STAGECOACHES- ROMANCE V. REALITY

When we look at the pictures of stagecoaches on Christmas cards,   they look colourful, dashing and rather romantic, but what was the reality like for our ancestors traveling over 170 years ago?

 One of the many beautiful wall paintings you see on the outside of buildings in Austria.

Stagecoaches were public service vehicles designed specifically for passengers and running to a published schedule.  Eight passengers could be packed (squashed)  inside, with others sitting at the back of the coach and the poorest passengers atop along with the luggage. A newspaper report  of 1846 refers to a heavy coach of 18 to 20 passengers.  

ADVERTISEMENT   -Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh) :  29th September 1843

NEW COACH EDINBURGH TO JEDBURGH VIA EARLSTON  
Calling at Pathhead, Carfrae Mill, Lauder, Earlston, Leaderfoot

 To Jedburgh in Five Hours
Fares to Jedburgh only 5 shillings outside;  6 shillings inside

 

Note:5 shillings is equivalent to  approx. £15 today.   The 5 hour journey  between Edinburgh and Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders covered 50 miles over what was a hilly road - as children we called it "the switchback road".

 

 A pub sign taken in Greenwich.  London. 

 

 

Contemporary newspaper reports of the time present a graphic picture of the perils facing passengers and  (and pedestrian) alike. 

 

 

"The Border Watch" - 19 November 1846: 

“A SLOW COACH. – The Edinburgh and Hawick coach, which left Princes Street, Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon at 4pm  did not reach the Bridge Inn, Galashiels, until about 10pm; thus accomplishing the distance of thirty-two miles in the astonishing period of six hours!   

 

 "The Kelso Chronicle" - 16 June 1837: 

"ACCIDENT. – On Tuesday evening  the reins broke, and the driver left his seat, and went along the pole to recover them. His foot slipped, and he fell between the pole and the horses to the ground. Fortunately, the wheels passed on both sides of him, and he escaped with no other injury than a slight blow to the head.The horses set off at rapid pace, and ran through Tweedmouth. The passengers kept their seats, and the horses while running furiously along the bridge, were stopped by a young man named Robert Robertson, who, with great personal risk, seized the horses’ head."

"The Kelso Chronicle" -  4 October 1844:

“WONDERFUL ESCAPE. – As the Defiance Coach was leaving the town on Friday last, a girl, about 10 years of age, who was hastily crossing the High Street, and not perceiving the coach, ran in betwixt the fore and hind horses, by which she was struck down, when the horses and coach went over her, to the horror of the spectators, who could do nothing to save her. The wheels on the one side passed over one of her legs, bruising it most severely in two places, while the opposite wheels went over the top of her bonnet, close to the head, but without doing any injury. The poor girl’s thigh was also much bruised, apparently by one of the horses’ feet. We are glad to state that she is recovering from the effects of her injuries.”

 

 

We were on holiday in Warsaw, when this stagecoach drove into the square. But we never managed to find out what it was all about. 

 

 

 

The development of the railways,  meant that by the mid 19th century,  the era of  stagecoach travel was coming to an end 

 

 

But the iconic image of the stagecoach as a mode of travel 

still captures our imagination. especially at Christmas time.  

 

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