In 1703, a stage coach went from London to Portsmouth, when the roads were good, in fourteen hours.
In 1706, a coach went from London to York every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which performed the journey in four days, allowing each passenger fourteen pounds of luggage free, and above that weight the charge was threepence per pound.
In 1742 the Oxford stage used to leave London at seven in the morning, reaching High Wycombe at five in the evening, and, resting the night, proceeded to Oxford the next day.
In the same year there was a coach from London to Birmingham, starting on Monday and arriving on Wednesday, forty miles a day, but the coach usually stopped half one day at Oxford.
In 1751, a stage coach went to Dover, arriving at Canterbury the same night, reaching Dover early the next day, and starting on its return to London the same afternoon. The advertisement states that there is a conveniency behind the coach for baggage and outside passengers. This implies that it was not, even at this late date, usual to carry passengers on the roof, and that the general structure of the vehicle was similar to the stage coach of 1640; one change had been made: the driving box on the fast coaches was placed high above the horses on a narrow boot, something like what is called a Salisbury boot; this was placed upon the beds or timbers of the carriage, with a tolerably comfortable seat for two persons upon it. But the jolting and shaking over rough bits in the road must have been very trying. In the hall of the Coachmakers’ Company, in Noble Street, Cheapside, is a picture of Hyde Park Corner in 1796, painted by Dagaty, in which is an old stage coach; the hinder part has a boot and guard’s seat attached to the body as in modern stage coaches, but the box is detached from the body and on the beds, as described above; the panels of the body are very deep, and on the upper quarters are painted two large stars, from which we may conjecture that it is a mail coach.[6]
From the Ipswich Journal, August 1754.
This is to give Notice
“That a handsome Machine, with steel springs for the ease of passengers and the conveniency of the Country, began on Monday, the 8th of July 1754, to set off from Chelmsford every morning at 7 o’clock, Sunday excepted, to the Bull Inn, Leadenhall Street, to be there by 12 o’clock, and to return the same day at 2 o’clock to be at Chelmsford by 7 o’clock in the evening. Fresh horses will be taken at the White Hart at Brentwood and the Green Man at Ilford. To be performed, if God permits, by Tyrrell & Hughes.”
In 1754 a coach was started from Manchester called “the Flying coach.” The advertisement states, “however incredible it may appear, this coach will actually arrive in London in four days and a half after leaving Manchester.”
The sort of vehicles stage coaches usually were in those days will appear from the following:—
“In 1755 stage coaches are described[7] as covered with dull black leather, studded, by way of ornament, with broad-headed nails, with oval windows in the quarters, the frames painted red. On the panels were displayed, in large characters, the names of the places whence the coach started and whither it went. The roof rose in a high curve, with an iron rail around it. The coachman and guard sat in front upon a high narrow boot, often garnished with a spreading hammer-cloth with a deep fringe. Behind was an immense basket, supported by iron bars, in which passengers were carried at lower fares. The wheels were painted red. The whole coach was usually drawn by three horses, on the first of which a postillion rode with a cocked hat and a long green and gold coat. The machine groaned and creaked as it went along with every tug the horses gave, and the speed was frequently but four miles an hour.”