I have a belt buckle with horse and carriage on it. The carriage is the type where the driver sits on top on the rear of the carriage and the riders are inside under cover. What kind of carriage is this please?:winkgrin:
2 wheel? Hanson (sp?) cab?
Yes found out its a Hansome cab. Thanks!!
Hansom Cab talk at CAA Meeting
Don’t know if we mentioned it before, but there was a great talk on Hansom Cabs at the CAA meeting in Williamsburg in January given by Richard James
The original cabs were boxes on 4 wheels. They had the monopoly in downtown London. As the city spread other cabs could be licensed, but couldn’t drive in downtown. To keep it economical, the ‘new’ cab drivers were looking for a 2 wheel cart (taxed by the wheel) that could carry the driver + 2 passengers and be driven by 1 horse.
They went through some pretty weird stuff. The really old ones were a large box for passengers with wheels attached to stubs attached to body. The driver sat on a seat outside the wheel YIKES!
Then that same large box with rear entry with driver sitting on top (not a good plan as the passengers would slip out of the cab just before arriving to avoid paying and the driver couldn’t see/do anything about it.
Ended up with the side-front entry controlled by the driver above so you had to pay before he’d release the door. You pay through a hole in the roof.
I understand the talks will be appearing in the CAA Journal in the coming months so look out for this one… it was interesting.
