An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving

by Edward Corbett

Neither were the Postmaster-General and his subordinates wanting in using all the means in their power, whether by expenditure of money or in any other way, to secure the safety and punctuality of the mails. The expenses incurred during serious snows, in paying for the removal of the snow or for extra horses to the coaches, were considerable. In one heavy snowstorm the sum of one hundred and ninety pounds was paid for these purposes, and for another the cost was one hundred and sixty.

At one time the attention of the Postmaster-General was called to a snow-plough, and the following circular was issued in December, 1836, to the postmasters: "I send you some copies of a description of snow-plough, which has been used with great advantage in former seasons for the purpose of forcing a passage through the snow, and I have to request that you will communicate with the magistrates, commissioners, trustees, and surveyors of roads, or other influential persons, urging their co-operation in endeavouring to remove the impediments to the progress of the mails. The Postmaster-General relies on all possible efforts being made by yourself and others to secure this important object, and I would suggest whether, among other methods, the passage of the mail coaches through the snow might not be facilitated by placing them on sledges." Whether any pattern of snow-plough or sledge accompanied this missive is not clear, but, judging from some correspondence on the subject, I should fancy there was.

Nothing appears to have been done with either implement, and, indeed, it is not very likely that they would have been popular with the horse contractors. If the snow-ploughs had succeeded in clearing a space sufficient to permit of the passage of a coach, it would probably have left the road in a very heavy state, and I should doubt whether in the climate of this country sledges would have been found of much use. Our frosts are seldom intense enough, and too frequently accompanied with thaws, to allow of the surface being in a fit state for their use for sufficient length of time to make it worth while adapting the coaches to them. If sledges had been brought into general use, probably a good many proprietors would have followed the example set them by one of their number, who, when the coachman had succeeded by great exertions in getting his coach through the snow, said to him, "Why don't you stick her?" and, strange to relate, she did stick in a drift on the next journey.

Dense fogs, although not altogether stopping the traffic on the roads, were more conducive to accidents than heavy snows, which did absolutely prohibit progress. In the latter case, at the worst, conveyances were reduced to a complete standstill, and there was an end of it for the time; but if the fog was of such a density as to be capable of being cut with a knife and fork an attempt must be made. Though we hear from time to time of all traffic being stopped in the streets of the metropolis, I never recollect to have known of coaches being quite reduced to that state of helplessness; and, here again, the Postmaster-General is found providing what remedy he could. In November, 1835, he ordered links to be prepared, but with the assistance of those, even if carried by men on horseback, only very slow progress could have been effected. It is one of the greatest evils attendant on a fog that it renders lamps useless, and very much circumscribes the light thrown by a link.

If the fog was not very thick indeed, it was possible, though it might be attended by some little risk, to keep going pretty well, but when it became so dense as to hide the horses from the coachman's view there would be no travelling beyond a foot's pace. One could keep pushing along pretty well, as I recollect having done myself when driving a mail, and time had to be kept if at all possible, as long as the hedges could be distinguished, though I hardly knew how soon my leaders would be in the middle of a lot of loose horses which I could not see, but distinctly hear clattering along just in front of us.

Notwithstanding all the care that could be taken, accidents were the inevitable result of the attempts made to keep going, of which I will now give one or two instances, though they were not of a serious nature.

On December 3rd, 1839, the Gloucester and Stroud mails, which ran for a long distance over the same ground, were both drawn off the road and upset in a thick fog, and within a few days of this occurrence the Edinburgh mail was overturned into a ditch, owing to the fog being so thick that the coachman could not see his horses.

But floods were most to be dreaded. As has been shown, though fogs and snowstorms were great hindrances to locomotion, and the cause of a vast amount of inconvenience and expense, they were seldom attended with loss of life, whereas sad records of fatal issues are to be found in connection with floods, to a few of which I will call the reader's attention.

On September 11th, 1829, when the Birmingham and Liverpool mail reached Smallwood Bridge, it turned out that the bridge had been blown up by the force of the water, and the coachman, not being aware of it, the coach was precipitated into the river. The guard was washed down under a remaining arch. The coachman caught hold of a stump and saved himself. Of the three inside passengers, one being a slender, active young man, managed to get out by breaking the glass of the window, and helped to save the guard. The two others sunk to the bottom with one of the horses, and nothing could be seen but water.

Strange to say, however, the bags were eventually recovered, when the letters were carefully spread out to dry, and were, most of them, eventually delivered in tolerable condition. Some few fragments are to be seen now at the General Post-Office.