and in consequence of a notice which he, Mr. Willan, 
 received from me respecting the horses on the lower ground, from 
 Horley to Brighton, that he was compelled to apply to Mr. Good- 
 man and his partners to take the coach, and which they immediately 
 
2o6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 acceded to, not wishing (as he, Mr. Willan, says) to be left in the 
 lurch, or be obliged to draw the coach the whole way himself. Now 
 in reply to this I say, without fear of contradiction, that up to 
 Saturday, the 27th December last (as Mr. Willan and Mr. Goodman 
 and his partners started another Age coach in opposition to mine 
 on Monday, the 29th of December), Mr. Willan had not so much 
 as a single horse on it ; but the twenty-eight miles Mr. John James 
 Willan represents himself as proprietor of, belonged to Major 
 Haddon, who, on Friday, the 26th, offered the horses for sale to 
 a coach proprietor (which I am prepared to prove), but on or about 
 the 27th Mr. Willan and his partners made an arrangement with 
 Major Haddon for his stock, in order that they might leave me, as 
 they supposed, unprepared to continue the coach. 
 
 Mr. Willan was in no way a proprietor on the 27th of December; 
 he was a mere servant acting in the capacity of coachman, for which 
 he received twelve shillings per week, the same being regularly paid 
 by me in the ordinary way as I pay the other coachmen from my 
 office. 
 
 As to my letter to Mr. Willan, of which he speaks, it was ad- 
 dressed to him as well from courtesy as from necessity, I not 
 knowing Major Haddon's address at the time, and being desirous 
 that Mr. Willan should communicate to Major Haddon the change 
 then about to take place. I regret being compelled to expose Mr. 
 Willan's real situation at the time a coalition took place between 
 him and Messrs. Goodman & Co. against mine, the " Age " coach, 
 on the 29th December, and but for the mean and cowardly attack 
 made upon his master, the late proprietor, by Mr. Willan, who 
 forgets that he himself was a short time ago the inmate of a prison, 
 I should not have considered his weak and unfounded assertion 
 worthy of notice. 
 
 To the above hard-hitting manifesto the worthy Capps 
 appended his name, and gave his opponents to under- 
 stand that he had another shot in his locker by adding, 
 with perhaps more regard for the requirements of the 
 Latin tongue than he always displayed when dealing 
 with the King's English, Plus, si necesse sit. This 
 document he followed up by inserting in a local paper 
 for the 1 2th February 1835 : — 
 
 Age Office, 5 Castle Square, Brighton. 
 
 Caution.— Having seen an advertisement in the Briijliton Guar- 
 dian purporting to give a statement of facts concerning the Age 
 
FEOM 1835 to 1839 207 
 
 Coach, and having answered that statement fully and satisfactorily 
 (vide the Brighton Gazette, Jan. 29, 1835), showing the false posi- 
 tion of Messrs. Willan & Co., satisfying the public that the Age 
 Coach still continues running as usual from the Age Office, 5 Castle 
 Square, Mr. Goodman having promised me his garbled statement 
 should not appear again, I find in the Guardian of yesterday (i.e., 
 Feb. 11, 1835) he still continues to deceive the public, and Thomas 
 Ward Capps, the proprietor of the original Age Coach (having suc- 
 ceeded S. F. Gwynne, Esq.), begs to caution the public against a 
 conveyance bearing the same name, running from the Red Coach 
 Office. Thos. Ward Capps writes to acquaint the public he has no 
 connexion whatever with that Office, it being decidedly an opposition 
 coach. 
 
 Brighton, Feb. 12, 1835. 
 
 As the Age is possibly the most notable of the old 
 coaches on the Brighton road, it has been thought 
 worth while to reproduce all these notices in connec- 
 tion with it, especially as, so far as I know, they are 
 not to be found elsewhere than in the columns of 
 the newspapers from which they have been extracted, 
 and as the dispute between the rival proprietors is not 
 generally known, the common idea being that Mr. 
 Willan succeeded without let or hindrance to the Age, 
 and disposed of it as easily as he became possessed of 
 it. Owing to the difficulty of ascertaining exactly what 
 took place after Mr. Stevenson's death, one cannot quite 
 clearly see what led up to the dispute between Mr. 
 Willan and Capps. There, however, seems to be no 
 doubt that the original vehicle was that driven by Mr. 
 Willan ; and, as we shall presently see, the latter gen- 
 tleman seems to have desired a way out of all diffi- 
 culties. He, of course, had Goodman behind him, or 
 the Age would then and there have become a past 
 Age ; while, had it not been for Capps's money, it would 
 unquestionably have stopped before, as after the with- 
 drawal of Mr. Stevenson's stock it must have been a 
 work of some difficulty to keep the coach on the road. 
 
 The close of the year 1835 brings the name of 
 
2o8 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Shillibeer into the history of the Brighton road. We 
 of the present day associate the name with "black 
 work ; " but before he turned his attention to the con- 
 struction of a combined hearse and mourning-coach, 
 Mr. Shillibeer was connected with vehicles used for 
 more joyous occasions than going to funerals. 
 
 In the autumn of 1835, for instance, he advertised 
 his " distinguished conveyance to London by Reigate 
 and Cuckfield in six hours." Taking quite a pardon- 
 able pride in his invention, Mr. Shillibeer described his 
 diligence as "combining the comfort of a nobleman's 
 chariot with the usual convenience of a stage carriage," 
 and expressing a hope that he might enjoy a large 
 portion of public patronage, assured those who might 
 travel by his conveyance that it was novel, excellent, 
 and had " an extraordinary interior." It left the Royal 
 Clarence Hotel, Brighton, at half-past ten every day, 
 and ran to 1 1 Charing Cross, London. Mr. Shillibeer, 
 however, soon found himself involved in a "horse 
 cause," the facts of which give us some insight into 
 the value of a coach-horse at this time. Shillibeer 
 bought of one Cussell, who seems to have been con- 
 nected with the Tally-Ho, a brown gelding at the price 
 of ^"10. This inexpensive slave had, according to the 
 evidence of Cussell, been working eleven miles per diem 
 between Ditchling and Lindfleld : he was admittedly 
 a roarer, but an " excellent goer," nevertheless, and, 
 had he been sound, ,£50 would not have bought him. 
 Three weeks after Shillibeer purchased him the horse 
 died, and a post-mortem revealed the fact that he 
 was, internally, " a mass of corruption," arising from a 
 disease of long standing. Shillibeer declined to pay 
 for him ; but, as there was no warranty, the case went 
 against him. 
 
 In July 1836 we find that the original diligence 
 belonged to Boulton, Carpenter, & Co. ; ran to London 
 
«: 'k 
 
 
 HP 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 
 
 209 
 
 iu five hours and a quarter. Passengers in the coach 
 paid sixteen shillings ; those in the omnibus, twelve 
 shillings ; while eight shillings was the outside fare. 
 
 During the year 1835 the following coaches were 
 running between London and Brighton : — 
 
 Depart from 
 
 Hour. 
 
 Coach. 
 
 Snow's Office, 18 Castle Sq. 
 
 6 a.m. 
 
 Dart. 
 
 » J? 
 
 10 a.m. 
 
 Comet. 
 
 Red Office, Castle Square. 
 
 1 1 a.m. 
 3 p.m. 
 7 a.m. 
 
 Magnet. 
 
 Sovereign. 
 
 Times. 
 
 ?> ■>■> 
 
 9 a.m. 
 
 Royal Clarence. 
 
 5) :■> 
 
 10 a.m. 
 
 Regent. 
 
 Blue Office, Castle Square. 
 
 12.0 noon. 
 
 5 P- m - 
 8 a.m. 
 
 Age (Willan's). 
 
 Times. 
 
 Item. 
 
 )5 5) 
 
 9 a.m. 
 
 10 a.m. 
 
 Royal William. 
 True Blue. 
 
 Hine's Office, East Street. 
 
 1 1 a.m. 
 10.30 p.m. 
 9 a.m. 
 
 Royal George. 
 Royal Mail. 
 
 Alert. 
 
 ?> ;> 
 
 1 1 a.m. 
 
 Union. 
 
 5 Castle Square. 
 
 10 a.m. 
 
 Emerald. 
 
 3 Castle Square. 
 
 55 
 
 12.0 noon. 
 10 a.m. 
 12.0 noon. 
 
 Age (Capps's). 
 Telegraph. 
 New Dart. 
 
 Clarence Hotel. 
 
 10.30 a.m. 
 
 The Diligence. 
 
 Of the above coaches the Item's London terminus 
 was the Boar and Castle, Oxford Street, whence it 
 left for Brighton at three o'clock, calling at Griffen's 
 Green Man and Still ; Hatchett's White Horse Cellar ; 
 Bull and Mouth, Begent Circus ; British Office, Cock- 
 spur Street ; Silver Cross, Charing Cross ; Nos. 1 1 and 
 74 Charing Cross ; the Half-Moon, Gracechurch Street ; 
 and reached the Elephant and Castle at four o'clock ; 
 but some of these offices were no doubt served by 
 branch coaches. This coach made the double journey 
 daily. Early in 1836 the times were so far changed 
 that the Item left Brighton at six o'clock on the 
 
 
 
210 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 mornings of Monday and Tuesday, and at eight o'clock 
 on other days, travelling both up and down via Cuck- 
 field, Worth, Reigate, Sutton, and Claphani. 
 
 How long the two Ages continued in opposition I am 
 unable to say; but in the spring of 1836 Mr. Willan 
 appears to have sold his Age to Sir St. Vincent Cotton, 
 of Madingley Park, about three miles and a half dis- 
 tant from Cambridge, Mr. Willan joining Mr. William 
 Cripps, and one or two others, in the proprietorship 
 of the Magnet, which had previously been taken off 
 the road for a short time. The new owners assured 
 their patrons that no expense would be spared in 
 making the Magnet equal to any conveyance in the 
 kingdom ; and, as they had no intention of professing 
 more than they could perform, they undertook to do 
 the journey in six hours, leaving 18 Castle Square, 
 Brighton, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and 
 arriving at the Three Kings, Piccadilly, punctually 
 at five o'clock in the afternoon. Immunity from 
 accident, however, was more than the proprietary 
 could guarantee, and, as they knew that mishaps would 
 overtake the best coaches, they were wisely silent 
 on this point in their advertisement. At any rate, 
 the Magnet had not long been in the hands of 
 Messrs. Cripps, Willan, & Co., ere the axle broke one 
 Sunday afternoon when the coach was a short way 
 from Brighton. Francis Vickers was driving ; he was 
 thrown off with great violence, and was much hurt, 
 while an outside passenger who jumped off sustained 
 somewhat severe injuries, but another who let him- 
 self down behind was unharmed ; and two inside 
 passengers were frightened only and not hurt ; in fact, 
 as I have before said, the inside of a coach appears to 
 have always been the safer. 
 
 Messrs. Chaplin & Crunden appear for some time 
 to have been more or less associated with Goodman, 
 
FROM 1S35 to 1S39 211 
 
 the proprietor of the Red Coach- Office, Castle Square, 
 and of some of the coaches running therefrom. Sub- 
 sequently they seem to have had business relations 
 with Snow, of the Spread Eagle Office, and in the 
 summer of 1836 they "most respectfully announced 
 their acquisition of the whole of the Brighton estab- 
 lishment with which they were lately connected, and 
 which they have in consequence entirely remodelled." 
 This, from a man like Mr. Chaplin, who had upwards 
 of seventeen hundred horses working on different 
 roads, meant a good deal. The Spread Eagle Office 
 was at 18 Castle Square. 
 
 To begin with, they put on the Vivid, a new and 
 fast coach, leaving Brighton at six o'clock ; the Comet 
 (with barouche seats for families) ran in the same 
 interest, and so did the Sovereign, this coach now 
 travelling at an accelerated pace ; while visitors and 
 the public generally were assured that 18 Castle Square 
 would be found a perfect bureau of information, where 
 all would be treated with Chesterfield-like politeness, 
 and would receive ready redress on any subject about 
 which it might be considered necessary to complain. 
 The Magnet afore-mentioned, and the Times likewise, 
 started from the Spread Eagle Office, though Good- 
 man had a proprietary interest in the latter, in con- 
 junction with Home, who, later on, joined Chaplin 
 in founding the huge carrying firm, the name of which 
 lives to this day. 
 
 Accidents, we know, occur quite as often through the 
 laches of others as through the fault of a coachman 
 himself, and here are instances of each. A horse-keeper 
 was leading some of the Age horses near Patcham, 
 when two drunken fellows came along driving a horse 
 and cart at a furious pace. The horse-keeper did his 
 best to dodge the approaching vehicle ; but, not being 
 able to succeed, one of the coach-horses was killed on 
 
2i2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the spot by the shaft of the cart being driven deep 
 into its chest. 
 
 The second case was that of Matthew Cussell, coach- 
 man of the Tally-Ho, and presumably some relation of 
 Edward Cussell, landlord of the Globe Inn, Brighton, 
 who appeared to an information charging him with 
 having been intoxicated while acting as the driver of a 
 stage-coach. This was a rather curious case, as the 
 man drove well enough from London to Croydon : 
 none of the passengers were called to say that he had 
 anything to drink at Croydon ; yet soon after leaving 
 that place the coach was twice driven off the road ; and 
 at Crawley Cussell was so drunk that he fell down as 
 soon as he attempted to descend from the box. A 
 stage-coachman under the influence of liquor is neces- 
 sarily capable of causing a great amount of trouble, so, 
 in spite of appeals for leniency put forth by some of 
 the passengers who had given evidence, the magistrates 
 very properly imposed a fine of £t>- 
 
 A perusal of the list of coaches leaving Brighton 
 will have shown that several of the conveyances started 
 for London at the same hour, the Magnet and the 
 Union being timed to depart at eleven o'clock. They 
 were thus in sight of one another for some time, and 
 one day, in the autumn of 1836, a curious coincidence 
 happened, which, had they been racing, would have 
 done a good turn to the Union, which chanced to be in 
 front. Close to Preston a large tree which the Union 
 had just passed was blown down in front of the 
 Magnet, thereby barring its further progress ; so there 
 was nothing left for the Magnet's coachman to do but 
 to turn round and drive up the Ditchling Road and 
 over the hills to Preston. 
 
 This brings me to the great snowstorm of 1836 — a 
 storm almost without parallel in the annals of stage- 
 coaching. Though severe almost everywhere, it was 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 213 
 
 perhaps worse south of London than anywhere else. 
 It began a day or two before Christmas Day, the Times, 
 which left for London on Sunday, the 25th December, 
 being the first to feel the full violence of the storm. 
 She got through, however, as the coachman of the 
 outward mail passed her at Brixton ; but the down- 
 coach had great difficulty in reaching Brighton. At 
 eleven o'clock at night all hopes of seeing her were 
 abandoned ; but she arrived about half an hour later, 
 Dear, the coachman, having given the reins to some one 
 else, and mounted himself upon one of the leaders at 
 Pangdean ; and even then a good many perils had to 
 be encountered before Brighton was reached. About 
 four miles from Brighton, Dear and his leaders tumbled 
 neck and heels over a snow-ridge, and the sudden 
 strain on the pole hook caused the pole to crack ; but 
 as there was then no danger of the coach overrunning 
 the horses, or any temptation to travel quickly, the 
 remainder of the journey was accomplished at a slow 
 pace, with the pole in its damaged state. 
 
 The Brighton Gazette for the 29th of December gives 
 the following account of the storm : — 
 
 On Friday afternoon (i.e., 23rd December) the wind changed 
 from S.S.W. to N.N.E., and on Saturday morning the ground was 
 covered with snow. The frost, however, was not very keen. Dur- 
 ing Saturday snow fell at intervals, but till Sunday afternoon the 
 fall was inconsiderable, when, as it grew dusk, the wind increased to 
 a gale, accompanied by sleet and snow. From six o'clock till ten 
 the snow had drifted so much that in some places it covered the 
 ground to the depth of a foot. About ten o'clock there was a slight 
 abatement, but shortly afterwards it was renewed with increased 
 force. The sentinels at the Palace were covered with snow in their 
 boxes, and large heaps of snow drifted on the pavement, until at 
 midnight it was breast high. At eleven o'clock the few flymen who 
 had ventured out were under the necessity of putting two horses to 
 their flys, and even then could only proceed at a walking pace. 
 One horse fell down exhausted opposite St. Peter's Church and died. 
 . . . Towards midnight the wind and snow increased, and, we 
 believe, did not abate till break of day, when such a scene presented 
 
2i 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 itself as was perhaps never witnessed in Brighton before within the 
 memory of man. Some of the streets were completely blocked up by 
 snow, and totally impassable ; in others, where the snow drifted, 
 high ridges were formed at the side of the road from one end of the 
 street to the other, which were in most places four or five feet deep. 
 Hundreds of persons had to dig their way out of doors ; large masses 
 of snow covered the tops of the houses ; and, where the drift was 
 greatest, the windows were completely covered, presenting a most 
 singular appearance. In Gloucester Lane the snow was eight or 
 ten feet deep, and the streets at the back of Edward Street were 
 nearly filled. Near Mr. Col batch's house, on Rose Hill, it was 
 about fifteen feet deep. Tracks were soon made on the pavements, 
 and it was a curious sight in some places to see persons walking 
 between the houses and these ridges, their heads just peeping above 
 the snow. Scarcely a shop was opened on Monday, and but few on 
 Tuesday ; in short, business was to a great extent suspended ever 
 since. 
 
 It will readily be imagined that in such conditions 
 of weather the coach traffic of the south, and especially 
 around Brighton, was completely paralysed for a time, 
 yet the coachmen and guards made the most strenuous, 
 and in some instances absolutely heroic, attempts to 
 re-establish communication. 
 
 The Brighton mail leaving London on the Sunday, 
 the third day of the storm, had a somewhat varied 
 experience. It carried one solitary but plucky pas- 
 senger, and when it stuck fast in the snow at four 
 o'clock on Monday morning at Clayton Hill, he and 
 the coachman made themselves as comfortable as 
 circumstances permitted inside the coach, while the 
 guard essayed to make the best of his way to Brighton 
 with the mail-bags on one of the horses. When day 
 broke, the coachman and the passenger contrived to 
 turn the coach, and get her back to Friars Oak ; but 
 the miserable guard had a very sorry time of it. He 
 managed somehow to get upon the Downs, and several 
 times he, his horse, and the mail-bags were rolling 
 together in the snow. It was one o'clock on Monday 
 afternoon when he reached Brighton, in a state of 
 
I 
 
 - * 
 
 f 
 
 i ' S y JL 
 
 ? Lt i 
 
 i 
 
 f 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 215 
 
 exhaustion ; and then he was taken to Ward's Baths, 
 and afterwards put to bed. We must all sympathise 
 with these officials in their hardships in travelling in 
 bad weather ; but, in connection with this snowstorm, 
 we hear nothing about the horses and their sufferings. 
 The coachman of the mail, by the way, reached Brighton 
 at four o'clock on the afternoon of Tuesday. 
 
 Amongst other sufferers from the inclement weather 
 was one of the King's cooks, named Querini, who 
 travelled from London on the Sunday by the Times 
 coach. At Bolney he dropped his stick, and some- 
 what imprudently got down from the coach to pick 
 it up. The coachman left him behind, so the artist 
 had to proceed on foot to the inn at Albourne, where 
 he refreshed himself, and then left to make his way 
 into Brighton. Soon after Mr. Querini had departed, 
 the landlord began to entertain fears that he would 
 lose his way, and perhaps perish from exposure, so he 
 hurried on after his late guest, and it was perhaps 
 fortunate that he did so, for he eventually came up 
 with the cook, who was then seated on the snow, look- 
 ing probably a very wretched edition of a chaud-froid. 
 There was not much difficulty in persuading him to 
 return to Albourne, where he tarried for the night ; 
 but at seven o'clock the next morning he resumed his 
 journey, accompanied by a guide, and after five hours' 
 hard work reached Mr. Hudson's house at Brighton, 
 covered with snow from head to foot, both the cook 
 and his guide being in a very exhausted state. 
 
 One cannot help admiring the zeal with which the 
 Post-Office officials attempted to secure the transit of 
 the mail-bags, be the weather what it might. On the 
 Monday of the storm, i.e. Boxing Day, the bags were 
 sent off from Brighton at one o'clock in the morning 
 by men on horseback, and this mounted band took 
 five hours in reaching Pyecombe, where they remained 
 
216 BRIGHTON AKD ITS COACHES 
 
 all night. On Tuesday morning, at the same hour, one 
 o'clock, the London bags were intrusted to six men on 
 foot, and a track having been cut through the snow, 
 they found walking less difficult than riding. The 
 down-mail, which left London on the Monday night, 
 was snowed up ; and the bags were taken on by men 
 on horseback, who reached the Brighton Post-Office 
 late on Tuesday afternoon ; while the London papers, 
 which generally found their way into Brighton about 
 two on Monday afternoon, were not delivered till six 
 on the following evening. 
 
 The weather seems to have been at last too much 
 even for the Worthing mail-cart, for on the Tuesday 
 the letters for that place were sent by two men on 
 horseback, who rode nearly all the way along the 
 beach. 
 
 Meantime Goodman, the coach proprietor, waited 
 patiently at his farm at Albourne till the Tuesday, 
 when, after a difficult journey, he reached Brighton on 
 horseback, and immediately set about making arrange- 
 ments for having the roads cleared. 
 
 The Sovereign coach was dug out of the snow twice 
 on the Monday, and with the greatest difficulty got as 
 far as Pangdean, where the passengers alighted, and 
 walked on into Brighton. On the Wednesday (28th 
 December) the London mail-bags were brought in by 
 men on horseback ; six horses and a number of men 
 were sent off from the Blue Coach-Office to Clayton 
 Hill to try and get the mail out of the snow ; while 
 the early and late Times and the Regent started for 
 London each with six horses. Some coaches were 
 snowed up at Cuckfield ; while at Crawley, Henfield, 
 and other places were coaches which, through the 
 violence of the storm, could not complete their journey 
 either up or down. Altogether eight coaches left 
 Brighton for London on the Wednesday, most of them 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 217 
 
 with six horses ; while no fewer than eighteen cart- 
 horses were required to drag the Gloucester mail out 
 of her difficulties ; so for one reason and another the 
 Christmas of 1836 could not have been a very merry 
 one. For the first time for very many years the 
 Brighton mail was stopped for a full night within a 
 few miles of London, and all intercourse between town 
 and the southern shires was cut off for two days. 
 
 The year 1837 could scarcely have failed to bring 
 with it some sort of misgivings as to what kind of 
 opposition steam power would, in the near future, offer 
 to stage-coaches. It may have been that coach pro- 
 prietors were mindful of this ; but the fact remains 
 that scarcely had the snowstorm passed away ere 
 coaches were running at reduced fares. The New 
 Dart (Nelson & Wiggins proprietors) carried inside 
 passengers at eighteen shillings, and charged no more 
 than nine shillings as outside fare, and a week or two 
 later the figures were reduced to sixteen shillings and 
 six shillings, while previously existing arrangements as 
 regards the mails were so far altered that the mail now 
 left Brighton at eleven at night instead of half-past 
 ten. 
 
 Some of the older school of coaching men have made 
 great fun of the patent brake, oblivious, possibly, of 
 the fact that wood and asphalt offer less resistance to 
 wheels than did macadam and stone pitching. The 
 latter was, no doubt, desperately greasy at times, but 
 its unevenness gave some sort of foothold for the horses, 
 and saved the road from becoming the slide it often is 
 now that it is paved with wood. 
 
 At any rate, the merits of some sort of brake were 
 recognised so long ago as 1837 — indeed, a "coach 
 retarder" had been invented twelve years before — 
 when the new mails had a piece of machinery attached 
 to the hinder part of the coach "for the purpose of 
 
218 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 locking down the hills without the guard getting 
 down, or, in case of the horses running away down a 
 hill, of stopping the mail instantly. The contrivance 
 is very simple, and is done by the pressure of two 
 pieces of wood against the wheels ; the connecting-rod, 
 going to the top of the coach, is turned by a screw, 
 and the effect on the wheels is immediate. This 
 ' machinery ' had always been used by the diligences 
 in France, and some astonishment was expressed that 
 it had never before been introduced into England." 
 Brakes of some sort, however, were known long before 
 this, and were, I think, first applied to some of the 
 trollies in the Northumberland pits. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1S37, Mr. Thomas 
 Crosweller, the proprietor, or one of the proprietors, 
 of the Blue Coach-Office, died at his residence, 71 
 Grand Parade, greatly lamented by the coaching frater- 
 nity at Brighton and elsewhere. When stage-coaching 
 was in its infancy, that is to say, at the dawning of the 
 present century, Mr. Crosweller was driving a coach 
 between Brighton and London, his whilom partner, 
 Mr. Hine, being in charge of another. Mr. Crosweller, 
 however, appears to have been an excellent man of 
 business, and when he gave up driving, about the 
 year 18 18, he turned his attention to the booking-office, 
 and soon afterwards opened a livery and posting yard 
 at the Bedford Mews, King's Road ; and, as his con- 
 nection increased, he subsequently took the Albion 
 Mews, St. James's Street, and on his death both these 
 establishments were disposed of. 
 
 During this time Mr. Crosweller was largely engaged 
 in the coaching business. As already mentioned, he 
 was part proprietor of several of the coaches starting 
 from the Blue Office in Castle Square, and he horsed 
 most of them over some of their ground. The Blue 
 coaches were not surpassed by any running on the 
 
FEOM 1835 TO 1S39 2! 9 
 
 London and Brighton road ; they were well built, well 
 horsed, and the firm employed as good coachmen as 
 they could get. The Blue coaches did not, however, 
 rank as the fastest. For some time a Mr. Blaber had 
 been Mr. Crosweller's partner, and, on the death of 
 the latter, Mr. Blaber announced, through the medium 
 of the Sussex papers, that he would carry on the busi- 
 ness himself. He hoped for " a continuation of that 
 patronage," &c, and his prayer appears to have been 
 granted, as in March 1838, and therefore prior to the 
 summer arrangements coming into force, we find the 
 following coaches starting from the Blue Office for 
 London : x — 
 
 The Era, which, leaving Brighton at noon, ran 
 through Hicksteacl, Crawley, Reigate, and Sutton to 
 the Belle Sauvage and half a dozen other offices. The 
 Era left London at a quarter past eleven. This was 
 a new coach, of which the proprietors were Edmund 
 Strevens and John Wiggins of Brighton, Samuel Belf 
 of Reigate, and John Nelson of London. 
 
 The Item, at six o'clock on Monday and Tuesday, 
 and eight o'clock on the remaining four days. She did 
 not run on Sunday. The Item accomplished the 
 double journey in the day, leaving Oxford Street at 
 two in the afternoon, and ran through Cuckfield, 
 Worth, Horley, and Croydon. 
 
 The Optimus, a new four-o'clock coach, via Hick- 
 stead, Crawley, Reigate, Sutton, and Clapham, reach- 
 ing London in five hours. 
 
 The night-mail at 11 p.m., leaving the Blossoms 
 Iun, Cheapside, at 8 p.m. 
 
 The Royal Blue " safety barouche," at ten in the 
 morning, through Cuckfield and Croydon. 
 
 1 In July 1838 the Blue Coach-Office was in course of rebuilding, 
 so the business was removed to the Blue Van Office in East Street, 
 whence the coaches for London and the provinces started. 
 
220 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 In addition to the above, there were the Hero, to 
 Oxford and Reading ; the day-mail and Times, to 
 Southampton ; the Sovereign, to Windsor ; the Royal 
 Bine, to Tnnbridge Wells, Maidstone, and Chatham ; 
 the Defiance, to Tunbridge Wells ; the Hero and Rival, 
 to Hastings ; and the Optimns, to Worthing. These 
 provincial coaches, however, are dealt with in subse- 
 quent chapters. Of all the above coaches, Messrs. 
 Strevens, Wiggins, Relf, Nelson, and others forming 
 this great confederacy, were the proprietors. 
 
 Vans, as usual, left London and Brighton every 
 night for the transport of heavy luggage, the majority 
 of the light parcels being carried by the coaches, which 
 derived a great portion of their takings from this 
 source ; in fact, the passenger-fares alone would never 
 have paid the proprietors. 
 
 On the arrival of the coaches at either end, prepara- 
 tions were made for delivering such parcels as had 
 not been dropped along the route, this duty falling 
 almost entirely to the porters, who were allowed a 
 small commission for their trouble ; but some of them 
 sought to add to their income by dishonest means. 
 The making up of dummy parcels was an industry so 
 well known that many people were accustomed to give 
 their servants directions not to pay the charges marked 
 thereon until the contents of the parcels had been 
 examined. 
 
 On the ist February 1838, one John Chatfield, a 
 porter from Hine's Coach-Office, called at 25 Oriental 
 Place, Brighton, the residence of a Mr. M'Mullen, 
 handed a parcel to the servant, and demanded eighteen- 
 pence for the carriage thereof. The consignee of this 
 parcel was one of those who had presumably been 
 taken in before, and prior to paying the charge the 
 servant took the precaution of opening the package, 
 which, though marked " to be kept dry," contained 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 221 
 
 nothing but " a dirty knife-cloth and some pieces of 
 cheese rind." The porter was therefore given into 
 custody, and duly charged before the magistrates ; but 
 the books and waybills having conclusively proved 
 that the parcel was handed in at a West End Office 
 in London, the case against Chatfield was dismissed. 
 
 In previous pages mention has been made of the 
 various attempts to construct a safety-coach, and the 
 idea of inventing a vehicle warranted to keep right 
 side uppermost appears never to have been abandoned. 
 In the Brighton Gazette of the nth January 1838 
 we come across a notice of another new invention, 
 though at the same time it is not very clear, at least to 
 the mind of any one not a coachbuilder, in what the 
 provisions for safety consisted. The inventor, rightly 
 enough, stated that " the great desideratum is the 
 safety of the coach from being overturned, however 
 great the inequality of the road may be, or in the 
 event of the wheels on one side being lifted from the 
 road upon the pathway." In this particular vehicle, 
 called the "Stafford" safety-coach, the body was said 
 to be suspended on springs placed nearly at the top 
 of the coach, and supported upon strong pieces of 
 timber, forming almost an angle, which were, at the 
 lower extremities, inserted in the axletrees of the front 
 and hind wheels, by which means the body was under 
 all circumstances kept in an upright positiou, and the 
 centre of gravity thrown considerably lower than was 
 the case in the coaches built upon the old plan. It 
 was claimed for the ''Stafford'' that increased speed 
 was unattended with risk, and the carriage was so 
 far lighter that one horse power was saved in the 
 draught. As we have already seen, it was once the 
 fashion to make roads very high in the centre, a 
 practice fraught with great danger to heavily laden 
 coaches; but the inventor of the "Stafford" declared 
 
222 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 that his coach was as safe on a crowned road as on 
 a flat one. By way of experiment it carried a very 
 heavy load from Blackfriars to Hayes, and to test its 
 stability the coachman went down Notting Hill at an 
 estimated pace of sixteen miles an hour. " Neverthe- 
 less," says the report, "there was no rocking nor jolting. 
 The body preserved its equilibrium in the roughest 
 parts of the road, and fully answered the purpose for 
 which the patent has been granted." 
 
 By the time the summer of 1838 arrived, the Post- 
 master-General found it necessary to put on a day- 
 mail, which made its first journey from Brighton at 
 10.30 a.m. on Monday, July the 23rd, 1838, the route 
 being through Cuckfield, Crawley, Reigate, and Croy- 
 don. The mail from London reached Brighton at a 
 quarter past four, so the new arrangement permitted of 
 letters posted in London and Brighton in the morning 
 being delivered on the same day. This was, of course, 
 a great convenience to the commercial world ; and it 
 may be noted that the first coachman of this day-mail 
 was the still living Mr. Charles Ward, the well-known 
 driving instructor and dealer of the Brompton Road. 
 This excellent coachman began his career by a five 
 years' spell at driving the Norwich and Ipswich mail 
 between London and Colchester. He was then pro- 
 moted to the Quicksilver Devonport mail, which he 
 drove between London and Bagshot. Taking as my 
 authority Mr. Ward's own book, he appears to have 
 grown somewhat weary of this perpetual night-work, 
 so he applied to Mr. Chaplin, the well-known coach 
 proprietor and contractor, for a change. A man with 
 nearly two thousand horses engaged in coach work 
 must naturally have had some difficulty in finding 
 places for his coachmen and his cattle, and so he said 
 to Mr. Ward, " I can't find you all day coaches ; besides, 
 who am I to get to drive your mail ? " However, since 
 
FROM 1835 to 1S39 223 
 
 lie had determined to horse the day-mail, Mr. Chaplin 
 made Mr. Ward the offer to drive the whole distance 
 between London and Brighton, and horse the coach 
 for a stage, or, if he preferred it, he might drive with- 
 out horsing it. Fired with a very natural ambition, he 
 closed with the first offer, but the speculation, he tells 
 us, did not prove to be a very profitable one, and so, as 
 the railway was making great progress, he eventually 
 sold his team to Mr. Richard Cooper, who succeeded 
 him on the coach. 
 
 This Mr. Richard Cooper, before he took Mr. Ward's 
 place, was coachman of the Rival, and in the month 
 of August (1838) we find him appearing before the 
 Brighton Bench to answer an information of having 
 endangered the safety of the Rev. Mr. Pollen and 
 others, by racing the Hero coach at Pyecombe. Even 
 in those days a mass of contradictory evidence was 
 characteristic of the running - down or racing - down 
 cases, and this one was no exception to the rule. 
 In the end, Cooper, who was a fine coachman, was 
 fined in the mitigated penalty of twenty-five shillings 
 and costs, the magistrates promising that in future 
 they would inflict the maximum punishment. 
 
 At this period (1838) the time was not far distant 
 when the railways were to cause the sudden downfall 
 of the industry of stage-coaching which had been 
 brought to such perfection. In some parts of England 
 lines had already been opened, and compelled proprie- 
 tors to take so many coaches off the road, or to convey 
 them part of the distance by train, that great incon- 
 venience was experienced by persons dwelling at inter- 
 mediate points, w 7 hich had formerly been well served 
 by the coaches. The Brighton road, however, was still 
 in full swing, though further afield the railways caused 
 a great change in the Post-Office arrangements. The 
 effect was to some extent felt at Brighton, for the 
 
224 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Western mail had changed its hours, and brought with 
 it some inconveniences to Brighton's residents. 
 
 In spite of the skill of the coachmen, the earlier 
 coaches continued to topple over with the greatest 
 regularity, and from causes which would seem to us 
 now to be insufficient. In September 1838, for 
 instance, Adams's London and Brighton coach, with 
 a full complement of passengers on board, and carry- 
 ing besides a good deal of luggage, turned over near 
 Warnham Hill, about a mile out of Horsham. Ac- 
 cording to the account of an outside passenger, it seems 
 that the coach had been rocking for some time, and on 
 reaching an angle in the road the coachman had to 
 draw on one side to pass a waggon, the driver of 
 which, after the manner of his kind, did not give way. 
 Why this should have contributed to a capsize does 
 not plainly appear, for one would have thought that 
 the coachman would at least have slackened his pace 
 on passing the waggon, when probably the rocking 
 would have ceased. He seems, however, to have gone 
 on ; and, as already stated, turned his coach over. It 
 was reported that three passengers were killed, but 
 this happily turned out to be untrue, though two ladies 
 who were inside were somewhat seriously injured, and 
 had it not been for the fact that the coach fell against 
 the hedge, the consequences might have been still worse. 
 The coach itself was too much damaged to proceed on 
 its journey, so some of the passengers were forwarded 
 in postchaises from the King's Head, Horsham, the 
 proprietors of which house were greatly praised for 
 their attention to those who had suffered by the acci- 
 dent ; but the King's Head was an old coaching-house ; 
 the London and Horsham coach started from the door, 
 and several others changed horses or called there. 
 
 In the November of this year (1838) Adams appears 
 to have sold his unlucky coach and stock to Goodman, 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 225 
 
 the proprietor of the Times Coach-Office, 10 Castle 
 Square ; J. Egerton, one of the best coachmen at 
 Brighton ; R. Howes, of the King's Head, Horsham ; 
 W. Coomber, and W. Chaplin. They rechristened 
 her the Royal Victoria, running her to London on 
 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and down on the 
 alternate days. It went by the long route through 
 Henfield, Cowfold, Horsham, Capel, Dorking, Leather- 
 head, Kingston, and Richmond. 
 
 Meantime the two Ages were running as they were 
 when we took our leave of them at the end of the 
 newspaper war in which the proprietors were engaged. 
 Sir St. Vincent Cotton now drove what had been 
 Willan's Age up to November 1838, when, partly 
 owing to the ill-health of his mother, and partly to 
 his own impaired resources, the Baronet gave up coach- 
 ing, and went to reside at his place in Cambridgeshire, 
 his successor beins; Mr. Charles Tvrwhitt Jones. Sir 
 St. Vincent Cotton must have been a very fine coach- 
 man from all accounts, since all the writers of his time 
 award him unstinted praise both for strength, skill, and 
 grace on the box ; while Mr. Charles Jones, before 
 having a turn on the Age, had horsed and driven 
 the Monarch over some of its ground. 
 
 Meantime, the Optimus, one of the coaches running 
 from the Blue Coach-Office, professed to have reduced 
 its fares, though it is difficult to see to what extent, 
 inasmuch as inside passengers paid £1, and outsides 
 half that amount. The Optimus still kept on its old 
 route by Hickstead, Crawley, Reigate, Sutton, and 
 Clapham. 
 
 Pickett, who had formerly been the coachman of the 
 Union fast coach, was now (1838) on the box of the 
 Item ; and, while assisting at changing horses at Bal- 
 combe, one of the leaders kicked him severely in the 
 face, which disabled him from continuing his journey ; 
 
 p 
 
226 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 so the horse-keeper at Balcombe was promoted to the 
 box, and took the coach safely to London. In those 
 days horse-keepers who showed any talent for driving 
 frequently had an opportunity for taking a stage or 
 two, when the regular coachman was either unable 
 to drive or wanted a holiday, and not a few of the 
 famous coachmen whose deeds we read of began their 
 life in the more humble capacity of horse-keeper, and 
 when they were raised to the bench they started with 
 the advantage of knowing something about putting 
 horses together. Moreover, their first experiences were 
 with horses they knew ; and, having seen the regular 
 coachmen start them scores of times, they knew what 
 to do first ; while, if the professional happened to be 
 on the coach, they were able to have proper instruction 
 from the first, instead of contracting all sorts of bad 
 habits, which would have to be unlearned afterwards. 
 
 The railway had already begun to make its influence 
 felt in the coaching world, and there was by this time 
 probably not a single soul connected with stage-coach- 
 ing who did not feel sure that the days of the stage- 
 coach were numbered. As this dawned by degrees 
 upon proprietors, they began to wince afresh at the 
 amount of the duties exacted from them by the Govern- 
 ment. Coach proprietors had long grumbled in diffe- 
 rent parts of England ; but the first step towards seeking 
 for redress appears to have been taken in the North, 
 where the coach proprietors and postmasters decided 
 to petition Parliament, in 1838, to lessen the duties 
 then payable, and so to place them upon an equal 
 footing with railway companies. The remission of the 
 mileage duty, and the duty of a shilling, and one and 
 ninepence, for every horse let for hire to go no greater 
 distance than eight miles from the place of letting, was 
 demanded ; and in lieu of the scale of duties then in 
 force, a fresh tariff was suggested. 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 227 
 
 In the summer of 1839 the Brighton coach-masters 
 began to bestir themselves, though it was rather late 
 in the day. In a petition which it was resolved to 
 present to the House of Commons, it was pointed out 
 that the coaching industry was labouring under great 
 depression, owing to the completion of the lightly 
 taxed railroads, and the House was asked to take into 
 consideration all surrounding circumstances ; to repeal 
 the duties then in force ; and to grant such relief, by an 
 equalisation of the duties, as might seem fit in accord- 
 ance with the report of the Committee. In the course 
 of the next month (August 1839) a "Stage-Carriage" 
 Bill was before the House, and a clause was inserted 
 therein to give coach proprietors the advantage of an 
 additional passenger, and a reduction of a halfpenny 
 per mile on the duty — a small favour for which the pro- 
 prietors were properly grateful, seeing that in 1838 the 
 mileage duty paid on stage-coaches in England showed 
 those vehicles to have run 40,530,000 miles. 
 
 In a book not very often met with, the " Autobio- 
 graphy of a Stage-Coachman," by Thomas Cross, the 
 author gives in his appendix the text of a petition 
 presented to the House of Commons on his behalf by 
 Lord Joscelyn in the year 1846. The petitioner saw 
 with dismay the invention, and rapid increase, of rail- 
 roads accomplishing the ruin of hundreds in the same 
 calling as himself; and, after calling attention to the 
 large amount of money invested in turnpike trusts, 
 then nearly bankrupt in consequence of the railways 
 supplanting stage-coach travelling, the petition pro- 
 ceeded to inform the House that the injury "had its 
 ramifications from one end of the island to the other," 
 threatening the depreciation of property to a ruinous 
 extent ; in proof of which Mr. Cross could point to 
 every town in the kingdom which a railroad had ap- 
 proached, except two or three of the largest cities and 
 
228 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 towns, and even to these possible exceptions he thought 
 the benefit would be questionable should inquiry be 
 made into the state of every class of their overcrowded 
 population. Mr. Cross was not unwilling to admit the 
 convenience, the luxury, " nay, even the safety and 
 importance, as regarded the speed of the new mode of 
 travelling;" and he would, in the same spirit of jus- 
 tice, acknowledge the truth of the French philosopher's 
 axiom, that the quick communication of persons and 
 thoughts is the very perfection of civilisation ; but, he 
 urged, luxury is not happiness, any more than civilisation 
 is prosperity in a nation or in a family. The petition 
 included further indictments against the making of 
 railroads, and concluded thus : " Therefore, your peti- 
 tioner lastly prays that, in passing any Bills having 
 reference to railroads, in some or one of them such 
 provision shall be made as shall prevent your petitioner 
 and his family from coming to the extreme of misery." 
 
 It used to be a saying that when a stage-coachman 
 was no longer able to perform his own duties, he was 
 not fit to do the work of any one else ; but when 
 railroads were an accomplished fact, the above state- 
 ment was partially falsified, as a goodly number of 
 coachmen and guards found occupation in the service 
 of the different railway companies, while some took 
 to driving omnibuses. Many years ago there was a 
 service of white omnibuses which ran from the West 
 End to Richmond via Hammersmith Bridge and Barnes. 
 The coachmen wore gold bands to their hats, and were, 
 with scarcely an exception, elderly men. I have been 
 told that the majority of them had been stage-coachmen. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is beyond question that, when stage- 
 coaches were run off the road, penury overtook very 
 many men who had previously been engaged in the 
 business. Porters, booking-clerks, horse-keepers, coach- 
 men, and others suddenly found their means of liveli- 
 
FEOM 1S35 to 1839 22 9 
 
 hood taken away from them ; while the inns and 
 posting-houses speedily came down to the level of 
 beer-shops, or at the very least suffered a sort of 
 tUminutio capitis, and from this time (1839) the his- 
 tory of coaching on the Brighton road is but the 
 history of a waning industry. 
 
 Meantime Mr. Edmund Cussell, the proprietor of 
 the Globe coach, had died, and nineteen of the horses 
 which had worked in the coach, together with sundry 
 other effects, were sold on the premises on the 1st 
 February 1839; and at this date a heavy snowstorm 
 caused all the coaches to be late. 
 
 From various statements in these pages it will be 
 seen that not a few coach accidents were due to the 
 coachmen, presuming upon their skill and experience, 
 taking unwarrantable liberties with their horses on the 
 road. In similar fashion guards occasionally neglected 
 obvious precautions. They were naturally anxious to 
 prove themselves smart ; to save the coachman from 
 pulling up more often than was necessary ; and it ap- 
 pears to have been a favourite boast with many of them 
 that they could unskid without calling upon the coach- 
 man to stop. No more than a year or two ago I saw the 
 guard of one of the modern coaches do this. When the 
 moment arrived for the shoe to be taken off, he placed 
 one foot upon the spokes of the wheel, and throwing 
 all his weight upon that one foot, backed the wheel, 
 so to say, for an instant, and released the skid ; but it 
 was easy to see that if anything had gone wrong a 
 serious accident would have occurred. On this occa- 
 sion all went well, luckily ; and the skid being released, 
 the guard lowered himself down to the step, picked 
 up the chain, and rehung the skid upon its hook. I, 
 for one, do not like to see men incur these needless 
 risks, though, at the same time, quite acknowledging 
 that an active guard has saved many a mishap. 
 
2 3 o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 A disregard of clanger it was that caused the death 
 of one of the most respected guards on the Brighton 
 road, one Fisher, who was on the night-mail. The 
 coach, which left Brighton at eleven o'clock at night, 
 had gone down Clayton Hill, when Fisher got down 
 to take off the skid. He shouted " All right," and 
 the coachman proceeded, but, on looking over his 
 shoulder, almost immediately afterwards, observed that 
 the guard's seat was unoccupied. He at once pulled 
 up, and on going a short way back, found the un- 
 fortunate Fisher lying on the road with his skull 
 fractured, and one of his legs broken just above the 
 ankle. The supposition was that, on getting on to 
 the coach, he had put his foot on the wheel instead 
 of on the step, and was thus thrown violently to the 
 ground. The passengers on the mail took a gate from 
 off its hinges, and on it conveyed the sufferer to the 
 Friars Oak Inn. A doctor was sent for, but poor 
 Fisher died a day or two later. 
 
 It will have been noticed, from what has been said 
 before, that the Act of Parliament — it was unquestion- 
 ably a wise Act — which forbade a coachman to carry 
 more passengers than were allowed by the terms of his 
 license, was sometimes very strictly enforced. As I 
 have already pointed out, some limit to the number of 
 passengers which the very natural greed of proprietor 
 and coachman might crowd in and upon a coach was 
 absolutely necessary, both for the safety of the concern 
 and for the comfort of the men and women it carried. 
 We of to-day grumble if we are compelled to ride 
 for a short distance in a railway carriage into which 
 more than the proper number of passengers have 
 intruded themselves ; but what must have been the 
 discomfort of travelling between London and Brighton, 
 even by a fast coach, with an extra person or two in 
 the somewhat stuffy interior ? 
 
FROM 1835 to 1839 231 
 
 Some such considerations as these would appear 
 to have occurred to a lady who took the law of 
 Francis Vickers, a most excellent coachman, who drove 
 the Wonder, one of the coaches put on the road by 
 the Marquis of Worcester, and Israel Alexander of 
 Southwark. The strict letter of the law was so far 
 relaxed in practice that "half" a passenger, in the 
 shape of a child, was permitted to be carried in addi- 
 tion to the four adults which the inside of a coach 
 was supposed to accommodate ; and one day, towards 
 the latter end of August 1839, the Wonder pulled 
 up at the Elephant and Castle on its way to Brighton 
 with three grown-up people and a child inside. At 
 the Elephant another passenger and child were picked 
 up, and, in spite of the remonstrance of the aforesaid 
 lady, were packed away in the Wonder's inside. 
 In this instance, therefore, Vickers carried half a 
 passenger more than he ought to have done, a contra- 
 vention of the law, which was punished by a fine of 
 twenty-five shillings and a sovereign for costs. This, 
 however, was but the beginning of Vickers's troubles, 
 as shortly afterwards we find him figuring in the 
 London Bankruptcy Court. 
 
 During the year 1839 the Era fast coach continued 
 to run daily at noon from Brighton to London ; but the 
 proprietor ceased booking at the Spread Eagle Office, 
 and ran instead from the Blue Office, under the pro- 
 prietorship of Messrs. Nelson, Relf, Strevens, & Co. ; 
 while a fast coach, called the Czar, started from the 
 Blue Coach-Office, Brighton, every Sunday afternoon at 
 two o'clock. 
 
Chapter XII. 
 
 FROM 1840 to 1846. 
 
 AA7"E are now, unfortunately, getting very near to the 
 end of the history of coaching on the Brighton 
 road ; in fact, before the chapter is brought to a con- 
 clusion, the early history of the Brighton railway will 
 have been touched upon ; and, as the sequel shows, the 
 coaches and the railroad could no more live together 
 than can " crabbed age and youth." It scarcely needed 
 very much argument to convince most people that 
 steam would prove superior to horse-power from every 
 point of view. A single engine would take more persons 
 than could be carried on all the Brighton coaches put 
 together — how many coaches would be needed to take 
 the passengers by any of the morning trains up, or the 
 afternoon trains down ? — while the amount of the coal 
 bill would be far short of that of the corn bill for the 
 conveyance of the same number. On the question of 
 economy, the following calculations, which appeared 
 in the Brighton Gazette for the 4th of June 1840, may 
 not be without interest. It was estimated that while a 
 dozen stage-coaches carrying fifteen passengers each and 
 1200 horses would be needed to carry 1S0 people 240 
 miles in twenty-four hours, at ten miles an hour, one 
 locomotive would take that number, and perform two 
 journeys in the same time, so that it would do the work 
 of 2400 horses. Then again it would require thirty 
 mail-coaches, carrying six passengers each, and 3000 
 horses, to take 180 passengers 240 miles in twenty-four 
 
 hours, at the rate of ten miles an hour ; but one loco- 
 
 232 
 
FROM 1S40 to 1846 233 
 
 motive would take that number, make two journeys in 
 the same time, and so do the work of 6000 horses. The 
 proverbial odds of " a guinea to a gooseberry," therefore, 
 would not have been extravagant in favour of steam. 
 
 At the end of March 1 840 a singular accident befell 
 the Times coach. The wheelers had just been put to 
 at the bottom of Middle Street, and the ostler was stand- 
 ing at their heads waiting for the leaders and the coach- 
 man, when, from some unexplained cause, the two 
 horses took fright and started towards the cliff. The 
 ostler clung to their heads as long as he could ; but, on 
 reaching the King's Road, he lost his hold, and the 
 wheels of the coach unhappily passed over his legs. 
 Nearly facing the bottom of Middle Street was the 
 Middle Street gap, a flight of steps leading to the beach, 
 with a couple of posts at the top of the steps. The 
 horses galloped straight for this gap ; the pole struck 
 one of the posts, and one of the horses having run 
 through the opening, remained suspended in mid-air by 
 the harness. The usual crowd collected immediately ; 
 some one unfastened the traces, and the horse was, after 
 a time, lowered to the beach. Neither coach nor horses 
 were injured ; in fact, half an hour later these same 
 horses proceeded on their journey. The poor ostler was 
 less fortunate : he was taken to the County Hospital, 
 where it was found necessary to amputate one of his 
 legs, the thigh having been fractured. 
 
 With the spring of the year (1840) came another 
 reminder of the improvements effected in the steam- 
 engine, in the shape of another steam -carriage which 
 arrived at Brighton from London on the 20th May, 
 after having had something of a race with the day- 
 mail, which reached Brighton nearly a quarter of an 
 hour in front of time, and a few minutes before the 
 steam-carriage. The latter left Camberwell at eleven 
 o'clock, and completed its journey at ten minutes past 
 
234 BRIGHTON" AND ITS COACHES 
 
 four ; but, as six stoppages of twenty minutes each 
 were made for the purpose of taking in water, the 
 actual journey took about three hours. At the Pitt's 
 Head Inn, Handcross, which was one of the stopping 
 places, three gentlemen on horseback were in waiting, 
 and when the steam conveyance started they started 
 too. The horses, we are told, went in front at first ; 
 but, on going up the next hill, described in the papers 
 as a " smart rise," the steam-coach took the lead of the 
 horses, running over the ground at great speed with 
 the utmost ease. With which side victory ultimately 
 rested is not stated. 
 
 A few days later, the patentee of the steam-carriage 
 wrote a letter to the Morning Post correcting several 
 of the previously published statements, and explaining 
 that the journey from London to Brighton was accom- 
 plished in four hours and a half, including stoppages, 
 which took up one hour exactly. The hills made no 
 difference to the working of the machinery ; but the 
 mud, which was taken into the boiler along with the 
 water, was every now and then a source of difficulty, 
 causing the conveyance to come to a halt. In spite of 
 this drawback, however, the machine ran at an average 
 pace of fifteen miles an hour, and attained its greatest 
 speed on a piece of level road, three miles being run 
 in seven minutes and a half. On the return journey 
 there was again a race with the Brighton day-mail, 
 which, according to one account, was a long way 
 ahead at one period* but was eventually overtaken by 
 the steam-carriage. 
 
 When Hancock's carriage [ante, p. 1S6) was put 
 upon the road, the papers were loud in its praise ; but 
 this one, the invention of Mr. Hills, completely put out 
 of joint the nose of the more antiquated machine, to 
 which the new one was reputed to be far superior in 
 appearance. The vehicle was said to resemble a gentle- 
 
FEOM 1840 to 1846 235 
 
 man's open carriage, but much larger ; and a local paper 
 described it as being elegantly painted and fitted up, 
 and altogether far superior to Hancock's carriage, which 
 hud been exhibited in Brighton some years before. Such 
 is fame. When Hancock's carriage was first seen, the 
 reporters went into ecstasies over it. " The boiler and 
 machinery," the account continues, " are placed behind 
 in a sort of second carriage, and the machinery is 
 almost entirely concealed. When in motion, no smoke 
 or steam is visible, and a small portion only of steam 
 issues from the boiler when the vehicle is standing 
 still." A condensing engine was employed, there was 
 "an absence of the thumping noise which is heard 
 from high-pressure engines, such as those used on 
 railroads." The fare Mas no more than five shillings. 
 
 And now to coaching proper. 
 
 There was at least one firm of coach proprietors who 
 were not inclined to knuckle under without a struggle 
 before the advancing railway. " A New Coach to 
 London in Five Hours " was the heading to an adver- 
 tisement in the Brighton papers for the 25th June 1840, 
 "The Duke of Beaufort, for elegance, comfort, and 
 regularity unrivalled in all the world." Some of the 
 old coaching people would appear to have set at com- 
 plete defiance the maxim about self-praise being no 
 recommendation. The Duke of Beaufort, however, 
 was put on by Alexander & Co., the "Co.," no doubt, 
 being the coach's namesake. The new undertaking 
 left J. Snow's office, 3 Castle Square, for London at 
 one o'clock every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 
 returning on the alternate days. The Duke of Beaufort 
 made its first journey on the 24th of June 1840, and 
 on the 1st July it became a two-end coach, leaving 
 London and Brighton daily. The local reporter was 
 in attendance, and declared that " the horses, harness, 
 and trappings were in perfect keeping with the splendour 
 
236 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 of the coach."' But this grand conveyance did not have 
 a very long life ; it did not, so far as can be ascertained, 
 run during- the following winter ; and, if it was put 
 upon the road in the next summer, it was for a short 
 season only. 
 
 Early in 1841 there was a slight attempt at humour 
 in the announcement that the Brighton day-mail had 
 come to be known as the " Conservative Mail, because 
 of the distinguished and honourable fare which it last 
 week conveyed to London." Who this distinguished 
 gentleman was there is no means of finding out ; 
 but the next announcement in the papers of May 27, 
 1 84 1, was veritably the beginning of the end of stage- 
 coaching. For some years previously the railroad had 
 been in course of construction, and on the above- 
 mentioned date there was in the papers an advertise- 
 ment headed "The London and Brighton Railway 
 Company." It was addressed, " To coachmasters and 
 others," and must have filled many coachmen, guards, 
 helpers, innkeepers, and others with dismay. It was 
 nothing less than an announcement that the directors 
 of the railway company were desirous of receiving pro- 
 posals for the conveyance of passengers from " Hay- 
 ward Heath, near Cuckfield," to Brighton, a distance 
 of about fifteen miles, and from Brighton to Hayward's 
 Heath, in four-horse coaches and omnibuses, at a price 
 to be named per coach per journey, from and after 
 the 28th of June then next (1841). The proposals 
 were to be sent in on or before the 1st June to Mr. 
 Thomas Wood, the secretary of the Company, at 10 
 Angel Street, Throgmorton Street. 
 
 On reading the above advertisement, it will be 
 noticed that Hayward's Heath was described as being 
 near Cuckfield ; for the former, being off the main 
 road, was not so well known ; and, before trains were 
 invented, to be off a main road was to be in com- 
 
FROM 1840 to 1846 237 
 
 parative obscurity ; while to be off a branch road was 
 to be out of the world altogether. There is an old 
 coaching story that the inhabitants of a small Lanca- 
 shire village were one day surprised to hear the church- 
 bells ring out a merry peal. There was no great 
 wedding that they knew of, and the simple rustics were 
 at a loss to account for the ringing of the bells, so 
 they sought information from the clergyman, and from 
 him they learned that it was the anniversary of the 
 battle of Waterloo : that was the first they had heard 
 of Wellington's great victory, as no coach passed 
 within some miles of the village ! Lord Macaulay 
 said that in remote parts of Cornwall people did not 
 hear of the death of Queen Elizabeth until London 
 had left off its mourning for her. To-day Cuckfield, as 
 a coaching place, has well-nigh faded out of memory ; 
 the Comet does not run that road ; it is at the present 
 time described as near Hayward's Heath, there being a 
 large station at the latter place. 
 
 In July the railway was opened between London 
 and Hayward's Heath, and nearly all the once-famous 
 London and Brighton coaches came to an end. Here 
 were the Times, Sovereign, Vivid, Royal Blue, and 
 Rival coaches — coaches which had been regarded as 
 expresses and which had been driven by consummate 
 artists — engaged by the railway, their arch-enemy, and 
 eking out a precarious temporary livelihood by carrying- 
 people between Brighton and Hayward's Heath. But 
 coach proprietors, like other mortals, had to bow to the 
 inevitable. Some of the other coaches found occupa- 
 tion in running between Hayward's Heath and Lewes, 
 Maresfield , Uckfield, and Eastbourne ; while branch 
 coaches were started to other places contiguous to the 
 line ; but it must have been a great come-down for 
 Messrs. Strevens, Snow, & Goodman, who were the 
 proprietors with whom the railway company chiefly 
 
238 BRIGHTON AND ITS CO ACHES 
 
 did business ; while the Red, Blue, and Spread Eagle 
 Offices now called themselves " Coach and Railway 
 Offices." 
 
 A few coaches, however, were kept on the road 
 between London and Brighton, for there were still 
 some outlying places which were not served by the 
 rail ; and there were also a certain number of old- 
 fashioned passengers who would not look kindly upon 
 the new-fangled trains. The Alert and Union coaches 
 continued to run via Cuckfield, Crawley, Reigate, 
 Sutton, Tooting, and Clapham, starting from Hine's 
 Office, 52 East Street, and going to the Bull, Holborn ; 
 the Green Man and Still ; Gloucester CofTee-House ; 
 and Angel, Islington. Families could be picked up 
 anywhere in Brighton, and set down at their town 
 residence without change of coaches. In this way 
 did the few remaining proprietors seek to ward off the 
 evil day; but the end came, and in December (1842) 
 Pickett's Union, a very old-established coach, was finally 
 taken off the road, leaving only one or two to ply 
 between London and Brighton, and one of these ran 
 the long road by Horsham and Dorking, in order to 
 pick up what trade there was at places not yet upon 
 the line of railroad. 
 
 Mail-coaches had been running since 1784, and from 
 that time up to 1842 the guards had been paid a 
 miserable wage of about ten or tw T elve shillings a week, 
 depending upon tips to bring their money up to a 
 sum sufficient to keep them and their families ; but 
 now that the entire supercession of coaches, mail and 
 stage, was within measurable distance, we actually find 
 the Government of the day making fresh arrangements 
 with their guards. For fifty-seven years they had been 
 getting tips, and now the Post-Office raised the salaries 
 of guards to sums varying from £70 to ^"120 a year, 
 according to length of service, prohibiting them at the 
 
FROM 1840 to 1S46 239 
 
 same time, under pain of dismissal, from taking presents 
 from passengers. This was remarkably like shutting 
 the stable-door after the stealing of the steed. 
 
 Meantime the Rival coach appears to have been kept 
 running, and the report of a law case seems to show 
 the straits to which coachmen and proprietors were 
 put in order to make both ends meet. A Mrs. Cox 
 had, a short time before, gone with her three children 
 from Brighton to Brixton by the Coronet coach, the 
 coachman, Poole, having taken them to town for eight 
 shillings, that is to say, for two shillings a head. Hav- 
 ing been carried on such very favourable terms, Mrs. 
 Cox thought that she could not do better than return 
 by the same vehicle, and accordingly waited with her 
 children in the Brixton Road for the Coronet to pass. 
 
 The Rival, however, came by first, and the coachman 
 asked Mrs. Cox if she wanted to go to Brighton ; she 
 replied that she did, but was waiting for the Coronet, 
 Poole having engaged to take the party back for eight 
 shillings. The Rival's coachman offered to carry them 
 for the same money, so they elected to go by it. At 
 Reigate, a fresh coachman (Seymour) took the coach 
 on to Brighton, and Mrs. Cox, who seems to have been 
 a tolerably experienced traveller, at once drew Seymour's 
 attention to the fact that she and her party were travel- 
 ling at a special rate, the answer being that he knew all 
 about it. On the coach arriving at Brighton, the sum 
 of sixteen shillings was demanded. Glennie, the coach- 
 man who drove from London to Reigate, denied having 
 agreed to carry Mrs. Cox and her children for the eight 
 shillings, and was promptly told by the Bench that they 
 did not believe him. Ultimately, Seymour, against whom 
 the charge was that he demanded more than the sum 
 agreed upon, was fined twenty-five shillings, and two 
 pounds for costs. A day or two afterwards Glennie 
 was summoned for having carried on the Rival more 
 
2 4 o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 passengers than were allowed by the Act of Parliament ; 
 but the summons was dismissed. This case is note- 
 worthy from the fact that Glennie was defended by 
 "Mr. Lewis of Ely Place," an uncle, probably, of Sir 
 George Lewis. 
 
 The remainder of the line from Hayward's Heath to 
 Brighton was opened on Tuesday, the 21st September 
 1 84 1, and the form of the advertisements in local papers 
 underwent a complete change. We read nothing more 
 of going to London in five hours, proprietors no longer 
 sang the praises of their fast coaches ; nor does the 
 familiar woodcut of the coach-and-four any more appear. 
 Instead of the old order of things, we find Mr. Strevens, 
 of the " Blue Coach and Railway Office," announcing 
 that he had started several new omnibuses and flys for 
 the conveyance of passengers between the Brighton ter- 
 minus and various parts of the town, including Kemp 
 Town, Brunswick Square and Terrace, and the hotels. 
 A coach ran between Brighton and Lewes to bring 
 people in from the latter place to catch the express 
 train for London ; and an omnibus brought the Worth- 
 ing folk to Shoreham, whence they came by train to 
 Brighton, proceeding thence to London. 
 
 The clay-mail ran between London and Brighton 
 till October 1841 ; but the presence in the town 
 of Mr. Johnson, the Post-Office surveyor, portended 
 a change, and this came to pass when the mails 
 were carried by train, with the result that the Bright- 
 onians had their London letters delivered earlier than 
 before. 
 
 The few items of coaching news that can be gleaned 
 from the papers in the autumn of 1841 are one and all 
 couched in a melancholy sort of strain befitting the 
 occasion. The wheels of one of the few coaches left 
 on the London and Brighton took fire near Albourne, 
 and, with somewhat hasty judgment, most of the pas- 
 
FKOM 1840 to 1846 241 
 
 sengers, doubtless drawing in their own minds com- 
 parisons unfavourable to coaching, at once started for 
 Brighton, some in whatever vehicles they could procure, 
 and some on foot, while others wisely stuck by the coach, 
 which, after fresh wheels had been procured, proceeded 
 on its way, arriving at Brighton six hours late — that is 
 to say, at two o'clock the next morning. During the 
 month of November 1841 the London road appears 
 to have been in such a bad state that the few coaches 
 which still kept on running were, in some places, obliged 
 to proceed at a walking pace ; one fairly stuck in the 
 mud, and was two hours late ; while a " fast " coach took 
 seven hours to complete its journey. The Brighton 
 night-mail was still on the road, but in the form of a 
 pair-horse coach, as I gather from an account of a mis- 
 hap which overtook her in January 1842. She was 
 passing through Preston, on her way to Brighton, at 
 three o'clock in the morning, when one of the horses 
 was seized with the megrims and fell, owing to which 
 the other horse and the coach were drawn against a 
 cottage and upset. The coach was a good deal dam- 
 aged, and the coachman was seriously injured through 
 being thrown from his seat ; but the guard was unhurt 
 — the guards in the great majority of accidents did 
 somehow or other contrive to fall upon their feet. The 
 prevailing dulness which had overspread the coaching- 
 world appears to have been not without its effect on a 
 horse-keeper at Storrington. He had been heard to 
 lament the decay of coaching, and then came to the 
 conclusion that he had something growing inside him. 
 Both these matters preyed upon his mind ; and one day, 
 after harnessing his horses, he went and hanged him- 
 self ; while Mrs. Hine, the widow of the well-known 
 Brighton coach proprietor, advertised in the Brighton 
 Gazette that, having had to give up the road business 
 in consequence of the opening of the Brighton Railway, 
 
 Q 
 
242 BK1GHT0N AND ITS COACHES 
 
 she had " commenced in the stationery and perfumery 
 line at her 'office,' 52 East Street, Brighton, where she 
 respectfully solicited patronage and support." The 
 few proprietors, however, who still kept running do 
 not invariably appear to have gone to work in a manner 
 best calculated to attract whatever custom remained 
 for the road, as we find a gentleman signing himself 
 "Viator" complaining that, after booking two inside 
 places by the half-past nine Times, he was charged 
 thirteen shillings for the carriage of an amount of lug- 
 gage only very slightly in excess of that which, in the 
 more remunerative days of coaching, had always been 
 carried free. 
 
 Over the appearance of Brighton itself a great 
 change had come. The flickering embers of the road 
 were indeed fanned by the coaches running to pro- 
 vincial towns, and the two or three that still ran to 
 London ; but the gilt was rubbed off, and some of the 
 short coaches were neither horsed nor kept up as they 
 had been. As in London, so it was in Brighton : at the 
 coaching inns, or at some favourite hostel close at hand, 
 there had been a room devoted to the use of coach- 
 men, and in Brighton the coachmen foregathered at 
 the Golden Fleece ; but now these little reunions were 
 broken up, for the company was lacking. In lieu of 
 the well-appointed vehicles the Brightonians had been 
 accustomed to see, the Brighton streets, like those of 
 London, were full of cabs, flys, and omnibuses ; " and," 
 said the Brighton Gazette of the 13th October 1842, 
 " a thriving trade they seem to carry on. These omni- 
 buses are found, both by inhabitants and visitors, ex- 
 tremely convenient and economical vehicles. Through- 
 out the day they are to be met with in every part 
 of the town ; and, though their principal object is to 
 convey passengers to and from the terminus, other 
 parties also find their use highly advantageous." The 
 
FROM 1840 to 1846 243 
 
 curious thing is that to-day there is no railway station, 
 London or provincial, which has a poorer omnibus 
 service than that at Brighton. 
 
 Mr. Capps, in his capacity of coach proprietor, was 
 nothing if not thorough : from the very first his 
 coaches were horsed in capital style ; even the Sporting 
 Magazine critics admitted that his vehicles were of 
 the best and newest make, and his coachmen as good 
 as he could find them. When at last brought face to 
 face with the most formidable opposition he had ever 
 been called upon to contend against, he would not 
 strike his colours without a struggle ; and so, perhaps, 
 thinking that some measure of success might attend 
 upon a plucky endeavour to avert entire failure, he 
 gathered himself together for a final effort, which took 
 the form of establishing a coach called the Rail Road, 
 and the publication of a facetious leaflet headed — 
 
 The Rail Road. 
 
 Considerable disappointment having been expressed by the Public 
 in consequence of the delay and difficulties in deciding on a Line 
 of Rail Road for Brighton, T. W. Capps & Co., anxious to meet 
 the wishes of their friends, have established a " Rail Road " for 
 their accommodation free from all the objections urged against the 
 other Lines. They have dispensed with the tedious and expensive 
 form of carrying a Bill through the House of Commons ; and the 
 necessary arrangements having been completed, it is now ready for 
 the conveyance of travellers. 
 
 The advocates of Sir John Rennie's Line are informed that this 
 is the most Direct that the circumstances will admit of ; and those 
 who are opposed to Sir John, are assured that Capps's Line is 
 entirely free from tunnels and cuttings : and as the original "Age" 
 Office, No. 5 Castle Square, was formerly associated with the name 
 of Stevenson, it is presumed that no objection will be offered by 
 the supporters of the Shoreham Line ; while the opposers of that 
 route will be pleased to hear that no foggy districts or unhealthy 
 marshes will be passed through ; that no gentleman's pleasure- 
 ground will be cut up, and that the prosperity of Brighton is not 
 likely to be compromised by digression to Worthing. 
 
244 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 The curves and gradients have been reduced as much as possible ; 
 and, in order to meet the wishes of all parties, the Termini will 
 be neither at Nine Elms, London Bridge, Rose Hill, nor the 
 Antheum. The London Terminus is at "The Globe" Tavern, 
 Baker Street, and the Brighton Terminus at the "Age" Office, 
 No. 5 Castle Square, whence'the Rail Road starts every day at two 
 o'clock upon the usual estimated fares. 
 
 N.B. — Passengers will not be troubled with "smoke," excepting 
 over their tea at Merstham. 
 
 Even this brilliant production did not suffice to 
 attract very much custom. For a short time there were 
 a certain number of persons who patronised the worthy 
 Capps when they could ; but, even then, people became 
 more or less matter of fact, forsaking the old manner 
 of travelling for the new ; and, before the railway had 
 been opened for a year, the spirited Capps was almost 
 the only man in Brighton to own a coach and four 
 horses ; and so long as there was the chance of paying 
 the corn-bill, Capps's Victoria coach continued to run 
 to London by the long road through Dorking and 
 Horsham. The last coach to run by the nearest route, 
 via Hickstead and Crawley, was Capps's "Age;" 
 while the opening of the Lewes line in the month 
 of June 1846 caused the proprietors of the coaches 
 which ran thence to London to make speedy ar- 
 rangements for the cessation of their business. The 
 last coach from Lewes to London ran on the 1 2th 
 July 1846. 
 
 Now, indeed, it was all over with stage-coaching on 
 the Brighton road — not even the shouting remained. 
 As some one wrote, " The days, nay, the very nights of 
 those who have so 'long reined'' supreme over the 
 Nonpareils, the Brilliants, the Telegraphs and the 
 Stars, the Magnets and the Emeralds, are nearly at an 
 end, and the final waybill of the ' total Eclipse is made 
 up.' The coachmen were ' regularly booked,' and 
 their places taken by one who shows no disposition to 
 
FROM 1840 to 1846 245 
 
 make way for them. In a few days everything con- 
 nected with coaching was destined to vanish, 
 
 And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 Leave not a trace behind. 
 
 No, not even a bnckle nor an inch of whip-cord ; and 
 if, some years hence, a petrified whipple-tree or the 
 skeleton of a coachman should be turned up, they will 
 be hung up side by side with rusty armour and the 
 geological gleanings of our antediluvian ancestors." 
 
 The race of what " Nimrod ' : called " gentlemen 
 coachmen " had quite died out 011 the Brighton road. 
 Mention has been made of some, but there were others 
 whose names have not been mentioned in any of the 
 Sussex newspapers, and concerning whose doings no 
 details are to be found. Mr. Brackenbury, for instance, 
 was for some time on the Age while Mr. Willan was 
 proprietor, and the Hon. Frank Jerningham drove one 
 end of the day-mail. There were two Brackenburys, 
 Richard and Robert ; one drove the Windsor Taglioni, 
 that flash coach which was horsed with so many pie- 
 balds and skewbalds, and had a portrait of the famous 
 danseuse on the hind-boot ; but which of the two 
 brothers drove to Windsor, and which to Brighton, I 
 cannot quite make out. Lord Chesterfield, too, the 
 founder of the Richmond Driving Club, often drove on 
 the Brighton road. " Nimrod " says that Mr. Charles 
 Jones, of the Age, had a coach called the Pearl on the 
 Brighton road, which he horsed and drove himself. 
 No mention can be found in the papers of this coach ; 
 but there was a Pearl on the London and Bognor road, 
 which belonged, it is believed, to the brothers Walker : 
 possibly "Nimrod" has mixed up the two. 
 
 In making mention of Mr. Sackville Gwynne's con- 
 nection with the Brighton Age, I omitted to give a few 
 particulars concerning him. He was the son of Colonel 
 
246 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Gwynne, who possessed estates in Carmarthenshire ; 
 but, in consequence, it is said, of some dispute about 
 the disposition of the property, Mr. Sackville Gwynne 
 quarrelled with his family, and withdrew himself from 
 Wales, subsequently becoming a professional coachman 
 on some other road before taking a share in the Brighton 
 Age. After his compulsory severance from that under- 
 taking he disappeared for a time, but was some time 
 afterwards found driving a cab in Liverpool ; and, when 
 any of the local jobmasters were in want of some one 
 to drive four horses to a bean-feast or race-meeting, his 
 services were frequently secured. By his fellow-cabmen 
 he was much liked, and he continued to drive his cab 
 almost up to the day of his death, which occurred in 1 874, 
 Mr. Gwynne being then seventy-three years of age. 
 
 The Brighton papers, too, each in its own fashion, 
 lamented the downfall of the road ; and probably the 
 Brighton compositors set up more " Ichabods " than 
 they had ever, in their whole lives, been called upon 
 to do before. Castle Square without a cad or a coach ! 
 a once bustling locality now deserted like the dreary 
 halls ; this was a change indeed. Yet beneath all this 
 lamentation was a trace of the Le roi est mort, vive le 
 roi doctrine. Coaches and coachmen were, to be sure, 
 disestablished and disendowed, but more visitors than 
 ever would come to Brighton by train ; and, if coach 
 proprietors suffered, the ordinary tradesman might 
 take heart and look forward to times the like of which 
 he had never known before. Time has shown that the 
 death of stage-coaching was by no means synonymous 
 with the dissolution of Brighton, which can now be 
 reached in the old style and the new ; but the Brighton 
 road in modern times must form the subject of a new 
 chapter. 
 
HkI :; ill' 
 
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Chapter XIII. 
 
 THE BRIGHTON ROAD IN MODERN TIMES. 
 
 T)RIOR to the dawning of the coaching revival, in 
 1866, there had been a sort of coaching middle 
 age on the long road between London and Brighton ; 
 but that period perhaps belongs rather to the new than 
 to the old regime, for it was in itself in the nature of a 
 revival. The old coaches had been off the road for 
 about six or seven years, when James Adlam, who, 
 as the Duke of Beaufort tells us in the "Driving" 
 volume of the Badminton Library, had driven the 
 Bath York House coach from London to Marlborough, 
 being then out of harness, started a coach to run 
 between London and Brighton. This must have been 
 about the year 1848. I rather think that Adlam first 
 went by way of Tunbridge Wells and Lewes, but he 
 subsequently changed to the Horsham route. Adlam, 
 however, was not a success ; and after about four or 
 five years he gave up his coach, whereupon George 
 Clark put on the Age, in the maintenance of which 
 he was greatly assisted by the present Duke of Beau- 
 fort. This concern did pretty well for a time ; but, in 
 1862, it finally stopped — it had been nearly doing so in 
 1858 — and then for four years all the Brighton roads 
 were absolutely coachless. 
 
 There was, however, in existence the present Four-in- 
 Hand Driving Club, founded in 1856, and it served to 
 prevent the driving of four horses from becoming quite 
 a lost art, and then, in 1866, the love for stage-coach- 
 ing once more cropped up, thanks to the late Captain 
 
 247 
 
248 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Haworth, a Queen's messenger, the author of " Road 
 Scrapings," and subsequently the manager of a carriage 
 factory somewhere in Pimlico. The Captain had for 
 a year or two been desirous of reviving the Brighton 
 road; and, in 1866, sought the co-operation of the 
 Duke of Beaufort, Colonel Armytage, Mr. Charles 
 Lawrie, Mr. Chandos Pole, Lord H. Thynne, and two 
 or three others who fell in with the proposal, the out- 
 come being the Old Times, a little yellow coach, which 
 ran to Brighton on alternate days. Of course, money 
 was lost over the coach ; but not much came out of 
 each pocket, as there were a good many to share the 
 deficiency. In 1867 two new coaches were built by 
 Holland & Holland, so that there was a coach each 
 way daily. The professionals were William Pratt (on 
 the Old Times in 1866) and Alfred Tedder ; the guards, 
 George Dackombe and Phillips ; while the proprietors 
 were the Duke of Beaufort, Mr. Chandos Pole, and 
 Mr. Angell. The route was through Cuckfield, both 
 coaches meeting for luncheon at Horley, in which 
 respect the then arrangement differed from that of after 
 years, when the down-coach arrived first, and was off 
 before the up-coach came in. That old-fashioned inn, 
 the Chequers, has not altered for many years, and 
 those who see it to-day view it very much as it was 
 in our grandfathers' time. When the summer (1867) 
 season had run its course, Mr. Chandos Pole was the 
 only partner who did not sell his horses, and he and 
 his brother, Mr. Pole Gell, determined to run a 
 winter coach, their vehicle being one of the old patent 
 mails, while Tedder and Dackombe remained as coach- 
 man and guard. 
 
 The Duke of Beaufort left the road in 1868, bequeath- 
 ing it to Mr. Chandos Pole and Mr. Pole Gell, who, how- 
 ever, were joined in mid-season by Mr. G. Meek. The 
 confederacy was increased in 1869 by Colonel Stracey 
 
THE BRIGHTON ROAD IN .MODERN TIMES 249 
 
 Clitherow and Lord Londesborough, but one coach 
 only was used ; and except that Lord Londesborough 
 had no share in the coach, very similar arrangements 
 prevailed in 1870, 1S71, and 1872, by which time 
 Mr. Cooper and Mr. Smith were connected with the 
 road. 
 
 Nearly all those who had hitherto been connected 
 with the Brighton coach remembered coaching as it was 
 before the introduction of railways; but, in 1873, the 
 road for the third or fourth time collapsed, and from 
 that day to this it has been worked by men of a younger 
 generation, always excepting Colonel Stracey Clitherow, 
 who is still (1893) one °f the proprietors. At one 
 time it appeared as though there would be no Brighton 
 coach at all ; but at the last moment an American 
 gentleman, Mr. Tiffany, was found to have the ambition 
 to become a coach proprietor, and in his hands the 
 road was very well done. Then, in 1874, Brighton 
 would probably have been coachless, had not Captain 
 Haworth, who started the season by going to Rochester, 
 become sick of the road, and changed to Brighton. 
 
 We now come to 1875, * n which year Mr. Stewart 
 Freeman, who has accepted the dedication of this 
 book, began his connection with the Brighton road. 
 For three years, that is to say, to 1877 inclusive, he 
 ran the Age single-handed; in 1878 he was joined by 
 Colonel Stracey Clitherow ; in 1879 Mr. Chandos Pole, 
 son of the former proprietor, and now Master of the 
 Cattistock Hounds, took a share ; and in the following 
 year Lord Algernon Lennox and Mr. Craven were asso- 
 ciated with Mr. Freeman and Colonel Stracey Clitherow. 
 John Thorogood became Mr. Freeman's coachman in 
 his first season, having succeeded Pope soon after the 
 coach was put upon the road, and he kept his post 
 till the end of the season of 1889, when Alexander 
 Pennington, who had been driving the Brighton Parcel 
 
2 5 o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Mail, succeeded him. In 1 890 William Wragg replaced 
 Pennington. Mr. Freeman did not run to Brighton 
 in 1 88 1, 1884, 1885, or 1886 ; in the last-mentioned 
 year, however, he put on a coach to Windsor ; while in 
 1 88 1, Edwin Fownes, sen., put on the Brighton road 
 a coach which revived the memory of the Age. 
 
 William W'ragg, who, since his appointment three 
 years ago, has continued to drive the Comet, has a 
 sort of hereditary connection with the Brighton road. 
 He is the sixth of his line to be engaged in stage- 
 coaching, and his father, the late Mr. Francis Wragg, 
 who died at Walthamstow in 1 89 1 , at the age of eighty- 
 five, for many years owned and drove the coach which 
 ran between Walthamstow and London, as his father, 
 grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grand- 
 father had done before him. W^hen the Vivid was 
 first put on the Brighton road in 1836, the proprietors 
 wanted a coachman, and so Bob Snow, who was said 
 to have "more coachmanship in his little finger than 
 his brother had in his whole body," knowing the Wraggs, 
 betook himself to W r althamstow, saw " Young Frank," 
 as he was then, and expressed his desire to engage him 
 for the Vivid, though curiously enough young Frank's 
 father was doubtful about his son's ability to drive one 
 of the crack fast coaches. Snow, however, judged for 
 himself; Wragg turned out a great success, and Snow, 
 with pardonable pride in his own powers of discern- 
 ment, was accustomed to point to his latest importa- 
 tion and say, " I have found a coachman." On the Vivid 
 Frank Wragg continued till 1S41, when the railway 
 caused it to be taken off the road. It is, therefore, in 
 the fitness of things that his son, who learned driving 
 in a good school, should now be on the Comet. 
 
 With the possible exception of a year or two, Colonel 
 Stracey Clitherow has been a partner in the coach all 
 through, and since 1 88 1 others have been included in 
 
I 
 
THE BRIGHTON ROAD IN MODERN TIMES 251 
 
 the list of proprietors: Baron Oppenheiru in 1882; 
 Messrs. M'Adam and Beckett in 1887; Lord Wiltshire 
 and Mr. M'Calmont in 188S; Mr. Wemyss in 1889; 
 and Sir J. D. Poynder for a year or two. When the 
 coach has been doubled, as it was in 1880, Harry Ward, 
 formerly on the Exeter road, and brother to Charles 
 Ward, also a famous coachman on the Western road, 
 drove the other side of the road; but in 1882 Edwin 
 Fownes was Thorogood's partner, Pennington driving 
 the second coach in 1889, Arthur Woodland helping 
 Wragg in 1890. The regular Brighton coach has, with 
 one exception, run by one of the direct roads through 
 Cuckfield or Hickstead ; but Mr. Tiffany elected to go 
 through Reigate ; and in 1880 Mr. Carlton Blythe, who 
 was fond of long journeys, revived the memory of the 
 original road to Brighton, and carried us back to the 
 days of the early proprietors, by running through Tun- 
 bridge Wells, Uckfield, and Lewes, using three leaders 
 abreast over the three stages from Tunbridge Wells to 
 Lewes. Durino- the summer of 1888 there was a sort 
 of mild opposition on the Brighton road, as the late 
 James Selby somewhat unwisely put on the Old Times, 
 and did the double journey in a day once or twice a 
 week. When the summer season was over, both Mr. 
 Freeman and Selby resolved to run during the winter ; 
 but the 7th of December was the last day Selby ever 
 drove. He took the Old Times to Brighton, but com- 
 plained of a cold ; and just one week later— that is to 
 say, the 14th of December 1888 — he died from bronchitis 
 and disease of the heart. In fact, before he undertook 
 his drive against time to Brighton and back, he was 
 strenuously warned by his doctor that he should be very 
 careful of himself, as he was suffering from heart-disease. 
 So far as can be seen at present, the Brighton road 
 seems likely to retain that favour which from very early 
 time has been bestowed upon it. Assuredly none of 
 
2 5 2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the old coaches could have been turned out in better 
 style, none of them were better horsed, than the Comet 
 has been since Mr. Freeman, assisted by Mr. Henry 
 Goodbun, has taken to buying his horses instead of 
 contracting for them, as for several years his practice 
 was. Strict punctuality is observed ; in fact, every- 
 thing is done that can be done to make it a business- 
 like stage-coach. 
 
 In Brighton it so happens that, after a lapse of 
 years, the Old Ship once more finds itself a coaching 
 house. While the Comet has been running to 
 Brighton, there have been other coaches from that 
 place to Arundel, Worthing, and Eastbourne, and the 
 number has been further augmented by one or two 
 started by Mr. Jackson, a Brighton livery stable- 
 keeper. When, therefore, there have been two, three, 
 or four coaches a day from the Old Ship, we have had 
 a kind of miniature revival of Castle Square in the 
 olden days. Let us be thankful, however, that stage- 
 coaching survives in any form ; while those who would 
 be unwilling to experience the discomforts of a by- 
 gone time may find a cause for gladness in the fact, 
 that railway travelling has been brought to a pitch of 
 speed and luxury of which those who watched the 
 first Brighton trains in and out of the station could 
 never have dreamed. If the weather be bad, there is 
 the Pullman car at their service ; if it be fine, there is 
 the " fast and well-appointed ' four-horse coach, the 
 Comet, to bear them through some typical Sussex 
 scenery, and to land them in London or Brighton with 
 an appetite begotten of fresh air and a change from 
 the common mode of travelling. 
 
Chapter XIV. 
 
 BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES. 
 
 TIIHE foregoing chapters will have given some idea 
 of the magnitude of the stage-coach business be- 
 tween London and Brighton. It will have been seen 
 that, when coaching was at its best, there were between 
 forty and fifty coaches on the main road. Most of them 
 started from, or called at, one or more of the numerous 
 offices in Castle Square ; while, with the single excep- 
 tion of the office in St. James's Street, the whole of 
 the business of the coaches was transacted either in 
 Castle Square itself, or at offices in East and North 
 Streets, immediately adjoining the Square. 
 
 In the year 1822 there were no fewer than sixty-two 
 coaches running between Brighton, London, Hastings, 
 Tunbridge Wells, Oxford, Portsmouth, and the inter- 
 mediate places ; but this number was afterwards added 
 to. The sixty-two were made up thus : — 
 
 To and from London 
 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 ,, „ Portsmouth 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 ,, ,, Southampton 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 ,, ,, Lewes 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 To Hastings .... 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 „ Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ,, Oxford .... 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ,, Windsor . 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 To and from Worthing . 
 
 To 
 
 tal . 
 
 
 8 
 62 
 
 Subsequently coaches ran with greater frequency 
 from Brighton to Lewes and Worthing ; opposition set 
 
 253 
 
254 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 in on the Hastings road ; new coaches were started to 
 Southampton, Bristol, and Bath ; and more than one 
 proprietor ran to Bognor, Littleharnpton, Chichester, 
 Portsmouth, and Arundel. Nearly all these provincial 
 coaches started from Castle Square, and perhaps the 
 Blue Office was the headquarters of the majority; but 
 Snow, who liad an office of his own, was interested in 
 some of the ventures. The illustration on the opposite 
 page represents the Blue Coach-Office as it was in the 
 time of Crosweller, and altogether this was the busiest 
 office of the three in and around this bustling centre. 
 It will of course be remembered that Castle Square was 
 not then as we see it at the present day. The Blue 
 Office, however, stood where we now find the estab- 
 lishment of Messrs. Treacher : and from the time that 
 the six-o'clock morning coaches left, there was one 
 continued bustle in the Square and neighbouring 
 streets with coaches arriving and departing, people 
 coming to book seats in advance, and men starting 
 out to deliver the small parcels brought in by the 
 different coaches. It has not been thought worth 
 while to trace the history of the provincial roads with 
 the same detail as that of the main road, but enough 
 has been said, it is hoped, to give some idea of the 
 means by which communication was carried on with 
 other places. 
 
 TO LEWES, EASTBOURNE, AND HASTINGS. 
 
 It has already been mentioned that Lewes was, in 
 very early times, better off than Brighton with respect 
 to coach and waggon communication ; but this is not 
 to be wondered at, for Lewes was a market town when 
 her now fashionable neighbour was no more than a 
 mean fishing-village. Lewes, moreover, was the con- 
 duit pipe, as it were, by which Brighton was fed, for 
 

 . 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 255 
 
 the Brighton waggons and coaches passed through 
 Lewes, transporting to the former place the London 
 fashions and various articles of merchandise, and bear- 
 ing away whatever fish the fish-carts could not take. 
 Batchelor, Tubb, Davis, and Brawne no doubt in their 
 day opened out communication with Brighton; in fact, 
 in announcing the death of Eobert Davis, the Sussex 
 Advertiser for the 26th April 1790 says that he had 
 been for many years driver and proprietor of the 
 Lewes and Brighton stage-coach. 
 
 Shortly before this, however, a Mr. Smart started a 
 stage waggon to Brighton. It left Lewes every Monday 
 morning, and returned from Brighton at three in the 
 afternoon, to which place it set out again at eleven 
 o'clock at night, departing for Lewes at seven o'clock on 
 Tuesday morning. Eight o'clock on Wednesday morn- 
 ing saw the stage again starting for Brighton, and it re- 
 turned thence at seven in the evening ; on Friday two 
 journeys each way were accomplished; while on Thurs- 
 day and Saturday both man and horses must have been 
 thankful for the rest which they seem to have obtained. 
 Smart's coach ran for several years, while from about 
 1782 Thomas Fuller, of Eastbourne, ran a coach to 
 Lewes during the summer months, connecting with 
 Smart's, and so giving communication with Brighton. 
 For about five-and-twenty years Fuller advertised his 
 arrangements with the greatest regularity. He went 
 in for no high-falutin notifications ; but in March or 
 April he just put in a modest little advertisement to 
 say that Fuller's Eastbourne coach would run till 
 further notice ; and then in November came another 
 advertisement to say that it would stop till further 
 notice. 
 
 In 1804 we fi rs t hear of a coach, or rather a dili- 
 gence, running through from Eastbourne. It was put 
 on the road by Fuller, above mentioned, in competition 
 
2 5 6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 with Allen, Crosweller, & Co., of Brighton, and left 
 Fuller's house, the New Inn, Eastbourne, at nine o'clock 
 on the mornings of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 
 returning from the Blue Coach-Office, 44 East Street, 
 on the alternate days. Other proprietors between 
 Brighton and Lewes were Soper & Penfold (whose 
 coach left the Crown Inn, Lewes, at nine o'clock in 
 the morning, and returned from the King and Queen, 
 Brighton, at six in the evening), and Kendal and 
 Quartermaine, who worked the reverse way — that is 
 to say, they ran at ten in the morning from the Star 
 and Garter, Brighton, to the Bear Inn at Lewes, making 
 the return journey at six in the evening ; but further 
 communication was afforded by the London coach of 
 Tilt, Hicks, Baulcombe, Boulton, & Co., which, as we 
 have seen [ante, p. 60), ran from Lewes to London 
 by way of Brighton. Baulcombe died in 18 10, and his 
 share in the undertaking came into the market. 
 
 In April 1807 a conveyance, bearing the modest 
 description of "a new light caravan," was put upon 
 the road between Brighton and Hastings by William 
 Durclen. It left the Blue Coach-Office, 44 East Street, 
 Brighton, on Mondays and Fridays at ten o'clock, return- 
 ing from Eastbourne at the same hour on Tuesday and 
 Saturday, the route being through Rottingdean, New- 
 haven, Seaford, Eastbourne, Pevensey, and Bexhill. 
 In the next year (1808) J. Crosweller and J. Attree 
 are found running a new light coach between the same 
 places, and by the same route, the only difference being 
 that it started at seven in the morning instead of at 
 ten. The energetic firm of Crosweller & Co. may have 
 bought up Durden's concern, or, after the manner of 
 more powerful combinations, they may have started an 
 opposition coach. Whichever it was, the coach was 
 named the Royal Charlotte, and it took ten hours to 
 go to Hastings. 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 257 
 
 The old coachmen who had the luck to drive along 
 the coast turned a more or less dishonest penny by 
 standing in with the smugglers, and convey iug contra- 
 band goods to their customers. Nor, indeed, was the 
 practice confined to the uneducated coachmen of that 
 date ; for nothing was more common than for some 
 of the gentry and farmers in places near the sea to aid 
 and abet smugglers in getting rid of their contraband 
 articles. From a paragraph in the Brighton Herald 
 of the 17th August 181 1, it would appear that the 
 coachman of the Eastbourne and Hastings coach was 
 one of those obliging persons who sometimes get them- 
 selves into trouble through their good-nature, for on 
 the coach being stopped by some of the coast-guard 
 men, packages of contraband goods addressed to a 
 tradesman at "South Born" were discovered. 
 
 The next few years were somewhat barren of incident. 
 Coaches ran under the same arrangements as formerly, 
 and in sufficient numbers to satisfy the requirements 
 of the Brighton and Hastings people, as well as those 
 of the dwellers at intermediate places. In 18 16, how- 
 ever, the supply was in excess of the demand ; for 
 a local paper was informed that the coaches were 
 doomed to travel almost without passengers, and both 
 in Brighton and Hastings " To be Lets " were many. 
 Mr. D. Patterson enrolled himself in the list of coach 
 proprietors in 1S18, his speculation being the Tele- 
 graph between Brighton and Hastings. At half-past 
 eight on the mornings of Tuesday, Thursday, and Sun- 
 day, the Telegraph left 9 Castle Square for the Crown 
 and Cutter Inn, Hastings, the journey being accom- 
 plished in seven hours. 
 
 So far as can be gathered, there were at this time 
 two ways of getting to Eastbourne and Hastings by 
 road. One route lay through Rottingdean, Seaford, 
 and Newhaven, and the other through Lewes and 
 
 R 
 
258 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Uckfield. For some time, now that coaches were 
 growing in number, it had been seen that a short cut 
 after leaving Lewes would be of the greatest service 
 to Eastbourne and Hastings travellers ; but, though the 
 utility was admitted, the project hung fire till 1818, 
 when some energetic people bestirred themselves, col- 
 lected ^8000 out of the £10,000 the new cutting was 
 likely to cost, and busied themselves about carrying 
 the improvement into execution, the ultimate result 
 being the road along which the Item travelled in 1892 
 and previous years. 
 
 The year 1820 brought with it the planning of what 
 was one of the long-distance runs from Brighton. 
 Crosweller, who was a Chaplin on a smaller scale, and 
 was ever ready to invest capital in any road likely to 
 pay its way, joined Smith & Co., of Hastings, and 
 Chitty, Back, & Co., of Deal, and these three firms put 
 on the Union line of coaches between Brighton and 
 Margate, a distance of 114 miles. These vehicles, 
 which left both ends daily, had double routes : on 
 one day they passed through (counting from Margate) 
 Ramsgate, Sandwich, Deal, Folkestone, Hythe, Romney, 
 Rye, Winchelsea, Hastings, Battle, Catsfield, Ninfield, 
 Hurstmonceux, Horsebridge, and Lewes ; on the next 
 day they travelled from Hastings via Bexhill, East- 
 bourne, Seaford, and Newhaven — thus accommodating 
 a double set of patrons, though not effecting a saving in 
 horse-flesh. The Unions left Margate at six o'clock 
 every morning, and in twelve hours reached Hastings, 
 where they rested for the night, setting out again 
 at eight the next morning for Brighton, which was 
 reached at four in the afternoon. The time of 
 departure from Brighton was eight in the morning, 
 instead of six ; and as the coach was at Hastings 
 by four o'clock in the afternoon, passengers had 
 some time in which to amuse themselves ; as the 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 259 
 
 journey was not resumed till seven o'clock the next 
 
 morning. 
 
 The above announcement reads as though one 
 
 & j 
 
 coach ran through this pleasant coast route all the way 
 from end to end ; but a subsequent advertisement rather 
 leads one to the conclusion that the coaches which car- 
 ried the Folkestone, Deal, and Margate passengers from 
 Brighton were not extra ones, as the first advertisement 
 might imply, but were merely the ordinary Hastings 
 coaches timed to work in with those running from 
 Hastings to Margate. 
 
 In 1822 Newman ran a coach to Hastings on the 
 mornings of Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday ; and 
 then we find the light-coach question cropping up 
 again, Messrs. Ade, of Lewes, stating that they ran 
 from Lewes to Brighton a very convenient low double- 
 bodied light stage-coach on six springs (weight of 
 coach 135 cwt.) The first advantage claimed for this 
 feather-weight affair was that the greatest weight was 
 placed low in front ; that the high fore-wheels gave a 
 more powerful leverage and caused less friction than 
 the low fore-wheels ; while the weight being nearer 
 the horses, the coach would follow more lightly than 
 when the greater weight in the form of outside pas- 
 sengers was placed behind. Secondly, the six springs 
 gave the coach, it was claimed, steadiness and firmness, 
 and did away with the rolling motion of the long 
 coaches ; while one horse out of four would be saved. 
 Thirdly, as coachman, coach, and passengers were so 
 near to the ground, and as the luggage was under- 
 neath the coach, a capsize was rendered all the more 
 difficult of accomplishment. 
 
 In May 1825, "John Hoare, proprietor of the Mag- 
 net coach," came out with a displayed advertisement, 
 headed by a woodcut of a coach-and-four, announcing 
 that his coach would leave Ball's Coach-Office, High 
 
2 6o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Street, Lewes, at nine in the morning and three in 
 the afternoon for Horton's Coach-Office, East Street. 
 Brighton, whence it set out for Lewes at eleven in 
 the forenoon and seven in the evening. He assured 
 his friends that he had spared " neither pains nor 
 expense to procure the best of horses, and a coach 
 upon the most improved principles of safety (manu- 
 factured by Messrs. Ade, of Lewes). As a proof, the 
 coach, since it has been his property, has regularly 
 performed the journey a full half-hour earlier than 
 it was in the habit of doing. J. H., in consequence 
 of an opposition, unsuspected as undeserved in the 
 quarter from which it sprang, will carry his passengers 
 at the same price as they offer, viz., 2s. 6d. inside, and 
 is. 6d. out; but still, at the same time, he cannot but 
 state to the public that his former charges for modera- 
 tion will bear a comparison with any coach in the 
 country with coach and horses of the same quality ; 
 and, further, that no passenger has been delayed, to 
 his knowledge, from want of room, since he has been 
 the proprietor of the concern." 
 
 "The opposition, unsuspected as undeserved," came 
 from no other quarter than Mr. Durrant Ade, to whom 
 Hoare had given a friendly little puff in stating that 
 Ade was the builder of the Lewes and Brighton Mag- 
 net. Acle's advertisement, headed " Superior and Im- 
 proved," announced that "a commodious low safety 
 Brighton coach will start every morning at ten o'clock 
 from Mr. Hammond's, 42 High Street, Lewes, opposite 
 the Old Bank, to 5 Castle Square, Brighton, and returns 
 in the evening at six o'clock ;" but, having discovered 
 that Hoare (who returned at seven) carried more pas- 
 sengers on the Magnet than he did on his patent low 
 safety, advertised that, having proved six o'clock to be 
 too early for his coach to leave Brighton, he had deter- 
 mined, " for the better accommodation of the public ' : 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 261 
 
 — -he says nothing- abont the hope of increased receipts 
 —that his coach should in future leave Brighton at a 
 quarter before seven, that is to say, a quarter of an 
 hour before his rival's Magnet. The local reporter was, 
 of course, present to see Ade's coach make its first 
 journey, and stated that "as the starting of the new 
 venture had caused considerable speculative opinions," 
 a greater degree of interest was excited than is usual 
 on such occasions. "We never saw," wrote this appre- 
 ciative gentleman, ''a better turn out; the coach is 
 truly handsome, the cattle good, and the harness corre- 
 sponding, forming altogether one of the most respect- 
 able things of the kind upon this or any other road. 
 However injurious opposition may be to individuals 
 (if this may be considered an opposition), the public 
 generally derive some benefit, as in this case, for it has 
 the effect of reducing the fares to their usual and long 
 standing prices." It would appear, therefore, that by 
 virtue of his superior turn-out Mr. Hoare had put up 
 his prices. 
 
 By this time there were eighteen or nineteen vehicles 
 of one sort or another running between Brighton and 
 Lewes, and this great increase in the traffic appears to 
 have aroused the trustees of the road to improve it ; so 
 they set to work near Ashcombe Gate, and made a new 
 cutting to avoid the sharp rise ; and this, in the 
 opinion of the authorities, made the road as nearly 
 level as possible, with the exception of two small 
 hills. 
 
 Meantime, the energetic John Hoare had bought of 
 Patterson the Sussex, Brighton and Hastings, coach. 
 He got together a whole stud of fresh horses, ordered 
 a new coach, and prepared to do the thing in style, 
 arranging for the Sussex to leave Hastings at half-past 
 one on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and to return 
 at the same hour on the alternate days ; but, during 
 
262 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the winter (1825-26), it ran but twice a week, that is 
 to say, from Genn's Coach-Office, 155 North Street, 
 Brighton, on Tuesday and Saturday, and from the 
 Crown Coach-Office, Hastings, on Monday and Friday, 
 the route being Lewes, Horsebridge, and Battle ; but 
 the first week in April 1826 saw the summer arrange- 
 ments once more in force, except that the Sussex started 
 at nine instead of half-past eight. Although there were 
 now upwards of twenty conveyances — coaches, dili- 
 gences, and passenger vans — between Brighton and 
 Lewes, there was a rumour that another proprietor was 
 about to try his fortune on the road, the coachmen on 
 which had a very uncomfortable time in November. 
 Some very heavy rain made some of the roads almost 
 impassable, and most of the Brighton coachmen feared 
 that they had got off the road on finding their horses 
 more than knee-deep in the water, while the School 
 Hill, Lewes, at the foot of which the water collected 
 to a depth of more than three feet, must have almost 
 presented the ajjpearance of a waterfall. 
 
 Just as John Hoare had established his connection, 
 and was apparently doing well with both his coaches, 
 he died suddenly, either at the close of the year 1826 
 or early in January 1827, as the preliminary advertise- 
 ment announcing the sale of his stock appeared in the 
 Brighton Gazette for the 27th January 1827. The two 
 coaches are said to have been a source of great profit to 
 the spirited proprietor, who was at any rate not over- 
 horsed, seeing that he worked the Brighton and Hast- 
 ings coach (39 miles) with sixteen horses, and the 
 Lewes and Brighton coach (8j miles) with five horses. 
 Inasmuch as the advertisement stated that there were 
 three sets of harness belonging to the Hastings concern, 
 we may conclude that Hoare did the thirty-nine miles 
 with three teams, which would leave him four rest 
 horses. His stages would thus average about thirteen 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 263 
 
 miles ; but then his horses worked once a day only. 
 The Brighton coach may have been drawn by a pair of 
 horses. For the Hastings coach, harness, and horses 
 ^650 was asked, and for the Lewes and Brighton con- 
 cern, £270. What became of the Lewes and Brighton 
 coach the advertisements do not say, but the Hastings 
 Sussex passed into the hands of John Egerton, who, if 
 I mistake not, Mas one of the best coachmen on the 
 London and Brighton road. Egerton made the hour 
 of departure ten o'clock at both ends, but in other 
 respects he kept to Hoare's arrangements. 
 
 Fuller, of the New Inn, Eastbourne, appears to have 
 been so successful with his house and his London 
 and Brighton coaches, that in 1827 he refurnished his 
 inn, and made some structural alterations, the better to 
 adapt it to the requirements of his business, in making 
 arrangements for his summer coach to London. Fuller 
 determined to send her by way of Uckfield instead of 
 by Lewes ; but soon after she had been put upon the 
 road, his old patrons clamoured for their accustomed 
 convenience, so he put on a second coach, and business 
 appears to have prospered with him. Meantime Hast- 
 ings, like Eastbourne, was growiug, and the primitive 
 arrangements of conveying the mails which had hitherto 
 prevailed were felt to be inadequate to the wants of the 
 place, for as yet there was no mail-coach to Flastings 
 either from London or from Brighton. So far as can 
 be made out, the mails from Brighton were left at 
 Battle, where they remained till well into the next 
 day ; and as this delay gave rise to a good deal of 
 grumbling, a mail-cart, which made its journey from 
 Brighton during the night, was substituted for the post- 
 boy on horseback. It was not till early in August 
 1836 that a mail-coach was put on the road between 
 London and Hastings ; but when once " some gentle- 
 men connected with the Post-Office " came down to 
 
264 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 make arrangements, no time was lost in carrying the 
 proposal into effect, and in two or three weeks the mail 
 duly made its appearance, to the great convenience of 
 dwellers in Eastbourne and Hastings. 
 
 Between the time that John Egerton bought the 
 Hastings Sussex coach from the executors of the late 
 John Hoare, other coach proprietors appear to have 
 entertained the opinion that as Hastings was growing 
 in favour as a watering-place, there was room for more 
 coaches ; so presently the Hero was put on by Croswel- 
 ler & Co., to run from the Blue Coach-Office, Brighton, 
 to Hastings, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
 through Newhaven, Seaford, Eastbourne, Pevensey, and 
 Bexhill ; on the alternate days it ran from Hastings 
 to Brighton, the hour of starting at each end being nine 
 o'clock in the morning. The local papers stated that 
 both the Sussex and the Hero were well turned out in 
 every respect ; yet business was anything but brisk ; 
 the fares were reduced, yet passengers came not ; and 
 when, a couple of years later (1830), the Wonder joined 
 in the competition, the latter carried passengers for a 
 shilling a head, while the Hero took them gratis ! 
 WTiat had become of Egerton's Sussex at this time 
 cannot be discovered ; but the presumption is that she 
 was still on the road, as mention is made of three 
 coaches daily between Hastings and Brighton. About 
 1834, however, the Wonder and Hero were both run by 
 Crosweller & Co. ; and while one ran to Hastings on 
 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the other went on 
 Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. They ran, however, 
 by different routes, for whereas the Hero travelled by 
 way of Lewes, Firle, Wellingdon, Eastbourne, Peven- 
 sey, and Bexhill, the Wonder ran through Lewes, 
 Horsebridge, Gardener's Street, and Battle. An " N.B." 
 to the advertisement informs us that, taking advantage 
 of the Brighton connection for the places on the other 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 265 
 
 side, there were from Hastings and St. Leonards 
 coaches to Dover, Ramsgate, and Margate ; coaches 
 to London three times a day, and the royal mail at 
 night ; also to Chichester, Portsmouth, Southampton, 
 Salisbury, Bath, Bristol, Guildford, Windsor, Tunbridge 
 AYells, Maidstone, and Chatham, all of them starting 
 from the Blue Coach-Office. 
 
 In April 1839 yet another new coach was started 
 between Brighton and Hastings from the Red Office, 
 10 Castle Square, Brighton, under the proprietorship of 
 Samuel Goodman (of the London and Brighton Times), 
 Charles Pope Hutchings, Henry Peter Hutchings, 
 William Laurence Yates, and James Ballard. This 
 new concern ran the same route and on the same days 
 as the Wonder ; but as the paper stated that there 
 were three coaches between Brighton and Hastings, 
 either the Sussex or the Wonder must have been taken 
 off. It was not the Hero, we know ; because just after- 
 wards John Boxall, the coachman of that vehicle, had 
 to pay thirty shillings for driving the Hero in an 
 improper manner. Goodman's coaches running from 
 Brighton to London were by common consent allowed 
 to be horsed and turned out generally in faultless style ; 
 and neither "Nimrod" nor "Viator Junior," the latter 
 a Sporting Magazine scribe, ventured to pick holes in 
 Goodman's horses. 
 
 Whatever else we learn about stage-coaching between 
 Hastings, Eastbourne, and Brighton is merely frag- 
 mentary and unimportant until the year 1842, when 
 coaching was on the decline owing to the impending 
 opening of the railway. The first note of warning 
 was struck in April 1842, when the local papers 
 announced that, " from indisputable authority," they 
 were able to state that final arrangements had been 
 made between the proprietors of the South-Eastern 
 Railway and the coach proprietors of Hastings and 
 
266 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 St. Leonards. The line was to be opened as far as 
 Tunbridge on the 16th May (1842), after which date 
 there would be one coach only from Hastings and 
 Eastbourne to London, and three to the railway station. 
 By the 9th of June (1842) final arrangements had 
 been made ; and these were to the effect that what had 
 hitherto been one of the London and Eastbourne 
 coaches (and which had formerly been conveyed by 
 train from Hay ward's Heath to Croydon, from which 
 place it went by road to London) left Eastbourne every 
 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at ten o'clock, and 
 travelling via Wellingdon, Wilmington, Eirle, and 
 Lewes, reached Brighton in time to enable passengers to 
 catch the half-past one train to London. On Tuesday, 
 Thursday, and Saturday the coach returned after the 
 arrival of the train leaving London at a quarter to 
 twelve. The coach called at Streven's booking-office 
 after leaving Brighton Station ; and, after the death of 
 Henry Strevens, who had been coachman between 
 Lewes and London, and for a time between Brighton 
 and Tunbridge Wells, his widow, Mrs. Mary Strevens, 
 was appointed female turnkey at Lewes prison " for a 
 month upon trial." 
 
 Before finally closing this chapter, reference may 
 shortly be made to one or two incidents in connection 
 with the Lewes and Brighton road. Going so far back 
 as December 1826, the Brighton Gazette tells us that 
 a man slipped off a bank on the Lewes road and put 
 out his knee-cap. The coach from Brighton happened 
 to pass at the time, while the poor fellow was in great 
 pain, but the coachman said that his coach was too 
 full to take the man on to Lewes ; so he was left to 
 take his chance of assistance. The good Samaritan, 
 however, appeared in the shape of a deformed and 
 crippled tramp, who somehow or other contrived to 
 assist the sufferer to Lewes. 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 267 
 
 The next item of gossip (February 5) is of a some- 
 what different nature. It has been already mentioned, 
 in connection with the main road, that the making up 
 of dummy parcels was an industry sometimes affected 
 by coach-porters as a means of adding to their income ; 
 and it appears to have dawned upon the shoeblack at 
 the White Hart, at Lewes, that he might earn at least 
 the price of a parcel charge by a trick of the same kind. 
 He obtained some corn, probably without the preli- 
 minary formality of paying for it ; the next step was to 
 provide sample bags, and these he obtained by cutting- 
 out his pockets. Having addressed the corn samples 
 to various merchants in Lewes, he delivered the bags 
 and demanded " carriage-money ' for them. One is 
 scarcely surprised to hear that the fraud was discovered, 
 and that the ingenious shoeblack was taken before 
 a magistrate, who committed the delinquent to the 
 sessions, after which he retired for a short time to the 
 Lewes prison. 
 
 The coach traveller of old, like the railway passenger 
 of to-day, had sometimes to put up with the vagaries of 
 a drunken man ; and at Christmas 1828 a Mr. Shotter 
 would appear, during a visit to Lewes, to have kept 
 the festive season in true old-fashioned style — that is to 
 say, he was so very overtaken by the time the Lewes 
 coach started for Brighton, that, unable to sit up, he 
 laid himself down on some trunks on the roof of the 
 coach. But when the wine is in, not only the wit, but 
 also the art of balancing, is out, and the coach had not 
 proceeded far before the festive Mr. Shotter began to roll 
 about, and finally rolled off the top. Luckily for him, a 
 couple of the passengers grasped the situation and Mr. 
 Shotter's cloak, and there he hung, " like a spread 
 eagle," as the paper says, until he was let down, and 
 finally packed inside. 
 
 On the cross-roads, as on the main road between 
 
268 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 London and Brighton, collisions were of common occur- 
 rence, and nearly all of the Lewes coachmen, one would 
 think from the number of reported cases, must have 
 been " pulled " at one time or another. Joseph Monk, 
 a man who, at any rate, could not plead inexperience, 
 was in May 1836 charged under a local Act with furi- 
 ously driving one of Simcock's coaches in Brighton 
 and running against Reid's Hastings van, whereby the 
 lives of the passengers in the latter were placed in great 
 danger, and some received great injury. Mr. Monk 
 wriggled out of punishment in a manner which, though 
 technically a victory, was in reality a defeat. He com- 
 pensated the injured parties to the extent of about 
 five pounds each, and undertook to repair the van ; so, 
 upon the strength of this, his solicitor asked that the 
 information might be withdrawn. To this the chair- 
 man of the Bench, Sir David Scott, assented, but 
 explained that he would not have countenanced such 
 an arrangement had it not been that the amount 
 he had voluntarily offered to pay exceeded the sum 
 he could have been fined under the local Act of 
 Parliament. 
 
 The name of Simcock had for a long time been 
 known in connection with the Lewes coaches, some of 
 them having been owned by the family for a long 
 period ; and, like that of other members of their calling, 
 the lives of the Simcocks had been chequered by such 
 incidents as collisions, capsizes, being proceeded against 
 for furious driving, and being asked to pay damages for 
 hurt to persons or property. William Simcock, one of 
 the three brothers, had once been coachman on the 
 Brighton and Tunbridge Wells coach ; but one day early 
 in April 1843 h e was on the Maidstone coach driven by 
 Baker, who pulled up about two miles out of Lewes to 
 set down a passenger. Thereupon Simcock climbed on 
 to the roof to adjust the luggage ; but, on the sudden 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 269 
 
 breaking of a strap, at which he was pulling with all 
 his might, he fell backwards into the road, injured 
 his spine, and died shortly afterwards ; while no more 
 than two years previously (May 1841), William Sim- 
 cock's brother Thomas died suddenly in the streets 
 of London. One evening he was found opposite the 
 Admiralty, sitting on the pavement and leaning against 
 the railings. The first supposition was — it generally 
 is in similar cases — that Thomas Simcock was in- 
 toxicated ; but a police constable who appears to have 
 been born before his time examined the unfortunate 
 man, deemed him to be seriously ill, obtained assist- 
 ance, and took the sufferer to a surgeon's, where he 
 died in a few seconds. Mr. Tayleure, one of the 
 overseers of the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 
 attended the inquest, and stated that Simcock bore 
 an excellent character, and had become in reduced 
 circumstances through no fault of his own. In his 
 more fortunate days Simcock was coachman and part 
 proprietor of one of the Brighton and Lewes coaches, 
 and was possibly one of the victims to the railway 
 opposition ; for it used to be said that when a coach- 
 man could no longer do his own work, his bringing 
 up as often as not unfitted him to do that of any 
 one else ; and in many instances the saying proved 
 to be true, though, happily for themselves, some of 
 the more handy were able to take service under the 
 hated railway companies, and to undertake other 
 duties. 
 
 BRIGHTON TO TTJNBRIDGE WELLS AND 
 MAIDSTONE. 
 
 When roads were bad and locomotion slow be- 
 tween important places, it may not be supposed that 
 there were any great facilities for travel between 
 
2 7 o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 provincial towns. Whatever other means of commu- 
 nication, however, may have been available between 
 Brighton and Tunbridge Wells in the year 1800, there 
 was at any rate a stage-cart, the driver of which, a man 
 named Edwards, was stopped " at the two mile-stone " 
 — presumably two miles from Tunbridge Wells — by 
 two footpads, one of whom was in military uniform. 
 Edwards was robbed of more than £10, and his dog, 
 who came to his assistance, sustained what was said to 
 have been a bayonet wound ; and it is unsatisfactory 
 to read that the men escaped. 
 
 There had been, however, for some few years at 
 least, regular communication between Brighton and 
 Tunbridge Wells by means of a post-coach, which 
 left the General Office, North Street, Brighton, every 
 Monday and Thursday morning, and ran by way of 
 Lewes and Uckfield to the Sussex and Angel Inns, 
 Tunbridge Wells ; while in the summer of 1802 "a 
 new carriage, called the Maidstone, Tunbridge, and 
 Tunbridge Wells, New Cai*avan," was put upon the 
 road. Like the above-mentioned post-coach, its start- 
 ing-point at Brighton was the North Street Office, 
 and it must have left Brighton somewhat early in the 
 morning, seeing that it reached Tunbridge Wells at 
 eleven in the forenoon, and Maidstone at six in the 
 evening. It returned from Maidstone at six o'clock 
 in the morning, on "Monday and Wednesday during 
 the season." Little or nothing is heard about this 
 road until the summer of 18 10, when a Mr. A. 
 Humphrey put on a " new and elegant light post- 
 coach " from the Gun Inn (now Harrison's Hotel) 
 to the New Inn, Tunbridge Wells. On Mondays, 
 Wednesdays, and Fridays it left Brighton at eight 
 in the morning, returning at nine on the alternate 
 days. In another two years this coach appears to 
 have passed into the hands of the insatiable Crosweller, 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 271 
 
 who had for partners W. Pattenden, John Allen, and 
 J. Green. The coach continued to leave Brighton at 
 eight in the morning three days a week, ran through 
 Lewes, Uckfield, Tunbridge, and Tunbridge Wells, 
 and now ran through to Maidstone ; but the same firm 
 soon afterwards put on a daily coach to Tunbridge 
 Wells, but which, for some reason or other, ran from 
 the Seven Stars in Ship Street, though the adver- 
 tisement is headed from the Blue Coach - Office. 
 Meantime, in 18 18, a Tunbridge Wells man named 
 W^oods started a coach to Brighton ; but as it ran 
 up on the days on which Crosweller's vehicle per- 
 formed the down-journey, the practical effect was a 
 daily coach between the two places. The coach 
 left the Swan Inn, Tunbridge Wells, on Mon- 
 days, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and ran vid Lewes 
 and Uckfield to the Greyhound, East Street, 
 Brighton. 
 
 Crosweller's coaches ran so regularly for so long, that 
 it is unnecessary to mention them year by year ; it will 
 suffice, therefore, to say that, for the purpose of work- 
 ing the road from Brighton to the border, Crosweller 
 was, in course of time, associated with Fleet and Monk, 
 both of whom were coachmen. In 1822 the Maidstone 
 coach was extended to Chatham, the route being- 
 through Rochester after leaving Maidstone. During 
 the winter months the coach made but two jour- 
 neys a week, though a few years later it ran thrice a 
 week, and the Maidstone coach made the journey 
 daily. 
 
 Just before Christmas 1825, a correspondent signing 
 himself "Fair Play," writing to the Brighton Gazette, 
 complained in no measured terms of the condition 
 of the road between Brighton and Tunbridge Wells. 
 An " Inhabitant of Uckfield " — there is room for 
 much doubt whether he ever lived there — and an 
 
2 7 2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 '•Inhabitant of Tunbridge Wells," and others, soon 
 joined in the controversy, and between them there 
 was quite a wordy war. As, however, the letters largely 
 deal with points the gist of which is now quite lost, 
 there is no occasion here to reproduce the correspon- 
 dence in extenso ; but, by way of showing some of the 
 incidents of stage-coach travel in earlier days, it may 
 be worth while to make an extract from one of the 
 contributions. " The road," says the correspondent 
 in question, writing to the Gazette of the 5th of 
 January 1826, "is in a most shameful and dangerous 
 state. I cannot assert it to be impassable, as I was, 
 on Friday last, carried through (I cannot say over) the 
 whole of it by the Brighton coach, and most certainly 
 the persons of the passengers (to say nothing of our 
 Christmas finery) were in the most imminent danger. 
 The road is a complete slab of that admirable consist- 
 ence as to flow into and fill the deep ruts, rendering 
 them impervious to the eye, and it is not till too late 
 that the extent of the danger is discovered. This was 
 the case on Friday. No one can deny the merit of 
 Fleet as a careful driver, but in one moment the wheel 
 was sunk in a rut to the very axle, the coach was actually 
 falling over, and but for the great adroitness of Mr. 
 Fleet, the whole concern must have been deposited in 
 that delectable compound of filth. Fleet, the coach- 
 man, declares that for a considerable time he has not 
 expected to complete the journey without accident, 
 and for that reason dare not take a day's rest with 
 his family, even at this season, lest, by intrusting his 
 coach to a servant, he should, in the event of an acci- 
 dent, be accused of sending a careless coachman ; ' and 
 besides,' added he, ' you see the poor horses are tearing 
 themselves to pieces.' As to the gentry and visitants 
 of this place (Tunbridge Wells) attempting to ride or 
 drive on such a road, it is out of the question. On 
 
>\ ■■-hi 
 
 ' *^ 1.. \ .JJi. V I 
 
 ... 
 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 273 
 
 Saturday last a gentleman, being too late for the coach, 
 hired a light carriage with an exceedingly good horse ; 
 he left Timbridge Wells at three in the afternoon, 
 but was not able to reach Lewes till after nine at 
 night." 
 
 These statements were, in the main, corroborated by 
 the Editor of the Brighton Gazette, who declared that 
 Fleet had told him how fearful he was of meeting with 
 an accident whenever his coach was at all heavily laden. 
 Poor Fleet's prognostications of evil were unhappily 
 destined to be realised, though not quite in the manner 
 he expected. In June 1827 he was driving his coach 
 from Timbridge Wells, when, in the words of the local 
 paper, one of the leaders became unmanageable. What 
 a stereotyped phrase this was in the old newspapers ! 
 What particular form of unmanageableness this leader 
 indulged in we are not told ; but Fleet adopted the 
 somewhat unusual course of descending from his box 
 to quiet him. While engaged in so doing, one of the 
 "hinder" horses — the writer of the paragraph was, 
 perhaps, not very well up in coaching terms, and so 
 may have given a somewhat incorrect version — made 
 a sudden spring, and knocked down Fleet, over whose 
 legs both wheels of the coach passed. Almost by a 
 miracle, as it would seem, neither of his limbs was 
 broken, though both of course were bruised and lace- 
 rated : luckily there chanced to be some one on the 
 coach who could drive, so the vehicle reached Brighton 
 in safety. 
 
 Possibly the slightly improved state of the road — 
 for the Commissioners appear to have been roused to 
 some sort of a sense of duty — contributed towards an 
 increase of traffic between Brighton and Timbridge 
 Wells. At any rate, Crosweller, Fleet, & Smith, as the 
 firm now was, put on a second coach in 18 19, and ran 
 three times a week, instead of twice, in the winter. 
 
 s 
 
274 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Poor Fleet, however, did not live long to enjoy the 
 increased business, as he was killed by the overturning 
 of his coach on the 19th of February 1832. The in- 
 quest was held at the Corn- Market House ; and, from 
 the evidence, it appeared that the coach had proceeded 
 from Brighton having two ladies inside, with Fleet's 
 niece and a sailor as outside passengers. The only 
 person who could relate how the fatality occurred was 
 Charles Bunker, a coach-porter, who had gone, as he was 
 in the habit of doing, to meet the coach at the George 
 Inn, where he jumped upon the vehicle. According to 
 this man's evidence, Fleet did not put on the skid 
 when going down the steep hill by Vale Royal ; the 
 horses broke into a gallop, and Fleet could not steady 
 them ; but in order, perhaps, to keep the coach in the 
 road, he hit the off wheeler, and this just finished the 
 work. The horses were completely out of his hand ; 
 he handed the whip to his box-seat passenger, and 
 tried his best to stop, but returned no answer to 
 Bunker, who asked if he should get down and try to 
 put the skid on. Just as he was about to turn into 
 the lower road, by Vale Royal, the coach went over, 
 Fleet being thrown off with such violence that he 
 broke a post against which he fell. The porter de- 
 clared that Fleet had not skidded down the hill for 
 the past three months. He was taken to the Kentish 
 Hotel, put to bed, and everything was done to save 
 his life, but he died from severe injuries to his head 
 at half-past ten o'clock, before his wife, who had been 
 sent for, could arrive. 
 
 Stockdale, a Tunbridge Wells coachman, happened 
 to be on the jury, and had a good deal to say about the 
 badness of the roads, and the dangerous state of the 
 turning where the accident happened. It seems, how- 
 ever, perfectly clear, and the jury thought so too, 
 that the immediate cause of the accident was, not 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 275 
 
 the badness of the roads, but Fleet's unfortunate 
 
 omission to put the skid on going down the steep 
 hill ; and it was not a little curious that the poor 
 
 man, who had for years expressed himself as dreading 
 an accident owing to the dangerous condition of the 
 roads, should at last have met his death through an 
 accident to which he himself materially contributed. 
 The jury, by the way, returned a verdict of "Acci- 
 dental Death," with a deodand of twenty shillings 
 against the coach. 
 
 In the summer of 1832, " Crosweller & Co." put on 
 a new coach called the Star ; it left Brighton (the Blue 
 Office) at four o'clock, and returned at eleven next 
 morning. Fleet's successor was Henry Strevens, a 
 member of a well-known coaching family ; but, like 
 Fleet, he was killed (in October 1834) by the over- 
 turning of his coach. This fatality occurred near Lewes, 
 Strevens being the only person outside the coach : the 
 real cause of the accident was never ascertained ; but 
 it was conjectured that the pole broke, and that the 
 coach ran up against the bank at the roadside. The 
 ill-luck which appeared to overtake the coachmen on 
 the Brighton to Tunbridge Wells road nearly claimed 
 as a victim William Boxall, who drove the Royal Blue 
 
 —the coach from which Fleet and Strevens were killed. 
 Boxall was returning to Tunbridge from Frant in a one- 
 horse chaise between eight and nine o'clock at night, 
 when he met a horse and cart travelling at a fairly brisk 
 pace. It being dark, neither of the drivers appears to 
 have seen the other ; so, on the vehicles coming into 
 collision, Boxall's chaise, being the lighter of the 
 two, turned over, Boxall himself being somewhat hurt, 
 though in a few weeks he had sufficiently recovered 
 to drive the Royal Blue again. Boxall's horse, kicking 
 itself clear of the body of the chaise, started off at full 
 gallop, with the shafts dangling about its heels, and 
 
276 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 ran with such violence against a shut turnpike gate as 
 to break it. 
 
 Just before the happening of this occurrence — that is 
 to say, just after Christmas 1836 — so much snow fell 
 around Tunbridge Wells that by neither of the two 
 roads could the coaches proceed to Brighton. The 
 snow had, in some places, drifted to a depth of eight 
 or ten feet ; and, curiously enough, there had been a 
 very violent snowstorm on the corresponding day (the 
 27th December) of the previous year. For several days 
 the London coaches had to go out with eight horses, 
 and about a week elapsed before they could travel with 
 fewer than six. 
 
 In the year 1 839 the Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone 
 coaches running from the Blue Office, which was still 
 in Crosweller's name, were the Royal Blue and Defiance, 
 each running three days a week, the former through 
 Lewes, Maresfield, Uckfleld, Groombridge, Tunbridge 
 Wells, and Tunbridge town ; and the latter through 
 Lewes, Uckfield, and Crowborough to Tunbridge 
 Wells, whence a light omnibus ran to Tunbridge 
 town. Both coaches reached Maidstone in time to 
 enable passengers to catch coaches for Chatham, 
 Rochester, Sittingbourne, Ashford, and Canterbury. 
 In 1840 the Blue Office became the property of 
 Strevens ; and in July of the same year Tunbridge 
 Wells was visited, apparently for the first time, by 
 one of the steam-carriages, which had given rise, as 
 we have already seen, to so great an amount of curio- 
 sity at Brighton. It ran to the Calverley Park Hotel, 
 ascending the hills with apparent ease, and left for 
 London in the afternoon. Shortly after this — that is 
 to say, on the 26th of May 1842 — the South-Eastern 
 Railway was opened as far as Tunbridge, and at once 
 threw out of gear all the stage-coaching arrangements. 
 All the coach advertisements underwent a great change, 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 277 
 
 being henceforth confined, at least for a short time, to 
 the coaches and other conveyances which brought pas- 
 sengers from Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, Hastings, 
 St. Leonards, Rye, Tenterden, and Cranbrook, to catch 
 the rail at Tunbridge. 
 
Chapter XV. 
 
 BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES CONTINUED. 
 
 BRIGHTON TO WORTHING, CHICHESTER, PORTSMOUTH, 
 BATH, AND BRISTOL. 
 
 TN early days, when Worthing was a comparatively 
 unknown place, it must have been the scene of no 
 little coaching bustle. It had a coach of its own to 
 London, there were one or two from Brighton quite 
 early in the century, while coaches to and from the 
 places mentioned at the head of this chapter passed 
 daily through it. As time went on, extra coaches were 
 established to run to Worthing, until at last there were 
 half a dozen or more in commission, exclusive of the 
 coaches to Portsmouth and Arundel. 
 
 In 1807 the new road, by Lower Lancing, was 
 planned, and its opening at the end of 1808 shortened 
 the distance by two miles. Scarcely was it available 
 for traffic, however, than a severe frost set in, and this 
 being followed by a sudden thaw early in January 1809, 
 the newly laid road was rendered almost impassable, 
 and so the old road was opened up again. But this had 
 for a considerable distance been dug out, the metal 
 being taken to the new road ; consequently, according 
 to the Brighton Herald of January 7, 1809, the mail- 
 coach and other vehicles had to drive over the turf, 
 " which was also in a bad state." 
 
 The following year (1810) we come across an early 
 instance of racing between two of the Worthing 
 coaches. A Mr. Coles's coach left Worthing ten 
 
 minutes before its proper time, and on getting to the 
 
 278 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 279 
 
 Sussex Pad the coachman drew his vehicle across the 
 road so as to avoid being passed by the other ; but, as 
 he stopped to water at Shoreham, he lost the advantage, 
 and both coaches then went along at a pace described 
 as having been eleven or twelve miles an hour. A pas- 
 senger persuaded the rival coachman to let Coles go bv, 
 which he did, but informed the passenger that he had 
 received orders to get in first, even though he should 
 lose a horse ! Coles's coach, having cleared the other at 
 a gallop, turned over at the corner at Buckingham 
 Farm-house. Coles had both his legs broken, and was 
 in other ways so seriously injured that he died on the 
 next day, and at the inquest the jury gave a deodand 
 of £30 against the coach and horses. 
 
 Nothing more of importance appears to have been 
 chronicled, except that, in 1806, there was a royal mail, 
 with a guard, running between Brighton and Chichester. 
 It set out from the Blue Coach-Office, 44 East Street, 
 every morning at seven o'clock precisely, reaching 
 Chichester in five hours, but in after years this distance 
 (thirty miles) was comfortably covered in three hours. 
 
 The first Portsmouth coach of which I can find mention 
 was running in 1 79 1 , and it took two days to accom- 
 plish the journey. This road appears in many ways to 
 have been a somewhat unlucky one, as in 1807 one of 
 the Portsmouth coaches turned over ; the coachman was 
 killed on the spot, and some of the passengers were 
 very severely injured ; while only a few months later the 
 Portsmouth and London mails collided. The man who 
 was driving the London mail into the yard was thrown 
 from the box and very seriously injured. 
 
 At seven o'clock in the morning the Portsmouth 
 coach, passing through Shoreham, Worthing, Arundel, 
 and Chichester, left Crosweller's Blue Office ; and, on 
 reaching Portsmouth, connected with coaches for South- 
 ampton, Salisbury, Bath, and Bristol, and for some 
 
2 8o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 years apparently there was no rival vehicle. It may 
 here be incidentally mentioned that the journey from 
 Portsmouth to Bath was done in twenty-four hours, 
 and that the fare to Bristol was ^3 inside and £2 
 outside. 
 
 In 1809 there was rather a novel race on the Ports- 
 mouth road, a man named Birch undertaking, for a 
 wager of five guineas, to run against the mail from 
 Brighton to Haresfoot Hill, between Arundel and 
 Chichester, a distance of twenty-three miles, and, to 
 the surprise of many people, the pedestrian beat the 
 coach by twenty minutes ; but possibly the value of 
 this performance may be somewhat discounted by 
 remembering that the mail went no faster than six 
 miles an hour. It would seem, however, that this 
 mail did not give entire satisfaction, as in the spring 
 of 1812 advertisements appeared in the county papers 
 announcing that persons willing to contract for the 
 conveyance of His Majesty's mails on horseback, or in 
 a light cart, from Portsmouth and Brighton to Chi- 
 chester, through Shoreham, Worthing, and Arundel, 
 at the rate of six miles an hour, stoppages included, 
 might communicate with Anthony Scott, the District 
 Surveyor of the General Post-Office ; or it may have 
 been that the Post-Office were desirous of establishing 
 a second mail. 
 
 A little later on a somewhat awkward accident hap- 
 pened to one of the inside passengers of Crosweller's 
 coach. The inside passengers consisted of a man, a 
 lady, and her child. According to the local paper, the 
 man was " seized with insanity," and bit the lady in a 
 most shocking manner about the face and arms. The 
 coachman and the outside passengers, hearing the 
 screams, got down and secured the maniac, and the 
 papers, a few days later, seemed a good deal relieved 
 at discovering that the madman's victim was — his wife ; 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 281 
 
 on the assumption, one may suppose, that a man may 
 do what he likes with his own. 
 
 A year or two later, Thomas Cross, of Portsmouth, 
 who was either the writer of "The Autobiography of a 
 Stage-Coachman" or the writer's father, joined Cros- 
 weller and others in the proprietorship of the Ports- 
 mouth coach ; but, whatever their takings were, the 
 proceedings which took place about the middle of 
 August must, one would imagine, have turned a 
 possible profit into a certain loss. On one day Cross 
 and his partners were fined £gy for carrying more 
 than the proper number of passengers outside the 
 coach, while a day or two later penalties amounting 
 to £j$ were inflicted on the same firm. This informa- 
 tion was not laid by a professional informer, but by an 
 official who had been ordered to direct the magistrates' 
 attention to the frequent breach of the law. He also 
 said that he had warned all the coachmasters that he 
 should look out, and take proceedings if the statutes 
 were infringed. 
 
 For the third or fourth time this coach of Cros- 
 weller's turned over in 181 5, owing to the breaking 
 of an axle ; but, although she was fully loaded, no- 
 body appears to have been hurt ; and only a day or 
 two afterwards, a coachman, who was presumably on 
 one of Crosweller's coaches, and who was described as 
 being as bold, if not as discreet, as Blucher, was called 
 upon to answer the twofold charge of having unmerci- 
 fully whipped one of his horses, and driving his coach 
 against a gig, for which he had to pay the sum of 
 forty shillings and costs. Then a couple of years later, 
 Crosweller's Portsmouth coach again came to grief. 
 So far as can be gathered from the rather meagre 
 account, the water seems to have been out and to have 
 flooded the road, and while going through the water 
 it was that the coach capsized, precipitating the nine 
 
282 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 outside passengers into the flood : " they were, however, 
 all rescued," says the newspaper. 
 
 The Swan Inn at Chichester was for a long time a 
 well-known coaching house, one of its apartments 
 being, in fact, the coach-office ; but it was a very old 
 building, and very much out of repair. Early in 
 January 1817 a chimney was blown down, the debris 
 falling on the Swan : some of it crashed through the 
 roof of the coach-office, and did damage to other 
 portions of the structure. This accident had the 
 effect of hastening on the repairs which were so 
 urgently needed, and about eighteen months later it 
 was reopened, having been entirely rebuilt. 
 
 The other coaching house in Chichester was the 
 Dolphin, and here it was, in May 1820, that the 
 passengers by the Western mail had a narrow escape 
 from an accident. The coachman had pulled up to 
 change horses, and the passengers took advantage of 
 the halt to get some refreshment. Barely, however, 
 had the last one gained the ground than the leaders 
 suddenly sprang away, the coach being turned over by 
 coming into collision with a cart. 
 
 During the summer of 1821 an increase of traffic 
 appears to have warranted Crosweller in putting on a 
 second coach to Portsmouth, and also a light post- 
 coach to Southampton direct ; while, in the following 
 year, the Portsmouth Defiance was put on, to run from 
 Genn's Office, 135 North Street, and 3 Castle Square, 
 to Portsmouth in six hours. It left Brighton every 
 day at noon, and returned at eight in the morning ; 
 while Orton & Herbert started the accommodation 
 coach between Brighton and Chichester, doing the 
 distance in four hours, the offices being the Swan at 
 Chichester, and 53 East Street, Brighton. 
 
 Meantime Snow was working the short road to 
 Worthing with considerable energy. The Eclipse left 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 283 
 
 the Spread Eagle Office, 1 8 Castle Square, for Worth- 
 ing at a quarter to ten in the morning, the Magnet 
 leaving at six at night ; and as there was still room 
 for another coach, it made its appearance in the form 
 of the New Magnet. The arrangement was that the 
 Magnet left Worthing for Brighton at half-past eight 
 in the morning, and returned from Brighton (as already 
 stated) at six in the evening. The New Magnet, on 
 the other hand, left Brighton at half-past ten and 
 returned at three ; while the Eclipse, which left 
 Brighton for Worthing at half-past nine, returned 
 from Worthing at six. 
 
 The provincial roads about this time were being very 
 greatly patronised; and, in 1825, Mr. John Walker, of 
 Michel Grove, and John Snow started a new coach, called 
 the Champion, from Brighton to Chichester, taking the 
 coast route via Worthing, Littlehampton, and Bognor. 
 
 Mr. John Walker, who was known as " The Squire," 
 was a well-known hunting man in Sussex, and he also 
 ran a coach from Bognor to London, which was put on 
 under somewhat peculiar circumstances. The story is 
 told in a little book called " Reminiscences of Old 
 Coaching Days," written by Mr. James Town, himself 
 an old coachman, but described on the cover of this 
 work (which, by the way, costs but a penny, and a most 
 excellent pennyworth it is) 1 as "job and posting master 
 to the late Queen Amelia," Royal Mews and Steyne 
 Mews, Worthing. 
 
 Before Squire Walker started the Bognor coach, he 
 sent word to his groom in London to send a horse 
 called " Rollin " to be sold at Tattersali's. It chanced, 
 however, that in the stud was also a valuable horse 
 called "Robin," and the groom, misreading the letter, 
 promptly sent the valuable Robin to Tattersali's, leaving 
 
 1 Published by Walter Paine, "Worthing. 
 
284 BRIGHTON" AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the worthless Rollin at home. Shortly afterwards Mr. 
 Walker went to town, and, in going through the stables, 
 missed the peerless Robin, after whom he promptly 
 inquired, only to be told by his servant, " You sent 
 word to me to sell him." 
 
 "No, no," replied Mr. Walker, "nothing of the 
 kind ; I told you to sell Rollin. Why, I would not have 
 taken any money for Robin." 
 
 He then inquired who bought the horse, and on 
 learning that it was Mr. George Cross, the Littlehamp- 
 ton coach proprietor, the Squire became somewhat 
 pacified, believing that from his neighbour he could 
 easily get the horse back, and so lost no time in going 
 to Littlehampton. 
 
 " Mr. Cross," said he, " I hear you bought my horse 
 at Tattersall's ? " 
 
 "Yes, Squire, I did," replied Cross. 
 
 "Well, then," rejoined Mr. Walker, "I must have 
 him back again ; I didn't mean my groom to sell him." 
 
 "Oh no, you can't have him back, sir," said Cross 
 very decidedly. 
 
 This denial put Mr. Walker in a towering rage, and 
 he took his departure threatening to ruin Cross ; and, 
 by way of carrying his threat into execution, he started 
 coaches from Bognor to London in opposition to 
 those run by Cross. The latter's coaches used to 
 run through Arundel, down Berry Hill, through Pul- 
 borough and Clemsfold, striking the Worthing road at 
 Bear Green. Mr. Walker, however, in order the more 
 effectually to carry into execution the ruination of the 
 obstinate Cross, went to the expense of making a road 
 by Long Furlong out by the kennels at Findon, so that 
 he could get to London before Cross. The coach was 
 horsed in capital style, and nearly always had matched 
 teams. The four blacks were succeeded by four 
 greys ; but when it came to piebalds, Mr. Walker could 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 285 
 
 only find three ; so to complete the team he bought a 
 white-grey, and had him painted so that he should 
 match the others. His brother, Mr. Richard Walker, 
 horsed the coach on the other side of the road ; but 
 the two brothers had separate stables, and different 
 changes on the road. 
 
 They may be called the pioneers of comfortable 
 coaching, for the outside seats had nice soft cushions, 
 and the backs of the seats and the roof-irons were 
 padded, so that the passengers might sit and lean in 
 greater comfort. All this, however, could not make 
 the coaches paying concerns. It used to be said in 
 old days that no man saw his money back if he gave 
 more than ^40 for a coach-horse, because the horse 
 did not last long enough to work it out ; and as 
 the brothers Walker sometimes gave as much as sixty 
 guineas for a horse they liked, it required, as " Nimrod " 
 remarked, sixpences to be turned into ninepences to 
 make the thing a success. 
 
 Mr. Walker's first coachman was little Phil Butcher, 
 an exceedingly good performer, and he had a great 
 reputation in Sussex. This coach, however, did not 
 last more than two years, by which time Mr. Walker 
 appears to have got rid of his money. He then 
 sold Michel Grove to the present Duke of Norfolk's 
 great-grandfather ; the house was pulled down, and the 
 park cut up into farms. The clock-tower, I believe, 
 stands on the hill now, but the clock itself was 
 given to Steyning, and a few years ago could be seen 
 in the High Street. 
 
 Meantime Cross flourished and kept to the road, 
 until, like other proprietors, he was driven off by the 
 railway. The Champion coach, it may be mentioned, 
 left the Spread Eagle Office, 18 Castle Square, at four 
 o'clock in the afternoon for the Anchor Inn, Chichester, 
 whence it returned every morning at eight. It reached 
 
286 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Worthing in an hour and a half — that is to say, at 
 half-past five — and an hour later had left Littlehampton. 
 The Brighton Gazette lost no time in patting the 
 new venture on the back ; but on Mr. Walker's other 
 coach — that is to say, the one running between Bognor 
 and London — being capsized while coming from town, 
 so heavily laden as to require six horses to draw it, 
 it gently chided the coachman, and expressed a hope 
 that the mishap might prove a warning to fast 
 drivers. 
 
 In 1826 Thomas Cross — presumably Mr. Walker's 
 old enemy — appears to have joined hands with John 
 Snow, and the two together started a new coach called 
 the Earl of Arran to Bognor, the route being over 
 the new ferry at Littlehampton. She left the Spread 
 Eagle Office, 18 Castle Square, every morning at nine, 
 running through Shoreham, Worthing, Angmering, 
 and Littlehampton, returning at five o'clock. The 
 proprietors, no doubt, did well in striking out these 
 new routes. The novelty of crossing the river Arun, 
 and the picturesque scenery there observed, could not 
 fail to make this an " interesting excursion," the word 
 " excursion ' : sounding rather strangely as applied to 
 coaching in the old days. 
 
 Working on the stage between Chichester and 
 Arundel in 1827 was a rather notable steed — that is 
 to say, the roan horse which took Weare and his 
 murderer, Thurtell, on their memorable expedition ; 
 while on the Petworth and Brighton road was the 
 horse which, while running leader in the Exeter mail, 
 was, in 181 6, attacked on Salisbury Plain by the lioness 
 which had escaped from a menagerie. This was a 
 thoroughbred horse called Pomegranate, by Sir Solomon 
 out of Fantail. He was foaled in 1809, an d was bred 
 by Lord Scarborough. From time to time we hear of 
 horses with more or less of a history attaching to them 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 287 
 
 earning their living in coaches on the Brighton, as well 
 as other roads. The man who horsed a coach had no 
 fancies ; he took everything that could be bought at 
 his price ; so, for the middle ground, ex-racers, hunters, 
 and harness horses all came to him, many of them, 
 of course, because, by reason of vice or some other 
 infirmity, they were useless to every one else. 
 
 It is difficult to account for all the accidents to 
 coaches caused by the horses taking fright before every- 
 thing was ready for a start. Nearly every coach would 
 appear to have come more or less to grief from this 
 cause ; and w r e find the horses of one of the Worthing 
 coaches emulating the famous steed " Hercules " at 
 Laverock Wells. The team started out of the yard, 
 and, galloping down Market Street and across High 
 Street, dashed through the window of a tailor's shop. 
 The horse-keeper, a man named Sandal, did his best 
 to stop the horses, but was thrown under the wheels 
 and had both his legs broken. Two little girls, who 
 were going to have a ride from the yard to the office, 
 were unhurt ; but the horses were a good deal cut 
 with the broken glass. "We will not attempt," says 
 a contributor to a local paper, " to describe the con- 
 sternation produced in the tailor's shop by the crash." 
 Of blind horses there were plenty on all coach roads 
 in England ; nor were they disliked by coachmen, for 
 they were seldom guilty of any vagaries, and, as a rule, 
 trusted implicitly to the honour of their driver, who 
 had, of course, to remember that he was driving a 
 blind horse or horses. I think it is either Mr. Birch 
 Reynardson or Captain Malet who tells the story of 
 an old coachman who, after driving over a narrow and 
 awkward bridge, turned to his box-seat passenger with the 
 remark, " Well over that, sir ; only one eye amongst us." 
 The one eye was his own ; his horses were all blind. 
 A blind horse, however, which drew the Chichester 
 
288 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 mail-cart was an exception to the general rule. While 
 waiting for the bags at the Post-Office in West Street, 
 he suddenly bolted, and ran with such violence against 
 Dr. M'Carogher's door as to smash it in pieces and to 
 kill itself. 
 
 If we may place implicit credit in the Brighton 
 Gazette, there was, after all, something in the safety 
 coaches. The Independent Chichester coach was de- 
 layed for some time owing to one of the wheels having 
 become " deranged." No one was hurt, nor was the 
 coach upset ; and then the writer of the paragraph in 
 question somewhat hastily jumps to the conclusion 
 that the coach must have turned over but for the 
 superior principle upon which the patent wheels on 
 which the coach ran were constructed. An ordinary 
 coach, however, one of Nelson's, which was unprovided 
 with safety appliances, was turned over just afterwards 
 through the axle breaking ; but happily none of the 
 passengers were injured. 
 
 Inquiry is often made as to the derivation of the 
 word " cad ; " but without going into that question, 
 it is sufficient to mention that the word frequently 
 appears in the newspapers of this (1829) and of an ante- 
 rior date in connection with coaches. On this coach 
 of Nelson's, for instance, turning over, " some cads " 
 were sent to take the coach home ; but, instead of 
 leading the horses, they mounted the coach, and, with 
 the courage begotten of ignorance, attempted to have 
 a free drive. On turning a corner, the coach was a 
 second time overturned, and one of the " cads," less 
 fortunate than the passengers, had his thigh fractured, 
 while two others were severely injured. 
 
 Snow's Defiance continued to run to Portsmouth 
 from the Spread Eagle Office, 18 Castle Square; and 
 in November 1830 the Nimrod, a new fast coach, 
 doing the journey in six hours, was put on, and started 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 289 
 
 from Orton's Coach-Office, East Street, Brighton, on 
 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays ; while from Cros- 
 weller's Bine Office ran another post-coach to Ports- 
 mouth every afternoon at three o'clock. 
 
 For some time coaches had run from Brighton to 
 Bath and Bristol; but, in the spring of 1831, the Red 
 Hover, a coach turned out in the best style, was put 
 on the road to do the journey in sixteen hours ; but so 
 few passengers did it carry for the first few weeks of 
 its career, that it was generally voted a very losing affair. 
 It took no more than three hours to go from Brighton 
 to Chichester, thirty miles, and travelled over the 
 remainder of the road at a like pace. It had not, 
 however, long been started before a lady, an inside 
 passenger, had a somewhat narrow escape. The coach 
 was being driven round a sharp corner at Titchfield, 
 when the pole of a gentleman's carriage came through 
 the window, and struck the lady on the temple. She 
 was fortunately able to get out of the way, but the 
 blow was sufficiently severe to cause the coach to delay 
 for an hour. The Red Rover ran through Southampton, 
 as did the other Bristol coach, and these, together with 
 other concerns going to or through the same place, 
 gave rise to such keen competition, that, for upwards 
 of a week, passengers were carried the whole way, from 
 Brighton to Southampton, at five shillings a head. 
 
 The Red Rover, in spite of its poor beginning, 
 appears to have afterwards met with better patronage, 
 as in the summer of 1832 the Little Red Rover started 
 from the Clarence Hotel, Brighton, to run daily to 
 Bath and Bristol in opposition, and both seem to have 
 carried plenty of passengers. Then the enterprising 
 J. Snow & Co. determined to accelerate the Red Rover, 
 so she ran the journey in fifteen hours, the distance 
 being 138 miles ; but in 1836 the coach was advertised 
 as belonging to Crosweller. In January of the last- 
 
 T 
 
2 9 o BKIGHTW AND ITS COACHES 
 
 named year the Red Rover met with an accident which 
 might have been attended with very serious results. One 
 of the horses jibbing at the top of a hill, the coach was, 
 in some curious way, drawn under a tree the branches 
 of which drew the coachman from his seat as the 
 coach passed beneath them. The jibber gave up his 
 jibbing, and all four horses ran at a great pace without 
 a coachman for a couple of miles, when they showed 
 how great is the horse " intelligence," which some 
 people can so readily discern, by turning into a hedge. 
 They fell all of a heap, and one of them was killed. 
 On finding that the horses had " gone," the guard 
 slipped down behind the coach, and hung on by the 
 rail till the coach was stopped, when he let out the 
 inside passengers, who were in complete ignorance of 
 what had happened ; while on the next day the coach- 
 man of one of the Chichester and Portsmouth coaches, 
 while in the act of getting off the coach to alter some 
 part of the harness, fell to the ground with sufficient force 
 to break one of the bones in his foot. Early in June 
 1832 the Defiance Portsmouth coach was upset at 
 Lancing, on its way to Brighton ; but although there 
 were sixteen inside and outside passengers, no one was 
 seriously hurt, and, after a delay of three hours, a mail- 
 coach arrived from Brighton to take the people on, 
 while one of the leaders in the Red Rover fell dead 
 just as the coach had started from the Swan Inn, 
 Chichester. 
 
 It was no more than a few years before that the Brigh- 
 ton folk were congratulating themselves on the excel- 
 lence of their mail arrangements ; but, owing to some 
 newly started plan, the letters to and from places on the 
 Portsmouth road were so much delayed that they were 
 not, in 1836, delivered until the second day; but this 
 state of things was partially remedied by the putting 
 on of a new Gloucester mail by way of Southampton 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 291 
 
 and Salisbury, by which the communication with the 
 western portion of the country and beyond Portsmouth 
 was much facilitated, and places as far away as Dorking 
 and Dulwich derived no little benefit from the fresh 
 arrangement. All went well till the time of the snow- 
 storm, to which, so far as the main road is concerned, 
 reference has been made at page 212. 
 
 The account of how the Gloucester mail-bags were 
 eventually brought to Brighton reads more like an 
 extract from the journal of an Arctic expedition than a 
 narrative of anything in connection with the English 
 Post-Offlce, with the scene laid within a few miles of 
 our most fashionable watering-place. 
 
 The Manchester and Liverpool mails were so long 
 delayed by stress of weather, that the Brighton mail 
 was three hours late in leaving Gloucester. The 
 coachman made fairly good travelling till about a 
 mile before reaching Worthing, and then the snow 
 fell so thickly that both coachman and guard thought 
 they would be unable to proceed. Taylor, the guard, 
 then got down, and, finding a finger-post near at 
 hand, was enabled to turn the horses' heads the 
 right way. 
 
 With the utmost difficulty the mail struggled on to 
 Shoreham, and on reaching the bonding pond, on 
 the Brighton side of the last-named place, the leaders 
 tumbled over a bank, but, luckily for the welfare of 
 the whole concern, the main bar snapped, and let the 
 leaders free, or the coach would have been upset to 
 a certainty. As luck had it, a pedestrian who was 
 making his way through the snow at this point 
 volunteered his services, and with his aid the coach 
 was righted ; while, as he was going on to Shoreham, he 
 was asked to send some guides back to the coach. 
 Two men came on in answer to the appeal for aid ; 
 but so terrible in its force was the storm, that, after 
 
292 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 accompanying the coach for a short distance, their 
 hearts failed them, and they returned whence they 
 came. 
 
 With praiseworthy pluck, however, coachman and 
 guard fought against what must have seemed over- 
 whelming odds, and reached the Schooner public-house, 
 between Copperas Gap and Southwick, where six feet 
 of snow were found on the near side of the road. 
 Here further aid offered itself, the deus ex machine! 
 in this case being the Worthing mail-cart on its way 
 to Brighton. The mail-man took on the bags, and 
 so lightened the coach and the minds of coachman 
 and guard, who thought that they would have no 
 difficulty in keeping the mail-cart in sight or of fol- 
 lowing in its track. The snow, however, drove in 
 their faces with such violence, that they soon lost all 
 traces of the cart, and one only wonders how that 
 vehicle managed to get along so well ; but mail-men, 
 even the modern ones, have a knack of their own in 
 accomplishing their journeys. 
 
 The British sailor, in the form of Lieutenant Ste- 
 phens (of the coastguard) and one of his men, next 
 came to the rescue, conducting the coach as far 
 towards Brighton as their district extended, after 
 which Lieutenant Franklin not only took the mail in 
 tow and acted as guide as far as Hove, but took 
 coachman and guard into his house and refreshed 
 them. By this time the guard was greatly exhausted, 
 having been up for twenty-four hours — guards in- 
 variably travelled longer distances than did coachmen. 
 At length, thanks to the services of the coastguard, 
 the mail-coach arrived at the Brighton Post-Office, 
 and even then poor Taylor had no little difficulty in 
 getting to his house in Middle Street. 
 
 Instances of coach-horses starting away by them- 
 selves, and running for several miles without bringing 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 293 
 
 the coach to harm, are common enough ; and the 
 Times Southampton coach is only one of the many 
 exanrples given. The coachman got down to deliver 
 a parcel, and handed the reins to a gentleman while 
 he got down. The horses ran off, but the gentleman 
 was, as the Brighton Gazette pointed out, " no jarvey," 
 as in a short time one of the wheel horses had broken 
 his bit, the other had got rid of his bridle, and one 
 of the leaders managed to break the reins. In these 
 circumstances the gentleman who held the reins could 
 have had little to do with guiding the horses ; but, 
 to the infinite joy of the coachman, who had followed 
 on horseback, they pulled up as usual at the next 
 changing place, having brought about no further 
 damage than the breaking of the harness already 
 mentioned. 
 
 The papers for February 1840 contain accounts of 
 a sad accident which overtook the Brighton and 
 Southampton coach, and resulted in the death of the 
 coachman, Upfold, a man who was much respected. 
 As he was the victim of a strange run of ill-luck, 
 it may not be uninteresting, before relating how he 
 met his death, to give a slight sketch of his previous 
 career. 
 
 At the time of his death, Upfold was fifty-four years 
 of age, and had been driving a coach for about thirty- 
 five years. Like most other coachmen, he had had his 
 accidents and his narrow escapes ; but, about the spring 
 of 1 83 1, there commenced a series of mishaps which 
 eight years later culminated in his death. In the 
 above-mentioned year his coach turned over, and 
 Upfold broke his leg. Scarcely had he resumed his 
 duties on the box than the fore-axle of the coach 
 broke, and an upset Avas the result ; and though there 
 were a dozen passengers, none of them appear to 
 have been hurt ; but two or three fell upon the unlucky 
 
294 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 Upfold, and he sustained some rather severe injuries. 
 On the 5th of January 1832 he pulled up at Bosham 
 Pond, about three miles from Chichester, and went 
 into the inn leaving the reins in the hands of the box- 
 seat passenger, the only person with him on the coach. 
 No sooner, however, had Upfold crossed the thres- 
 hold of the house than the passenger quietly dropped 
 the reins and entered the inn too. The former, know- 
 ing that his horses were unlikely to stand still if left 
 unattended, rushed out of the house just in time to 
 see the team moving off. In his efforts to stop them, 
 one of them kicked or struck him so severely in the 
 calf of the leg that the limb was laid open. The kick 
 caused Upfold to fall between the wheels, and the hind 
 ones passing over him, broke the other leg. The 
 horses then galloped off, and were not stopped until 
 they reached Chichester. 
 
 This brings us to the year 1840, when Upfold's 
 career was cut short by the accident before mentioned. 
 The coach was on its way to Brighton, and about a 
 mile beyond Broadwater there were two right-angled 
 turns on hilly ground, which, says the report, had 
 always been looked upon as dangerous. According 
 to the account in the papers, the accident was caused 
 neither by the corners nor by the hills, but simply be- 
 cause the coachman " inadvertently pulled the wrong 
 rein ; " and this version is borne out by the evidence 
 of Mr. Pasco, of Chichester, who was on the box- 
 seat. That gentleman deposed that Upfold was per- 
 fectly sober, and that all went well till the time came 
 to make the first of the two right-angled turns above 
 mentioned ; and this turn was so badly made as to 
 call forth a protest from Mr. Pasco, who said, " Upfold, 
 what are you at with the horses ? " His reply was, 
 " I have pulled the wrong rein." Thereupon Mr. 
 Pasco remarked, " Mind what you are about, and pull 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 295 
 
 the right one this time." The coach turned over 
 directly afterwards, and both Mr. Pasco and Upfold 
 were firmly caught by it. The rail of the box-seat ap- 
 pears to have pressed upon Upfold, who, being a very 
 stout man, undoubtedly kept the weight of the vehicle 
 off Mr. Pasco, though he too was caught by the legs 
 and was unable to extricate himself. A newsman 
 named Farrant, who was riding on the coach, rendered 
 valuable assistance, and when aid arrived and Mr. 
 Pasco was recovered, Upfold was found to be quite 
 dead. On this fatal occasion Upfold was driving a 
 unicorn team, and both Mr. Pasco and Farrant, the 
 newsman, agreed that Upfold pulled the wrong rein, 
 and did not appear to have the least control over 
 his single leader while going round the corners. The 
 evidence given at the inquest is fully set out in the 
 Brighton papers, but the accident is not satisfactorily 
 explained ; for surely a man who had been driving 
 the same road for five-and-thirty years ought, humanly 
 speaking, to be safe on any road, and at any corners 
 round which it was possible to drive a coach. But 
 after Upfold's death bad luck continued to attend 
 the Times Southampton coach, for scarcely had Holds- 
 worth, Upfold's successor, fairly settled down to work 
 than the fore-axle broke, though happily no one was 
 injured ; and a month or two later the coach over- 
 turned through a wheel coming off. 
 
 In 1 84 1 omnibuses and trains play an important 
 part in the advertisements of the cross-country coaches, 
 just as in the case of those on the main road to 
 London. Snow's and other offices were shut up at 
 Shoreham and Worthing, everything pointing to 
 the speedy dissolution of the coaching business. 
 Proprietors were, however, on the look-out to make 
 hay so long as there was any sunshine at all; so 
 Strevens, of the Blue Coach-Office, hit upon the ex- 
 
296 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 pedient of running to Portsmouth a daily coach by way 
 of Littlehampton Ferry and Bognor. The Brighton 
 end of the coach was put on the railway at nine 
 o'clock, and travelled by train to Shoreham, whence 
 it went by road ; and the other coach returned to 
 Brighton by train from Shoreham ; while new coaches 
 were started from Bognor, Littlehampton, and Arundel 
 for Shoreham, at which point the passengers could 
 take the train for Brighton. It was of course now 
 merely a question of time before the line of rail- 
 way opened farther and farther, and drove all the 
 branch coaches off the road. This was not long in 
 coming, and, so far as Brighton is concerned, there 
 was but one coach running in and out of the place 
 after 1844, and that was Capps's Victoria, already 
 mentioned. 1 
 
 THE WINDSOR, READING, AND OXFORD ROADS. 
 
 So far as can be ascertained, there was but little con- 
 nection between Brighton, Windsor, and Oxford in the 
 early part of the present century ; and the chances are 
 that a coach did not run direct between Brighton and 
 Windsor before the time of the Regency, when there 
 was necessarily a somewhat close connection between 
 the two places. For our present purpose, it is sufficient 
 to say that in 1822 the Hero coach ran from Hine's 
 Office, 52 East Street, at six o'clock on Tuesdays, 
 Thursdays, and Saturdays, to the Star and Angel Hotels, 
 Oxford, by way of Henfield, Horsham, Guildford, 
 Farnham, Ocliham, Reading, and Wallingford ; and 
 from Oxford coach communication could be obtained 
 with the West of England and North and South 
 Wales : the proprietors were Hine, Costar. Flo we, 
 
 1 Page 244. 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 297 
 
 Monk, & Co. In the same year there ran from Cros- 
 weller's Blue Coach-Office, at nine o'clock on Mondays, 
 Wednesdays, and Fridays, a coach to Windsor through 
 Henfield, Horsham, Guildford, Ripley, and Chertsey. 
 Except that the hours of departure from Brighton 
 became later, there was no material change in these 
 arrangements for the next few years. 
 
 It has been my good fortune to make the acquaint- 
 ance of one of the few surviving coachmen who drove 
 in and out of Brighton in the thirties, and who was 
 more particularly concerned with this Windsor and 
 Oxford road. 
 
 Mr. John Millis, born in 1809, and now resident 
 in Brighton, comes of a family of coachmen. His 
 father drove on the Rochester road so long ago at 
 least as 1 8 1 3, and five or six of his relations worked 
 in and out of Brighton. His uncle drove the Irre- 
 sistible (see page 106), and afterwards drove Croswel- 
 ler's True Blue, which ran to the Boar and Castle, 
 Oxford Street ; and when the regular coachman was un- 
 able, or was indisposed, to make the journey to London, 
 his deputy, as often as not, was Mr. John Millis above 
 mentioned. Mr. Millis's own road, however, was from 
 Brighton to Windsor, his coach being the Royal Sove- 
 reign ; and, as illustrating the ups and downs of coach- 
 ing, he told me that on more than one occasion he has 
 had a waybill showing upwards of seventeen pounds 
 as the result of a single journey between Windsor 
 and Brighton. But, as my informant explained, "there 
 was no opposition ; we carried everything ; " and tre- 
 mendous loads the coach carried. In the summer 
 the coach was doubled, another member of the family 
 driving on the other side of the road. As a set-off, 
 however, to these remunerative waybills, Mr. Millis 
 came from Windsor to Brighton one Christmas Day 
 without a single passenger. He had no guard, and 
 
298 BKIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 so was absolutely by himself; while a single shilling, 
 paid for the carriage of a small parcel, represented the 
 whole of the coach's earnings on that eventful day, 
 when the snow lay deep, and the journey could not 
 have been a pleasant one. 
 
 The Oxford coach, the Hero, ran, as I have already 
 said, in 1S22 and the following year, from Hine's 
 Office, 52 East Street; but in 1S26 it was advertised 
 to start from the Blue Office, and this arrangement 
 prevailed down to 1833, when it went to Hine's Office 
 again, starting at seven in the morning, and reaching 
 Oxford at eight in the evening. Appended to the 
 advertisement was the notice that the Hero was the 
 only coach direct from Brighton to Oxford, the reason 
 being that Crosweller had started an opposition Oxford 
 coach, called the Protector, as far as Farnham, and 
 to this concern Mr. J. Millis was appointed coachman ; 
 but the curious thing is that a year or two later — that is to 
 say, in 1835 — the Hero is once more advertised to start 
 from the Blue Coach-Office, and is described as being the 
 property of Hone & Co., and not as Crosweller's ; while 
 an advertisement to the same effect appears in the 
 papers for 1837. By 1838 Crosweller was dead, and the 
 firm then appeared as Strevens, Hone, & Co. Strevens 
 had been a booking-clerk in the office, but during the 
 period of Crosweller's illness Strevens had managed the 
 large business, and now figured as senior partner. 
 
 While Mr. Millis was driving the opposition Oxford 
 coach to Farnham (by Guildford) he had a narrow escape 
 from a bad accident. Mr. Lacoste, of Guildford, who 
 horsed one of the London coaches, had a pulling, head- 
 strong horse, of which the London coachman did not 
 approve, so Lacoste said, " Put him in the Brighton, and 
 let him run the fifteen-mile stage;" when, therefore, 
 Millis reached Guildford on his way to Brighton — he 
 was on a new coach which had been sent out from the 
 
BRIGHTON'S CROSS-COUNTRY COACHES 299 
 
 factory on the previous day — he found this pulling horse 
 running as his near leader. Those were the days of 
 those abominations the head-terrets — that is to say, the 
 leaders' reins passed through the terrets on the top 
 of the wheelers' heads. The more the leader caught 
 hold, the more uncomfortable did the near wheeler 
 become, until at last he was relieved by the near lead- 
 ing rein breaking close to the head-terret. Both 
 leaders then swerved, and carried the wheelers with 
 them, and the pole broke — the new pole. A footman 
 out of place, who happened to be in the inn near which 
 the accident took place, ran to the leaders' heads, and 
 a capsize was narrowly averted. A new pole and new 
 reins were procured from Guildford, whither a second 
 journey had to be made to obtain the services of a man 
 to do something to the futchells ; but eventually the 
 journey was resumed. 
 
 The year 1841 brought with it a change in the route 
 of Strevens's Oxford coach, as in the April of that year 
 the public were informed that the coach left the Blue 
 Office on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings at 
 eight, running through Henfield, Horsham, Guildford, 
 Farnham, Odiham, and Reading, vid the Great Western 
 Railway from Beading to Steventon, whence the coach 
 ran by road to Oxford. In 1842 the Hero had passed 
 into the hands of Capps, Hambleton, & Co., and seems 
 to have run to Reading only, the remainder of the 
 journey being accomplished by train. 
 
Chapter XVI. 
 
 THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP. 
 
 J"N the foregoing pages an effort has been made to 
 trace the growth of stage-coaching so far as it is 
 connected with the Brighton road, while what has 
 been said incidentally indicates the progress on other 
 roads. I have tried to show how in early times the slow 
 and heavy broad-wheeled stage-waggon was the only 
 public means of conveyance ; it will also have been 
 noticed how comparatively slow was the growth towards 
 completion. Then came a period of rapid advance, and 
 between, say 1825 and 1836, stage-coaching [had risen 
 to a pitch of perfection in its organisation, and in its 
 development, which the boldest would never have 
 ventured to predict for it forty years before. Its 
 rapid downfall, owing to the introduction of the rail- 
 way, is a matter of history. But the curious thing 
 is that, although we hear, not only on the Brighton, 
 but on all other roads, of new coaches, of Acts of 
 Parliament governing them, and the manners and 
 customs of those who conducted the coaches, and, 
 to a certain extent, of those who travelled by them, 
 we hear simply nothing about the origin or growth 
 of the coachman's art. 
 
 To begin at the beginning, as the story-tellers 
 phrase it, I believe I am correct in saying that in 
 the reign of William III. an Act of Parliament was 
 passed providing that all horses in teams should go 
 
 one behind the other, and not be yoked two abreast ; 
 
 300 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 301 
 
 and it is to the agricultural community that we owe 
 the repeal of this law, which, upon the face of it, 
 tells that there could have been no such thing as 
 coachmanship in those days. Then, if we take a 
 jump to what may be called the carrier period — which, 
 for our present purpose, may be taken to be between 
 1700 and 1760 — we are forbidden to think that what 
 we now designate as coachmanship was even in its 
 infancy ; to my mind it was simply unborn. It was 
 incumbent upon the man who conducted the lumber- 
 ing van, even so late as the time when, whether the 
 horses were two or four in number, they were driven 
 in hand, to possess a certain amount of skill, but his 
 skill was rather that of the carter who drives a farm- 
 cart over a rutted track. 
 
 To skip hastily on, we can scarcely think that the 
 coachmen who took two and three days to get their 
 horses between London and Brighton were coach- 
 men as we understand the term nowadays. Indeed, 
 there is every reason to believe that the early coaches 
 were drawn by two horses only, and that when leaders 
 were first added they were managed by a postillion. 
 Yet it seems tolerably certain that some advance 
 must have been made in the art between the years 
 1780 and 1800, when the journey between London 
 and Brighton was accomplished in one day ; and here 
 we must stop for a moment to remark that, so far as I 
 know, it cannot be discovered who first invented a 
 pole-hook, or who first devised the convenient arrange- 
 ment of main and leading bars. I have seen some 
 woodcuts in old newspapers and on broad - sheets 
 which would lead one to suppose that when leaders 
 were first added they drew from the tugs of the 
 wheelers, just as the leader in a tandem does when 
 the bar is dispensed with. Then, when bars were 
 introduced, early pictures would seem to suggest that 
 
302 BKIGHTOtf AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the leaders had but one long bar between them. 
 Yet one cannot discover who planned even this 
 preliminary step. The invention of the coupling rein, 
 too, languishes in undeserved obscurity. Nor, again, 
 can we find out when, or by whom, it was ordered 
 that the draught rein should be outside, and the 
 coupling rein inside. Nor are we able to thank 
 by name the man who first told us how to hold our 
 reins when driving four horses ; while for ancient 
 driving hints we may search in vain. 
 
 This is all the more curious, because in bygone 
 days the details of horsemanship came in for con- 
 siderably more disquisition and discussion than at 
 present, and we have no lack of treatises upon the 
 art of equitation. For all practical purposes, we may 
 say that nothing was ever written upon driving until 
 "Nimrod" penned in the Sporting Magazine his 
 articles which have been reprinted in Captain Malet's 
 "Annals of the Road." We may remember that the 
 Benson Driving Club was founded as long ago as 
 1807, an d that the next year saw the foundation of 
 a similar society, the Four-Horse Club. That asso- 
 ciation, as one of its members said, broke down 
 because they had not enough " in hand." It is clear, 
 therefore, that even at that time a large number of 
 amateurs drove four - in - hand, for the two clubs 
 comprised the names of many members, and those 
 coachmen must have learned the art from some one. 
 It is, of course, a short answer to say that coachman- 
 ship grew by degrees ; that one man found out one 
 thing, and another discovered something else ; but 
 in the days gone by the short wheel-rein, which lay 
 over the fingers, materially simplified, up to a certain 
 point, the coachman's labours, though, as " Nimrod " 
 points out, when going down - hill the coachman 
 practically drove with the long wheel-rein, inasmuch 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 303 
 
 as he had to draw the short rein back through his 
 hand to hold his horses. 
 
 The chances are, too, that the early coachmen drove 
 with what we should now call a full hand— that is 
 to say, with a finger between each rein — until it was 
 eventually found that the little finger was more useful 
 to press down on the rein in the hand than it was 
 for the purpose of driving or supporting the weight 
 of a rein, as it would have to do with a full hand. 
 The science or art of bitting we may the more easily 
 understand, because a great deal had been written 
 about it, and its importance was well established at 
 the time of the publication of the treatises on horse- 
 manship ; but the art of putting horses together could 
 not have made much progress till comparatively fast 
 work was the rule rather than the exception. Any 
 one, however, who reads "Nimrod's" essays will at once 
 understand that all the minutiae of coachmanship were 
 well understood in his early days, and apparently had 
 been so for some time previously. 
 
 And now we come to the use of the whip. In the 
 pages of the Sporting Magazine there is a descrip- 
 tion of the old coachman — an overbearing, drunken, 
 bloated sort of person, who mounted his box in the 
 morning with a dozen whip-points in his button- 
 hole, and these were no more than sufficient to last 
 him through the day. What sort of whips they had 
 in those days we are unable to tell, for I have never 
 yet been able to come across a genuine specimen of 
 a whip in use a hundred years ago or more. Mr. 
 Schomberg, the well-known whipmaker, tells me 
 that in his opinion ancient whips were strengthened 
 with iron or steel where we now find the quill, 
 and it needs no very great stretch of imagina- 
 tion to come to the conclusion that the ancient 
 whip was a very unfinished article, and one it was 
 
3 o 4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 scarcely possible to wield with ease, not to mention 
 grace. 
 
 Then, if we come to later times, there is every 
 reason for thinking that what we call "catching" 
 or " folding " a whip was a trouble kept in store for 
 latter-day coachmen. Let me give an extract from 
 " Nimrod's " writings. " There are," he says, " as many 
 ways of whipping a coach-horse as there are horses 
 on the coach, and as there is a right and a wrong 
 way of doing most things, a young beginner may 
 observe the following directions. We will begin with 
 the wheel horses. Before a coachman hits a wheel 
 horse he should twist his thong three times round 
 the crop of the whip, holding the crop at that mo- 
 ment somewhat horizontally, by which means the 
 thong will twist towards the thin end of the crop, 
 when the thong being doubled will not exceed the 
 length of a pair-horse thong, and in some measure 
 resembles it." 
 
 Now, if the thong had been already caught, there 
 would have been no necessity to take the three turns 
 to bring the thong " towards the thin end of the crop." 
 The reason of this, I take it to be, is that when horses 
 were bad, and whipping was a necessity, the coachman 
 would have been everlastingly catching and undoing 
 his whip, had catching it then been in fashion ; but 
 as it was so often required in early days, it could never 
 have occurred to the greatest coaching genius to devise 
 a system by which the whip should have been ren- 
 dered practically useless for at any rate some seconds 
 at a time. 
 
 Nimrocl, too, wrote, in the late twenties — " There is 
 not a tenth part of the punishment administered to 
 horses in coaches that was to be seen when I first began 
 to travel with them. At that time the roads were bad, 
 which destroyed the vigour and courage of the horses 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 305 
 
 and they were not of so good and well-bred a sort as 
 we now make use of in coaches. At the time I am 
 alluding to, no sooner was a coachman on his box and 
 had started his coach, than he began to show off to 
 his passengers, by a display of neat strokes with his 
 whip, whether his horses required punishment or not. 
 I am ready to admit that some of these old hands 
 exhibited great execution in this part of their pro- 
 fession, and that, from the comparatively little use that 
 has been lately made of it, the expert management 
 of the whip is now rarely to be met with. Amongst 
 London coachmen I have most particularly noticed a 
 deficiency here. I could name a score who are excel- 
 lent performers as far as fingers go, but when they come 
 to hit a near-side leader the blow falls powerless, and 
 brings to one's mind the old joke of the flea biting the 
 lobster." This was written about sixty-five years ago. 
 
 We hear at times a good deal of rubbish talked 
 about the punishment men could inflict on their 
 leaders, and on this point, too, let me once more quote 
 " Nimrod." " It is," he says, " quite a mistaken notion 
 to suppose that it is in the power of a coachman to 
 punish a leader with the single, as he can a wheel 
 horse with the doubled thong. I have heard of those 
 men who could cut a horse's leg off, and all that ; who 
 could lift him from the ground when before the bar ; 
 but I have never seen the coachman who could mark a 
 horse with the point of his thong. No doubt the blow 
 from the single falls very sharp, as it falls on a tender 
 part — the inside of the thigh." Yet " Nimrod " lived 
 in the old punishment days. 
 
 On the part of one who does not remember the 
 old school of coaching, and who does not claim to be 
 a credit to the new, any remarks upon driving, either 
 ancient or modern, may be deemed presumptuous ; 
 but, at the risk of being thought so, I may be permitted 
 
 u 
 
3 o6 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 to discuss one or two points which have always some- 
 what puzzled me. 
 
 In the foregoing pages mention has been made of 
 several accidents, but I have inserted scarcely a tithe 
 of those I have found reported in the various news- 
 papers. Week after week one reads of the carriage 
 of a respectable gentleman standing at the door of 
 an equally respectable tradesman. One of the London 
 coaches comes down the road, and, as often as not, 
 collides with the respectable gentleman's carriage. I 
 have mentioned how a coach was upset on the Pavilion 
 Parade through the coachman turning so sharply, when 
 there was no need for him to do so, as to get the coach 
 on the lock. It may also be seen how men met their 
 deaths — poor Fleet, for instance, of the Tunbridge 
 Wells road — by neglecting to skid down a steep hill. 
 Upfold, the coachman of the Southampton Times, was 
 killed because, in the dusk of evening, he pulled the 
 wrong rein in going round a corner ; while of coaches 
 upset by reason of going round corners, hitting or 
 running into banks, hitting posts, bridges — in fact, 
 everything that could be run against, one might have 
 compiled a most imposing list. 
 
 Now, with all deference to the heroes of old, I 
 venture to submit that all these frequent accidents 
 show that there was something wrong somewhere. 
 Even a " fresh catched " subscriber to a modern coach 
 would probably have his cheque returned to him with 
 thanks if he could not drive down a street without 
 running into a carriage which might be drawn up at 
 the kerb, or if he went off the crown of a hill at such 
 a pace as to prevent him from stopping his horses, even 
 without the aid of his patent brake ; or, in fact, if he did 
 many other things of which not a few of the Brighton 
 coachmen (both amateur and professional) were very 
 frequently guilty of. 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 307 
 
 Danger, I take it, comes to men and vehicles from 
 all and very many unexpected sources. A man may 
 be so bad a coachman as morally not to be safe with 
 everything in his favour ; but if a man possessed of 
 infinite skill presume upon that skill, and deliberately 
 expose himself and his passengers to needless risks, I 
 fail to see that it is much safer to be driven by him 
 than by the muff who has all his work cut out to 
 drive a made team along the quietest of country roads ; 
 and, in my humble judgment, a man who presumes 
 upon his powers, and thereby brings danger to the 
 coach, is every bit as blamable as a proprietor would 
 be who put up a man who could not drive under 
 favourable circumstances. 
 
 It is said, and with perfect truth, that coaching now 
 and coaching in the thirties are two very different 
 things. Be it so. The coachman of old had to drive 
 heavily laden coaches, drawn by, in many cases, inferior 
 horses, over roads which were bad. That they over- 
 came these disadvantages is doubtless creditable to 
 them ; but what was the price paid 1 Why, that a 
 horse on a fast coach rarely lasted more than two 
 or three years. But, so far as I can see, there is no 
 reason why our present race of coachmen should not 
 be able to do the same sort of thing with a reasonable 
 amount of practice. 
 
 One of the Worthing coachmen was pulled up for 
 furious driving, and it came out in evidence that he 
 had been told by his proprietor to get in before an 
 opposition concern, " even though he should lose a 
 horse." It is said, too, that Mrs. Ann Nelson, on one 
 of her coachmen excusing himself, on the ground of 
 a heavy load and bad roads, for having been beaten by 
 a rival coach, replied, "Never you mind ; I find horses, 
 you find whip-cord." I very much question whether 
 that excellent woman of business ever said anything 
 
308 BKIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 of the kiud, because, although early coach proprietors 
 were slow in learning the lesson, it came at last to be 
 acknowledged that there was no profit in driving a 
 horse to death. At the same time there is not the 
 least doubt that, in the fast coaches, horses did not last 
 long ; they, as a rule, cost but little money, and be- 
 yond a certain point a proprietor could no more afford 
 to coddle his coach-horses than can the railway and 
 steamship companies afford to keep their engines for 
 ever at half-speed. 
 
 Nowadays the coach-horse has more serious claims 
 on his owner than had the coach-horse of old. They 
 cost a good deal more than formerly, and almost every 
 modern proprietor hopes to have a good sale at the 
 season's end, in order to compensate, in some degree, 
 for the difference between the amount of passenger 
 fares and the amount of the expenses. He, therefore, 
 who knocked his horses about would be defeating his 
 own ends. Consequently, when it is urged against 
 the modern coachman that he does not have to keep 
 time with inferior cattle, heavy loads, and over bad 
 roads, the statement does not appear to prove that 
 many of them could not do so if they tried. 
 
 Many, at least, of the coachmen of old did what 
 was required of them, and they did it well ; but, in all 
 fairness, may not the same be said of some modern 
 performers ? The men who habitually drive in and 
 out of London, through an amount of traffic the like 
 of which was certainly never beheld by any of the 
 coachmen of a past era, may surely be credited with 
 a certain amount of skill. Some coachmen now, as 
 was the case in days that are past, are better than 
 others ; and, though I do not propose to be guilty of 
 the impertinence of criticising contemporary coachmen, 
 amateur or professional, the opinion may be ventured 
 that there are some of both kinds who would not have 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 309 
 
 disgraced the box even in the days of Henry Stevenson 
 and ' : the Baronet," 
 
 " Viator Junior," to whose writings in the Sporting 
 Magazine I have before referred, started a somewhat 
 curious theory with respect to the race of Brighton 
 coachmen. He declared that the road between 
 London and Brighton had been made so good as to 
 have completely done away with the finished per- 
 formers ; and either he or somebody else wrote that 
 "anybody could tool a team on a road like that to 
 Brighton in the style of a Stevenson or 'the Baronet.' 
 Nonsense on the face of it, surely, not to mention 
 the fact that we are told over and over again what fine 
 coachmen Stevenson and Sir St. Vincent Cotton were. 
 Our friend " Viator Junior," after having delivered 
 himself of his sweeping condemnation of Brighton 
 coachmen, proceeds to bestow the most unsparing 
 criticism on men who were then at work. He men- 
 tioned several by name, and promised to show up 
 all the remainder, unless an improvement took place. 
 I do not pretend to dogmatise on these matters ; but 
 for the life of me I cannot understand why a man 
 should be a bad coachman merely because his road 
 does not happen to be indented here and there with 
 two-foot ruts, or because there is not a Lynton Hill 
 in his route. 
 
 The true state of the case probably is that really 
 first-class men in any calling are, and have always 
 been, comparatively scarce, and if we could see all 
 the old Brighton coachmen to-morrow, we should 
 probably discover that, taken as a body, they were 
 neither better nor worse than those on anv other 
 road. 
 
 To return more particularly to the growth of coach- 
 manship : it would be interesting if we could find 
 out by whom the different rules for driving were 
 
3 i o BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 first framed, and by what school of coachmen they 
 were first adopted. 
 
 A year or two ago, under the signature of " Soft 
 Soap," I wrote to the Field a letter, wherein was set 
 forth all the contradictory directions to be found on 
 certain points in connection with the driving of four 
 horses, the object being to elicit from coachmen of 
 experience whether there was any one recognised way 
 of doing certain things, and, secondly, what that way 
 might be. The points specially mentioned were — i, the 
 correct position for the left hand ; 2, the admissibility 
 of two-handed driving ; and 3, the proper way to catch 
 the whip. 
 
 Now first with regard to the proper position of the 
 left hand. Some of the writers quoted in the Field 
 letter laid it down that the left hand should be kept 
 well up ; some others voted for a straight arm, and, 
 rightly or wrongly, a goodly number of the older pro- 
 fessionals were of the same opinion, or, to speak more 
 correctly, they were in favour of keeping the hand low. 
 A few years ago I saw at Canterbury the late Mr. 
 Clements, then ninety years of age, and who for many 
 years drove the Eagle between London and Canter- 
 bury ; in 1892 I saw the late Mr. Glover, of Worthing, 
 who drove the Oxford Eetaliator ; and a day or two 
 before these lines were written I talked on the subject 
 to Mr. Millis, of whom mention is made in the chapter 
 on the Oxford road. To these I may add the late 
 Tim Carter ; and one and all of these experts favoured 
 the low position, without going the length of advo- 
 cating the straight arm — that is, letting the left arm 
 hang down by the side, as recommended by Colonel 
 Corbett, the author of "An Old Coachman's Chatter." 
 Mr. Millis said, " In my day we used to get our 
 hands down on to the knee ; then we had power 
 over our horses." On the other hand, such famous 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 311 
 
 coachmen as Mr. Charles Ward and Mr. E. Fownes 
 advocate keeping the hand up ; and where such autho- 
 rities differ, who shall decide ? 
 
 Now although no one can afford to overlook the 
 importance of small matters in driving or in anything 
 else, it is nevertheless quite possible to make too 
 much of them. 
 
 The position of the hand would be unimportant, 
 were it not that rales for position in riding, driving, 
 cricket, rowing, singing, playing a musical instrument — 
 in connection with everything, in short — are laid down, 
 not out of mere arbitrariness, but because, by adopt- 
 ing the best position, there is a gain in power, and 
 other faults are avoided. From this point of view, 
 therefore, the position of the hand becomes of some 
 importance. Now nearly all the older school of coach- 
 men with whom I have talked favour a low position. 
 Nearly twenty years ago, Goodwin, who was for a long 
 time guard on one of the Exeter mails, told me that in 
 his time the coachmen held their hands low. A Devon 
 man named Stone, who was upwards of seventy years 
 of age in 1870, held the same opinion; and so did 
 the late Paul Collings, of Exeter, who was taught by his 
 father, a coachman on the Exeter and Plymouth road. 
 
 Now, if I may venture to express, not an opinion as 
 to which position is to be preferred, but an explanation 
 of directions apparently contradictory, it is this : It is 
 possible that none of those who have given written 
 directions have carefully measured their distances, or 
 been at the pains to note accurately where the hand 
 actually falls when driving. When the upper arm is 
 pressed to the side, it will be found that the joint of 
 the elbow is just over the hip-bone, and consequently 
 at a lower level than either the top of the trousers, the 
 heart, or the watch-pocket, three points which have been 
 mentioned as landmarks for the hand ; and to keep 
 
3 i2 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 the latter at either one or the other would involve 
 driving with the hand higher than the joint of the 
 elbow — that is to say, the forearm would have to slant 
 upwards from the elbow. Now, I have carefully 
 watched every coachman, amateur and professional, 
 beside whom I have sat, and cannot call to mind one 
 who has driven in this position. In the "Driving" 
 volume of the Badminton Library the Duke of Beaufort 
 tells the reader to keep his hand about the height of 
 the top of his trousers ; but in my letter to the Field I 
 ventured to point out that on turning to the frontis- 
 piece of the book, a representation of the Duke on the 
 box — and one must assume that the drawing had his 
 Grace's approval — the Duke was not acting up to his 
 written instructions, for the hand is considerably below 
 the top of the trousers ; it is lower, indeed, than the 
 joint of the elbow. 
 
 Nor, again, have I ever seen a coachman driving with 
 the perfectly straight arm recommended by Colonel 
 Corbett. In the first place, it is not easy to keep the 
 arm straight ; and, secondly, if it were kept so, the left 
 hand would be quite out of reach of the right, so that 
 in avoiding other vehicles or turning corners one of 
 two things would have to happen — the coachman would 
 either have to lean forward in order to touch the reins 
 with the right hand, and that would be to fall into an 
 ungraceful attitude, and to indulge in some of those 
 " ungainly clawings " against which the Sportiyig Maga- 
 zine writer protested, or else the left hand must be 
 brought up to where the right hand can reach the reins. 
 
 My own idea, in short, is, that though there are two 
 distinct sets of directions — in print — for the position 
 of the left hand, there is really very little difference in 
 practice. Whatever the theory may be, the hand, in 
 practice, is very little above the legs. I have been 
 given to understand that in the old coaching days the 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 313 
 
 driving-seat was more sloping than is now found expe- 
 dient ; consequently it was possible to get the hand 
 lower than is now practicable, if the coachman desired 
 to do so ; but, with the present arrangement, the hand, 
 unless it be allowed to drop down outside the left 
 leg, cannot go very low ; while, as I said just now, 
 a very little above the leg is the level at which hands 
 find themselves. 
 
 This naturally leads on to the question of two- 
 handed driving. Mr. Birch Reynardson and others, 
 whatever may be the meaning of certain passages, 
 would appear to lay down the principle that the right 
 hand should never touch the reins. Modern coach- 
 men are rebuked for pulling up with two hands, and 
 for wanting a second hand to the reins at all. But 
 what is a coachman to do if he find himself behind 
 a strong team ? or why, in the event of his having 
 to do a long journey, should he throw all the labour 
 of driving on to one hand, while the other has an 
 idle time? In the afore-mentioned letter to the Field 
 I sought to obtain information on this point ; but a 
 few answers only were forthcoming, one of them from 
 a gentleman who ridiculed in toto the idea of two- 
 handed riding or driving at all, and stated that 
 somewhere abroad he had seen, in a driving compe- 
 tition, coachmen drive six and eight horses, and do 
 sharp turns, with one hand alone to the reins. The 
 fact, however, remains that no one has ever yet seen 
 any coachman drive from Northumberland Avenue to 
 Hyde Park Corner without placing his right hand on 
 the reins ; yet, according to some writers, he ought to 
 do so. Pulling the reins out of the left hand with 
 the right, and so using two hands, is of course quite 
 a different matter, as when the right hand is then 
 taken away the coachman finds himself with a lot 
 of slack rein, and his horses at once go away to the 
 
3 i4 BRIGHTON AND ITS COACHES 
 
 left. This is of course altogether wrong, and may 
 possibly be the kind of two-handed driving against 
 which the several authorities protest ; but if so, they 
 do not make their meaning quite clear. 
 
 Then, again, there is the question of shortening the 
 reins. Probably most people have heard the story of 
 some one asking a coachman how he shortened his 
 reins, and receiving the answer, " Sir, I never shorten 
 them ; as I start so I finish." The perfection of 
 driving, truly, but a standard to which some of us 
 can never hope to attain. In practice reins do need 
 shortening, and when one is out of practice the 
 occasions are too many in number : how, then, shall 
 the operation be performed? The writers in the 
 Badminton book say, Push them back though the 
 fingers of the left hand ; and most of the teachers of 
 to-day tell one the same. But on asking Mr. Millis 
 how it was done in his time, he said, " Why, from 
 behind, of course. Your left hand lay on your knee, 
 and what was easier than to draw back the rein that 
 required shortening ? I never saw it done in any other 
 way." Mr. Glover, whose name has already been 
 mentioned, was of the same opinion. I then told 
 Mr. Millis what the present fashion was, whereupon 
 he observed, " Some tailor, I'll be bound, invented 
 that ; while you're shortening one rein in front, you'll 
 let the others slip." 
 
 After all, quot homines tot sententice would seem to 
 hold good in driving as in other matters. I have 
 tried to find out something about the development of 
 the coachman's art ; but beyond discovering that it 
 did develop, I have been unable to trace to their 
 source the various ways of doing things. The chances 
 are that there never was any universal method of 
 driving. There were, no doubt, certain fundamental 
 principles and some broad rules ; but in matters of 
 
THE GROWTH OF COACHMANSHIP 315 
 
 detail men no doubt pleased themselves, just as they 
 do in the manner in which they hold a pen. 
 
 And now this, my little coach, is off the road. In 
 dealing with a multiplicity of facts of which I have no 
 personal knowledge, it is possible that I may, with 
 the clumsiness attributed to modern coachmen, have 
 turned her over by running against some of Time's 
 landmarks ; but I hope that she may be held to have 
 finished her journey right end upwards, and that some 
 few, at least of the younger generation of coaching 
 men, may have found this sketch of the old Brighton 
 road not very unpleasant. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Page 13. — " Sixteen- String Jack " was hanged at Tyburn. The 
 last execution at Tyburn took place on the 7th November 1783. 
 
 Page 13. — Sir John Lade's coachmanship was well known ; but in 
 after years Sir Felix Agar accomplished a feat which brought him 
 great renown. He made a bet that he would drive his own four 
 horses up Grosvenor Place, down the passage into TattersaJl's Yard 
 (the famous repository was then at Hyde Park Corner), around the 
 pillar which stood in the centre of it, and back again into Grosvenor 
 Place, without either of his horses going at a slower pace than a 
 trot. 
 
 Page 35. — "Children 'in lap ' and outside passengers paid half 
 price." In very early times the inside of a coach was the place of 
 honour, whereas to-day no one would dream of going inside if 
 there were room on the roof. De Quincey says that the roof of a 
 coach was by some weak men called the attics or garrets, but 
 was really the drawing-room, in which the box was the chief 
 ottoman or sofa, while the inside, "which had been traditionally 
 regarded as the only room tenantable by gentlemen, was, in fact, 
 the coal-cellar in disguise." The essayist continues: "Great Avits 
 jump. The very same idea had not long before struck the 
 celestial intellect of China. Amongst the presents carried out 
 by our first embassy to that country was a state coach. It had 
 been personally selected as a personal gift by George III. ; but 
 the exact mode of using it was an intense mystery to Pekin. The 
 ambassador, indeed (Lord Macartney), had made some imperfect 
 explanation upon this point ; but, as his Excellency communicated 
 these in a diplomatic whisper, at the very moment of his departure, 
 the celestial intellect was very feebly illuminated, and it became 
 necessary to call a Cabinet Council on the grand state question, 
 ' Where was the Emperor to sit ? ' The hammer-cloth happened 
 to be unusually gorgeous ; and partly on that consideration, but 
 
 partly also because the box offered the most elevated seat, was 
 
 317 
 
3 i8 APPENDIX 
 
 neai-est to the moon, and undeniably went foremost, it was resolved 
 by acclamation that the box was the imperial throne, and, for the 
 scoundrel who drove, he might sit where he could find a perch. 
 The horses, therefore, being harnessed, solemnly his imperial majesty 
 ascended his English throne under a flourish of trumpets, having 
 the First Lord of the Treasury on his right hand, and the Chief 
 Jester on his left. Pekin gloried in the spectacle; and in the 
 whole flowery people, consecutively present, there was but one 
 discontented person, and that was the coachman. This mutinous 
 individual audaciously shouted, 'Where am I to sit 1 ?' But the 
 privy council, incensed by his disloyalty, opened the door, and kicked 
 him into the inside. He had all the inside places to himself ; but 
 such is the rapacity of ambition, that he was still dissatisfied. ' I 
 say,' he cried out in an extempore petition, addressed to the 
 Emperor through the window — ' I say, how am I to catch hold of 
 the reins?' 'Anyhow,' was the imperial answer; 'don't trouble 
 me, man, in my glory. How catch the reins 1. Why, through the 
 windows, through the keyholes — anyhow.' Finally this contu- 
 macious coachman lengthened the check-strings into a sort of jury- 
 reins communicating with the horses, and with these he drove as 
 steadily as Pekin had any right to expect. The Emperor returned 
 after the briefest of circuits ; he descended in great pomp from his 
 throne, with the severest resolution never to remount it." 
 
 Page 82. — The Four Horse Club was occasionally, though errone- 
 ously, called the Whip Club, and the Barouche Club. It was really 
 started as a kind of overflow club, to accommodate those who, for 
 various reasons, could not get elected to the slightly older and very 
 much more select club. There appears to have always been a certain 
 amount of chaff going on in connection with the Four Horse Club. 
 Here, for instance, is an extract from a Brighton paper of 18 10 : 
 " The Whip Club. — An inquiry is to be instituted before the next 
 meeting of the Club in order to try a member on various charges, 
 intending to prove him an incorrigible gentleman and no coachman. 
 One of the charges is for blowing his nose in a pocket-handkerchief, 
 instead of wiping it on the sleeve of the box-coat, contrary to the 
 
 47th article of the institution. Lord has hitherto been looked 
 
 upon as a most correct disciplinarian ; his Lordship has a most shrill, 
 sharp whistle, and can squirt the quid fluid from the corner of his 
 mouth three yards farther than any whip on the road." In later 
 times one or two enthusiastic amateurs had their front teeth filed 
 in imitation of a professional the natural growth of whose teeth so 
 greatly facilitated expectoration. 
 
APPENDIX 319 
 
 Page 92. — " Cheap and expeditious travelling " by the Prince 
 Regent coach. This may have been a cheap and at times an ex- 
 peditious vehicle, but it was not invariably a safe one. It made its 
 first journey on a Sunday ; it capsized that day week at Merstham ; 
 and a few days later turned over again near Cuckfield, the perform- 
 ance being repeated in less than a week after the second accident. 
 
 Page 195. — In connection with fast driving, it may not be out of 
 place to mention that on May Day 1830 the Independent Tally - 
 Ho, in travelling against time, ran from London to Birmingham, a 
 distance of 109 miles, in 7 hours 39 minutes. The following is the 
 correct account of the time it took to perform the distances horsed 
 by the various proprietors : — 
 
 Mr. Home, from London to Colney, 17^ miles, in 1 hour 6 minutes. 
 
 Mr. Bowman, from Colney to Redburn. 17 -J, miles, in 1 hour 
 26 minutes (6 minutes for breakfast). 
 
 Mr. Morrell, Redburn to HocklifFe, 12^ miles, in 1 hour 4 minutes. 
 
 Mr. Warden, Hockliffe to Shenley, 1 1 miles, in 47 minutes. 
 
 Mr. May, Shenley to Daventry, 24 miles, in 1 hour 49 minutes. 
 
 Mr. Garner, Daventry to Coventry, 19^ miles, in 1 hour 12 
 minutes; Coventry to Birmingham, 17! miles, in 1 hour 15 minutes. 
 
 The original Tally-Ho performed the same distance in 7 hours 
 50 minutes. 
 
 On May Day 1838 the Shrewsbury Greyhound, with no passengers 
 except a friend or two of the proprietor, accomplished the journey 
 from London at the rate of 12 miles an hour, including stoppages. 
 (From Captain Malet's "Annals of the Road.") 
 
 Page 208. — In Letts's " Diary of Events," a useful book written 
 by Mr. Charles Ashton, I find, under July 4th, the following in 
 connection with omnibuses introduced by Sbillibeer : " In Saunders s 
 News Letter of July 10, 1829, it is stated that on Saturday (the 
 4th) the new vehicle, called the Omnibus, commenced running from 
 Paddington to the City, and excited considerable notice, both from 
 the novel form of the carriage, and the elegance with which it is 
 fitted out. It is capable of accommodating sixteen or eighteen 
 persons, all inside ; and we apprehend it would be almost impossible 
 to make it overturn, owing to the great width of the carriage. It 
 was drawn by three beautiful bays, abreast, after the French fashion. 
 The Omnibus is a handsome machine, in the shape of a van, with 
 windows on each side, and one at the end. The width the horses 
 occupy will render the vehicle rather inconvenient to be turned or 
 driven through some of the streets of London." 
 
3 2o APPENDIX 
 
 It was introduced by Mr. Shillibeer, a contractor for funeral 
 equipages, hearses, and carriages, who had been a coach-builder in 
 Paris. 
 
 In giving evidence before the Board of Health on the general 
 scheme for extra-mural sepulture, he incidentally mentioned that 
 on the 4th July 1S29 he started the first pair of omnibuses in the 
 metropolis, from the Bank to the Yorkshire Stingo, at the Paddington 
 end of the New Road, and that they were copied from those in Paris, 
 where M. Lafitte, the banker, had established them in 18 19. 
 
 The omnibuses carried twenty-two persons, and the fare to or from 
 the Bank was one shilling, and half the journey was sixpence. As 
 the ride took a long time (for the roads were very bad, and the 
 machine very heavy), for some little time after their first starting 
 light periodical reading was provided for the passengers. The 
 conductors wore velveteen liveries. Omnibuses rapidly became 
 favourites with the public, and were soon multiplied, even the Post- 
 Office adopting them at once ; for in an account of the opening of 
 the new building in St. Martin's-le- Grand, 23rd September 1829, is 
 the following: "In the course of the morning four vehicles were 
 stationed within the railings at the back of the post-office, built 
 after the manner of the omnibus. In these the letter-carriers 
 having to deliver letters at the west and north-western parts of the 
 metropolis took their seats about half past eight o'clock, two of the 
 carriages proceeding up the Strand, and the other two up Holborn. 
 There were about fourteen letter-carriers in each." 
 
 Page 223. — The Brighton Day-Mail. There were, I believe, no 
 more than three or four places to which a day-mail ran from London, 
 and Brighton was one of them. The Post-Office authorities were 
 influenced by two considerations in putting on day-mails — the place 
 to be served had to be of sufficient size and importance to warrant 
 the authorities in subsidising the coach ; and, secondly, the place must 
 not be more than a six or eight hours' journey from London. 
 
 Page 248. — The Chequers at Horley. In a Sussex paper the story 
 is told that a commercial traveller once baited his horse there. There 
 was a fresh horse-keeper at work, and in the hurry in getting the 
 change horses ready put the leading harness on the traveller's horse, 
 which went very well in the coach. When the owner of the gig 
 came to start, he found himself with one of the coach leaders, though 
 he did not at that time know it. The horse, as it afterwards turned 
 out, had an objection to single harness, and " flared up " at starting ; 
 the commercial traveller drew the whip smartly across it, and the 
 
APPENDIX 321 
 
 horse bolted, kicked the trap to pieces, and so injured its unlucky 
 occupant that his life was despaired of. 
 
 Page 286. — Pomegranate, leader in the Exeter mail when the 
 coach was attacked by a lioness. The event took place on the 20th 
 October 18 16. The Exeter mail, when on her way to London, was 
 attacked, at Winterslow Hut, seven miles from Salisbury, by a 
 lioness which had escaped from a travelling menagerie. The lioness 
 was seen to be approaching the coach, and presently sprang at the 
 leaders. These naturally became so restive that the coachman, 
 whose name, I think, was Olliver, had the utmost difficulty in keeping 
 his horses in the road. Two inside passenger's, on finding the coach 
 come to a standstill, hurriedly jumped out, and took refuge in a 
 neighbouring cottage. The coachman, who was by no means 
 deficient in courage, proposed to get down and try to kill the lioness 
 with his knife ; but the guard very wisely protested against his 
 doing anything of the kind, pointing out that a hand-to-hand 
 conflict with the animal would probably lead to his own death. At a 
 very critical moment one of the menagerie keepers and a couple of 
 mastiffs appeared upon the scene, and, according to one account, a 
 shepherd and his collie also arrived. One of the dogs — it does not 
 clearly appear which — attacked the lioness, who promptly left the 
 horse and turned on the dog. On hearing her keeper's voice, how- 
 ever, she crawled under a granary, where the attendant managed to 
 secure her. 
 
 X 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abusive coachmen and turnpike 
 men, 64. 
 
 Accidents : to Brighton coach, 47 ; 
 to a Blue coach, 68 ; to Walde- 
 grave's coach, 75 ; to Pattenden's 
 coach, 76 ; at Angel Inn, Lon- 
 don, 78 ; to Lord C. Somerset's 
 carriage, 92 ; to Mackerell's coach, 
 ib. ; to Comet coach, 97 ; to Dart 
 and Phoenix, 105 ; to Coburg, 
 114; to safety-coach, 123, 125; 
 to Brighton mail, ib. ; to a pas- 
 senger, 128 ; fatal, to children, 
 129 ; to Waldegrave's coach, 142 ; 
 to passenger, 143 ; to the Eclipse, 
 147, 148 ; to the Patriot, 151 ; to 
 coach in a flood, 156 ; to Comet 
 coach, 163 ; to Alert coach, 164 ; 
 to the Age, 170, 171 ; to a horse, 
 174 ; to afternoon Times, 181 ; 
 remarks on, 182 ; to Coronet 
 coach, ib. ; to a passenger, 183; to 
 Red Rover, ib. ; to Brighton mail, 
 ib. ; to ditto, 184 ; to Quick- 
 silver coach, 192 ; to passengers, 
 193 ; to a Blue Van, 195 ; to the 
 Criterion, 196, 197 ; to postboy, 
 200 ; to Magnet, 210; to horses 
 of the Age, 211; to Times coach, 
 213; to Adams's coach, 224; to 
 Pickett, of the Item, 225 ; to 
 mail-guard, 230 ; to Times coach, 
 233 ; to a coach, 240 ; to night- 
 mail, 241 ; on Lewes and Brighton 
 road to pedestrian, 266 ; to Sim- 
 cock's Lewes coach, 268 ; to Fleet 
 (coachman), 273 ; fatal to, 274 ; 
 to Boxall (coachman), 275 ; fatal, 
 to H. Strevens, ib. ; to Coles's 
 coach, 279 ; to Portsmouth and 
 
 London mails, 279 ; to Cross- 
 weller's Portsmouth coach, 281 ; 
 to Western Mail, 282 ; to Mr. 
 Walker's Bognor coach, 285 ; to 
 a Worthing coach, 287 ; to blind 
 mail-cart horse, 287, 288 ; to 
 Nelson's coach, 288 ; to a coach 
 " cad," ib. ; to Brighton and Bris- 
 tol Red Rover, 289, 290 ; to Ports- 
 mouth Defiance, ib. ; to Chiches- 
 ter coach, ib.; to Southampton, 
 Times, 293 ; fatal, to coachman of 
 above coach, ib. ; to Southampton 
 Times, 295 ; to Protector coach, 
 298, 299 ; number of, in olden 
 days, 306. 
 
 Accommodation coaches, 118, 119. 
 
 Acts of Parliament, 142, 143, 230, 
 248, 300. 
 
 Adams sells coach to Goodman, 224. 
 
 Ade's Lewes coach changes its time, 
 260. 
 
 Admiralty, the, 269. 
 
 Advertisement, a curious, 18 ; an 
 old stage-coach, 35 ; for coach- 
 horses, 134; coaching, 151; of 
 General Stage-Coach Company, 
 138 ; of Waterwitch coach, 179, 
 180 ; Fuller's, 255. 
 
 Advertising schools, 133. 
 
 "Affability, Princely," 8, 9. 
 
 Age coach, description of, 169 ; 
 accident to, 1 70 ; kept on by T. 
 W. Capps, 171 ; dispute con- 
 cerning, 201 et seq. 
 
 Age (Willan's), sold to Sir St. V. 
 Cotton, 210 ; sold by Sir St. V. 
 Cotton to Mr. C. Jones, 225. 
 
 Age (Capps's), last coach on short 
 route, 244. 
 
 3 2 3 
 
3 2 4 
 
 IXDEX 
 
 Age (Clark's), coacli started, 247. 
 
 Age (Fownes's), 250. 
 
 Ages, the rival, 225. 
 
 Akelmrst's patent bit, 148. 
 
 " Aldridge's," sale of coacli -horses 
 
 at, 87, 153. 
 Alert coach, accident to, 164. 
 Alexander, Emperor, anecdote of, 
 
 94, 95- 
 Allen, Mr., his system of postboys 
 
 for mails, no. 
 
 Amateur coachmen, 28, 38, 39, 81, 
 82, 245, 302. 
 
 Amiat, Mr. A., and Cross, the coach- 
 man, 171. 
 
 Amount spent in coach-travelling, 
 158. 
 
 Ancient coaches like bathing-ma- 
 chines. 33, 35. 
 
 Anecdotes : of Prince of Wales 
 (George IV.), 9 ; of Sir John and 
 Lady Lade, 13, 14 ; of Colonel 
 Mellish, 14 ; of Lord Cholmon- 
 deley, 14, 15 ; of Prince of Wales 
 and Smoaker Miles, 15, 16; of 
 carrier, 27 ; of a boy who was 
 robbed, 56; of coach travellers, 62. 
 63 ; of an East Street tradesman, 
 80 ; of soldier, 81 ; of four officers, 
 
 90 ; of Countess of P , ib. ; a 
 
 post-boy, ib. ; of Mr. Whitbread's 
 sleigh, 93 ; of Emperor Alexander, 
 94, 95 ; of John Gully and " The 
 Chicken," 97 ; of a new coach, 
 103 ; of Union coach, 161 ; of 
 " Old Lai," 168 ; of young Dums- 
 dale, 168 ; of Mr. Stevenson, 170 ; 
 of Dick Vaughan, 173 ; of a 
 Mother Superior, 174; of Lanca- 
 shire villagers, 237 ; of Cornish 
 people, 237 ; of Mr. J. Walker 
 and Cross (coachman), 283, 284 ; 
 of a one-eyed coachman, 287 ; of 
 Mrs. Ann Nelson, 307. 
 
 Apology by coachman, 64. 
 
 Arm, straight, v. bent, when driving, 
 310. 
 
 Arrangements, postal, change in, 
 through opening of railways, 223. 
 
 Ash combe Gate, new road by, 261. 
 
 Assizes (Surrey), 107. 
 
 Autopsy (steam-carriage), 189. 
 Awning on coach, 1 49. 
 Axle, a broken, 128. 
 
 Bad weather, 71. 
 
 Banditti on Sussex coast, 3. 
 
 Bank, the Union, 107. 
 
 Bank-notes, robbery of, 87. 
 
 Barber, a Brighton, 17, 18. 
 
 Bargaining for fares, 199. 
 
 Barnet, post-horses at, 132. 
 
 Baron's Cave, the, 65. 
 
 Bars, main and leading, 301. 
 
 " Basket," the, said to have been 
 invented by Bonner, 33 ; after- 
 wards called " Back Gammon," 
 
 34- 
 Bath to Portsmouth, a twenty-four 
 
 hours' journey, 2S0 ; fast coaches 
 
 to and from Brighton,289 ; coaches 
 
 to Brighton, 27S-296. 
 Bathing men and women, 16. 
 Battle of Waterloo, 237. 
 Baxter, Sarah, robs London coach, 
 
 53; 
 
 Bearing-reins, 195. 
 
 Beckett v. Webling trotting match, 
 102. 
 
 Benson Driving Club, 82, 302. 
 
 Birch, Mr., his "Trivector," 114. 
 
 Birch (pedestrian) races Portsmouth 
 mail, 280. 
 
 Birmingham, coaches to, from Lon- 
 don, 132. 
 
 Bit, Akehurst's patent, 148. 
 
 Bitting, science of, 303. 
 
 Blaber, Mr., succeeds Crosweller, 
 219. 
 
 " Black work," 208. 
 
 Blind coach-horses, 287. 
 
 Blind horse, accident to, 287. 
 
 Blue coaches, 152. 
 
 Blue Office, coaches from, in 1837, 
 219; rebuilding of, 219; pro- 
 vincial coaches from, 220 ; site 
 of, 254 ; becomes Strevens's, 276. 
 
 Blue Van, accident to, 195. 
 
 Boar and Castle, coaches from, 1 30. 
 
 Boat, the husbands', 141. 
 
 Bognor coach, Mr. Walker's, 283. 
 
 Bolt-in-Tun, changes hands, 74. 
 
INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Books : " New Remarks on London," 
 132; "The Present State of 
 London," 32, 41 ; "Present State 
 of Great Britain," 33, 34; "An 
 Old Coachman's Chatter," 310 ; 
 " Annals of the Road," 196, 302 ; 
 " Autobiography of a Stage-Coach- 
 nian," 227, 281 ; Driving volume 
 of " Badminton Library," the, 
 I7*i J9o, 192, 196, 247, 312 ; 
 Sir W. Jones on " Bailments," 
 152; "Book of Sports," 169; 
 " Brighton in the Olden Times," 
 34, J2>i 7§ ; " Caution to Stage- 
 Coachmen," 64 ; " History of 
 Coaches," by Mr. G. A. Thrupp, 
 83 ; " Recollections of Brighton 
 in the Olden Times," 47 ; " Remi- 
 niscences of Old Coaching Days,"' 
 283 ; " Road Scrapings," 168, 248 ; 
 " Traveller's Pocket Companion," 
 
 34- 
 Booking-clerk, subscriptions for, 
 
 131- 
 
 Brake, patent, 149, 217. 
 
 nsed in France, 218. 
 
 Brakes nsed on trollies in pits, 218. 
 
 Branch coaches, 209. 
 
 Bredhempstone, possibly same as 
 Brighthelmstone, 32. 
 
 Brentford, two Kings of, 202. 
 
 Bribing postboys, 89. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, its derivation, 1 ; 
 early extent of, 2 ; Pepys's men- 
 tion of, ib. j boundaries of, 3. 
 
 Brighton : description of, 2, 4, 5 ; 
 early conveyances to, 5 ; praised 
 by Doctor Bnssell, 3 ; " Merry 
 Doctor," 6 ; Brighton and London 
 coach routes, 21, 22, 23 ; Brighton 
 and Cnckfield " machine " first 
 started, 37 ; Brighton to London, 
 account of journey between, 47 
 et seq. ; Directory, Cobby's, 65 ; 
 Brighton and London, jonrney 
 between, in 1801, described, 65 ; 
 coaches in 1800, 65 ; new road 
 into, 70 ; mail, a new, 79 ; season, 
 the, 131 ; coaches to, from Lon- 
 don in 1824, 132 ; coaches run to 
 West End of, 157 ; passengers to, 
 
 daily, 175 ; mail in snowstorm of 
 1836, 214 ; mail, change in hour 
 of starting, 217 ; coachmasters, 
 petition of, 227 ; Railway Com- 
 pany advertise for coach contracts) 
 236 ; opening of whole line to, 
 240 ; change in, after railway 
 opened, 242 ; road in modem 
 times, 247 et seq. ; coaches from, 
 to Maigate, 258 ; Brighton and 
 Hastings coaches, 264 ; Brighton 
 and Maidstone, coach communi- 
 cation between, 270 ; Brighton 
 and Tunbridge Wells, state of 
 roads between, 271 ; Brighton 
 Gazette, editor of, on Tunbridge 
 Wells road, 273 ; coachmen, criti- 
 cism of, 309. 
 Brighton, Places in : — 
 
 Albion Mews, 218. 
 
 Bedford Mews, 218. 
 
 Belle Vue Mansion, 164. 
 
 Brighton Place, 13. 
 
 Brunswick Square, 240. 
 
 Terrace, 240. 
 
 Castle Square, 13, 62, 97, 139, 
 
 148, 177, 191, 192, 199, 211, 
 
 218,246, 251, 253, 254. 
 Church Street, 70, 75, 183. 
 Cliff, the, 40, 145. 
 County Hospital, the, 233. 
 East Street, 2, 7, 17, 40, 53, 62, 
 
 101, 146, 150, 181, 219, 253, 
 
 260, 271, 289. 
 Edward Street, 214. 
 George Street, 101. 
 Gloucester Lane, 214. 
 
 Place, 151. 
 
 71 Grand Parade, 218. 
 
 High Street, 285. 
 
 Kemp Town, 240. 
 
 King's Road, 146, 148, 164, 218, 
 
 Marine Parade, 183. 
 Market Street, 1 3. 
 Marlborough Place, 193. 
 Middle Street, 2, 233, 292. 
 New Palace, 187. 
 New Road, 181. 
 New Steine, 192. 
 North Steine, 187, 193. 
 
326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Brighton, Places in : — 
 
 North Street, 2, 57, 58, 60, 61, 
 
 150, 181, 191, 253, 270. 
 Old Steine, 196. 
 25 Oriental Place, 220. 
 Palace, the, 213. 
 Pavilion, the, 8, 9, 15, 16, 23. 
 Pavilion Parade, the, 306. 
 Pear-Tree House, 13. 
 Rose Hill, 214. 
 Russell Square, 164. 
 Ship Street, 2, 271. 
 St. James's Street, 124, 218, 253. 
 St. Peter's Church, 2 1 3. 
 Steyne, the, 3, 5, 9, 14, 75, 
 
 115, 148, 151, 195. 
 Steyne Lane, 62, 10 1. 
 Tupper's Library, 174. 
 Ward's Baths, 215. 
 West Street, 2, 124, 288. 
 Bristol coaches to Brighton, 278- 
 
 296. 
 British Museum, 33. 
 Broad wheels, 2 1 . 
 Brodie, Captain, drives tandem to 
 
 Brighton against time, 101. 
 Bulldogs used for draught, 168. 
 Burton, Dr. J., his opinion of Sussex 
 
 roads, 20. 
 Byers, arrested for debt, 155 ; de- 
 feated by a former employe, 156; 
 and steam - carriages, 159. See 
 Informations. 
 
 " Cad," accident to a, 288. 
 
 Capps, T. W., keeps on Age coach, 
 
 171 ; and the Age coach, 201-207 ; 
 
 his Rail Road coach, 243. 
 Caravan, Durden's,256 ; a new light, 
 
 256. 
 Carlton House, 23. 
 Caroline of Brunswick married to 
 
 Prince of Wales, 1 1. 
 Carpenters Diligence, 208. • 
 Carrier period, the, 301. 
 Carriers, risk of, 152. 
 Carter, " Tim," first mention of, 1 60 ; 
 
 account of, 161 ; drives Red Rover, 
 
 176. 
 Castle Hotel, proprietors of, 73. 
 Castle Square, 254. 
 
 " Catching" whip, 304. 
 
 Cattistock Hounds, the, 249. 
 
 Chamier, Mr., his action v. coach- 
 man of Echo, 199. 
 
 Chaplin, number of his horses, 211. 
 
 Chaplin & Crunden buy coaching 
 business, 211. 
 
 Charles VI. of Germany visits Pet- 
 worth, 19. 
 
 Chester, coaches to and from Lon- 
 don, 132. 
 
 Chichester, caches to Brighton, 
 278-296 ; injury to Swan Inn at, 
 282 ; coach, accident to, 290. 
 
 Clerks, Company of Parish, 33, 34. 
 
 Clitherow, Colonel Stracey, his con- 
 nection with the Brighton road, 
 248, 249, 250. 
 
 Clock-tower, the Michel Grove, 285. 
 
 Coach and van proprietors, early, 
 20, 21. 
 
 Coach : first between London and 
 Brighton, 32. 
 
 boxes originally not on springs, 
 
 38. 
 
 company, a, 67. 
 
 business, proprietors of, J2>, 74. 
 
 the first to run double journey 
 
 in one day, 94, 122. 
 
 a fast, 103. 
 
 Wyndham's, 114. 
 
 Mr. Milton's, 118. 
 
 an awning on, 149. 
 
 prop, a, 149. 
 
 takings, estimate of, 175. 
 
 "RetarJer," 217. 
 
 ■ passenger, an intoxicated, 267. 
 
 lunatic in, 280. 
 
 Southampton, 2S3. 
 
 horses through window of shop, 
 
 287. 
 
 fares in 1802,66,67 ; in 1808,72. 
 
 horses, 180; sale of, at Ald- 
 
 ridge's, 87, 153; sales of, 124, 
 131, 146 ; advertisement for, 
 134 ; prices of, 2S5 ; blind, 287 ; 
 variety of, 287 ; change in, 305 ; 
 ancient and modern, 308. 
 
 COACHBUILDERS : — 
 
 Ade, 259, 260. 
 
 Brooks it Dougall, 118. 
 
INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 COACHBUILDERS :— 
 
 Burstall & Hill, 157. 
 Holland & Holland, 248. 
 Matthews, 123, 125. 
 Newman, 123. 
 Vidler, 120. 
 Wright & Powell, i2i. 
 Wright & Matthews, 121. 
 Coaches : — 
 
 London and Brighton : — 
 
 Age (Brighton), 30, 121, 156, 
 
 160, 169, 170, 201, 202, 203, 
 
 204, 205, 206, 207, 210, 225, 
 
 244, 245, 246. 
 Age (modern), 249, 250. 
 Alert (Brighton), 115, 125, 164, 
 
 175, 238. 
 Bellerophon (Brighton), 101, 
 
 in. 
 Blue coaches, the, 66, 67, 68, 
 
 94. 
 Brighthelmstone stage, 35. 
 Cohurg, 114. 
 Comet (Brighton), 97, 121, 124, 
 
 125, 151, 163, 183, 211. 
 Comet (modern), 104, 151, 237, 
 
 251, 252. 
 Comet, New (Brighton), 130. 
 Coronet (Brighton), 156, 169, 
 
 182, 201, 202, 239. 
 Criterion (Brighton), 196, 197, 
 
 198, 202. 
 Czar (Brighton), 231. 
 Dart (Brighton), 94, 104, 105, 
 
 114, 121, 122, 124, 125. 
 New, 124, 125, 131, 153, 
 
 217. 
 Defiance (Brighton), 91, 92, 12 1. 
 Duke of Beaufort (Brighton), 
 
 235- 
 Duke of Norfolk, 94. 
 
 Earl Grey (Brighton), 182. 
 
 Echo (Brighton), 199. 
 
 Eclipse (Brighton), 94, 137, 146, 
 
 148, 150. 
 
 Era (Brighton), 219, 231. 
 
 Fly (Brighton), 36. 
 
 " Flying Machine," ^- 
 
 Globe (Brighton), 229. 
 
 Hero (Brighton), 94, 114, 160, 
 
 Coaches : — 
 
 Irresistible (Brighton), 106, 297. 
 Item (Brighton), 209, 219, 225. 
 Magnet (Brighton), 30, 1 50, 160, 
 
 210, 212. 
 Magnet (modern), 23, 97, 150, 
 
 160. 
 Mail (Brighton), 125, 150, 151, 
 
 152, 153, 183, 184, 214, 215, 
 
 216, 217, 219, 241, 291. 
 Day (Brighton), 222, 234, 
 
 235, 240, 245. 
 
 robbery of, 54, 55. 
 
 Monarch (Brighton), 146, 225. 
 
 Night, 123. 
 
 Old Times (modern), 102, 151, 
 
 248, 250. 
 Optimus (Brighton), 219, 225. 
 Patriot (Brighton), 151. 
 Pearl (London to Bognor), 245, 
 
 246. 
 Phoenix, 105. 
 Prince Regent (Brighton), 91, 
 
 92, 94- 
 Princess Charlotte (Brighton), 
 
 86, 94. 
 Quicksilver (Brighton), 191, 
 
 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 
 
 202. 
 Rail Road (Brighton), 243, 244. 
 Red Rover (Brighton), 161, 175, 
 
 176, 178, 181, 182, 183, 190. 
 Red Rover, New (Brighton), 
 
 190. 
 Reform (Brighton), 178. 
 Regent (Brighton), no, 125, 
 
 159, 216. 
 Regulator (Brighton), 160. 
 Rival (Brighton), 223, 239. 
 Rocket (Brighton), 125, 152, 
 
 153, 157- 
 Royal Adelaide (Brighton), 177, 
 
 178. 
 Royal Blue (Brighton), 219, 237. 
 Royal Brighton (Brighton), 84. 
 Royal Clarence (Brighton), no. 
 Royal Exchange (Brighton), 
 
 160. 
 Royal George (Brighton), 124, 
 
 125, 130, 152, 157. 
 Royal Sussex, 124, 125. 
 
3 23 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Coaches : — 
 
 London and Brighton: — 
 
 Royal Victoria (Brighton), 225, 
 
 244, 296. 
 Royal York (Brighton), 130. 
 Sovereign (Brighton), in, 121, 
 
 124, 125, 211, 216, 237. 
 Stafford safety-coach, the, 221. 
 Surprise (Brighton), 205. 
 Tally-Ho (Brighton), 130, 131, 
 
 137, 208, 212. 
 Telegraph (Brighton), 84, 124. 
 " Telegraph, New, and Post 
 
 Coaches," 70. 
 Times (Brighton), 94, 125, 146, 
 
 159, 2ii, 213, 215, 233, 237, 
 
 242, 265. 
 
 Early, 191, 216. 
 
 Four-o'clock, 181, 190, 191. 
 
 Late, 216. 
 
 New (Brighton), no. 
 
 Old (Brighton). See Old 
 
 Times. 
 
 Original (Brighton), no. 
 
 Tri vector, 114, 115. 
 
 True Blue (Brighton), 104, 105, 
 
 130, 152, 157, 297. 
 Umpire, 114, 122. 
 Union (Brighton), 161, 200, 
 
 212, 225. 
 Vivid (Brighton), 211, 237. 
 Waterwitch (Brighton), 169, 
 
 179, 180, 181. 
 Wonder (Brighton), 191, 231. 
 Steam-Coaches : — 
 
 Autopsy (Brighton), 189. 
 Infant (Brighton), 186, 1S7, 189. 
 Steam-coaches, 157. 
 Brighton to Provinces: — 
 
 Accommodation (Brighton to 
 
 Chichester), 282. 
 Bristol mail, 1 1 9. 
 Caravan, light (Brighton to 
 
 Hastings), 256. 
 Champion (Brighton to Chi- 
 chester), 283. 
 Chichester mail, 279, 2S0. 
 Coach (Brighton and Tunbridge 
 
 Wells), 268. 
 Comet (London to Bognor and 
 
 Littlehampton), 133. 
 
 Coach ks : — 
 
 Brighton to Provinces : — 
 
 Cuck field and Brighthelmstone 
 machine, yj. 
 
 Diligence, 38. 
 
 and Reigate coach, 40. 
 
 Defiance (Portsmouth to Brigh- 
 ton), 282, 288, 290. 
 
 Defiance (Brighton to Tun- 
 bridge Wells), 220, 276. 
 
 Earl of Arran (Brighton to 
 Bognor), 286. 
 
 Eastbourne stage-coach, 255. 
 
 Eclipse (Brighton to Worthing), 
 282, 283. 
 
 Flying - machine (Brighthelm- 
 stone to Lewes), 35. 
 
 Gloucester mail (from Brigh- 
 ton), 2 1 7, 290. 
 
 Hero (Brighton to Hastings), 
 220, 264, 265. 
 
 Magnet (Brighton to Lewes), 
 259, 260, 261. 
 
 Maidstone to Brighton, 268. 
 
 Hastings mail, 263. 
 
 Hero (Oxford to Brighton), 
 
 (Brighton to Oxford and 
 
 Reading), 220, 296, 298, 299. 
 
 Independent (Brighton to Chi- 
 chester), 288. 
 
 Magnet (Brighton to Wor- 
 thing), 283. 
 
 ■ New (Brighton to Wor- 
 thing), 283. 
 
 Maidstone, Tunbridge, and Tun- 
 bridge Wells, New Caravan, 
 270. 
 
 Nimrod (Brighton to Ports- 
 mouth), 288. 
 
 Optimus (Brighton to Wor- 
 thing), 220. 
 
 Portsmouth mail, 279. 
 
 Protector (Oxford to Brighton), 
 298. 
 
 Red Rover (Brighton to Bath), 
 289, 290. 
 
 Little ( Brighton to Bath), 
 
 289. 
 
 Rival (Brighton to Hastings), 
 220. 
 
I XDEX 
 
 329 
 
 Coaches :— 
 
 Brighton to Provinces: — 
 
 Royal Blue (Brighton to Tun- 
 bridge Wells), 275, 276. 
 
 Royal Blue. (Brighton to Tun- 
 bridge Wells, Maidstone, and 
 Chatham), 220. 
 
 Royal Charlotte (Brighton to 
 Hastings), 256. 
 
 Southampton mail (from 
 Brighton), 220. 
 
 Sovereign (Oxford to Brighton), 
 
 (Brighton to Windsor), 
 
 220. 
 
 Stage-coach, Lewes to Brigh- 
 ton, 64, 255. 
 
 Lewes to London, 256. 
 
 Star (Brighton to Tunbridge 
 Wells), 275. 
 
 Sussex (Brighton to Hastings), 
 261-265. 
 
 Telegraph (Brighton to Hast- 
 ings), 257. 
 
 Times (Brighton to South- 
 ampton), 220, 293, 195, 306. 
 
 Union (Brighton to Margate), 
 259. 
 
 Wonder (Brighton to Hastings), 
 264, 265. 
 Various : — 
 
 Cambridge Telegraph, 173. 
 
 Courier (Yorkshire), 161. 
 
 Devonportmail, 30, 194, 195, 222. 
 
 Eagle (London to Canterbury), 
 310. 
 
 Excelsior (Tunbridge Wells), 
 102. 
 
 Exeter mail, 286, 311. 
 
 Telegraph, 195. 
 
 Holyhead mail, 1 1 9. 
 
 Independent (London to Chi- 
 chester), 133. 
 
 (Brighton to Chichester), 
 
 288. 
 
 Leominster mail, 120. 
 Liverpool mail, 291. 
 Mail (Manchester), 291. 
 Manchester Telegraph, t,o. 
 Newcastle post-coach, 137. 
 Norwich mail, 120. 
 
 Coach i<:s : — 
 Various : — 
 
 Norwich and Ipswich mail, 
 
 194, 222. 
 Portsmouth mail, 120. 
 Quicksilver (Devonport mail), 
 
 30, 194, 195, 222. 
 Retaliator (London to Oxford), 
 
 310. 
 Shrewsbury flying waggon, 61. 
 Stroudwater mail (Oxford), 161. 
 Taglioni (Windsor), 245. 
 Worcester mail, 1 20. 
 York House (London to Bath), 
 247. 
 Coaches, height of, 28, 29. 
 
 of Tubband Brawnein 1 762, 35. 
 
 posting, 45, 46. 
 
 " Miller " Bradford's, 78. 
 
 Thrupp's History of, 83. 
 
 for 181 1, list of, 84. 
 
 in 1813, 91. 
 
 (Red), removed p-o tern, to New 
 
 Inn, 91. 
 
 modern, parade of, 119. 
 
 for 1820, 121. 
 
 safety, 121. See Safety- coaches. 
 
 pace of, 124, 125, 195. 
 
 number between London and 
 
 Brighton, 128. 
 
 number between Brighton and 
 
 other places, 128. 
 
 — German, 149. 
 
 — run to west end of Brighton, 
 
 157- 
 
 — sum to be earned by, 158, 195. 
 
 — branch, 209. 
 
 — for 1835, ib. 
 
 — to London in 1 841, 238. 
 
 — number of, out of Brighton, in 
 1822, 253. 
 
 — light, 259. 
 
 — safety, ib. 
 
 — opposition, 260, 261. 
 
 — Brighton and Eastbourne, 264. 
 
 — and railways, 265. 
 
 London, eight hours to, 276. 
 
 — racing by, 278, 279. 
 
 — comfort of Mr. Walker's, 285. 
 Brighton and Bognor cross 
 
 ferry at Littlehampton, 2S6. 
 
33° 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Coaching family, an old, 34. 
 
 businesses, extent of, 131, 132. 
 
 houses, 154. 
 
 revival, 247. 
 
 "Ninirod" on, 302. 
 
 Coaclimakers' Company, the, 83. 
 Coachman leaving passengers be- 
 hind, 45. 
 not allowed to carry letters, 
 
 93- 
 Coachman's lawyer, a, 156. 
 Coachmanship, nothing heard of, in 
 
 early days, 300 ; growth of, 300 
 
 tt seq. 
 Coachmaster of old, action against, 
 
 45- 
 
 Coachmen (ancient and modern) — 
 
 Adlam, James, 247. 
 Alexander, Israel, 176. 
 " Baronet," The, 309. 
 Boxall, J., 265, 275. 
 Bristow, 160. 
 Bristow, Edward, 174. 
 Bristow, James, 190. 
 Brackenbury, Old, 245. 
 Burford, Ned, 180. 
 Butcher, Phil, 284. 
 Carter, "Tim," 160, 161, 176, 
 
 179, 181, 310. 
 Clements, 310. 
 Collings, Paul, 311. 
 Cook, 160, 172. 
 Cooper, R., 223. 
 Cross, J., 86, 91, 171, 172, 173. 
 Cross, Thomas, 227, 228, 281. 
 Cussell, Matthew, 212. 
 Dear, 213. 
 
 Fleet, 272, 273, 274, 275. 306. 
 Fownes, E., 250, 311. 
 Glennie, 239, 240. 
 Glover, 310, 314. 
 Gray, 160. 
 Halyar, Mr., 193. 
 Harbour, Charles, 176. 
 Hine, jun., Mr., 164. 
 Holdsworth, 295. 
 Holmes, Charles, 181. 
 Holmes, Theophilus, 173. 
 Howchin, Mr., 197, 198. 
 Jerningham, Hon. F., 245. 
 Mellis, John, 297, 298, 310, 314. 
 
 Coachmen (ancient and modern) : — 
 Monk, Joseph, 268. 
 Moseley, 160. 
 Newman, C, 160. 
 Pennington, A., 249, 250. 
 Pickett, 225. 
 Pickett, James, 161. 
 Pointer, Bob, 191, 192, 193, 
 
 196. 
 Poole, 239. 
 Pope, 249. 
 Pratt, William, 248. 
 Selby, J., 102. 
 Seymour, 239. 
 Snow, J., 192, 193, 195. 
 Snow, R., 160. 
 Snow, W., 160. 
 Stevenson, George, 16c. 
 Stockdale, 274. 
 Strevens, H., 266, 275. 
 Tedder, Alfred, 248. 
 Thorogood, John, 249, 250. 
 Town, James, 283. 
 Upfold, 293, 294, 295, 306. 
 Vaughan, Dick, 173. 
 Vickers, Francis, 174, 21 o, 
 
 231. 
 Ward, Charles, 222, 223, 250, 
 
 311- 
 
 Ward, Harry, 250. 
 
 Wilkins, 1S2, 199, 200. 
 
 Woodland, Arthur, 250. 
 
 Wragg, Francis, 250. 
 
 Wragg, William, 250. 
 Coachmen, careless, 229 ; misconduct 
 of, 171 ; stopped for carrying con- 
 traband goods, 257 ; conduct of 
 (Lewes), 266 ; old, description of, 
 303 ; directions to, by proprietor, 
 307 ; a word for modern, 30S. 
 309 ; criticism on Brighton, 309 ; 
 and turnpike men, abusive, 64 ; 
 remarks on, 106, 107 ; suggest ed 
 punishment for, in case of acci- 
 dent, 107 ; criticisms on, 160 ; 
 improvement in, 171 ; miscon- 
 duct of, 173 ; in other employ- 
 ment, 228 ; amateur, 302 ; good 
 and bad compared, 307 ; ancient 
 and modern, 308. 
 Coachmen's room, 242. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Coach Offices : — 
 
 Age (Brighton), 177, 201, 202, 
 203, 204, 206, 207, 243, 244- 
 
 Blue (Brighton), 57, 66, 67, 73, 
 91, 105, no, 121, 124, 152, 
 157, 216, 218, 229, 225, 231, 
 238, 254, 256, 264, 265, 271, 
 275, 276, 279, 289, 295, 297, 
 298, 299. 
 
 Blue, established by Henwood 
 & Crosweller, 61. 
 
 Blue and Railway Office, 240. 
 
 Blue Van (Brighton), 219. 
 
 Bull and Mouth (Brighton), 
 180. 
 
 3 Castle Square, hi, 124, 180, 
 235, 282. 
 
 4 Castle Square, 121, 2S3. 
 
 5 Castle Squai'e, 138, 202, 206, 
 207, 244, 260. 
 
 9 Castle Square, 106, no, 257. 
 
 10 Castle Square, 105, 125, 158, 
 201, 205, 225, 265. 
 
 1 5 Castle Square, 243. 
 1 8 Castle Square, 151, 158,210, 
 211, 285, 286, 288. 
 
 52 East Street, 23S, 242, 296, 
 298. 
 
 53 East Street, 282. 
 
 44 East Street, 256, 279. 
 First established by Boulton 
 
 & Co., 60. 
 General (North Street), 66, 73. 
 General (Brighton), 270. 
 Genn's (Brighton), 262, 282. 
 Goodman's (Brighton), 177. 
 
 201, 203, 204. 
 Hine's (Brighton), 220, 238, 
 
 296, 298. 
 Hoare's (Brighton), 261. 
 New General (Brighton), 62. 
 
 134 North Street, 106, 121, 125, 
 
 130, 13 v 
 
 135 North Street, 262, 282. 
 137 North Street, 137. 
 Orton's (Brighton), 289. 
 
 Red (Brighton), 73, 86, 91, 94, 
 no, 125, 139, 158, 205, 207, 
 211, 238, 265. 
 
 Red Coach old office (North 
 Street, Brighton), 154. 
 
 Coach Offices : — 
 
 Boyal Clarence (Castle Square), 
 
 7°, 73- 
 
 125 St. James's Street (Brigh- 
 ton), 148. 
 
 Snow's (Brighton), [51, 235, 
 254, 295. 
 
 Spread Eagle (Brighton), in, 
 121, 158, 211, 231, 238, 283, 
 285, 286, 288. 
 
 Strevens's booking-office (Brigh- 
 ton), 266. 
 
 Tally-Ho (137 North Street), 
 
 137- 
 
 Times (Brighton), 225. 
 
 Union, 106, no, 121. 
 
 Whitchurch's (Brighton). 97, 
 106, 122. 
 
 Wilkin's (Brighton). 139. 
 
 Fuller's (Eastbourne), 256. 
 
 Crown (Hastings), 262. 
 
 Ball's (Lewes), 259. 
 
 Hammond's (Lewes), 260. 
 
 Pattenden's, 72. 
 
 Coach-offices, 73, 74. 
 
 Mackerell's, 84. 
 
 Pattenden's (North Street). 85. 
 
 Marsh's (London), 85. 
 
 Union, 1 r o. 
 
 Spread Eagle, 1 1 1 . 
 
 Pickpockets at, 141. 
 
 Coach and railway offices, 23S. 
 
 Coach-offices shut up in Woking 
 in 1842. 
 Coach proprietor, liability of, for 
 chaise-hire when coach could not 
 run, 71. 
 Coach proprietors, manifesto by, 
 157 ; losses of, 159 ; petition Par- 
 liament for remission of duties, 
 226. 
 Coaches for 18 14, 94 ; for 18 15, 96, 
 98, 99; for 1816, 105, 108, 109; 
 for 1819, 116, 117 ; for 1821, 124, 
 126 ; for 1826, 147 ; for 1828, 157, 
 162 ; for 1835, 209. 
 Coaches, varieties of, 164 ; double- 
 bodied, 164, 165 ; afternoon, 175, 
 176, 181. 
 Coach robberies (London), 53, 
 64, 75 ; LTnion Bank notes, 87 ; 
 
33 2 
 
 INDEX 
 
 from Knowles's van, 107 ; from 
 Blue coach, 107, 141, 142 ; from 
 Brighton mail, 153; from the 
 Dart, ib., 163. 
 Coach shares, sale of, jt>- 
 Coach Proprietors — 
 
 Adams, 224. 
 
 Ade, M. D.. 260, 261. 
 
 Alexander, 190, 198, 204, 205, 
 231, 23^. 
 
 Allen, W., 60. 
 
 Allen, Crosweller, & Co., 256. 
 
 Angell, Mr., 248. 
 
 Armitage, Colonel, 248. 
 
 Augur, Mr. E., 130. 
 
 Baker, 268. 
 
 Barratt, G., & Co., Messrs., 105. 
 
 Batchelor, James, 34, 35, 36, 
 166. 
 
 Batchelor, Tubb, Davis, & 
 Brawne, 255. 
 
 Baulcombe, J. M., 56. 
 
 Beaufort, Duke of, 247, 248. 
 
 Blaher, Mr., 219. 
 
 Blunden, Win., 154. 
 
 Blythe, Mr. Carlton, 250. 
 
 Bolton, Carpenter, & Co., 20S 
 
 Boulton, George, 74, 208. 
 
 Boulton & Co., 66, 67. 78, 91. 
 
 Boulton, Tilt, Hicks, Baul- 
 combe, & Co., 60, 67, 70, 71, 
 
 73- 
 Bradford, "Miller," 78, 86. 
 Bradford, William, 61, 96. 
 Capps, Thomas Ward, 171, 191, 
 
 201, 202, 203, 204, 207. 
 - T. W, & Co., 243, 244. 
 
 Hambleton, & Co., 299. 
 
 Chaplin, 188, 222, 223, 258. 
 Chaplin, Crunden, & Goodman, 
 
 210. 
 Chaplin & Snow, 211. 
 Chitty, Back, & Co., 258. 
 Clark, George, 258. 
 Clitherow, Colonel Stracey, 
 
 249, 250. 
 Coles, 278, 279. 
 Cooper, Mr., 153, 249. 
 Cotton, Sir St. Vincent, 210, 
 
 225, 309. 
 Craven, Mi'., 249. 
 
 Coach Proprietors: — 
 
 Cripps, William, 169, 210. 
 Cripps & Wilkins, 155, 156. 
 Crisp, Mr., 169. 
 Cross, G., 284, 285. 
 Crosweller, 57, 63, 100, 107, 
 
 123, 218, 219, 254, 258, 276, 
 
 281, 2S2, 289, 297, 298. 
 Crosweller & Co., 130, 152, 
 
 155, 160, 264, 275. 
 Crosweller & Allen, 256. 
 Crosweller & Attree, 256. 
 Crosweller & Boulton, 78, 79, 
 
 87, 91. 
 Crosweller, Cripps, Wilkins, & 
 
 Co., 124. 
 Crosweller, Fleet, & Monk, 271. 
 Crosweller, Fleet, & Smith, 273. 
 Crosweller & Hine, 65. 
 Crosweller, Pattenden, Allen. & 
 
 Green, 270, 271. 
 Crosweller, Pockney, Henwood, 
 
 & Co., 66, 67, 72. 78, 91. 
 Crosweller, Rogers, Norris, 
 
 Balchin, & Co., 121. 
 Cussell, Edmund, 229. 
 Davis, R., 255. 
 Davis & Boulton, 58, 59. 
 Davies & Co., 39. 
 Durden, W., 256. 
 Eames, John, William Home, 
 
 &Co., 91. 
 Egerton, J., 263, 264. 
 Fownes, jun.. Mr. E., 250. 
 Freeman, Mr., 104. 
 Freeman, Mr. Stewart, 249, 250, 
 
 251. 
 Fuller, Mr. T., 255, 263. 
 Gell, Mr. Pole, 248. 
 Genu, W., 123, 124, 125, 130. 
 
 131, 160. 
 Goodbun, Mr. H, 251. 
 Goodman, Mr., 159, 173, 1S1, 
 
 190, 191, 203, 205, 206, 207, 
 
 216. 
 Goodman, Egerton, Howes, 
 
 Coomber, & Chaplin, 224, 
 
 22 c, 
 Goodman & Home, 211. 
 Goodman, Hutchings, Yates, & 
 
 Ballard, 265. 
 
INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 Coach Proprietors :— 
 Gray & Co., 177, 178. 
 Gray, Nelson, & White, 130. 
 Gwyrme, Mr. S. F., 201, 202, 
 
 203, 204, 207, 245, 246. 
 Henwood, Mr., 43, 57, 58. 
 Henwood, Mr. H., jun., 60. 
 Henwood & Crosweller, 57, 59. 
 Henwood, Crosweller, Pockney, 
 
 Cuddington, & Harding, 59, 
 
 62. 
 Henwood & Scott, 39, 52, 57. 
 Henwood, Scott, & Holebrook, 
 
 42, 53- 
 Hind & Co., 160. 
 Hine, Mr., 218. 
 Hine, William, 125. 
 Hine & Co., 100, 10 1. 
 Hine, Costar, Howe, Monk, & 
 
 Co., 296, 297. 
 Hoare, Mr. J., 259-264. 
 Holmes, G, 18 r. 
 Holmes, Home, & Co., 1 10. 
 Hone & Co., 298. 
 Home, Holmes, & Goodman, 
 
 125. 
 Humphreys, Mr. A., 270. 
 Ibberson & Co., 40, 53. 
 Jackson, Mr., 251. 
 Johnstone, Whichelo, Scott, & 
 
 Henwood, 57. 
 Jones, Mr. C. T. J., 225, 245. 
 Kendal & Quartermaine, 256. 
 Knowles, 107. 
 Lacoste, Mr., 298. 
 Lanton, John, 129. 
 Laurie, Mr. Charles, 248. 
 Law, Grenville, & Crosweller, 
 
 57- 
 Lennox, Lord A., 249. 
 Londesborough, Lord, 249. 
 Loshmer & Co., 36. 
 M 'Adam & Beckett, Messrs., 250. 
 M'Calmont, Mr., 250. 
 Mackerell, 84, 86, 92. 
 Marsh & Co., 84. 
 Meek, Mr. G., 248. 
 Nelson, Mr. R., 161, 17S, 288. 
 Nelson, Mrs. Ann, 307. 
 Nelson, Belf, Stevens, & Co., 
 
 231. 
 
 Coach Proprietors :— 
 
 Nelson & Wiggins, 217. 
 
 Newman, 259. 
 
 Newman, Charles & George, 
 
 9i, 94- 
 
 Noble, Roberts, & Co., 86. 
 
 Oppenheim, Baron, 250. 
 
 Orton & Herbert, 282. 
 
 Osborne, Mr, 155. 
 
 Painter & Simcox, 94. 
 
 Pattenden, Mr., 71, 72, 73, 
 76, 77, 85, 91. 
 
 Pattenden, B., 154. 
 
 Patterson, D., 257, 261. 
 
 Pickett, 238. 
 
 Pole, Mr. Chandos, 248, 249. 
 
 Poynder, Sir J. L., 250. 
 
 Price, Mr., 129. 
 
 Peid, 268. 
 
 Bugeroh, Mr., 106. 
 
 Sanderson & Co., 145. 
 
 Scott, 58. 
 
 Selby, Mr., 142, 143, 144. 
 
 Selby, Mr. James, 250. 
 
 Sherman, Edward, 180, 188. 
 
 Shillibeer, Mr., 208. 
 
 Simcock, Thomas, 269. 
 
 Simcock, William, 268, 269. 
 
 Smart, Mr., 255. 
 
 Smith, Mr., 249, 258. 
 
 Snow, Cooper, Boyce, & Co., 
 121, 123, 124, 125 
 
 Snow, Cooper, Boyce,& Chaplin, 
 in. 
 
 Snow, Hume, Chaplin, & Good- 
 man, 158. 
 
 Snow, Mr., 105, 254, 282, 283. 
 
 Snow & Co., 151, 155, 289. 
 
 Soper & Penfold, 256. 
 
 Stevens, Hone, & Co., 298. 
 
 Stevens, Mr., 240, 276, 295, 299. 
 
 Stevens, Snow, & Goodman, 237. 
 
 Stevens, Wiggins, Relf, & Nel- 
 son, 219, 220. 
 
 Stevenson, Harry, 156, 169, 170, 
 171, 179, 201, 202, 207, 309. 
 
 Thynne, Lord H., 248. 
 
 Tiffany, Mr., 249, 250. 
 
 Tilt, Hicks, Baulcombe, Boul- 
 ton, & Co., 256.] 
 
 Tilt, Thomas, 73, 86. 
 
334 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Coach Proprietors :— 
 Tilt & Best, 73. 
 Tubb, 58. 
 Tubb, Davis, Shergold, Tilt, 
 
 Best, Hicks, & Co., 43. 
 Tubb, J., & S. Brawne, 35, 36. 
 Tubb & Davis, 21, 36, 37, 38, 
 
 42, 43, 52, 56, 6cx 
 Wagner, George, 180. 
 Waldegrave & Co., 72, 75, 76, 
 
 84, 85, 142. 
 Walker, Brothers, 245. 
 Walker, Mr. J., 283. 284, 285, 
 
 286. 
 Walker, Mr. B., 285. 
 Waterhouse, Mr., 119, 120. 
 Waterhouse & Co., 138, 149. 
 Webling, C, 102. 
 Wemyss, Mr., 250. 
 Wessen, 40, 53. 
 Whitchurch, 114, 122. 123. 
 Whitchurch, Best, & Wilkins, 
 
 121. 
 Whitchurch, Thorpe, & Co., 94. 
 Willan, J. J., 210, 225, 245. 
 Willan, J. J., & Co., 201, 202, 
 
 203, 204, 205, 206, 207. 
 Wiltshire, Lord, 250. 
 Winch & Chaplin, 167. 
 Witchurch, James, 12?. 
 Woods, Mr., 271. 
 Worcester, Marquis of, 231. 
 Coastguard stop coach, 257 ; assist 
 
 mail, 292. 
 Cobby, Mr. E., his Brighton Direc- 
 tory, 65. 
 Coburg coach, accident to, 1 14. 
 Coincidence, a curious, 2 1 2. 
 Coke, difference between that of 
 
 Loudon and Brighton, 187. 
 Coles's coach, accident to, 279. 
 Comet, accident to, 163. 
 Comet (Mr. Freeman's, 1893), pace 
 
 of, 104. 
 Comet coach (modern), excellence 
 
 of, 251. 
 "Comforts of a stage-coach," 41. 
 Company of Parish Clerks, 33, 34. 
 Company, stage-coach, 133. 
 Compensation to injured passengers, 
 145. 
 
 "Condescension, Imperial," 95. 
 
 " Conservative mail," 236. 
 
 Contractors for mnil in 181 1, 86. 
 
 " Convenience," the basket behind 
 a coach, 33. 
 
 Conveyance of mails in France, 
 185. 
 
 Conveyance, the probable first, be- 
 tween Loudon and Brighton, 
 
 32. 
 Conyngham, Marchioness of, her 
 
 position at Brighton, 15 ; the 
 
 cause of the Prince leaving 
 
 Brighton, ih. 
 Cook's " protection reins," 151. 
 Cooper, Mr., retires from coach 
 
 business, 153. 
 Cooper succeeds Ward on day mail, 
 
 22 v 
 
 Coronet coach, starting of, 169. 
 
 Cotton, Sir St. Vincent, buys 
 Willan's Age, 210. 
 
 Coupling rein, 302. 
 
 Court of King's Bench, 101, 166. 
 
 Covent Garden Market, 94. 
 
 Cox, Mrs., and the Rival coach, 
 239, 240. 
 
 Coxwainless fours, principle of, 115. 
 
 Cripps & Willan re-start Magnet, 
 210. 
 
 Criterion coach, late Quicksilver, 
 196; accident to, 197. 
 
 Cross-country coaches from Brigh- 
 ton, 253, et seq. 
 
 Cross, T., his petition, 227 ; heavily 
 fined for carrying too many pas- 
 sengers, 281. 
 
 Crosweller joins Henwood &, Scott 
 as coach proprietors, 57. 
 
 Crosweller, Mr. T., death of, 218 ; 
 his business, ih. ; succeeded by 
 Mr. Blaber, 219. 
 
 Crosweller & Attree's coach, Brigh- 
 ton to Hastings, 256. 
 
 Cruelty to horses, 143. 
 
 Cuckfield, first mentioned on road, 
 
 37- 
 Curious advertisement, a, 1 8. 
 Cussell, information against, for 
 
 drunkenness, 212. 
 Czar, a Sunday coach, 231. 
 
INDEX 
 
 •"» 1 c 
 
 Damages for injury recovered by 
 
 passenger, 164. 
 1 )anger, sources of, when driving, 
 
 3°7- 
 "Dashwood" on fast driving, 178, 
 
 179. 
 
 Day mail to Brighton, 222; abol- 
 ished, 240. 
 
 Deaths: of T. Smith (carrier), 34 ; 
 of J. Batchelor (proprietor), 36 ; 
 of Pockney, 70 ; of Mr. J. Palmer, 
 no; of Mr. Blake, 114; of two 
 children, 129 ; of Mr. H. Steven- 
 son, 169 ; of Mr. Schrador, 183 ; 
 of coachman of Brighton mail 
 at Reigate, 1 83 ; of Sir W. Cosway, 
 1 97 ; of Mr. Todhunter, ib. ; of T. 
 Crosweller, 218 ; of Cussell, 229 ; 
 of Fisher (mail-guard), 230 ; of R. 
 Davis, 255 ; of Baulcombe, 256; of 
 John Hoare (coach proprietor), 
 262 ; of William Simcock, 269 ; 
 of Thomas Simcock, ib. j of Fleet, 
 274 ; of H. Strevens, 275 ; of 
 Coles, 279 ; of driver of Ports- 
 mouth coach, 279 ; of Upfold, 
 
 293- 
 Defiance, and coaches of this name, 
 
 121. 
 
 Portsmouth, accident to, 290. 
 
 De Laune's list of waggons going 
 into Sussex, 32. 
 
 Devil's Dyke and Heniield, coach 
 route by, 70, 71. 
 
 Devonshire, coaching in, 195. 
 
 Diligence, Scott's, 67 ; diligence, a, 
 177 ; Shillibeer's, 208 ; Carpen- 
 ter's, ib. ; Eastbourne and Brigh- 
 ton, 255. 
 
 Directions to race given to a coach- 
 man, 307. 
 
 Distance run by mail-coaches, 1 84. 
 
 Ditchling and Lindfield, first coach 
 through to London, 57 ; route to 
 London, 182. 
 
 Dogs used for draught, 168, 169. 
 
 Donkey-cart, Countess of P 's, 
 
 90. 
 
 " Double mile," meaning of, 1 59. 
 
 Dover, a three days' journey from 
 London in 1640, 3T. 
 
 Dragoon Guards, First, 191. 
 
 Driving-boxes on springs, 82. 
 
 Driving, early hints for, unknown, 
 302 ; first instructions in, ib. ; 
 udes for, by whom framed, 310; 
 six and eight in hand, 313 ; two- 
 handed, 313, 314. 
 
 Driving Club, the Benson. 82 ; the 
 Bensington (Benson), 302 ; the 
 Foitr-Horse, 82, 302 ; its break- 
 down, 302. 
 
 Duke of Beaufort coach started, 235. 
 
 Dummy parcel, a, 267. 
 
 Durdens Hastings coach, 256. 
 
 Duties, remission of, sought by 
 coach proprietors, 226. 
 
 Eastbourne and Hastings coach, 
 
 coachman of, stopped for carrying 
 
 contraband goods, 257. 
 Eastbourne and Hastings, routes to 
 
 and from, 257. 
 
 and Lewes, 255. 
 
 New Inn, reconstruction of, 
 
 263. 
 Echo coach, action v. coachman of, 
 
 199. 
 Eclipse coach, accident to, 148. 
 Edinburgh, coaches to, from London, 
 
 132. 
 Elderberry wine at the Tangier, 65. 
 Elizabeth, death of Queen, 237. 
 Era coach started, 219. 
 Essays on driving, the first, 302. 
 Execution of Howell and Rooke for 
 
 robbing Brighton mail, 55. 
 
 Falmouth to Thurso, coaching 
 
 between, 132. 
 Fares, otter to return, in case of 
 unpunctuality, 7 1 . 
 
 - in 1813, 92. 
 
 in 1 82 1, 124. 
 
 in 1827, 151. 
 
 during opposition, 151. 
 
 in 1828, 159, 165. 
 
 reduced, 178. 
 
 bargaining for, 199. 
 
 reduced in 1837, 217. 
 
 passenger, insufficient to pay 
 
 coach, 220. 
 
136 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fares in 1838, 225. 
 
 between Portsmouth and Bath 
 
 and Bristol, 280. 
 cheap, between Brighton and 
 
 Southampton, 289. 
 Farmers aiding smugglers, 257. 
 Farnham Protector coach, 298. 
 Fast coach between Brighton, Bath, 
 
 and Bristol, 2 89. 
 wear and tear of horse 
 
 flesh in, 308. 
 driving, "Dash wood" on, 178, 
 
 179. 
 Fee system, 136, 137. 
 
 " Field, The," Soft Soap's letter to, 
 310. 
 
 First coach on Brighton road after 
 collapse of old coaches, 247. 
 
 Fisher (mail -guard), fatal accident 
 to, 230. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Mrs., her house, 9 ; 
 birth and parentage, ib. ; her his- 
 tory, 10 ; first seen by Prince of 
 Wales at Richmond, ib. ; her 
 marriage with Prince of Wales, 
 11 ; her death, 12. 
 
 Fleet (coachman), his dread of acci- 
 dent from badness of Tunbridge 
 Wells road, 272, 273 ; accidents 
 to, 273 ; his death, 274. 
 
 Fleet Prison, the, 100. 
 
 Floods, 81, 156, 262, 281. 
 
 Flying Dutchman (train), the, 145. 
 
 Flying machine (stage), from Brigh - 
 ton to London, 33. 
 
 Flying Scotchman (train), the, 145. 
 
 Folding whip, 304. 
 
 Forage, contract prices for, in 1893, 
 97 ; rise in price of, 61. 
 
 Four Horse Driving Club, 82, 302 ; 
 founded, 247 ; its break-down, 
 302. 
 
 Foxhounds used for draught, 169. 
 
 France, conveyance of mails in, 185. 
 
 Freeman, Mr. Stewart, first takes 
 Brighton road, 249 ; buys his 
 horses instead of contracting, 
 251. 
 
 French Government desire to buy 
 English mail-coaches, 106. 
 
 Frosts, 81, 278. 
 
 Full hand, driving with a, explained, 
 
 303. 
 Fuller's Lewes and Eastbourne coach, 
 
 Furious driving, penalty for, 151, 
 190, 223. 
 
 Galloping, 179. 
 
 Gammon, Mr., his Bill for limiting 
 
 number of outside passengers, 24, 
 
 26. 
 General Stage-Coach Company, 134, 
 
 135, 136, 137, 138. 146. 
 
 Genii's coaches managed by New- 
 man, 123; his coaches in 182 1, 
 124. 
 
 "Gentleman's Magazine" and Brigh- 
 ton, 2. 
 
 "Gentlemen coachmen," 81, 245; 
 " Nimrod" on, 201. 
 
 Gentry, the, aiding smugglers, 
 257. 
 
 George III. visits Weymouth, 10. 
 
 George and Blue Boar, coaches from, 
 130 ; its accommodation, 131 ; to 
 be let, ib. 
 
 German coaches, 149. 
 
 German Legion, 81. 
 
 Gig-horse, frightened by steam - 
 coach, 186. 
 
 "Gin and bitters," the drink of 
 coachmen in last century, 48. 
 
 Glasgow, coaches to, from London, 
 132. 
 
 Gloucester mail put on, 290. 
 
 "God permits," meaning of, 41. 
 
 Going down-hill with short wheel- 
 rein, 302, 303. 
 
 Good coachmen, do they depend 
 upon bad roads ? 309. 
 
 Goodman and Marcpiis of Worces- 
 ter, 190. 
 
 Great Western Railway, 299. 
 
 Green peas, price of, in 18 14, 94. 
 
 Gronow, Captain, on Prince of Wales 
 (George IV.), 15. 
 
 Growth of coachmanship, 300 et seq. 
 
 Guards seldom carried by old 
 coaches, 53 ; not carried by or- 
 dinary coaches, 163 ; mail-coach, 
 salaries of, raised, 238. 
 
I N I >EX 
 
 Guards :— 
 
 Dackombe, 248. 
 
 Fisher, 230. 
 
 Goodwin, 311. 
 
 Phillips, 2 48. 
 
 Taylor, 291. 
 Gully, John, and " The I Ihieken," 97. 
 Gwyime, Mr. F. Sackville, sketch 
 of, 245, 246. 
 
 Hack sold to Prince of Wales 
 
 (George IV.), 80. 
 Hackney Carriage Act, 190. 
 Hackney carriages at Brighton, 3. 
 "Hackney, Hell and," 172. 
 Hambledon Cricket Club, 202. 
 Hampshire Hounds, 202. 
 Hancock's steam-coach, 186, 187. 
 Hastings coach (Durden's), 256. 
 Hastings, coaches from, 265 ; coach- 
 ing arrangements from, in 1842, 
 
 266. 
 Hastings and Brighton coaches, 264. 
 Hastings coach, coachman of, stopped 
 
 for carry ing contraband goods, 2 5 7. 
 Hastings and Eastbourne, routes 
 
 between, 257. 
 Hayward's Heath, railway opened 
 
 to, 237. 
 Hayward's Heath to Brighton, coach 
 
 contracts asked for by railway 
 
 company, 236. 
 Heavy penalties for carrying more 
 
 than j>roper number of passengers, 
 
 281. 
 " Hedge ale-house," 45. 
 Height of coach, 28, 29. 
 " Hell and Hackney," 172. 
 Hero (Whitchurch's), first coach to 
 
 do double journey in one day, 94. 
 
 Oxford coach, 296 ; changes 
 
 hands, 299. 
 
 High charge for luggage, 242. 
 Hill's steam-carriage, 234, 235, 236. 
 Hine, Mrs., goes into business, 241. 
 
 W., a popular coachman, 100, 
 
 101 ; drives the Alert, 125. 
 
 " History of Coaches "(Thrupp's), 83. 
 Hitting wheelers, "Nimrod" on, 304. 
 Hoare, J., death of, 262 ; sale of his 
 stock, 262, 263. 
 
 Holmes, Theophilus, misconduct of, 
 
 173- 
 
 Horse Guards Parade, the, 119. 
 
 Horse, a lame, 208. 
 
 used by Mr. Weare and Thur- 
 
 tell, 286. 
 
 Horse flesh, wear and tear of, in fast 
 coaches, 308. 
 
 Horse-keeper, suicide of, 241. 
 
 Horse-keepers sometimes drove, 226. 
 
 Horsemanship, treatises on, 303. 
 
 Horses, private, sometimes driven 
 in coaches on procession days, 
 1 20 ; cruelty to, 143 ; coach, 180 ; 
 notable coach, 286 ; without coach- 
 man, 293 ; putting together, 303 ; 
 courage of, destroyed by bad roads, 
 304 ; punished less than formerly, 
 304- 
 
 Horse-shoe, a hinged, 1 10. 
 
 Horsham, coach through, 91. 
 
 Hour of starting optional when 
 whole of coach booked, y^- 
 
 House of Commons, 11, 24, 25, 27, 
 227, 243. 
 
 Howell and Kooke executed, 55. 
 
 Hull, coaches to and from London, 
 
 J 3-- 
 Husbands' boat, the, 141. 
 
 Hyde Park Corner, picture of, 83. 
 
 " Imperial condescension," 94. 
 Improvement in coachmen, 171. 
 Increase of fares consequent upon 
 
 coach-duty, 60. 
 " Infant," the. See Steam-carriage. 
 Informations and informers, 25, 27, 
 29, 129, 142, 143, 144, 145, 154, 
 155, 174, 189, 212, 223, 231. 
 Ixxs : — 
 Country : — - 
 
 Anchor (Chichester), 285. 
 Angel (Oxford), 296. 
 Angel (Tunbridge Wells), 270. 
 Bear (Lewes), 68, 256. 
 Calverley Park Hotel (Tun- 
 bridge Wells), 276. 
 Castle (Brighton), 35, ^7, 41, 
 
 42, 52. 
 Castle Hotel (Castle Square), 7^. 
 Chequers (Horley), 248. 
 
333 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Inns : — 
 
 Country : — 
 
 Clarence Hotel (Brighton), 1S1, 
 
 208, 289. 
 Cock (Sutton), 51, 65. 
 Crown (Lewes), 256. 
 Crown and Cutter (Hastings), 
 
 257. 
 Dolphin (Chichester), 282. 
 Friars Oak, 230. 
 George (Henfield), 1 54. 
 Globe (Brighton), 212. 
 Gloucester (Brighton), 194. 
 Golden Cross (Brighton), 57, 
 
 105. 
 Golden Fleece (Brighton), 242. 
 Greyhound (Brighton), 271. 
 Gun (Brighton), 40, 270. 
 Harrison's (Brighton), 40, 270. 
 Kentish Hotel, 274. 
 King's Arms (Brighton), 10 1. 
 King's Arms (Reigate), 49. 
 King's Head (Brighton), 124, 
 
 150. 
 King's Head (Cuckfield), 1 14. 
 King's Head (Horsham), 224, 
 
 King and Queen (Brighton), 
 
 124, 193, 194, 256. 
 Leg of Mutton (Ashstead), 1 54. 
 Marine (Brighton), 188. 
 New (Brighton), 59, 60, 61, 79, 
 
 80,86,91, 155. 
 New (Eastbourne), 256, 263. 
 New (Tunbridge Wells), 270. 
 New Steine (Brighton), 192. 
 Pitt's Head (Hand Cross), 234. 
 Royal Oak (Brighton), 124. 
 Schooner, 291. » 
 
 Seven Stars (Brighton), 271. 
 Ship, New (Brighton), 37, 41, 
 
 42, 52, 56, 60. 
 Ship, Old (Brighton), 33, 39, 
 
 42, 43, 52,97, 102, 104, 164, 
 
 251. 
 Star (Lewes), 37. 
 Star (Oxford), 296. 
 Star and Garter (Brighton), 
 
 257. 
 Soper (Tunbridge Wells), 270. 
 Sussex Pad, 279. 
 
 Inns : — 
 
 Country : — 
 
 Swan (Chichester), 282, 290. 
 Swan (Tunbridge Wells), 271. 
 Tangier (Banstead Downs), 65. 
 White Hart (Cuckfield), 37. 
 White Hart (Lewes), 35, 257. 
 White Hart (Reigate), 23, 97. 
 White Horse (Brighton), 39, 
 
 40, 53. 57, 59- 60. 
 White Lion (Brighton), 57, 67. 
 Londonlnns and Booking-Offices: — 
 Albion and York, 180. 
 Angel (Islington), 23S. 
 
 (St. Clement Danes, 
 
 Strand), 72, 78, 85, 91. 
 Axe (Aldermanbury), 1 38. 
 Belle Sauvage, 67, 86, 91, 219. 
 Black Bear (Piccadilly), 130. 
 Blossoms (Cheapside), 39, 42, 
 
 53, 57, 58, 59, 60,219. 
 Blossoms (Lawrence Lane), 65, 
 
 66, 67. 
 Blue Boar (Holbom), 40, 57. 
 Boar and Castle (Oxford Street), 
 
 106, 130, 209, 297. 
 Bolt-in-Tun (Fleet Street), 69, 
 
 74, 85, 130, 151, 177. 
 British Coffee-House (Cockspur 
 
 Street), 203. 
 British Office (Cockspur Street), 
 
 209. 
 Brown's Gloucester Warehouse 
 
 (Oxford Street), 167. 
 Bull Inn (Bishopsgate), 72, 84, 
 
 85, 92, 121. 
 (Holborn), 68, 23S. 
 
 — and Gate (Holborn), 36. 
 
 — (Leadenhall Street), 1 1 4, 
 124, 125. 
 
 — and Mouth, 79, 80. 
 (Oxford Street), 205. 
 
 — ■ (Regent ( lircus), 201, 
 
 209. 
 Catherine Wheel (Borough), 85. 
 Cross Keys (Cheapside), 1 10. 
 
 (Wood Street), 57. 
 
 Crown and Anchor, 44. 
 
 Elephant and Castle, 42, 51, 
 
 68, 103, 107, 171, 176, 191, 
 
1XDKX 
 
 jo 9 
 
 Inns : — 
 
 London Inn* and I!<>i>l,inii-( ijficts; — 
 
 Feathers Coach-Office, 203. 
 
 Four Swans, 94. 
 
 George (Holborn), 40, 57. 
 
 (Southvvark), 32, 33. 
 
 George and Blue Boar (Hol- 
 born), 130, 131. 
 
 Globe (Baker Street), 205, 244. 
 
 Gloucester Warehouse (Park 
 Street), 203. 
 
 Coffee-House (Piccadilly), 
 
 60, 67, 106, 138, 238. 
 
 •Golden Cross (Charing Cross), 
 
 35, 36, 37, 39, 4o, 41, 42, 43, 
 51, 52, 60, 64, 67, 70, 74, 79, 
 
 10 
 
 5, 
 
 I IO. 
 
 •Green Man and Still (Oxford 
 
 Street), 68, 238. 
 
 (Griffen's), 209. 
 
 (Mosse's, Oxford Street), 
 
 203. 
 Half Moon (Gracechurch 
 
 Street), 209. 
 Hare and Hounds, 1 5 3. 
 Hatchett's New White Horse 
 
 Cellar, 53, 57, 59, 66, 67, 102, 
 
 138, 157, 199, 209. 
 Hungerford Office (Strand), 
 
 203. 
 Lamb (Lamb's Conduit Street), 
 
 130, 177. 
 Mecklenburgh Coffee -House 
 
 (Cockspur Street), 68. 
 •Old Bell (Holborn), 101. 
 Old Black Boar (Piccadilly), 
 
 124. 
 Old White Horse Cellar, 58,60, 
 
 67, 68, 138. 
 Peacock (Islington), 133. 
 Plough (Carey Street), 100. 
 Price's Coach-Office (Islington), 
 
 130. 
 Queen's Head (Southwark), 32. 
 Royal Bedford (London), 180. 
 St. James's Tavern, 72. 
 Sanderson's (Oxford Street), 1 57. 
 Ship (Charing Cross), 92, 124, 
 
 171. 
 -Silver Cross (Charing Cross), 
 209. 
 
 Inns : — 
 London Inn* and Booking-Offices: — 
 Spread Eagle (Gracechurch 
 
 Street), 37, 40, 70, 91, 121, 
 
 151, 158. 
 Spread E.tgle Office (Webb's 
 
 Hotel, Piccadilly), 151. 
 Spread Eagle Office (Regent 
 
 Circus), 167, 203. 
 Star and Garter, 10. 
 Sussex Coffee -House (Fleet 
 
 Street), 74. 
 Sussex Hotel (Fleet Street), 
 
 130. 
 Swan (Charing ( !ross), 40. 
 Swan with Two Necks (Doc- 
 tors' Commons), 37. 
 Swan with Two Necks (Lad 
 
 Lane), 37, 60, 67, 70, 74, 138. 
 Talbot (Southwark), 32, 33, 35. 
 Tally-Ho Coach -Office (Royal 
 
 Exchange), 130. 
 Three Kings (Piccadilly), 210. 
 Webb's Hotel (Piccadilly), 121, 
 
 151. 
 White Bear (Piccadilly), 40, 92, 
 
 94, no. 
 White Horse (Fetter Lane), 84, 
 
 86, 92. 
 White Horse Cellar, New (Pic- 
 cadilly), 53, 57, 59, 138. 
 White Horse Cellar, Old (Pic- 
 cadilly), 58, 60, 138. 
 White Lion (Talbot Court, 
 Gracechurch Street), 85. 
 Inverness, coaches to, from London, 
 
 132. 
 " Iter Sussexiense," Dr. J. Burton's, 
 20. 
 
 Jones, Mr. C. T., buys Age (Cot- 
 ton's), 225. 
 
 Journey from Brighton to London, 
 47 et seq. 
 
 "Justice, 1 ' 77. 
 
 King's Bench, Court oe, ioi, 166. 
 King's birthday, new coach started 
 
 on, 125. See Procession of Mails, 
 
 and Mails, Procession of. 
 King's Road first named, 146. 
 
M° 
 
 INDEX 
 
 King's Speech, report of, taken to 
 
 Brighton, 176. 
 Knibb Pump, 13. 
 Knowles's van, robbery from, 107. 
 
 Lade, Sir John, his salary, 13 ; his 
 position, ib. ; his wife, ib. ; his 
 coachmanship, ib., 14 ; his wager 
 with Lord Cholmondeley, ib. 
 
 Lady, 1 3. 
 
 Lament on decay of the road, 244, 
 
 ?45- 
 Landaus v. coaches, 82. 
 
 " Lass of Richmond Hill," 10. 
 
 Last coacli from Lewes to London, 
 
 244. 
 
 coach on short route, 244. 
 
 Lawyer, a coachman's. 1 56. 
 Leaders, early, probably ridden, 301. 
 
 a Nimrod" on hitting, 304, 305. 
 
 — — ■ cannot be punished like 
 
 wheelers, 305. 
 Lecture, Bob Pointer's, 191. 
 Left hand, position of, 310. 
 Legislation against overcrowding 
 
 coaches, advantage of, 142. 
 Letter, penalty for sending by coach, 
 
 93- 
 Letters, could nut be carried by 
 
 coachmen, 93. 
 
 Lewes, races, 14 ; on original road 
 between London and Brighton, 
 20, 21 ; conveyances to, 20, 21, 
 32 ; early coach to, 33 ; coach to 
 London via, 83 ; coach from, to 
 Brighton Station, 240, 254 et seq.; 
 new road to Eastbourne, 258 ; 
 number of coaches to Brighton, 
 261 ; Hoods at, 262. 
 
 Eastbourne and Hastings road, 
 
 254 et seq. 
 
 — ■ — and Eastbourne coach (Ful- 
 ler's), 255. 
 
 Light coaches, 259. 
 
 List of coaches for 1792, 52, 53. 
 
 List of coaches for 181 1 : from Blue 
 Office, 84 ; from Red Office, 84, 85. 
 
 Littlehampton Ferry, Brighton and 
 Bognor coaches cross, 286. 
 
 Liverpool, coaches to, from London, 
 1 32. 
 
 London and Brighton coach and 
 posting routes, 21, 22, 23. 
 
 London and Brighton, journey be- 
 tween, described, 65. 
 
 London and Brighton Railway, 31, 
 
 i75< n -o7- 
 London General Omnibus Co., the, 
 
 134- 
 London road, bad state of, in 1841,. 
 
 241. 
 London traffic, 308. 
 Long-bodied carriage suggested in 
 
 lieu of coaches, 44. 
 Lord ( '. Somerset and the soldier, 81.. 
 Losses of coach proprietors, 1 59. 
 Luggage, conveyance of heavy, 165.. 
 Luggage on coach roof, 107. 
 Lunatic in coach, 280. 
 
 Maokerell and Waldegrave, 86. 
 
 Magnet coach, narrow escape of,. 
 from accident, 150; re-started,. 
 210. 
 
 Maidstone, coach communication 
 with Brighton, 270. 
 
 Mail (Brighton), a new night, 79 ; 
 narrow escape of, from accident,. 
 150 ; in snowstorm of 1836, 214. 
 
 contractors tor, in 181 1, 86. 
 
 day to Brighton, 222 ; abol- 
 ished, 240. 
 
 night, accident to, 241. 
 
 Eastbourne and Hastings, 263.. 
 
 London and Hastings, 263. 
 
 — defective arrangements of, on 
 Portsmouth road, 290. 
 
 — Gloucester and Brighton, 291. 
 bagsof Gloucester mail brought 
 
 on during snowstorm, 291 et seq. 
 
 — between Brighton and Chi- 
 
 chester, 279. 
 — boys armed and dressed in 
 
 partial uniform, 69. 
 Mail-carts, no passenger to lie carried 
 
 in, 185 ; fare of, 185. 
 Mail-coach, the first ever run, 42 ;. 
 
 first on Brighton road, 42, 43. 
 (Brighton), hired to convey 
 
 officers, 43, 44. 
 contractors, complaints oL, 
 
 185. 
 
INDEX 
 
 541 
 
 Mail-coach system, invented by Mr. 
 Palmer, M.P., 42. 
 
 teams on King's birthday, [9, 
 
 20. 
 
 Mail-coaches, French offer for, 106 ; 
 first procession of, on King's birth- 
 day, 119; distance run by, 184. 
 
 Mails, departure of, from G.P.O., 
 London, 80; contract for carrying, 
 100; procession of, 119; pro- 
 cession of, account of, 120 ; route 
 of procession of, 121 ; despatch of, 
 during snowy weather, 216 ; Lon- 
 don and Portsmouth collide, 
 279 ; H.M., contracts for, 280 ; 
 delay of Liverpool and Man- 
 chester, 291. 
 
 Manchester, coaches to, from Lon- 
 don, 132. 
 
 Manifesto of coach proprietors, 1 57. 
 
 Margate, coaches to, from Brighton, 
 258. 
 
 Match teams, Mr. J. Walkers, 284. 
 
 Matthews's safety-coach, 123. 
 
 Mellish, Colonel, 13 ; his extrava- 
 gance, 14 ; a good coachman, ib.; 
 matches his horse against one of 
 Lord Darlington's, ib. 
 
 Mendicants, youthful, 102, 103. 
 
 " Merry Doctor Brighton," 6. 
 
 Michel Grove estate, sale of, 285. 
 
 Miles run by stage-coaches, 227. 
 
 Miles, Smoaker, and the Prince of 
 Wales, 16, 1 7 ; and the I tandies, 1 7. 
 
 Millis, the family, 297, 298. 
 
 Millis, John, coachman, Brighton 
 to Windsor and Farnham, 297, 
 298. 
 
 Milton, Rev. W., his patent coach, 
 118. 
 
 Misconduct of coachmen, 171, 172, 
 
 173- 
 Modern coaches, parade of, 1 19. 
 Modern coachmen, a word for, 308, 
 
 309- 
 Morning coaches, 72, 73. 
 
 Names : — 
 
 Akehurst, William, 148. 
 Alexander, 204. 
 Alexander, the Emperor, 94. 
 
 Names : — 
 
 Allen, 1 io. 
 
 Amelia, Princess, 7. 
 
 "Amelia, Queen," 283. 
 
 Amiat, A., 171, 172, 173. 
 
 Attree, 124. 
 
 Aust, 69. 
 
 Baillie, 76. 
 
 Balls, Captain, 2. 
 
 Bannister, 49, 101. 
 
 Barrett & Burgess, 94. 
 
 Baxter, Sarah, 53, 54. 
 
 Beale, 193. 
 
 Beaufort, Duke of, 190, 192, 
 247, 312. 
 
 Beckett. H. L., 102. 
 
 Birch, 280. 
 irch, C; 1 14. 
 
 Bishop, 34, 65. 
 
 Bishop, J. G., 5, 7. 
 
 Blake, 1 14. 
 
 Blewman, Thomas, 32. 
 
 Bliicher, 281. 
 
 Bonner, 33. 
 
 Brodie, Captain, 101, 102. 
 
 Brown, Tom, 133. 
 
 Brown, Hall, Lashmar, & West 
 (proprietors of the Union 
 Bank, Brighton), 87. 
 
 Buckle, 14. 
 
 Bunker, Charles, 274. 
 
 Burrell, Sir W., 3. 
 
 Burt, 1 1 . 
 
 Burton, Dr. J., 20. 
 
 Busliy, C. A., 188. 
 
 Byers (the informer), 142, 143, 
 
 144, 154, 155, 156, 174, 189. 
 
 < Yimbridge Graduate, the, 170. 
 Cary, 2, 96, 98, 99, 108, 109, 
 
 116, 117, 126, 127, 133, 146, 
 
 147, 152. 
 Caroline of Brunswick, it, 15. 
 ( 'arpenter, 208. 
 ( 'arter, Mrs., 74. 
 
 < lassell, 208. 
 
 Chamberlayne, 30, 31, 41. 
 Chamier, 199, 200. 
 Charlemore, G. F. A., 18. 
 Charles VI. (Emperor), 19. 
 Chatfield, John, 220, 221. 
 
 ( !hesterfield, Lord, 245. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Names : — 
 
 "Chicken, the Game" (prize- 
 tighter), ioo. 
 Chifney, 14. 
 
 Cholmondelev, Lord, 14. 
 CI itherow, Colonel Stracey, 249, 
 
 250. 
 Cobbs, Edward, 5. 
 Cobby, E., 65. 
 Colbatch, 214. 
 Collins, 5. 
 
 Conyngham, Lord, 15. 
 Conyngham, Marchioness of, 1 5. 
 Cooper, Eenimore, 179. 
 Corbett, Colonel, 310, 312. 
 Cosway, Sir William, 197, 198, 
 
 199. 
 Coutts, Messrs., 1 1. 
 Coventry, Sir William, 2. 
 Cox, Mrs., 239. 
 Cressett, 31. 
 Croom, 74. 
 
 Cumberland, Duke of, 7. 
 Cussell, Edward, 212. 
 Dagaty (artist), 83. 
 Dale, 129. 
 
 Dance, Sir Charles, 188. 
 Darlington, Lord, 14. 
 "Dashwood," 179, 182. 
 Davis, 6. 
 Davis, John, I},. 
 De Laune, 32, 41. 
 De Quincey, Thomas, 1 1 1 . 
 Devonshire, Duchess of, 11. 
 Dumsdale, 168, 169. 
 Dundreary, Lord, 189. 
 Edgworth, 118. 
 Edwards, 270. 
 Egan, Pierce, 169. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 3, 33. 237. 
 Emery, 10 1. 
 Eutropius, 30. 
 Faithful, G., 101. 
 Fife, Lord, 1 5. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Mrs., 9, 10, 11, 12. 
 For rant, 295. 
 
 Fosbroke, Four-in-Hand, 145. 
 Fox, Charles James, 10, 11. 
 Franklin, Lieutenant, 292. 
 Freeman, Mr. Stewart, 249, 250, 
 251. 
 
 Names : — 
 
 Fuller, Captain, E.N., 174. 
 "Game Chicken," the (prize- 
 fighter), 100. 
 Gammon, Mr., 24. 
 George III., 7, 10, 25, 27. 
 George IV., 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 
 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 65, 102. 
 Girton, 23. 
 Goldsmith, Dr., 6. 
 Gower, Stephen, 73. 
 Gregory, James, 74. 
 Gregson (prize-fighter), 100. 
 Gronow, Captain, 15. 
 Gully, John, 97, 100. 
 Gwynne, Colonel, 246. 
 Haddon, Major, 206. 
 Hancock. Thomas, 186, 187, 
 
 188, 189, 234, 235. 
 Hannington, Messrs., 13. 
 
 Harris, D. L., 204. 
 
 Haworth, Captain, 168,248, 249. 
 
 Head, Catherine, 68. 
 
 Hicks, John, 73. 
 
 Hill, the Rev. Rowland, 101. 
 
 Hills, 235. 
 
 Hine, Mrs., 241. 
 
 Hoare. 75. 
 
 Hoare, Mrs., 196. 
 
 Howell, 54, 55 ; deatli of, 70. 
 
 Hudson. 215. 
 
 Hunter, Captain, 193. 
 
 Leal, Miss, 65. 
 
 Jessett, Rev. T., B.A., 133. 
 
 Johnson (informer), 142, 240. 
 
 Johnson, Dr., 6. 
 
 Jones, John, 131. 
 
 Joseelyn, Lord, 227. 
 
 Julius Caesar, 3. 
 
 Kemp, 8. 
 
 Lade, Letitia, 13. 
 
 Lade, Sir John, 13, 14. 
 
 "Lai, Old," 168, 169. 
 
 Langdale, Hon. Charles, 1 1. 
 
 Letitia Lade, 13. 
 
 Lever, 198. 
 
 Lewis, 240. 
 
 Lewis, Sir George, 240. 
 
 Life Guards, First, 101. 
 
 "Mad" Wyndliam, 114. 
 Mainland, < laptain, 101. 
 
I XDEX 
 
 543 
 
 Names : — 
 
 Malet, Captain, [96, 287, 302. 
 
 Malmesbury, Lord, 10. 
 
 Mathews (the actor), 100, 101. 
 
 M'Conagher, Dr., 288. 
 
 Mae Mullen, 220. 
 
 Mellish, Colonel, 13, 14. 
 
 Mello, Sebastian, 5. 
 
 Miles, Smoaker, 16, 17. 
 
 Milton, Rev. William, 118. 
 
 Minshull, 171. 
 
 Mortlock, J., 122. 
 
 Munden, 101. 
 
 " Nimrod," 81, 195, 196, 201, 
 245,265,284, 302,303, 304, 305. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 285. 
 
 "Old Lai," 168, 169. 
 
 Palmer, Mr. J. (Postmaster- 
 General), 42, 106, no, [II. 
 
 Pasco, Mr., 294, 295. 
 
 Paterson, 2, 133. 
 
 Pelham, Lord and Lady, 7. 
 
 Peacock, 87, 88. 
 
 Pearce, Henry (prize-fighter), 
 100. 
 
 Pearson, 193. 
 
 Pepys, Samuel, 2. 
 
 " Perdita" Robinson, 10. 
 
 Phillips, 80. 
 
 Pockney, death of, 70. 
 
 Pollen, the Rev. Mr., 223. 
 
 Pomegranate (horse), 286. 
 
 Prince of Wales (afterwards 
 George IV.), 6,7,8,9, 10, 11, 
 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 70, 
 80, 102. 
 
 Prodgers, Mrs. G, 24. 
 
 Querini, 215. 
 
 Quick, 10 1. 
 
 Ram, John, 13. 
 
 Ramsay, Dean, 41. 
 
 Relhan, Dr., 3, 4. 
 
 Rennie, Sir John, 243 
 
 Reynardson, Birch, 14S, 287, 
 
 313- 
 Rickards, James, 86, 
 Robinson, "Perdita," 10. 
 Rolland, A. (informer), 1 54. 
 Rooke, 54, 55, 56. 
 Rowlandson (artist), 83. 
 Russell, Dr., 5. 
 
 Names : — 
 
 Russell, Mr., 101. 
 Sandal, 287. 
 Sanderson, 130. 
 Srhomberg, 303. 
 Schrader, 183. 
 Scott, 67. 
 Scott, A., 280. 
 Scott, Sir David, 155, 268. 
 Scrase, 75. 
 Shee, 74, 75. 
 
 Shelley & Co., Messrs., 61. 
 Shergold, 47, 73. 
 Shotter, 267. 
 Sidney, S., 161. 
 " Sixteen-String .lack," 13. 
 Slight, 181. 
 Smith, Thomas, 34. 
 Smoaker Miles, 16, 17. 
 Smoaker (horse), 1 7. 
 Smythe, Sir E., 9. 
 Smythe, William, 9. 
 Somerset, Duke of, ig. 
 Somerset, Lord C, 81, 92. 
 Spain, King of, 1 9. 
 Stephens, Lieutenant, 292. 
 Stevens, Mary, 266. 
 Stewart, Mrs., 164. 
 Stokes, 198. 
 Story, Justice, 152. 
 Stringer, 198. 
 Sugon, 193. 
 Swizzle, Roger, 5. 
 Taylor, 105. 
 Taylor, R,, 173. 
 
 Taylor and Lawrence, Drs., 193. 
 Tayleur, Mr., 269. 
 Thackeray, 6. 
 Thornton, 101. 
 Thurtell, 2S6. 
 Tierney, Sir M., 101. 
 Tilt, Thomas, 73. 
 Todhunter, 197, 199. 
 Torrington, Lord, 60. 
 Treacher, Messrs., 73, 254. 
 Tylish, 73 . 
 
 Vallance & Co., 66, 67. 
 " Vampire," 1 39. 
 " Viator," 242. 
 
 "Viator Junior," 159, 160, 161, 
 170, 205, 309. 
 
344 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Names : — 
 
 Villebois, J. T., 202 
 Walker, 97. 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 8, 19. 
 Ward, C. S., 191, 194, 195. 
 Warde, John, 38, 82. 
 Watson, Sir Henry, 1 88. 
 Wattier, 15. 
 Weare, 286. 
 Weld, 9, 10. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 237. 
 Weltje, 9. 
 Weston & Co., 87. 
 Whitbread, 93. 
 Wightman, 135. 
 Wilde, 181. 
 William III., 300. 
 William IV., 176. 
 Winterton, Countess of, 131. 
 Wombwell, Captain, 101, 102. 
 Wood, Thomas, 236. 
 Worcester, Marquis of, 190, 191. 
 Wyndham, "Mad," 114. 
 York, Duke of, 12, 13. 
 Navigation taught in Brighton 
 
 schools, 4. 
 Nelson, Mrs. Ann, reputed saying 
 
 of, 307. 
 Newcastle, coaches to, from London, 
 
 132 ; coach, prospectus of, 137. 
 New Inn. Eastbourne, reconstruc- 
 tion of, 263. 
 Newman, driver and manager of 
 
 Genn's coaches, 123. 
 New road into Brighton. 70. 
 New Royal Union Eour-Horse Stage 
 Company, 67, 68 ; disclaimer of 
 accident by, 68 ; run a coach from 
 Lewes to London via Brighton, 68. 
 Newspapers : — 
 
 Town and Country: — 
 
 "Annual Register," 45. 103. 
 "Brighton Advertiser," 133. 
 'Brighton Gazette," 97, 120, 
 123, 124, 131, 134, 139, 144, 
 
 l SS- I5 6 , '75. '76, 'So, i85, 
 192, 201, 207, 213, 221, 232, 
 241, 242, 262, 266, 271, 272, 
 273, 286, 288, 293. 
 " Brighton Guardian," 181, 206, 
 207. 
 
 Newspapers : — 
 
 Town and Country : — 
 
 "Brighton Herald," 71, 74, 80, 
 82, 83, 89, 94, 107, no, III, 
 1 12, 1 18, 119, 122, 124, 128, 
 132, 142, 205, 257. 
 
 "Field," 310, 312, 313. 
 
 " Gentleman's Magazine," 2, 4. 
 
 "Hampshire Chronicle," 155. 
 
 "Leeds Intelligencer," 149. 
 
 "London Weekly Review," 157. 
 
 " Morning Advertiser," 26. 
 
 " Morning Chronicle," 1, 43, 
 
 44, 45- 
 " Morning Herald," i 58. 
 
 " Morning Post," 234. 
 
 "Newcastle Chronicle," 137. 
 
 " New Sjiorting Magazine," 178. 
 
 " Observer," 185. 
 
 " Public Advertiser," 26, 41. 
 
 "Quarterly Review," 201. 
 
 "Sporting Magazine," 56, 61, 
 
 149, 158, 159, 162, 1 82, 196, 
 
 243, 265, 302, 303, 309, 312. 
 " Sussex Advertiser," 1, 4, 8, 34, 
 
 39, 43, 44, 45, 53, 61, 63, 69, 
 
 134, 255. 
 " Sussex Gazette," 106. 
 " Sussex Weekly Advertiser," 
 
 35- 
 "Times," 130. 
 "Yorkshire Herald," 184. 
 New Times coach jmt on road, ] 10. 
 Night coaches, 42, 59, 67, 70, 71, 
 
 72, 74, 75, 79, 105, 158. 
 '• Nimrod " on gentlemen coachmen, 
 201 ; essays on coaching, 302 ; on 
 hitting wheelers, 304. 
 Northumberland pits, brakes used 
 on trolleys in, 218. 
 
 ( )ats, French, 96, 97. 
 
 Old Richmond omnibuses, drivers 
 
 of, 228. 
 
 Old Shi]) (Brighton)-, a coaching- 
 house, 251. 
 
 Old Times coach (1866) started, 248. 
 
 Omnibus and coaches, 165. 
 
 to Shoreham, 240. 
 
 Omnibuses, 177, 295 ; and flys 
 started, 240 ; in Brighton. 242. 
 
1 NDEX 
 
 345 
 
 Opening of early railways, 223 ; of 
 
 line to Brighton, 240. 
 Opposition coaches, 35, 36, 39, 40, 
 
 42 ; morning, 72, 137, 162, 190, 
 
 191, 210. 
 Opposition, result of, 172 ; coaches, 
 
 67, 133. 260, 261. 
 Overcrowding, good of legislation 
 
 against, 142. 
 Outside passengers, Act for limiting 
 
 number of, 23 et seq. 
 Overcharge to coachman of rival 
 
 coach, 239. 
 Overloading coaches, inconvenience 
 
 of, 230 ; penalties for, 129. 
 Oxford coach (Hero), 296 ; route of, 
 
 296, 299 ; taken part of way by 
 
 train, 299. 
 Oysters, price of, in 1765, 5. 
 
 Pace of coaches, 124, 195 ; of mail- 
 carts, 185 ; of trains, probable, 
 
 145- 
 
 Pair-horse coaches, 160. 
 
 Parcel, a dummy, 267. 
 
 Parcels, limited liability for, 152 ; 
 source of revenue to coaches, 220 ; 
 delivering, 220 ; dummy, ib. 
 
 Parish Clerks, Company of, ^3, 34- 
 
 Passenger fares insufficient to make 
 coach pay, 220. 
 
 Passenger, an intoxicated, 267. 
 
 Passengers, injured, compensation 
 to, 145 ; to Brighton daily, 175 ; 
 not to be carried in mail-cart, 
 185. 
 
 Patriot coach, accident to the, 
 151. 
 
 Pattenden, Mr. R., sued by disap- 
 pointed travellers, 71 ; bank- 
 ruptcy of, 1 54. 
 
 Pattenden's coach through Horsham, 
 
 91. 
 " Paul Pry," a van, 166. 
 
 Pavilion, building of, commenced, 8 ; 
 stables of, ib. ; subterranean pas- 
 sages of, 9. 
 
 Penalty for overcrowding coaches, 
 129, 144, 281 ; for furious driving, 
 181, 190, 233 ; for sending letter 
 by coach, 93. 
 
 Petition of Brighton coachmasters 
 
 227 ; of Thomas Cross, 227. 
 Pickpockets at coach-offices, 141. 
 Picture of Hyde Park Corner, 83. 
 Piebald, a painted, 285. 
 Places : — 
 
 Albourne, 104, 165, 215, 216, 
 240. 
 
 Aldermanbury, 138. 
 
 10 Angel Street, 236. 
 
 Angmering, 286. 
 
 Antheum, the (London), 244. 
 
 Arlington Street, 121. 
 
 Arun River, 286. 
 
 Arundel, 251, 254, 278, 279, 
 280, 284, 286, 296. 
 
 Ashcombe Gate, 261. 
 
 Ashford, 276. 
 
 Ashlead, 1 54. 
 
 Bagshot, 222. 
 
 Baker Street, 205, 244. 
 
 Balcombe, 23, 157. 225, 226, 
 256. 
 
 Balcombe, North, 130. 
 
 Barnes,_228. 
 
 Barnet, 132. 
 
 Bath, 42, 106, 138, 144. 157, 
 166, 254, 265, 278, 279. 280, 
 289. 
 
 Battle, 258, 262, 264. 
 
 Bear, Green, 2 84. 
 
 Bensington, 161. 
 
 Berry Hill, 284. 
 
 Bexhill, 256, 258, 264. 
 
 Birmingham, 44, 80. 132. 
 
 Bishopsgate, 121. 
 
 Blackfriars, 222. 
 
 Black Lion Street, Brighton, 2. 
 
 Bognor, 133, 154, 245, 254, 283, 
 286, 296. 
 
 Bolney, 215. 
 
 Borough, the (London), 32, 35, 
 
 37, 190. 
 Bosham Pond, 294. 
 Bow Street (London), 171. 
 Bredhempstone, 32. 
 Bridge House Place (London), 
 
 198. 
 Bridge water, 195. 
 Brighthelmstone, 1, 2, 6, 32, 33, 
 
 34, 35^ 36, 37- 45, 4«. 
 
346 
 
 IXDEX 
 
 Places : — 
 
 Brighton, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8,9, 
 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, iS, 19, 21, 
 22, 23, 26, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 
 35, 36, 2>7, 38, 39, 4o, 42, 43, 
 44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 5 2, 53, 
 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 
 62, 96, 97, 100, 1 01, 102, 103, 
 104, 105, 106, no, 115, 118, 
 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 128, 
 129, 130, 132, 133, 135, 137, 
 138, 141, 142, 143, 146, 149, 
 150, 151, 154, 155, 156, 157, 
 15S, 159, 161, 162, 163, 164, 
 165, 167, 168, 171, 172, 175, 
 176, 177, 180, 1S3, 184, 185, 
 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 
 192, 193, 194, 199, 202, 205, 
 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 
 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 
 222, 223, 226, 230, 231, 232, 
 233, 234, 235, 237, 238, 239, 
 240, 241, 242, 243, 246, 247, 
 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 
 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 
 260, 261, 262, 265, 266, 267, 
 268, 269, 270, 271, 273, 274, 
 275, 276, 278, 279, 280, 282, 
 283, 286, 287, 289, 290, 291, 
 292, 293, 296, 297, 298, 300, 
 301, 306, 309, 315. 
 
 Bristol, 42, 138, 144, 145, 254, 
 265, 278, 279, 280, 289. 
 
 Brixton, 213, 239. 
 
 Brixton Causeway, 64, 142. 
 
 Brixton Road, 239. 
 
 Broadwater, 294. 
 
 Brompton Road, 222. 
 
 Buckingham Farm-house, 279. 
 
 Bude, 1 14. 
 
 Came, 138. 
 
 Camberwell, 233. 
 
 Cambridge, 169, 173. 
 
 ( Janterbury, 276, 310. 
 
 ( lapel, 225. 
 
 ( larey Street, 100. 
 
 Catstield, 258. 
 
 Chailey, 40, 52. 
 
 Charing Cross (London), 35, 36, 
 
 37, 39, 4°, 4i, 42, 43, 5 J, 25, 
 no, 120, 124, 171, 208, 209. 
 
 Places : — 
 
 Charterliouse, the, 31. 
 Chatham, 220, 265, 271, 276. 
 Cheapside (London), 39, 42, 53, 
 
 no, 219, 
 Chertsey, 297. 
 Chester, 132. 
 Chichester, 133, 154, 185,254, 
 
 265, 278, 279, 280, 282, 283, 
 
 285, 286, 289, 290, 294. 
 City, the, 51, 166, 167. 
 City Road (London), 118. 
 Clapham, 32, 47, 124, 210, 219, 
 
 219, 225, 23S. 
 Clayton Hill, 22, 48, 66, 214, 
 
 216, 230. 
 Clemsfold, 284. 
 Cockspur Street (London), 203, 
 
 209. 
 Colchester, 194, 222. 
 Copperas Gap, 292. 
 Cornwall, 237. 
 Cowfold, 225. 
 ( 'ranbrook, 277. 
 Crawley, 22, 49, 60, 67, 72, 79, 
 
 105, 115, 123, 124, 180, 212, 
 
 216, 219, 222, 225, 238, 244. 
 Cromer, 1 1 4. 
 Crowborongh, 276. 
 
 72,79, 130,171. 
 
 Croydon, 22, 32, 
 
 172, 180, 212, 219, 222, 266. 
 Cucktield, 21, 22, 23, 37, 39, 41, 
 
 43, 47, 48, 5 2 , 53, 60, 67, 70, 
 
 72, 74, 79, 114, 130, 150, 165. 
 
 208, 210, 216, 219, 222, 236, 
 
 237, 248, 250. 
 Deal, 45, 258, 259. 
 Devil's Dyke, 70, 72. 
 Devonport, 195. 
 Ditehling, 57, 182, 208, 212. 
 Doctors' Commons, 37. 
 Dorking, 22, 61, 72, 154, 225. 
 
 238, 244, 291. 
 Dover, 31, 45, 46. 265. 
 Dulwieh, 291. 
 
 Eastbourne, 237, 251, 254, 255. 
 
 256, 257, 258, 263, 264, 265. 
 East Crinstead, 22, 32, 168. 
 Edinburgh, 3, 132. 
 England, 31, 107, no, 149, 158 
 
 165, 1S4, 218, 223, 226. 
 
INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 Places : — 
 
 England, "West of, 296. 
 
 Epsom, 22, 45, 61, 154, 163. 
 
 Eton, 169. 
 
 Ewell, 76. 
 
 Exeter, 195, 311. 
 
 Palmer, 2 1 . 
 
 Falmouth, 132. 
 
 Farnham, 296, 298, 299. 
 
 Pindon, 284. 
 
 Finsbury, 1 18. 
 
 Pirle, 264, 266. 
 
 Fleet Street, 130, 151, 177. 
 
 Folkestone, 258, 259. 
 
 France, 106, 185, 218. 
 
 Frant, 275. 
 
 Friars Oak, 65, 214. 
 
 Gardiner Street, 264. 
 
 Glasgow, 41, 132. 
 
 Gloucester, 29 1 . 
 
 Godstone, 22. 
 
 Goldstone Bottom, 54. 
 
 Gracechurch Street (London), 
 
 37, 40, 121, 151, 158, 211, 
 
 203. 
 
 Grinstead, East, 22, 32, 168. 
 
 Groombridge, 276. 
 
 Guildford, 265, 296, 297, 298, 
 
 299. 
 Hammersmith Bridge, 228. 
 Hand Cross, 48, 49, 65, 104, 
 
 18S, 205, 234. 
 Handlev Cross, 5. 
 Haresfoot Hill, 280. 
 Hastings, 220, 253, 254, 256, 
 
 257, 258, 259, 262, 263, 264, 
 
 265, 266, 277. 
 Hayes, 222. 
 Hayward's Heath, 236, 237, 
 
 266. 
 Heckford, 1 18. 
 Henfield, 21, 22, 61, 70, 72, 
 
 154, 216, 225, 296, 297, 299. 
 Hertfordshire, 118. 
 Hickfield, 238. 
 Hickstead, 22, 124, 103, 219, 
 
 225, 244, 250. 
 Hixtead, 180. 
 Holborn (London), 36, 40, 57, 
 
 101, 130, 131, 161, 238. 
 Holsworthy, 114. 
 
 Places : — 
 
 Horlev, 22, 182, 204, 205, 219, 
 
 248'. 
 Horsebridge, 258, 262, 264. 
 Horsham, 21, 22, 32, 40, 47, 54, 
 
 55, 61, 71, 72, 133, 154, 224, 
 
 225, 227, 238, 244, 247, 296, 
 
 297, 299. 
 Horsley, 104, 130. 
 Hotel Victoria, 1 04. 
 Hove, 187, 292. 
 Hull, 132. 
 Hurstmoncenx, 258. 
 Hyde Park, 132. 
 Hyde Park Corner in 1796, 83, 
 
 3I3- 
 Hythe, 258. 
 
 Inverness, 132. 
 
 Islington, 129, 130, 133, 238. 
 
 Kennington Common, 103. 
 
 Kent, 45. 
 
 Kingston, 225. 
 
 Lad Lane, 37, 138. 
 
 Lamb's Conduit Street, 130, 
 
 1 77; 
 
 Lambeth, 10 r. 
 
 Lancashire, 237. 
 Lancing, 290. 
 Laurence Lane, 39, 53. 
 Laverock Wells, 287. 
 Leadenhall Street, 114, 124, 
 
 12 
 
 D- 
 
 Leatherhead, 225. 
 
 Lewes, 14, 20, 21, 22, 32, 33, 
 34, 35, 3", 37, 38, 39, 4°, 42, 
 43, 47, S 2 , 59, 60, 68, 69, 70, 
 74, 79, 83, no, 115, 128, 177, 
 ^37, 240, 244, 247, 250, 254, 
 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 
 261, 262, 263, 266, 267, 268, 
 270, 271, 273, 275, 276. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, 100. 
 
 Lindtield, 57, 182, 208. 
 
 Littlehampton, 133, 254, 2S3, 
 284, 286, 296. 
 
 Littlehamptonberry, 296. 
 
 Liverpool, 132, 246. 
 
 Llandovery, 204. 
 
 London, 1, 3, 4, 15, 18, 19, 20, 
 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 
 35, 3", 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43. 
 
343 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Places : — 
 London : — 
 
 44, 45, 46, 47, 5', 5 2 , 53, 57, 
 58,59,60,61,62,96, 97, 100, 
 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 
 in, 114, 115, 119, 122, 123, 
 124, 125, 128, 130, 132, 133, 
 
 '34, 137, 138, 141, 142, 146, 
 
 148, 150, 1 5 r, 152, 154, 156, 
 
 158, 159, 161, 162, 165, 175, 
 
 176, 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 
 
 184, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 
 
 193, 194, 195, 197, 199, 200, 
 204, 205, 208, 212, 213, 214, 
 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 
 221, 222, 223, 225, 226, 230, 
 231, 233, 234, 235, 237, 238, 
 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 
 247, 250, 252, 253, 255, 263, 
 265, 266, 268, 269, 276, 27S, 
 283, 284, 2S6, 297, 300, 306, 
 308, 309, 310. 
 
 London Bridge, 197, 244. 
 
 Long Furlong, 284. 
 
 Loughborough House, 64. 
 
 Lower Lancing, 278. 
 
 Luckner's Lane, 13. 
 
 Lulwortli, 9, 10. 
 
 Lynton Hill, 309. 
 
 Maidstone, 220, 265, 269, 270, 
 271, 276, 277. 
 
 Manchester, 132. 
 
 Marestield, 237, 276. 
 
 Margate, 45, 46, 141, 258, 259, 
 265. 
 
 Marlborough, 138, 247. 
 
 Marsh Gate (Lambeth), 10 1 , 102. 
 
 Merstham, 184, 107, 244. 
 
 Michel Grove, 283, 285. 
 
 Millbank Row, 120. 
 
 Mitcham, 124. 
 
 Newcastle, 132, 137. 
 
 Nine Elms (London), 244. 
 
 New Ferry, 286. 
 
 New Road, 75, 130, 205. 
 
 Newhaven, 256. 257, 258, 264. 
 
 Newington, 103. 
 
 Newington Butts, 1 29. 
 
 Newmarket, 39, 120. 
 
 Newtimber, 22. 
 
 Ninfield, 25S. 
 
 Places : — 
 
 Northumberland Avenue, 313. 
 
 Norwich, 1 1 4. 
 
 Notting Hill. 222. 
 
 Obelisk, the (London), 163. 
 
 Odiham, 296, 299. 
 
 Old Shoreham, 56. 
 
 Oxford, 80, 133, 144. 145. 191, 
 
 220, 253, 296, 297, 298, 299, 
 
 310. 
 Oxfordshire, 161. 
 Oxford Street, 106, 130, 157, 
 
 167, 203, 205, 209, 219, 297. 
 Pall Mall, 120, 121. 
 Pangdean, 213, 216. 
 Park Street, 203. 
 Patcham, 48, 66, 105. 123, 151, 
 
 156, 183, 211. 
 Peas Pottage, 125. 
 Petworth, 19, 32, 286. 
 Petworth House, 19. 
 Pevensey, 256. 264. 
 Piccadilly, 40, 60. 102, 106, no, 
 
 121, 124, 130. 138, 151, 157, 
 
 169, 210. 
 Pimlico. 248. 
 Plymouth, 31 1, 195. 
 Portman Street, 205. 
 Portsmouth, 3, 45, 166, 180, 
 
 253, 254, 265, 278, 279. 280, 
 
 282, 288, 291, 296. 
 Poymuir, 22. 
 
 Preston, 47, 48. 132, 212. 241. 
 Pulborouidi, 284. 
 Purley, 104. 
 Pyecombe, 22, 103, 105, 123, 
 
 143. 215, 223. 
 Pyecombe Hill, 92. 
 Ramsgate, 45, 258, 265. 
 Reading, 138, 220, 296, 299. 
 Red Hill, 170, 180. 
 Regent Circus, 167, 203, 209. 
 Regent Street, 121. 
 Reigate, 22, 23, 32, 39, 42, 43, 
 
 47, 49, 52, 53, 60, 65, 70, 72, 
 
 79, 97, 105, 124, 153, 183, 
 
 184, 208, 210, 219, 222, 225, 
 
 238, 239, 250. 
 Reigate Hill, 50, 51. 
 Richmond, 10, 225, 228. 
 Ripley, 297. 
 
INDEX 
 
 549 
 
 Places :— 
 
 Rochester, 249, 271, 276, 297. 
 
 Rome, 30. 
 
 Ronmey, 258. 
 
 Rose Hill, 244. 
 
 Rottingdean, 256, 257. 
 
 Royal Exchange, the, 130. 
 
 Rye, 258, 277. 
 
 St. Giles's, 13. 
 
 St. James's Palace, 1 20. 
 
 St. James's Park, 1 1 9. 
 
 St. James's Street, 121. 
 
 St. John's Common, 48, 195. 
 
 St. Leonards, 265, 266, 277. 
 
 St. Martin's-in-the Fields, 269. 
 
 Salisbury, 265, 278, 291. 
 
 Salisbury Plain, 286. 
 
 Sandwich, 258. 
 
 School Hill, 262. 
 
 Seaford, 256, 257, 258, 264. 
 
 Selsea, 1. 
 
 Shoreham, 
 
 40, 240, 279, 
 
 280, 286, 291, 295, 296. 
 Shoreham Bridge, 185. 
 Shoreham (Old), 56. 
 Sittingbourne, 276. 
 Slinfohl, 133. 
 Southampton, 155, 220, 254, 
 
 265, 279, 282, 289, 290. 
 Southend, 3. 
 Southwark, 32, 32, 2 3'- 
 Southwick, 292. 
 Stanmer, 7. 
 
 Staplefield Common, 66, 103. 
 Steventon, 299. 
 Steyning, 21, 37, 54, 285. 
 Storrington, 241. 
 Strand, 121, 168, 203. 
 Stratford, 189. 
 Streatham, 104, 172. 
 Sussex, 19, 20, 44, 45, 47, 48, 
 
 58, 65, 96, 100. 
 Sutton, 22, 51, 124, 200, 210, 
 
 219, 225, 238. 
 Tenterden, 277. 
 Thames, the, 62, 163. 
 Throgmorton Street, 237. 
 Thurso, 132. 
 Titchfield, 289. 
 Tooting, 238. 
 Trant, 275. 
 
 Places : — 
 
 Tunbridge, 266, 271, 275, 276, 
 
 ?77- 
 Tunbridge Wells, 102, 220, 247, 
 250, 253, 265, 266, 269, 270, 
 271, 272, 273, 275, 276, 277, 
 366. 
 Uckfield, 35, 36, 42, 59, no, 
 237, 250, 258, 263, 270, 271, 
 276. 
 Yale Royal, 274. 
 Victoria Hotel, 104. 
 AVadhurst, 32. 
 Wales, North, 296. 
 Wales, South, 296. 
 Wallingford, 296. 
 Warnham Hill, 224. 
 Waterloo, 237. 
 Waterloo Place, 121. 
 Wellington, 264, 266. 
 West End, the (London), 1 66. 
 Westminster, 132. 
 Westminster Bridge, 46, 1 58. 
 Weymouth, 10. 
 Wilmington, 266. 
 Winchelsea, 258. 
 Windsor, 15, 220, 245, 250, 265, 
 
 296, 297. 
 AVithdean, 48. 
 Wood Street, 57. 
 Worth, 210, 219. 
 Worthing, 3, 154, 189, 216, 
 220, 240, 243, 251, 254, 278, 
 279, 280, 282, 2S3, 284, 286, 
 291, 295. 307, 310. 
 Wright's Library, Brighton, 181. 
 York, 132, 1 84. 
 Yorkshire. 2, 161. 
 Pointer, Bob, his lecture, 191. 
 Polediook, 301. 
 Pomegranate, a notable coachdiorse, 
 
 286. 
 Porter, a, prosecution of, for de- 
 livering dummy parcel, 221. 
 Portsmouth coach taken part of way 
 by train, 296. 
 
 coaches to and from Brighton, 
 
 278-296. 
 
 to Bath, a twenty-four hours' 
 
 journey, 280. 
 Defiance, accident to, 290. 
 
35° 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portsmouth road, defective postal 
 arrangements on, 290. 
 
 Position of left hand in driving, 
 310, 311, 312. 
 
 Postillion, officers riding, 90. 
 
 Postboy, accident to, 200. 
 
 Postboy's wedding, 90. 
 
 Postboys and return fares, 58, 59 ; 
 bribing of, 89 ; Mr. Allen's system 
 of, 1 1 o. 
 
 Post-coaches, 118, 119. 
 
 Post delivery, an early, 80. 
 
 Post-horses at Barnet, 132. 
 
 Posting, superiority of, over coach- 
 travelling, 45, 46 ; tariff on 
 Brighton road, 61. 
 
 Postmaster-General, the, 93, 222. 
 
 Post-Office, 42, 43, 93, 100, 119, 120, 
 121, 238, 240, 263, 280, 291 ; 
 (London), departure of mails 
 from, 80 ; opposed Palmer's mail- 
 coach system, 1 1 1 ; arrangements 
 for carrying mails, 185 ; officials, 
 zeal of. 215; arrangements, change 
 in, through opening of railways, 
 223. 
 
 Preston, coaches to, from London, 
 132. 
 
 Prevention Service, 3. 
 
 Prince of Wales (afterwards George 
 IV.), Brighton's debt to, 6, 7 ; his 
 first visit to Brighton, 7 ; his 
 kindness to a gunner, ib. ; deter- 
 mines to live at Brighton, 8 ; 
 builds Pavilion, ib. ; sups in the 
 kitchen, 9 ; Mrs. Eitzherbert, 10- 
 1 2 ; marries Caroline of Bruns- 
 wick, 1 1 ; his appearance in 
 Brighton, 12 ; his " Master of the 
 Horse," 13 ; leaves Brighton, 16 ; 
 hack sold to, 80. 
 
 Procession of mails, account of, 1 20 ; 
 number of mails, ib. ; route of, 1 2 1 . 
 
 Profits of coach business, 74. 
 
 Proposed substitution of mail-carts 
 for mail-coaches, 185. 
 
 Prop, a coach, 149. 
 
 Proprietor, a new, 84. 
 
 Proprietors of Castle Inn, jt,. 
 
 Prosecution of coachman of rival 
 coach, 239. 
 
 Prospectus of General Stage-Coach 
 Company, 134 ; of London and 
 Brighton Railway, 175 ; of New- 
 castle coach, 137. 
 
 " Protection reins," Cooke's. 151. 
 
 Protector, Farnliam coach, 298 ; 
 accident to, 298, 299. 
 
 Provincial coaches from Blue Office, 
 220 ; (modern), from Brighton, 
 251. 
 
 roads : Brighton to Windsor, 
 
 Reading, and Oxford, 296, et seq. 
 Pullman car, 251. 
 Punishment of horses, decrease in, 
 
 304- 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, death of, 237. 
 Queen Elizabeth's coachman, 33. 
 Querini, his journey in snowstorm, 
 
 Quicksilver coach, its first journey, 
 
 191 ; accident to, 192. 
 Quincey, De, his praise of coaching, 
 
 i 1 1. 
 
 Racing, 104, 105 ; not allowed on 
 Blue coaches, 105 ; forbidden, 
 122 ; between coaches, 278, 279 ; 
 between pedestrian and mail- 
 coach, 280. 
 
 Rail Road coach, 243. 
 
 Railway, prospectus of Brighton, 
 published, 175 ; opening of, to 
 Hayward's Heath, 237 ; opening 
 of whole line to Brighton, 240 ; 
 South - Eastern oi^ened to Tun- 
 bridge, 276 ; coaching arrange- 
 ments in conserpience of, ib., 
 277. 
 
 Railways, opjjosition of, 145 ; Mr. 
 Wightman on probable speed 
 of, ib. ; opening of early, 223 ; 
 effect of, on Hastings coaches, 265. 
 
 Ralli car, the, 83. 
 
 Rebuilding of Blue Office, 219. 
 
 Red Rover, false report concerning, 
 181 ; races Waterwitch, 181 ; 
 quick journey by, 182. 
 
 Red Rover (Bath) accelerated, 289. 
 
 Red Rover, Little, started to Bath 
 and Bristol, 289. 
 
INDEX 
 
 35 1 
 
 Red Rover (Southampton), cheap 
 
 fare by, 289. 
 Red Rover (Bristol), accident to, 290. 
 Regent coach in snowstorm of 1836, 
 
 216. 
 Reigate, protest of inhabitants of, 
 
 against new road, 23. 
 Reins, how to shorten, 3 1 4. 
 Repositories : — 
 
 Aldridge's, 69, 87, 146, 153. 
 
 Barbican, 134. 
 
 Dixon's, 131, 134. 
 
 Golden Cross Mews (Brighton), 
 
 131- 
 Maitan's, 131. 
 
 Morris's, 153. 
 
 Rymill's, 131. 
 
 Tattersall's, 146, 283, 284. 
 
 Retorts, clay v. iron, 1 87. 
 
 Revival, coaching, 247. 
 
 Richmond Driving Club, 245. 
 
 Richmond omnibuses, drivers of 
 old, 228. 
 
 Riot at Birmingham, 44. 
 
 '"Rioter," slang for proprietor, 61. 
 
 Rival Ages, 201. 
 
 Rival coach, prosecution of coach- 
 man of, 239. 
 
 Road, bad state of London, 241 ; 
 lament on decay of, 244, 245 ; 
 modern Brighton, 247 et scq. ; 
 a new, from Lewes to Eastbourne, 
 258 ; a new, by Ashcombe Gate, 
 261 ; state of, between Brighton 
 and Tunbridge Wells, 272 ; bad- 
 ness of that to Tunbridge "Wells, 
 273 ; new, between Worthing and 
 Brighton, 278 ; Mr. J. Walker 
 makes a new, 284. 
 
 Road-mending, 21. 
 
 Roads in Sussex, badness of, 18, 19 ; 
 overflowed, 81 ; high in centre, 
 221 ; provincial, 299; destroyed 
 courage of horses, 304 ; ilooded, 
 281. 
 
 Robberies. See Coach robberies. 
 
 from vans, 166. 
 
 Route of mail-coach procession, 
 121. 
 
 Routes between Brighton and Lon- 
 don, 21, 22, 23. 
 
 Rowlandson, drawing of old coach 
 
 by, 83. 
 
 Royal Adelaide safety-coach, ad- 
 vertisement of, 177. 
 
 Royal salutes at Brighton, 7. 
 
 Union Four-Horse Coach Com- 
 pany, 67. 
 
 Rules for driving, bv whom framed, 
 310. 
 
 " Running with a fury," 124. 
 
 Safety-coach, Snow's, described, 
 
 111; weight of, 1 1 1, 112. 
 Safety-coaches, 111, 118, 121, 122, 
 
 123, 124, 125, 129, 149, 161, 177, 
 
 221, 259. 
 Sale of coach shares, 7^, 74. 
 Sale of Michel Grove estate, 285. 
 Sale, a remunerative, hoped for by 
 
 modern proprietors, 30S. 
 Sales of coach-horses, 131, 146, 
 
 153- 
 
 Schools advertised, 133. 
 
 Scott becomes eoachmaster for him- 
 self, 58. 
 
 Scott's diligence, 67. 
 
 Season, the Brighton, 131. 
 
 Sea-water, drinking, 4. 
 
 Selby, the late J., his drive to 
 Brighton and back against time, 
 102. 
 
 Share in coach business, sale of, 72,., 
 
 74- 
 Shee, Mr., loses 1 tills and notes 
 while travelling by night-coach, 
 
 74, 75- 
 
 Shergold, twice proprietor of Castle 
 Hotel, 73 . 
 
 Shillibeer, Mr., his connection with 
 coaching, 208. 
 
 Shorehani, omnibus to, from Brigh- 
 ton, 240. 
 
 Shortening rein, 3 1 4. 
 
 Short wheel-rein, the, 302. 
 
 Shouldering, 59. 
 
 Shrewsbury flying- waggon, 61. 
 
 Simcock, T., death of, 269. 
 
 Simcock, W., death of, 269. 
 
 Six horses to coaches in snowstorm, 
 217. 
 
 " Sixteen-String Jack," 13. 
 
35^ 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Skidding, fatal accident through 
 
 not, 274. 
 Sleigh, Mr. Whithread's, 93. 
 Slinfold Parsonage, school at, 133. 
 Smart's stage between Lewes and 
 
 Brighton, 255. 
 Smith, Thomas, an old Lewes 
 
 carrier, death of, 34. 
 Smugglers, 3,65,257. 
 Snow, fall of, 276. 
 Snowstorm in 1789, 38; in 1821, 
 
 123 ; in 1836, 213 ; a snowstorm, 
 
 229; in 1836, Gloucester mail in, 
 
 291. 
 "Soft Soap's " letter to " The Field," 
 
 310. 
 Soldier in Brighton mail, 81. 
 Somerset, Lord C, and the soldier, 
 
 81 ; accident to his carriage, 
 
 92. 
 Southampton, coach to, from Brigh- 
 ton, 282. 
 Southampton Times coach, horses 
 
 of, bolt, 293. 
 Sovereign coach in snowstorm of 
 
 1836, 216. 
 South-Eastern Railway, 265 ; opened 
 
 to Tunbridge, 276. 
 Springs under driving-boxes, 82. 
 Stafford safety-coach, 221 ; test of, 
 
 222. 
 Stage, a one-day, from London to 
 
 Brighton in 1745, 33. 
 Stage Carriage Bill, provisions of, 
 
 227. 
 Stage-cart stopped, 270. 
 Stage -coach legislation, 23 d seq. ; 
 
 advertisement in 1756, 35. 
 Stage-Coach Company, 67, 133 ; a 
 
 new, 67 ; the General, 134. 
 Stage-coach building, changes in, 
 
 11 1. 
 Stage-coach for sale, 154. 
 Stage-coaches on Brighton road in 
 
 1741, 33; in 1750, ib.j comforts 
 
 of, 41 ; top-heavy, 44 ; driven by 
 
 amateurs, 82 ; drawing of old, by 
 
 Rowlandson, 83 ; number of, on 
 
 Brighton road in 181 1, 83; in 
 
 1822, 128 ; from London to other 
 
 places, 132. 
 
 Stage-coaches between London and 
 Brighton in 1800, 65. 
 
 Stage-coaches in 1802, 66. 
 
 Stage-coaches, miles run by, 227. 
 
 Stage-coaching, Chamberlayne on, 
 30, 3 1 ; Cressett on, 3 1 ; between 
 London and Brighton in 1792, 
 53, 62 ; progress of, 134 ; " Vam- 
 pire" on, 139. 
 
 Stage-waggon, 301. 
 
 Stage- waggons, 165. 
 
 Stamp Office, 190. 
 
 •'Standing counsel" to rising coach- 
 men, 161. 
 
 Staplefield Common, dining- place 
 for coaches, 1801, 66. 
 
 Steam-carriage, Barstall & Hill's, 
 157 ; (Hancock's), breakdown of, 
 188 ; Autopsy, 189 ; a new, 232 ; 
 journey of, described, 234, 235 ; 
 fare by, 235 ; to Tunbridge Wells, 
 276. 
 
 Steam-coach (Hancock's), journey 
 of, described, 187. 
 
 Steam-coaches, Hancock's, 186. 
 
 Steam v. horses, 232. 
 
 Steam-engine, power of, 232. 
 
 Steine, the, bye-law concerning, 3. 
 
 Stevenson, Mr. H, first mentioned 
 in connection with coaching, 1 56 ; 
 his reputation as a coachman, 160 ; 
 starts Coronet coach, 169 ; un- 
 popular at first, 170 ; his illness, 
 ib. ; his death, 169, 170. 
 
 Stockdale, coachman, on badness of 
 Wells roads, 274, 
 
 Tunbridge 
 
 275. 
 
 Strevens, H. (coachman), death of, 
 
 275 ; succeeds to Blue Office, 
 
 276. 
 Strevens, Mrs., female turnkey at 
 
 Tunbridge Wells gaol, 266. 
 Subterranean passages of Pavilion, 9. 
 Suicide of horse-keeper, 241. 
 Sunday coaches, starting of, 52. 
 Surrey assizes, 107. 
 Sussex Coffee- House changes hands, 
 
 74 ; sale of, ib. 
 Sussex roads, badness of, 19, 20. 
 Swan Inn, Chichester, injury to, 
 
 282. 
 
INDEX 
 
 353 
 
 Tandem, driven against time to 
 Brighton by Captain Brodie, 101 ; 
 by Captain Wombwell, 102. 
 
 Theory and practice in driving, 312, 
 
 J 1 J- 
 
 Thrupp, Mr., his description of old 
 driving-boxes, 83. 
 
 Time, matches against, on Brighton 
 road, 101, 102. 
 
 Times coach in snowstorm of 1836, 
 213, 216 ; accident to, 233. 
 
 Town Act, the, 196. 
 
 Traffic, increase of, in 1784, 38 ; 
 London, 308. 
 
 Trains, 295 ; Mr. Wightman on pro- 
 bable speed of, 145. 
 
 Tramp, a good-natured, 266. 
 
 Traveller, a silent, 63, 64. 
 
 Travelling by coach, sum spent in, 
 
 157. 
 
 Tree blown down between two 
 coaches, 212. 
 
 Tri vector, the, 114. 
 
 True Blue, coachman of, 297. 
 
 Tubb retires from business, 58. 
 
 Tunbridge, South-Eastern Railway 
 opened to, 266, 276. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells and Brighton, state 
 of roads between, 271. 
 
 steam-carriage to, 276. 
 
 Turnpike Acts, 2 1 . 
 
 men, 89, 90. 
 
 Turnpikes, legal decision respecting, 
 in favour of coach proprietors, 10 1. 
 
 Two-handed driving, 313. 
 
 Two-wheeled carts, proposed substi- 
 tution of, for mail-coaches, 155. 
 
 Union Bank, the (Brighton), 107, 
 
 122. 
 Union coach, anecdote of, 161 ; 
 
 taken off road, 1842, 238. 
 Unskidding without stopping, 229. 
 Upfold (coachman), death of, 293 ; 
 
 account of, 293, 294. 
 
 "Vampire" on Brighton coaches, 
 
 139- 
 Van horses, 165, 166. 
 
 robberies, 166. 
 
 a newly started, 167. 
 
 Vans : — 
 
 Blue coach, the, 195. 
 Hastings, 268. 
 
 Paul Pry (Portsmouth), 166. 
 Vans, high charges by, 166. 
 Vaughan, Dick, anecdote of, 173, 
 
 174. 
 " Viator Junior," his criticisms 
 on coaches and coachmen, 1 59 ; 
 on coach expenses, 159; his 
 criticism on Brighton coachmen, 
 
 3°9- 
 
 " Vicar of Wakefield, the," 6. 
 
 Vickers, F., prosecution of, 231 ; 
 bankruptcy of, ib. 
 
 Victoria coach, 244. 
 
 Visitors to Brighton, 16; accom- 
 modation for, ib. ; scarcity of, 
 at Hastings and Brighton, 257. 
 
 Vivid coach started, 211. 
 
 Wager, a singular, 39. 
 
 Waldegrave v. Mackerell, 86. 
 
 Wales, Prince of (George IV), drives 
 "random" to Brighton, 102. 
 
 Walker, Mr., accident to, 97. 
 
 Walker, Mr. J., his Bognor coach, 
 283 ; anecdote of, 285. 
 
 Walker, Mr. R, partner in Bognor 
 coach, 285. 
 
 Ward, C. S., his reminiscences, 194, 
 195 ; drives the Brighton day- 
 mail, 222 ; his coaching career, 
 
 222, 22> 
 
 Warde, Mr. J., suggests springs to 
 
 coach-boxes, 38 ; an old-fashioned 
 
 coachman, 82 ; suggests springs 
 
 under driving-boxes, ib. 
 Waterloo, battle of, 237. 
 Waterhouse, his teams, 119. 
 Waterhouse's new coach, 149. 
 Waterwitch coach, advertisement 
 
 of, 179, 180; races Red Rover, 
 
 181. 
 Waybill, a good, 297 ; a poor, ib. 
 Weather, severe, 93 ; bad, 123, 156. 
 Webling v. Beckett, trotting match, 
 
 102. 
 Wedding, a postboy's, 90. 
 West of England, communication 
 
 with, from Oxford, 296. 
 
 Z 
 
354 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Western mail, change in, 224 ; acci- 
 dent to, 282. 
 Wheel takingfire, 240 ; a "deranged," 
 
 288. 
 AVheel-rein, the short, 302, 303. 
 Wheelers, "Nimrod" on hitting, 304. 
 Whip, nse of the, 104, 303 ; ancient, 
 
 ib. ; " catching," 304, 305. 
 Whithread, Mr., and his sleigh, 93. 
 Whitchurch, first coach owner to run 
 
 to London and back in a day, 122 ; 
 
 subscription for, 1 22. 
 Wight man, Mr., on probable speed 
 
 of trains, 145. 
 Willan, J., his beginning in business, 
 
 80. 
 Willan, Mr. J. J., and the Age coach, 
 
 201 et seq. 
 Willan & Cripps re-start Magnet 
 
 coach, 210. 
 
 Willan's Age sold to Sir St. X. 
 Cotton, 210. 
 
 William III., Act of Parliament 
 relating to teams, 300, 301. 
 
 William IV., his kindness to Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, 12. 
 
 Winch & Chaplin's vans, 167. 
 
 Winter coach (1867), 248. 
 
 Wombwell, Captain, drives tandem 
 to Brighton against time, 101, 102 
 
 Worcester, Marcpiis of, and Good- 
 man, 190. 
 
 Worthing coach to Brighton, 278, 
 296. 
 
 Wyndham's coach, 114. 
 
 York, coaches to, from London, 1 32 ; 
 station, 184. 
 
 Zulu, the (train), 145. 
 
 THE END 
 
 1K1NTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON, AND CO. 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON. 
 

 
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