Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs by Trevor May, a Book Review

Another book review so soon on this blog? Well, yes. This book from Shire Publications, Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs by Trevor May, is short, just 32 pages long, but it  is filled with many facts and rare images of interest to lovers of history. In Jane Austen’s day most people walked to work, town, church, [...]

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Cost of Maintaining a Horse in Regency London

The cost of maintaining horses and carriages in London was extremely expensive in Regency England. It still is today.

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A Grim Reality: The Life of a Coach Horse in the Regency Era

Horses that pulled coaches in early 19th century Britain led a hard life

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Sedan Chairs: An Efficient Mode of Transportation in Georgian London & Bath

After the fire of London, in 1666, the streets were impassable, and so people of quality went on their business or pleasure in sedan chairs.They became in time such a nuisance as to obstruct the highways. – The History of Dress, The New York Times, 1884, Sedan chairs were a major mode of transportation through [...]

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Road Accidents, Regency Style

A GENTLEMAN AND A LADY travelling from Tunbridge towards that part of the Sussex coast which lies between Hastings and Eastbourne, being induced by business to quit the high road and attempt a very rough lane, were overturned in toiling up its long a scent, half rock, half sand.The accident happened just beyond the only [...]

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Travel During the Regency Period

The life of a stage coach horse during the Regency era was not easy. Roads, though much improved over previous centuries, could be filled with mud and ruts that impeded progress. Generally one horse could pull a wheeled vehicle six times its own weight. Therefore, a carriage horse weighing from 1200 lbs to 2300 lbs [...]

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The Stage Coaches

“Besides this excellent convenience of conveying letters, and men on horseback, there is of late such admirable commodiousness, both for men and women of better rank, to travel from London to almost any great town in England, and to almost all the villages near this great city, that the like hath not been known in [...]

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High perch phaetons and carriage dresses

During the Regency Era, a lady would never go out in a carriage and be seen in public without wearing the proper dress. This is a carriage costume from November, 1819, as illustrated in La Belle Assemblee (Image from the University of Washington digital library.) The pink pelisse was made of figured gros-de-Naples and trimmed [...]

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Find Images of Regency Vehicles and Other Historical Artifacts

The Science and Society Picture Library is filled with magnificent illustrations and photographs of interest to historians. This link leads to these images, including carriages, cabriolets, phaotons, landaus, and more. Type the name of the vehicle you are searching for in the search bar, such as landeau or phaeton or barouche. Corresponding images will pop [...]

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Travel During the Regency Period

When Sir Richard, The Corinthian in Georgett Heyer’s novel of the same name, escorts his young charge, Pen, to her childhood home, he is boxed inside a public carriage with an assemblage of memorable characters. Jane and Georgette refer to Postillions as a matter of course whenever their heroes and heroines travel. I found the [...]

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