“THIS is to acquaint all Gentlemen,
Tradesmen, and Others, that Mat.
Pickford’s Flying Waggons to
London in Four Days and a Half

Set out from the Swan and Saracen’s Head, in Market Street Lane, Manchester, every Wednesday, at Six o’clock in the Evening, and arrive at the Swan Inn, Lad Lane, London, the Tuesday noon following; also set out every Saturday at the same Hour, and arrive there on Friday noon following. Set out from London every Wednesday and Saturday, and arrive at Manchester every Tuesday and Friday; which carry goods and passengers to and from Manchester, Stockport, Macclesfield, Leek, Blackburn, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Line, and places adjacent.

“N.B.—M. Pickford will not be accountable for any Money, Plate, Watches, Jewels, Writings, Glass, China, etc., unless entered as such, and paid for accordingly.

“Constant attention at the above Inns in London and Manchester, to take in Goods, etc.”

It will be noticed that these “four days and a half” trips, although performed by “Flying Waggons,” and presumably much swifter than some earlier ones of which we have no record, were only four and a half days in a very special sense, and by the exercise of some peculiar method of reckoning whose secret has not descended to us. It might seem, to the person of ordinary intelligence, that these were really itineraries of rather more than five days and a half; but the Sunday was doubtless a day of rest for the waggoners, as for most others in those times.

In 1780, according to the evidence afforded by an old billhead, still preserved, Matthew Pickford was carrying on business in conjunction with Thomas, his brother, and in this partnership they continued to trade for many years.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing industries of Lancashire and the north-west had grown enormously, and canals were already being dug to aid the transport of goods. We have no means of knowing in how far the Pickfords took advantage of the early canals in the Midlands, but that they availed themselves very greatly of the opportunities afforded by them of extending their business seems unlikely, in view of the position in 1817, when they admitted Joseph Baxendale as a partner into the concern.

Joseph Baxendale was thirty-two years of age when he became partner in the firm of Pickford & Co. He was born in 1785, the son of Josiah Baxendale, of Lancaster, and had already seen something of business as partner in the concern of Swainson & Co., calico-printers at Preston, whose firm he left to seek those wider activities for which his active mind longed. For there was something adventurous in his blood, which would by no means permit him merely to take the sedentary part of a capitalist in any enterprise in whose fortunes he might acquire a share. An opportunity thoroughly suited to his temperament was this which offered, of becoming a partner in the already old-established firm of Pickford’s. We have now no means of knowing precisely on what terms he joined the two brothers, but whatever the pecuniary consideration may have been, enough survives to tell us that his youthful activities and his keen business intelligence were prominent in what he brought into the firm. For many years Matthew and Thomas had borne the whole conduct of the business, and it was now desirable, both by reason of their advancing years and the natural growth of the commercial activities of the country, that they should have, allied with them, one who, alike by inclination and urged by business interests, would scour the country, supervising and organising, as they no longer found it possible to do.

Baxendale found plenty of work of this nature awaiting him. The staff of horses which the Pickfords had found sufficient for their needs in bygone years had been little, if at all, increased, although a period of great trade-expansion had set in; and a total lack of efficient supervision over agents and carmen had resulted in the carrying business being dilatory and untrustworthy. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that rival firms had begun to threaten the very existence of Pickford’s, declining under the nerveless rule, by which the needs of the time were not understood.

It was soon impressed upon the new partner’s active and penetrating intelligence that the requirements of the time, and still more the requirements of the succeeding years, imperatively demanded a thorough reorganisation—more thorough, perhaps, than the old partners were altogether ready to concede. He soon acquired entire control, and the Pickfords, unable or unwilling to meet new times with new methods, left their already historic business and its destinies in his hands.

He speedily altered the aspect of affairs. Soon he had close upon a thousand horses, all his own, on the great roads between London and the north-west; while advertisements were issued, announcing “Caravans on Springs and Guarded, carrying Goods only, every afternoon at 6 o’clock,” from London and Manchester, taking only 36 hours to perform the 186 miles.

To this, then, the “caravan” had come at last. Travellers from the Far East had originally brought the word to England. They had seen the Persian kārwāns toiling under those torrid skies—covered waggons in whose shady interiors the poor folks travelled; and when the first stage-waggons were established in England, they were often known by an English version of that name. Some of the caravans of the late seventeenth century were, however, by no means the rough-and-ready affairs generally supposed, if we may judge from the description of one offered for sale in the London Gazette of May 6th, 1689. This, according to the vendors, was:—

“A Fair easie going Caravan, with a very handsom Roof Brass Work, good Seats. Glasses on the sides to draw up; that will carry 18 Persons, with great Conveniency for Carriage of Goods, so well built that it is fit for Carriage of all manner of Goods—to be sold.”