The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
The Last Days of London Hackney-coaches.
The author of " London Labour and the London Poor" thus describes " the latter days of London hackney-coaches," and the introduction of cabs in their place :-" They were nearly all noblemen's and gentlemen's disused family coaches, which had been handed over to the coachmaker when a new carriage was made. But it was not long that these coaches retained the comfort and cleanliness that might distinguish them, when first introduced to the stand. The horses were .... sorry jades, sometimes cripples, and the harness looked as frail as the carriages. The exceptions to this description were few, for the hackney-coachmen possessed a monopoly, and thought it unchangeable. They were of the same class of men-nearly all gentlemen's servants, or their sons. The obtaining of a license for a hackney-coachman was generally done through interest. It was one way in which many peers and Members of Parliament provided for any favourite servant, or for the servant of a friend." | |