Most of the novels I’ve read in this period feature rich people who had their own private means of transport. What about the rest of the populace? What was public transport in Georgian Britain like?
In most cases it was on foot. Walking was free, and that was the only option for many. While the rich ordered custom-made carriages, the rest of the population had to travel by foot. If they had to travel a great distance, they could hire a mode of transportation.
Long Distance Transport
Mail Coach
by DarnieDVM C C 2.0
N.B.: The image above dates the carriage as c.1820, but there is clearly a VR on the side which means it would have to be after 1837.
This was the fastest mode of transport between cities. It had spaces for passengers, as well as the mail, inside the carriage and cheaper seats on top. The mail coach kept to a timetable and had set routes. They were the quickest because they were not required to stop at the toll booths along the way.
A mail coach was painted in maroon on the lower half and had a black hard-top. It also had red wheels and bore the royal arms on the door with its unique coach number. It could carry up to seven passengers, four inside, one next to the coachman, and two on a roof bench. Luggage was stored beneath the driver.
Post-chaise
James Pollard, Public Domain
A post-chaise was a fast travelling, hard-topped carriage pulled by two or four horses. They were basically private hire coaches that were slower than the mail coach because they had to stop at the toll gates.
A pots-chaise ran to a timetable and often had financial links to coaching inns or post stations where they would make scheduled stops for the night or to change horses. A postilion was also hired to ride the horse on the left as this provided better control of the horses when travelling at speed. It was more expensive than travelling by the mail coach because of the extra hands that needed to be hired. A woman travelling alone would also require a footman to accompany her.
Short-distance transport
Waggon – In the country, if you wished to travel a short distance, but it was too far to walk, it was possible to buy a seat on a freight waggon. It was cheap, if uncomfortable, as one had to sit with whatever cargo was being transported with you.
Photo by Tom Oates, 2009
C C BY-SA 3.0 Nabokov
Sedan Chair – In towns and cities Sedan chairs were used to transport individuals from as early as the sixteenth century. Sedans were popular in different forms across the globe. In Britain they were an enclosed box carried by two people on foot. As demand for better transport grew, more horses and carriages began to appear in the cities.
The Hackney Cab – or hack, was first introduced from the 1620s. The Hackney Cab has nothing to do with the London borough of the same name, but actually derives from the French word “hacquenee”, which means horse for hire. Fares were aligned with set drives or durations. It was not uncommon for passengers to be charged fraudulently, despite drivers having to be licenced by the Hackney Coach Commission from 1694.
The standard hackney cab was often just a second-hand carriage that had been bought from a member of the aristocracy. They were usually four-wheeled with a hard top, and pulled by two horses. The first London taxi rank was on The Stand in 1634 and comprised four carriages. By the 1830s the city roads were overrun by such carriages. To relieve congestion, Joseph Hansom designed a slick, two-wheeled carriage pulled by a single horse which was easier to manoeuvre around the crowded streets.
by Andrew Dunn CC BY-SA 2.0
As usual very informative and interesting reading which I enjoyed